DES MOINES, IA (04/05/2010)(readMedia)-- State Treasurer Michael L. Fitzgerald announced today that Iowa has the highest rating from another top bond rating company. Fitch Ratings has joined Standard and Poor's in giving the State of Iowa's general obligation bond rating the best possible rating, 'AAA.' "This is great news for Iowa," Fitzgerald stated. "Two of the major rating firms say we have the best possible rating. It says a great deal about our economy and financial management."

Iowa's AAA rating results from Fitch's move to a global rating scale. This recalibration makes their ratings for municipal and corporate entities more comparable. "We are among fourteen states that have the Fitch AAA rating," Fitzgerald stated, "So, in these tough economic times, Iowa has stayed the course and experts notice." Credit ratings provide an opinion on the relative ability of an entity to meet its financial commitments. Fitch analyzes a state's economy, financial management and liabilities to establish its credit quality.

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March 29, 2010, Davenport, IA - Senior Star at Elmore Place has become one of the Quad Cities' newest retirement communities - officially opening all of its 236 senior housing apartments that will redefine senior living. The three-building retirement campus, located at 4500 Elmore Avenue, Davenport, IA, features independent, assisted and memory care apartments that focus on spa-style fitness, gourmet-style dining and concierge services promoting quality of life and independence - a philosophy of world class customer service. The community has been under construction through 2009 and is now completed. It is projected to employ 200, as it contributes to economic development along the Elmore corridor with the addition of its residents and visiting families.

"Senior living is completely different than what it used to be," says Elmore Place Executive Director Leslie Dick. "The key is to help families embrace these life changes as positive, opening a new opportunity for socialization and experiences without the feelings of guilt or fear. Those in the Quad Cities contemplating retirement or considering an assisted living or memory care environment for themselves or their parents will find our community ready to enhance lives that can oftentimes be better than before."

The Independent Living complex features 61 apartments, complete with kitchenettes, a luxurious hotel-style dining area, Internet computer stations and fitness facilities such as a therapy pool, Wii lounge and much more. "Seniors can come and go, eat in their apartments or meet friends in our dining room or the pub," explains Dick. Senior Star has hired a chef to cater to all residents in each separate building within the community. "We focus on all aspects of the individual for healthy living including his or her physical, spiritual, mental and social needs. It's our goal that every resident leads what we like to call a 'Stellar Life.'"

The assisted living building has 135 units and is located in the largest building on campus. The residents are supported by a 24-hour care staff, receive assistance in all aspects of daily living, as well as individualized assessments to promote cognitive, emotional and physical independence. The building also features a grand common area for dining and community gatherings.

The memory care community features 40 private apartments and is designed especially for those with memory care needs. "We have incorporated in our memory care building design elements, practices and research-based methodologies from the Alzheimer's Association and the federal Administration on Aging in order to maximize a person's dignity, self-determination and independence," says Christine Gilbert, RN and Elmore Place memory care director. Ms. Gilbert says the new campus includes Destination ProgrammingT and a SnoezelenR room that promotes soothing, sensory experiences.

Senior Star at Elmore Place is managed by Senior Star Services in Tulsa, Okla. Senior Star currently operates or owns nine retirement communities in the Mid- and Southwest. In addition to the Elmore Place property, Senior Star also just opened another community in Romeoville, IL, a western suburb of Chicago.

"We are looking forward to becoming a part of the Quad City community and working with retirees and their children in writing a new chapter in their lives," says Ms. Dick, who relocated from Tulsa after managing a Senior Star property there. "I have found the Quad Cities to be a lot like Oklahoma - friendly and willing to work together to better our hometowns."

"We are a very community-minded organization and are ready to forge partnerships with Quad City senior advocacy organizations to ensure seniors enjoy the quality of life they deserve. Our mission is to help seniors and their families embrace senior living, and we instill this corporate philosophy of compassion in employee training programs from housekeeping to management," says Ms. Dick.
The grand opening event is Saturday, April 10, 11 a.m. - 2 p.m., at Senior Star at Elmore Place, 4500 Elmore Ave., Davenport, IA. To tour the Senior Star Community any time, contact Rhonda Halterman at (563) 359-0100.

About Senior Star
Senior Star, based in Tulsa, Okla., is a private company founded in 1976 and entered the seniors housing business in 1989. Its portfolio currently includes nine retirement communities in six states. As a recognized leader in the seniors housing industry, the company provides independent, assisted living and memory care options. Additional information is available on the Web site, www.seniorstar.com

Quad Cities, USA - Living Lands & Waters (LL&W) is seeking approximately 800 to 1000 volunteers from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, and Missouri to take part in a first-ever, multi-state clean-up of the upper Mississippi River.  The event will take place Saturday, June 19, 2010 with a goal of  involving  volunteers in 22 cities from Saint Paul, Minnesota to St. Louis, Missouri.  LL&W is also needing site coordinators for each location, boats and drivers, and supply donations.

