• People will pay more to send mail via the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) starting June 30, as the Postal Rate Commission on Friday approved a hike that includes raising first-class mail rates from 34 to 37 cents. This is despite a highly critical report that, according to a March 15 Wall Street Journal article, the Postal Service is trying to keep hidden. The report, filed in early March by the Office of the Consumer Advocate, accuses the Postal Service of "unacceptable" customer-service deficiencies. The report claims that postal employees make it hard for customers to compare Priority Mail, which costs at least $3.50, with first-class mail. First-class mail is faster than Priority Mail in every category, the report found. Keep an eye on the Web site (http://www.postalwatch.org/) for more information.
• The Iowa Senate has passed House File 2116 to couple the Iowa Internal Revenue Code with the Federal Internal Revenue Code. Of special local interest is a provision that deals with reciprocity agreements with other states. Governor Tom Vilsack has proposed severing the state's current agreement with Illinois that allows people who work in one state but reside in the other to file their income taxes where they live, a change that he claims will net Iowa $16 million. Political and business leaders fear that without the agreement, companies will choose to locate in Illinois, which generally has lower income taxes. On January 31, the Iowa House added an amendment to House File 2116 that would require legislative approval for the State of Iowa to make or break reciprocal income-tax agreements with other states. With bipartisan support, the bill passed last week and would require that all reciprocity agreements remain intact unless changed by the legislature. Passage of the bill sends it back to the House, but the legislation would need the governor's signature before becoming law.
• Applications are now being accepted for visual-arts grants from the Isabel Bloom Art Education Fund, established by Isabel Bloom, L.L.C., through the Community Foundation of the Great River Bend, to honor the memory of the sculptor. The fund provides extra financial support to the visual-arts programs within the primary and secondary schools of Scott and Rock Island counties, and is intended to further the education of local children and art instructors and foster greater appreciation of the visual arts. All 2002 grant applications must be at the foundation office or postmarked by April 15. If you have any questions, contact the Community Foundation of the Great River Bend at (563)326-2840. Information about the Isabel Bloom Art Education Fund also is available at the foundation Web site: (http://www.cfgrb.org.)
• The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed suit on March 14 against the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) seeking the expedited release of documents concerning proposed air-travel security systems. EPIC asserts in the lawsuit that the potential privacy implications of such proposals require full and informed public debate on the design of security systems. Noting the privacy issues surrounding these initiatives and the substantial public interest in security matters, EPIC requested "expedited processing" of its requests - a procedure Congress mandated in 1996 to hasten the disclosure of information concerning matters of "current exigency to the American public." Despite a legal requirement to render a decision on an expedition request within 10 days, DOT never responded to EPIC's request. EPIC says it does not question the need for effective air-travel security but believes that there is no reason to develop these procedures under a shroud of secrecy. The public has a significant interest in the design of new security systems and ensuring that privacy rights are respected. You can see a copy of the lawsuit at (http://www.epic.org/open_gov/foia/DOT_complaint.pdf).
• The American Psychiatric Association (APA) presented U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) with the Doubling Award during the recent APA 2002 Academic Consortium meeting. Harkin is now serving his third term and chairs the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health & Human Services & Education. The APA Academic Consortium Doubling Award was established last year to recognize legislative support for federal funding of biomedical and behavioral research at the National Institutes of Health.
• American Trans Air (ATA) will have 34 weekly flights between Chicago's Midway Airport and the Quad Cities International Airport through Chicago Express Airlines, starting May 28. Sunday through Friday, ATA will offer five flights a day, with four flights to be offered on Saturdays. These flights will be geared toward business customers. ATA added seven gates at the newly renovated Midway last month.
• The City of Bettendorf is offering free yard-waste collection April 1 through April 12, so yard-waste stickers are not required on yard-waste bags during this period. Free leaf drop-off under the I-74 Bridge has been scheduled for April 6 and 13, 8:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. And from April 1 through 14, residents may take their yard waste to the Davenport Compost Facility free of charge.
• The Eastern Iowa Industrial Center, located at the intersection of I-80 and Northwest Boulevard, will be getting its first major private project with the construction of distribution center for Deere & Company. The $18 million, 556,000-square-foot storage and distribution facility will be built by Ryan Companies, leased by Deere & Company, and occupied and managed by Quad City Consolidation & Distribution. Groundbreaking will take place April 15, with completion slated for the end of the year. Taxpayers will subsidize the project by approximately $380,000 a year for the next 15 years; of the $630,000 property-tax bill, taxing bodies will receive only $250,000, with the rest rebated to Ryan.
