• At its annual meeting last week, the Quad City Development Group launched a new marketing campaign and theme for the Quad Cities. The "Engineered for Success" regional theme is meant to "attract high-wage, high-value business investments," according to a press release. The new marketing strategy targets four industries that the Quad City Development Group has identified as ripe for growth in this area: financial services and information technology; food processing and packaging; logistics, distribution, and warehousing; and advanced manufacturing. The campaign includes several marketing messages, all playing off the word "engineered" and focusing on Quad Cities strengths, such as quality of life and central location.
• Students from Davenport's Central High Culinary Arts program - also known as ProStart - chopped, stirred and sautéed their way to a first place finish at the ProStart State Invitational event in Des Moines recently. The event is sponsored by the Iowa Hospitality Association and Martin Brothers. The team now advances to the National ProStart Invitational in Orlando, Florida, at the end of April. In the culinary competition, teams had to demonstrate their creative abilities through the preparation of a multi-course meal. They also had to demonstrate their knowledge of the restaurant and food-service industry in a case study and by correctly answering questions in a quiz competition. The students have been working since the beginning of the year on their skills. The ProStart program is a two-year curriculum. Central has the advantage of working with a local professionally trained chef on an ongoing basis throughout the year. The chef helps them with menu selection, food preparation, and presentation techniques - but students are on their own at the competition. More than 40,000 students nationwide are enrolled in the ProStart program.
• The United Spinal Association, a not-for-profit veterans service and disability-rights group, has announced the publication of "Fire Safety for Wheelchair Users at Work & at Home." This 12-page booklet can be read or downloaded at (http://www.unitedspinal.org). Single free copies of "Fire Safety for Wheelchair Users at Work & at Home" can also be ordered at the association Web site or by telephone at (800)444-0120. The booklet replaces and updates a United Spinal Association pamphlet titled "Wheeling to Fire Safety." The association distributed more than 200,000 copies of "Wheeling to Fire Safety" since its initial publication in 1976. As its title suggests, "Fire Safety for Wheelchair Users" includes important information about fire-safety design features in office buildings and other places of employment. The incorporation of such elements can make exiting a public building in the event of an emergency easier for disabled persons and firefighters.
• Iowa is receiving $3 million in emergency relief funds from the Department of Transportation (DOT) for highway and bridge damage caused by severe storms in May and June of 2004. From May 19, 2004, through June 24, 2004, Iowa experienced severe storms, with heavy rains, flooding, hail, tornadoes, and intense winds causing damage to several elements of the federal-aid highway system. These funds are awarded to a state after the president or the governor issues a formal emergency declaration and the state files a request for emergency relief for the cost of damages to its eligible highways. Eligible repair work includes emergency repairs needed to restore essential traffic, minimize the extent of damage, and protect the remaining facilities, as well as permanent repairs necessary to restore the highway to its pre-disaster condition.
• The Iowa Senate Transportation Committee last week approved legislation that would require the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) to send out driver's license renewal notices. According to the DOT, approximately 8 percent of Iowa drivers have to be re-tested each year because they miss the deadline for renewing their licenses. DOT officials say that while mailing out reminders would cost about $150,000 a year, the department would save money in the long run by not having to conduct as many re-tests. In addition, more Iowans would have a valid ID when they travel.
• U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) joined with Senators Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota) and Gordon Smith (R-Oregon) in co-sponsoring legislation to extend tax credits to facilities generating electricity from renewable resources, such as wind, solar power, and biomass. Known as the "renewable energy production tax credit," or "PTC," the law allows facilities that are operational by January 1, 2006, to receive a 1.8-cent tax credit for every kilowatt of electricity generated. Each facility can receive this tax credit for up to 10 years. Under current law, the PTC will expire on January 1, 2006. The legislation Harkin is co-sponsoring would extend the PTC until January 1, 2011. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources states that the more than 400 wind-power sites across the state produce enough electricity to power more than 130,000 homes. The Iowa DNR also estimates that Iowa has the potential to produce nearly five times its own annual electric consumption through wind power.
• The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Quad Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau are co-sponsoring the inaugural Quad Cities Pelican Watch at Lock & Dam 14, in Pleasant Valley, Iowa, from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, April 2, and from 1 to 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 3.The American White Pelican has been migrating upriver on the Mississippi River for the past decade and during the last four years, hundreds of the birds have begun stopping and resting on the river in the Quad Cities. Park rangers will staff the Pelican Watch, will provide spotting scopes, and will answer questions about the bird. The Smith's Island Nature Trail will also be open for hiking and nature exploration. For more information, call the Mississippi River Visitors Center at (309)794-5338.
• The Mississippi Valley Writers Colony is offering an opportunity for poets and short prose writers to produce published collections of their work. Bill Hannan, Moline artist and book designer, will lead a chapbook workshop in two sessions, from 9 a.m. to noon on April 2 and 9 in the Craft Room at Butterworth Center in Moline. Class size is limited to 15 participants. Registration is required. For more information, call (309)786-3406 or e-mail (mvwc@qconline.com).