Over the past 12 years, LL&W has removed more than six million pounds of trash through clean-up efforts along the Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Illinois and Potomac rivers.  LL&W has also coordinated flood clean-up efforts after Hurricane Katrina and the historic floods in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. LL&W Founder and President Chad Pregracke calls the Great Mississippi River Cleanup "We've been able to host  over 440 community cleanups over the years and this is the biggest effort we've ever done."  Pregracke adds, "This has been needed for a long time, and we're so very excited to be coordinating this important effort."

Living Lands & Waters is a 501(c) (3) environmental organization established in 1998 and headquartered in East Moline, Illinois. Besides Community River Cleanups, LL&W conducts Big River Educational Workshops, the MillionTrees Project, Riverbottom Forest Restoration and the Adopt-a-River Mile program.

The Great Mississippi River Cleanup will remove debris; such as tires, barrels, propane tanks, appliances, plastic bottles and even a message in a bottle or two from the shorelines and islands of the upper Mississippi River.  For more information about what LL&W has pulled from America's rivers and our needs in this massive cleanup visit www.livinglandsandwaters.org.

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Finance leaders say findings could help lower barriers to key U.S. exports

Washington, DC - Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and Ranking Member Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) today requested a study of the market for agricultural products in China, including the effects of tariff and non-tariff barriers on U.S. agricultural exports.  In their letter to Chairman Shara L. Aranoff of the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC), the Senators asked the ITC to cover a five-year period from 2004-2009 in its report, and to submit the report within eleven months of receipt of their letter.

"China is already the fourth largest market for U.S. agricultural products, but there is room for substantial growth if we can reduce trade barriers to our exports.  The United States is a top exporter of wheat and beef, but we face unjustified restrictions in the Chinese market," said Baucus.  "The report Senator Grassley and I commissioned today will investigate restrictions on these and other agricultural products, so we can begin to remove barriers and send more of our Montana and American-made goods to China and create jobs here at home."

"China has become a major market for American agricultural exports.  But the potential is there for China to become an even bigger market for these products," Grassley said. "We need a better understanding of the tariff and non-tariff barriers that U.S. agricultural producers face in trying to export to China.  The study that Chairman Baucus and I have requested today will help.  Specifically, beef and pork producers in Iowa and across the United States stand to benefit from the elimination of non-tariff trade barriers that have no basis in science.  This investigation will shed more light on those barriers."

The text of the Senators' letter follows below:

April 1, 2010

The Honorable Shara L. Aranoff

Chairman

U.S. International Trade Commission

500 E Street, S.W.

Washington, DC 20436

Dear Chairman Aranoff,

We are writing to request that the U.S. International Trade Commission conduct an investigation under section 332(g) of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1332(g)) regarding competitive factors affecting agricultural trade between China and the United States.

Since it joined the World Trade Organization in 2001, China's imports of U.S. agricultural products have grown substantially. China is now the fourth largest market for U.S. agricultural exports.  Yet sales are highly concentrated in a few products?soybeans, cotton, poultry, and hides and skins accounted for more than 85 percent of Chinese imports of U.S. agricultural products in 2009.  Chinese imports of several globally competitive U.S. agricultural products, such as certain meat, feedgrains, and processed food, are limited.  With rapidly rising per capita income and resource constraints on domestic production growth, China has the potential to provide greater opportunities for expanding U.S. agricultural exports.

At the same time, several factors threaten the ability of U.S. agricultural exporters to realize these opportunities.  Chinese government policies aimed at boosting domestic production and curbing imports, non-tariff measures, including sanitary/phytosanitary measures and technical trade barriers, and increased competition from third-country suppliers, especially those with which China has negotiated trade agreements, are important factors that could weaken the competitive position of U.S. agricultural products in the Chinese market.

The Commission's report should cover the period 2005-2009, or the period 2005 to the latest year for which data are available.  In addition, to the extent possible, the report should include the following:

* an overview of China's agricultural market, including recent trends in production, consumption, and trade;

*  a description of the competitive factors affecting the agricultural sector in China, in such areas as costs of production, technology, domestic support and government programs related to agricultural markets, foreign direct investment policies, and pricing and marketing regimes;

* an overview of China's participation in global agricultural export markets, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region and in those markets with which China has negotiated trade agreements;

* a description of the principal measures affecting China's agricultural imports, including tariffs and non-tariff measures such as sanitary and phytosanitary measures and technical barriers to trade; and

* a quantitative analysis of the economic effects of China's MFN tariffs, preferential tariffs negotiated under China's free trade agreements, and China's non-tariff measures on U.S. agricultural exports to China and on imports from the rest of the world.

The Commission should submit its final report no later than eleven months from the receipt of this request.  As we intend to make the report available to the public, we request that it not contain confidential business information.

Sincerely,

Max Baucus                         Charles E. Grassley

Chairman                       Ranking Member

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