31
May
2005
• The Family Museum's award-winning Street Heat program began a new project last month by enlisting the help of six students from Davenport's Lydia House and the surrounding neighborhood. Participants will sculpt a "QC Tree" that is scheduled for "planting" on June 13 in the Hilltop Association Park on Harrison Street in Davenport. The metal structure will be created by six students who will be paid for their work. Leaves made out of Sunbrella will help bring the foliage to life. Trinkets made from wire will be hung from the branches. The trunk will include hand-painted or stencilled designs. Under the direction of museum artist educators Glenn Boyles and Gloria Burlingame, the "QC Tree" will be an original creation from the minds of the kids involved. Fabrication of the "QC Tree" was scheduled to start at Davenport's Lydia Home Association on Tuesday, May 31. Future work sessions will be June 1 through 3 and June 6 through 10 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The Lydia Home Association is located at 1431 Ripley Street in Davenport. For more information, look at (http://www.familymuseum.org).
• Rock Island County Metropolitan Mass Transit (MetroLINK) has announced the start of the Channel Cat Water Taxi season. Hours of operation will be Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. The fare to ride for adults is now $5, and for children $2. Service includes the ports of John Deere Commons and Ben Butterworth Parkway in Moline, Isle of Capri Casino in Bettendorf, Village of East Davenport, and the Quarter in East Moline. Tickets are for all day and may be purchased on-board or at the Centre Station Gifts located under the clock tower on the John Deere Commons. For more information on this or other MetroLINK services, call (309)788-3360 or look on the Web at (http://www.qcmetrolink.com).
• Volunteers for Symphony, the Quad City Symphony Orchestra's direct-service volunteer-support organization, has announced the conclusion of Symphony in Bloom, its springtime fund-raising lawn and garden show. Symphony Executive Director Lance Willett commented: "In order to plan and implement new performances and programs, the fund-raising priorities and methods of our organization must also adapt and change. Symphony in Bloom has been a successful and valued community event for 14 years, and its conclusion will make way for new initiatives." For more information, look at the Quad City Symphony's Web site at (http://www.qcsymphony.com).
• The first Israeli Cultural Festival in the Quad Cities will be held on August 7 from noon to 7 p.m. in the District of Rock Island. Admission is $5 for adults, with children under 12 free. On the program will be authentic food, music, and dance, Israeli products to purchase, and children's activities. Organizers hope to make the festival an annual event. Volunteers are needed. For more information, call the Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities at (309)793-1300.
• The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports that the Senate Intelligence Committee is considering, behind closed doors, a bill that would not only renew many provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act but would also expand the FBI's power to secretly demand the private records of people who aren't suspected of any crime - without a judge's approval. If this bill passes without modification, the FBI could use new "administrative subpoenas" to get practically anything from anyone, including Internet logs and e-mail messages from your Internet service provider, health records from your doctor, financial information from your bank, and borrowing records from your library. The Justice Department has long sought this kind of subpoena power for the FBI, but Congress has always said no - even in the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. For more information, visit (http://action.eff.org/site/Advocacy?id=133).
• Project NOW, CAA, and Senior Service America have announced employment opportunities for persons 55 or older with the Senior Aides Program. The program provides part-time placements with not-for-profit agencies to help individuals get back into the workforce. Job-search, résumé-writing, and job-referral assistance are offered. Current openings include teacher's aides, day-care secretarial and clerical positions, warehouse work, and more. Interested persons may call (309)764-8383 extension 142 for an appointment or for more information. The Senior Aides program serving Rock Island, Henry, and Mercer counties is located with the Illinois Employment & Training Center, 4703 16th Street, Moline. To apply for a Senior Aide position, persons must be at least 55 years of age, meet federal income guidelines, and be seeking employment in the private sector.
