(December 20, 2010) - Despite the recent winter like weather, Vander Veer Lagoon is NOT safe for ice skating.  There was a very thin layer of ice on the surface of the lagoon before snows of the last couple of weeks started.  The snow has since been an insulator stopping additional ice from forming.  In order for there to be a safe and suitable surface of ice, we will need significantly cold temperatures over a long stretch of time.

If ice conditions become safe, Davenport Parks and Recreation will work the ice to make it suitable for skating.  Check the Parks and Recreation website at www.cityofdavenportiowa.com/parks for updates on the ice conditions at Vander Veer. In the meantime, indoor skating is available at the River's Edge, 700 W River Drive in downtown Davenport.

DES MOINES, IA - December 20, 2010 ? The Coalition to Support Iowa's Farmers (CSIF) announced today the launch of its new website ? www.supportfarmers.com. The colorful site is chocked full of new content featuring new agricultural information, program updates, farm families the Coalition has worked with and easy, user-friendly navigation.

"Our new website is specifically designed to help Iowa livestock farmers successfully and responsibly manage changes to their farms," said CSIF Executive Director, Brian Waddingham.  "Being a livestock farmer is a difficult business, compounded by the growing mass of rules and regulations. The new web site is a resource tool for those farm families who need more information so they can stay rooted in rural Iowa."

In addition to information about the latest rules and regulations impacting livestock farmers, the new site also features information about siting considerations. "Many farmers we work with are multi-generational; it's important to them to care for the land and waterways so they can pass their farm down to the next generation, that's why careful selection of sites is so important," Waddingham said.  The new web site offers considerations that may impact site selection from air modeling and typography to location of public use areas.

The new web site also highlights steps farmers may take with their neighbors when making changes to their farm. "Neighbor relations is an important part of a farmer's business plan and the site provides some initial guidance on how to do that," said Waddingham.

New to the website in the Programs/Activities section is detailed information regarding the Coalition's popular Green Farmstead Partner program and how livestock farmers can participate. The program, a partnership between CSIF, the Iowa Nursery and Landscape Association and Trees Forever, promotes the planning and installation of vegetative environmental buffers (VEBs) around new and existing cattle feedlots, hog barns and poultry buildings. VEBs help reduce objectionable odors and provide a windbreak for livestock and farm families.

"The Coalition was founded with the mission of working with Iowa farm families to advocate and help implement on-farm best-management practices for raising livestock responsibly and successfully," Waddingham said. "This new and improved website is our latest step in fulfilling that mission."

The non-profit, non-partisan organization provides assistance to farmers at no cost. CSIF does not lobby or develop policy. Farm families wanting a helping hand can also contact the Coalition at 1-800-932-2436.

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the Figge is "Flooded" with New Art

The past several weeks have brought numerous changes to the Figge Art Museum that includes new works hanging in the permanent and special exhibition galleries. New photographic images from the Figge's Brent Sikkema Collection are up in the permanent galleries that address the human form, including portraits of famous artists (Dali, O'Keeffe, and Miro) shot by Horst P Horst, Eliot Porter and Irving Penn. Also new to the permanent galleries are prints by the English Romantic John Martin (The Deluge) and Mexican-Costa Rican artist Francisco Zunig (Yucateca con Fruta). Furthermore, the John Deere Collection has several new additions of works by Streeter Blair, Fritz Scholder and illustrator Walter Haskell Hinton.

The Figge partnership with the University of Iowa Museum of Art continues, as well, with a new, ongoing exhibition of African Art from the university's world-class collection. Selections from the Stanley Collection features numerous wooden, three-dimensional objects from cultural groups throughout West and Central Africa, such as masks from the Bwa peoples of Burkina Faso and statuettes by the Dogon from Mali.

The Figge will be closed for the holidays on Friday, December 24th and Saturday, December 25th. The museum will re-open on Sunday, December 26th - noon to 5pm. For more information call the Figge at 563.326.7804 or visit figgeartmuseum.org.