• Students from Davenport's Central High Culinary Arts program - also known as ProStart - chopped, stirred and sautéed their way to a first place finish at the ProStart State Invitational event in Des Moines recently. The event is sponsored by the Iowa Hospitality Association and Martin Brothers. The team now advances to the National ProStart Invitational in Orlando, Florida, at the end of April. In the culinary competition, teams had to demonstrate their creative abilities through the preparation of a multi-course meal. They also had to demonstrate their knowledge of the restaurant and food-service industry in a case study and by correctly answering questions in a quiz competition. The students have been working since the beginning of the year on their skills. The ProStart program is a two-year curriculum. Central has the advantage of working with a local professionally trained chef on an ongoing basis throughout the year. The chef helps them with menu selection, food preparation, and presentation techniques - but students are on their own at the competition. More than 40,000 students nationwide are enrolled in the ProStart program.
• The United Spinal Association, a not-for-profit veterans service and disability-rights group, has announced the publication of "Fire Safety for Wheelchair Users at Work & at Home." This 12-page booklet can be read or downloaded at (http://www.unitedspinal.org). Single free copies of "Fire Safety for Wheelchair Users at Work & at Home" can also be ordered at the association Web site or by telephone at (800)444-0120. The booklet replaces and updates a United Spinal Association pamphlet titled "Wheeling to Fire Safety." The association distributed more than 200,000 copies of "Wheeling to Fire Safety" since its initial publication in 1976. As its title suggests, "Fire Safety for Wheelchair Users" includes important information about fire-safety design features in office buildings and other places of employment. The incorporation of such elements can make exiting a public building in the event of an emergency easier for disabled persons and firefighters.
• Iowa is receiving $3 million in emergency relief funds from the Department of Transportation (DOT) for highway and bridge damage caused by severe storms in May and June of 2004. From May 19, 2004, through June 24, 2004, Iowa experienced severe storms, with heavy rains, flooding, hail, tornadoes, and intense winds causing damage to several elements of the federal-aid highway system. These funds are awarded to a state after the president or the governor issues a formal emergency declaration and the state files a request for emergency relief for the cost of damages to its eligible highways. Eligible repair work includes emergency repairs needed to restore essential traffic, minimize the extent of damage, and protect the remaining facilities, as well as permanent repairs necessary to restore the highway to its pre-disaster condition.
• The Iowa Senate Transportation Committee last week approved legislation that would require the Iowa Department of Transportation (DOT) to send out driver's license renewal notices. According to the DOT, approximately 8 percent of Iowa drivers have to be re-tested each year because they miss the deadline for renewing their licenses. DOT officials say that while mailing out reminders would cost about $150,000 a year, the department would save money in the long run by not having to conduct as many re-tests. In addition, more Iowans would have a valid ID when they travel.
• U.S. Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) joined with Senators Byron Dorgan (D-North Dakota) and Gordon Smith (R-Oregon) in co-sponsoring legislation to extend tax credits to facilities generating electricity from renewable resources, such as wind, solar power, and biomass. Known as the "renewable energy production tax credit," or "PTC," the law allows facilities that are operational by January 1, 2006, to receive a 1.8-cent tax credit for every kilowatt of electricity generated. Each facility can receive this tax credit for up to 10 years. Under current law, the PTC will expire on January 1, 2006. The legislation Harkin is co-sponsoring would extend the PTC until January 1, 2011. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources states that the more than 400 wind-power sites across the state produce enough electricity to power more than 130,000 homes. The Iowa DNR also estimates that Iowa has the potential to produce nearly five times its own annual electric consumption through wind power.
• The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Quad Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau are co-sponsoring the inaugural Quad Cities Pelican Watch at Lock & Dam 14, in Pleasant Valley, Iowa, from 10 a.m. to noon on Saturday, April 2, and from 1 to 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 3.The American White Pelican has been migrating upriver on the Mississippi River for the past decade and during the last four years, hundreds of the birds have begun stopping and resting on the river in the Quad Cities. Park rangers will staff the Pelican Watch, will provide spotting scopes, and will answer questions about the bird. The Smith's Island Nature Trail will also be open for hiking and nature exploration. For more information, call the Mississippi River Visitors Center at (309)794-5338.
• The Mississippi Valley Writers Colony is offering an opportunity for poets and short prose writers to produce published collections of their work. Bill Hannan, Moline artist and book designer, will lead a chapbook workshop in two sessions, from 9 a.m. to noon on April 2 and 9 in the Craft Room at Butterworth Center in Moline. Class size is limited to 15 participants. Registration is required. For more information, call (309)786-3406 or e-mail (mvwc@qconline.com).
