17
Jul
2001
• The State of Iowa will become one of the first states in the country to charge for nuclear shipments across state lines. A rule by the Iowa Department of Public Health would charge fees from $250 to $1,750 to ship radioactive materials across the state, depending on the type of material and whether it's shipped by highway or rail. The money generated - an expected $1 million per year - would go to train Iowa's police, fire, and emergency-medical personnel on how to deal with potential accidents involving radioactive waste. The number of shipments across Iowa is expected to increase once the Yucca Mountain nuclear-waste repository in Nevada opens. Routes projected by the U.S. Department of Energy run right by the Quad Cities on both rail and highway.
• A special report on MotherJones.com illustrates the economic, social, and moral costs of prison growth, including data on prison spending compared to spending on higher education, growth in the number of drug offenders, and disparity between white and non-white incarceration rates in every state. Also featured is a package of articles by a group of award-winning journalists as well as the Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. and New Mexico's governor, Gary Johnson. "Debt to Society: The Real Price of Prisons" can be read at (http://www.motherjones.com/prisons/) online.
• Despite predicted losses approaching $2 billion, the United States Postal Service has decided to continue delivering mail on Saturdays. The postal Board of Governors made the decision after figuring that the money saved by going to a five-day schedule wouldn't be worth the public outcry. The idea had drawn heavy criticism from the mailing industry, the public, and Congress. Some in the mailing industry are saying that the Post Office never intended to seriously look at a five-day delivery schedule but is instead trying to draw the attention of the public and Congress to push for changes in the law under which it operates.
• The Illinois Commerce Commission has moved to implement part of a new state law requiring local phone companies to reimburse customers who suffer from poor service. Starting in August, the state will require phone companies to provide cell phones or pay $20 a day to customers who go more than two weeks without getting a phone installed. Customers whose phone lines go unrepaired for more than 24 hours will get discounts on their monthly bills. The entire monthly charge will be waived if the phone is dead for more than four days.
• The City of Moline and the Moline Activity Center - which provides senior programs and activities - were awarded first-place honors at the Governor's Home Town Awards program held in Springfield on June 26. The award was in the category of "senior-citizen involvement" and in recognition of the $25,000 donation from Teri A. Benson of the Washington, D.C., based Heritage Reporting Corporation, and the establishment of a six-station computer-training center that benefited retired persons. Senior volunteers prepared for the opening of the Computer Center in six weeks.
• Iowa City police officers making routine traffic stops will now be logging on a touch-screen computer the motorist's race, gender, time, home address, if the vehicle was searched, and if force was used. Information has been collected by the Iowa City police on race and gender since the summer of 1999 but was filed as paper reports. The data gathered will be analyzed next year at the University of Louisville. By the way, Iowa City police stopped 7,228 motorists from January through May. 55.7 percent were white males, 30.2 percent were white females, and 5.7 percent were black males. Twisted Badge, a Web site raising awareness of issues related to law-enforcement misconduct, is currently running a multi-part series on racial profiling. Visit (http://www.twistedbadge.com) to see for yourself.
• You can help your neighbors keep their cool this summer with a donation of a new fan or air-conditioning unit or even cash. Project Now has no air conditioners in stock and just 24 fans, and 10 times that number of people are on the waiting list. In Illinois, you can drop off a fan or air conditioner at Project Now. The address is 418 19th Street in Rock Island. In Iowa, Iowa East Central Train is accepting donations at 2804 Eastern Avenue, cottage number seven. If you have questions, call 324-8239. In Illinois, don't pick up the phone; Project Now asks that you stop by instead. And remember: Both agencies can only take new appliances because of safety issues.
• Wandering the Internet could compromise the security of your computer, including allowing the downloading of the contents of your hard drive while you are connected. If you have a Web site, it is probably vulnerable in ways too numerous to mention to malicious attacks. The Gibson Research home page at (http://grc.com), while pushing the company's products, contains a vast amount of information on protecting your computer and Web sites from attack, and it includes online tests to check the vulnerability of your system.
• A special report on MotherJones.com illustrates the economic, social, and moral costs of prison growth, including data on prison spending compared to spending on higher education, growth in the number of drug offenders, and disparity between white and non-white incarceration rates in every state. Also featured is a package of articles by a group of award-winning journalists as well as the Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. and New Mexico's governor, Gary Johnson. "Debt to Society: The Real Price of Prisons" can be read at (http://www.motherjones.com/prisons/) online.
• Despite predicted losses approaching $2 billion, the United States Postal Service has decided to continue delivering mail on Saturdays. The postal Board of Governors made the decision after figuring that the money saved by going to a five-day schedule wouldn't be worth the public outcry. The idea had drawn heavy criticism from the mailing industry, the public, and Congress. Some in the mailing industry are saying that the Post Office never intended to seriously look at a five-day delivery schedule but is instead trying to draw the attention of the public and Congress to push for changes in the law under which it operates.
• The Illinois Commerce Commission has moved to implement part of a new state law requiring local phone companies to reimburse customers who suffer from poor service. Starting in August, the state will require phone companies to provide cell phones or pay $20 a day to customers who go more than two weeks without getting a phone installed. Customers whose phone lines go unrepaired for more than 24 hours will get discounts on their monthly bills. The entire monthly charge will be waived if the phone is dead for more than four days.
• The City of Moline and the Moline Activity Center - which provides senior programs and activities - were awarded first-place honors at the Governor's Home Town Awards program held in Springfield on June 26. The award was in the category of "senior-citizen involvement" and in recognition of the $25,000 donation from Teri A. Benson of the Washington, D.C., based Heritage Reporting Corporation, and the establishment of a six-station computer-training center that benefited retired persons. Senior volunteers prepared for the opening of the Computer Center in six weeks.
• Iowa City police officers making routine traffic stops will now be logging on a touch-screen computer the motorist's race, gender, time, home address, if the vehicle was searched, and if force was used. Information has been collected by the Iowa City police on race and gender since the summer of 1999 but was filed as paper reports. The data gathered will be analyzed next year at the University of Louisville. By the way, Iowa City police stopped 7,228 motorists from January through May. 55.7 percent were white males, 30.2 percent were white females, and 5.7 percent were black males. Twisted Badge, a Web site raising awareness of issues related to law-enforcement misconduct, is currently running a multi-part series on racial profiling. Visit (http://www.twistedbadge.com) to see for yourself.
• You can help your neighbors keep their cool this summer with a donation of a new fan or air-conditioning unit or even cash. Project Now has no air conditioners in stock and just 24 fans, and 10 times that number of people are on the waiting list. In Illinois, you can drop off a fan or air conditioner at Project Now. The address is 418 19th Street in Rock Island. In Iowa, Iowa East Central Train is accepting donations at 2804 Eastern Avenue, cottage number seven. If you have questions, call 324-8239. In Illinois, don't pick up the phone; Project Now asks that you stop by instead. And remember: Both agencies can only take new appliances because of safety issues.
• Wandering the Internet could compromise the security of your computer, including allowing the downloading of the contents of your hard drive while you are connected. If you have a Web site, it is probably vulnerable in ways too numerous to mention to malicious attacks. The Gibson Research home page at (http://grc.com), while pushing the company's products, contains a vast amount of information on protecting your computer and Web sites from attack, and it includes online tests to check the vulnerability of your system.