• Mercer County, Illinois, memory-loss patients and their caregivers will have access to support services thanks to a grant received last fall by the Robert Young Center Memory Clinic. The funds, which are made available through the federal Administration on Aging and the Illinois Department of Public Health, allow Memory Clinic personnel to identify and refer those rural families who are not currently receiving support services to the Rural Alzheimer's Disease Demonstration Project. It gives the center the opportunity to connect them with the Mercer County services they need. To learn more, call the Robert Young Center at (309)779-2555.
• The Iowa Senate has passed House File 2116 to couple the Iowa Internal Revenue Code with the Federal Internal Revenue Code. Of special local interest is a provision that deals with reciprocity agreements with other states. Governor Tom Vilsack has proposed severing the state's current agreement with Illinois that allows people who work in one state but reside in the other to file their income taxes where they live, a change that he claims will net Iowa $16 million. Political and business leaders fear that without the agreement, companies will choose to locate in Illinois, which generally has lower income taxes. On January 31, the Iowa House added an amendment to House File 2116 that would require legislative approval for the State of Iowa to make or break reciprocal income-tax agreements with other states. With bipartisan support, the bill passed last week and would require that all reciprocity agreements remain intact unless changed by the legislature. Passage of the bill sends it back to the House, but the legislation would need the governor's signature before becoming law.
• Applications are now being accepted for visual-arts grants from the Isabel Bloom Art Education Fund, established by Isabel Bloom, L.L.C., through the Community Foundation of the Great River Bend, to honor the memory of the sculptor. The fund provides extra financial support to the visual-arts programs within the primary and secondary schools of Scott and Rock Island counties, and is intended to further the education of local children and art instructors and foster greater appreciation of the visual arts. All 2002 grant applications must be at the foundation office or postmarked by April 15. If you have any questions, contact the Community Foundation of the Great River Bend at (563)326-2840. Information about the Isabel Bloom Art Education Fund also is available at the foundation Web site: (http://www.cfgrb.org.)
• The Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) filed suit on March 14 against the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) seeking the expedited release of documents concerning proposed air-travel security systems. EPIC asserts in the lawsuit that the potential privacy implications of such proposals require full and informed public debate on the design of security systems. Noting the privacy issues surrounding these initiatives and the substantial public interest in security matters, EPIC requested "expedited processing" of its requests - a procedure Congress mandated in 1996 to hasten the disclosure of information concerning matters of "current exigency to the American public." Despite a legal requirement to render a decision on an expedition request within 10 days, DOT never responded to EPIC's request. EPIC says it does not question the need for effective air-travel security but believes that there is no reason to develop these procedures under a shroud of secrecy. The public has a significant interest in the design of new security systems and ensuring that privacy rights are respected. You can see a copy of the lawsuit at (http://www.epic.org/open_gov/foia/DOT_complaint.pdf).
• The American Psychiatric Association (APA) presented U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) with the Doubling Award during the recent APA 2002 Academic Consortium meeting. Harkin is now serving his third term and chairs the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health & Human Services & Education. The APA Academic Consortium Doubling Award was established last year to recognize legislative support for federal funding of biomedical and behavioral research at the National Institutes of Health.
• American Trans Air (ATA) will have 34 weekly flights between Chicago's Midway Airport and the Quad Cities International Airport through Chicago Express Airlines, starting May 28. Sunday through Friday, ATA will offer five flights a day, with four flights to be offered on Saturdays. These flights will be geared toward business customers. ATA added seven gates at the newly renovated Midway last month.
• The City of Bettendorf is offering free yard-waste collection April 1 through April 12, so yard-waste stickers are not required on yard-waste bags during this period. Free leaf drop-off under the I-74 Bridge has been scheduled for April 6 and 13, 8:00 a.m. to 1 p.m. And from April 1 through 14, residents may take their yard waste to the Davenport Compost Facility free of charge.
• The Eastern Iowa Industrial Center, located at the intersection of I-80 and Northwest Boulevard, will be getting its first major private project with the construction of distribution center for Deere & Company. The $18 million, 556,000-square-foot storage and distribution facility will be built by Ryan Companies, leased by Deere & Company, and occupied and managed by Quad City Consolidation & Distribution. Groundbreaking will take place April 15, with completion slated for the end of the year. Taxpayers will subsidize the project by approximately $380,000 a year for the next 15 years; of the $630,000 property-tax bill, taxing bodies will receive only $250,000, with the rest rebated to Ryan.
• Mercer County, Illinois, memory-loss patients and their caregivers will have access to support services thanks to a grant received last fall by the Robert Young Center Memory Clinic. The funds, which are made available through the federal Administration on Aging and the Illinois Department of Public Health, allow Memory Clinic personnel to identify and refer those rural families who are not currently receiving support services to the Rural Alzheimer's Disease Demonstration Project. It gives the center the opportunity to connect them with the Mercer County services they need. To learn more, call the Robert Young Center at (309)779-2555.