• The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) reports that administration of the non-psychoactive cannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD) protects against ethanol-induced neurotoxicity in rats, according to clinical-trial data published in the current issue of the journal Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics. Researchers at the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) reported that the co-administration of CBD with ethanol reduced alcohol-induced cell death in the hippocampus and etorhinal cortex of the brain in a dose-dependent manner by up to 60 percent. Researchers hypothesized that CBD is neuroprotective because it possesses anti-oxidant properties. U.S. federal law prohibits the medical use of cannabinoids except for synthetic THC. Full text of the study, "Comparison of cannabidiol, antioxidants, and diuretics in reversing binge ethanol-induced neurotoxicity," appears in the May issue of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics. You can also look at NORML's Web site at (http://www.norml.org).
• Rock Island County Metropolitan Mass Transit (MetroLINK) has announced the start of the Channel Cat Water Taxi season. Hours of operation will be Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. The fare to ride for adults is now $5, and for children $2. Service includes the ports of John Deere Commons and Ben Butterworth Parkway in Moline, Isle of Capri Casino in Bettendorf, Village of East Davenport, and the Quarter in East Moline. Tickets are for all day and may be purchased on-board or at the Centre Station Gifts located under the clock tower on the John Deere Commons. For more information on this or other MetroLINK services, call (309)788-3360 or look on the Web at (http://www.qcmetrolink.com).
• Volunteers for Symphony, the Quad City Symphony Orchestra's direct-service volunteer-support organization, has announced the conclusion of Symphony in Bloom, its springtime fund-raising lawn and garden show. Symphony Executive Director Lance Willett commented: "In order to plan and implement new performances and programs, the fund-raising priorities and methods of our organization must also adapt and change. Symphony in Bloom has been a successful and valued community event for 14 years, and its conclusion will make way for new initiatives." For more information, look at the Quad City Symphony's Web site at (http://www.qcsymphony.com).
• The first Israeli Cultural Festival in the Quad Cities will be held on August 7 from noon to 7 p.m. in the District of Rock Island. Admission is $5 for adults, with children under 12 free. On the program will be authentic food, music, and dance, Israeli products to purchase, and children's activities. Organizers hope to make the festival an annual event. Volunteers are needed. For more information, call the Jewish Federation of the Quad Cities at (309)793-1300.
• The Electronic Frontier Foundation reports that the Senate Intelligence Committee is considering, behind closed doors, a bill that would not only renew many provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act but would also expand the FBI's power to secretly demand the private records of people who aren't suspected of any crime - without a judge's approval. If this bill passes without modification, the FBI could use new "administrative subpoenas" to get practically anything from anyone, including Internet logs and e-mail messages from your Internet service provider, health records from your doctor, financial information from your bank, and borrowing records from your library. The Justice Department has long sought this kind of subpoena power for the FBI, but Congress has always said no - even in the immediate aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. For more information, visit (http://action.eff.org/site/Advocacy?id=133).
• Project NOW, CAA, and Senior Service America have announced employment opportunities for persons 55 or older with the Senior Aides Program. The program provides part-time placements with not-for-profit agencies to help individuals get back into the workforce. Job-search, résumé-writing, and job-referral assistance are offered. Current openings include teacher's aides, day-care secretarial and clerical positions, warehouse work, and more. Interested persons may call (309)764-8383 extension 142 for an appointment or for more information. The Senior Aides program serving Rock Island, Henry, and Mercer counties is located with the Illinois Employment & Training Center, 4703 16th Street, Moline. To apply for a Senior Aide position, persons must be at least 55 years of age, meet federal income guidelines, and be seeking employment in the private sector.
• The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML) reports that administration of the non-psychoactive cannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD) protects against ethanol-induced neurotoxicity in rats, according to clinical-trial data published in the current issue of the journal Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics. Researchers at the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH) reported that the co-administration of CBD with ethanol reduced alcohol-induced cell death in the hippocampus and etorhinal cortex of the brain in a dose-dependent manner by up to 60 percent. Researchers hypothesized that CBD is neuroprotective because it possesses anti-oxidant properties. U.S. federal law prohibits the medical use of cannabinoids except for synthetic THC. Full text of the study, "Comparison of cannabidiol, antioxidants, and diuretics in reversing binge ethanol-induced neurotoxicity," appears in the May issue of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics. You can also look at NORML's Web site at (http://www.norml.org).