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Bob Tallitsch seeks seat on Moline School Board  --  Quality of education & future of Moline children at heart of run.

(Moline, IL) Former Moline School Board President Bob Tallitsch feels so strongly about the future challenges and opportunities facing the Moline Public School District that he is throwing his hat in the ring for a seat on the school board - a seat he's held before.

"The challenges and opportunities are too great to stay away from this arena of public service," said Tallitsch, a biology professor at Augustana College.  Tallitsch said his past experience on the board was "both the most rewarding and the most frustrating experience of his life."

"I am running because I feel I can make a positive difference in the quality of education and because we can't waste the talent of any child in Moline," said Tallitsch, who has more than a decade of prior service on the Moline School Board including five years as president.

Tallitsch said the major priorities of his candidacy represent what has motivated him to run again.  "Taken together, these priorities represent the foundation of my candidacy.  They represent my desire to improve the educational policies in this district.  They represent my core commitment to putting children first in this district.  That is why I'm running," he said.

"The basis of my candidacy rests on the notion that we have to run a smarter school board, a board that puts children first, in both tough economic times and at all times," he said.  "As a fiscal conservative I think every decision and expenditure of tax dollars should be guided by this principle:  are we spending wisely and are we strengthening the curriculum needed to provide every child a high-quality education?"

Tallitsch said the Moline School Board needs to be more curriculum-minded.  "As the school board navigates tough budget decisions ahead, I will be a voice that puts the impact on curriculum first and foremost," he said.

Tallitsch said the school board needs to be more proactive.  "Now is the time to be proactive," he said.  "With difficult budget conditions and with tough curriculum choices, we face challenging days ahead.  These challenging times call for board members ready to ask the tough questions at board meetings, ready to review the budget line by line, and ready to make trips to Springfield to lobby our legislators to live up to the Illinois Constitution's commitment to funding schools adequately.  We all have to step it up.  We have to do better."

Tallitsch also feels the Moline Board of Education needs to be more responsive to the people within the district.  A great first step, he said, would be updating the policy that governs questions-and-answers when members of the public come before the school board to make comment.  "At the present time, when the public comes to a school board meeting to speak there is no time for questions and no time for a give and take with that person.  While this policy might have been appropriate in the past, we need to change the policy governing the 'public comment' section of Board of Education meetings so that some discussion and debate is allowed," said Tallitsch.  He would also like to see the school district do more on media outlets such as Facebook

The school board candidate also recommends the following belt-tightening measures to save tax dollars:  1) the school district should move toward 100 percent paperless meetings throughout the district; 2) any board member or employee of the district in his/her last year on the board or employment within the district should forego attending conferences that require the school district to reimburse registration, travel and lodging expenses; 3) the new school board should continue conducting a "top-to-bottom review of every line item in the budget" to look for new ways to cut wasteful spending; and 4) the administration should seek out budget-saving suggestions from the employees of the district - teachers and staff - just as is done in industry today.

Tallitsch, who plans to issue specific policy proposals during the course of this campaign, has a strong record of community service that includes the following:

*  Moline Board of Education, 1991-1999, 2001-2005
*  President, Moline Board of Education, 1997-1999, 2001-2005
*  Chair, District Bond Referendum Committee, 1992
*  District Teacher Negotiations Team, 1991-1998
*  District MESPA Negotiations Team, 2001-2005
*  Board of Directors, Moline Junior Symphony, 1993-1996

He earned a B.A. in biology from North Central College, and a P.h. D. in physiology from the University of Wisconsin - Madison, before joining the faculty at Augustana College.
He has published several articles and textbooks during his tenure at Augustana College and was recently selected to serve as Principal Investigator on a grant awarded through the National Science Foundation.

Tallitsch and his wife, Mary, are the proud parents of Steven, 27, and Molly, 25, both graduates of Moline Senior High School.

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