01
Apr
2003
• Renovation has started on the Great River Plaza, covering Second Avenue from 17th to 19th streets in downtown Rock Island. The Plaza was constructed in 1978 and has not had any major renovations since. The east block of the Great River Plaza will be re-constructed in two phases, with work finished by early summer. The west block will be turned into a normal street that can be closed for weekends and special events. Parallel parking will be available on the north side of the street, and angle parking on the south side. New electrical services, historic streetlights, and extensive landscaping will be included. A staging area for the Lloyd Schoeneman memorial public artwork will also be created. Work on that portion of the plaza should be complete by mid-summer.
• Endow Iowa, a new philanthropic/economic-development proposal before the Iowa legislature this session, has the support of the Community Foundation of the Great River Bend. Developed by the Iowa Council of Foundations, Endow Iowa would enable community leaders to use philanthropy as a catalyst to build endowment funds and improve quality of life. Endow Iowa has two main components: a seed-grant program that would allow communities to apply for $25,000 in matching funds to establish an endowment fund; and a tax-credit element that would provide donors a credit against their Iowa taxes for investing in a qualified endowment fund. To learn more about Endow Iowa, visit the Iowa Council of Foundations' Web site at (http://www.iowacounciloffoundations.org).
• U.S. Senators Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) co-sponsored bipartisan legislation with 20 senators that would help meet the increasing demand for broadcast captioning and communication access real-time translation (CART) services by millions of Americans. The Training for Real-time Writers Act seeks $60 million over three years to train real-time writers to meet the captioning and CART requirements established by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Similar legislation was recently introduced in the House of Representatives with 47 co-sponsors, including Representatives Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa) and Jim Leach (R-Iowa). The funds from the Training for Real-time Writers Act would benefit approximately 100 million Americans.
• The Putnam Museum is seeking nominations for its Fifth Annual Environmental Stewardship Award that recognizes an individual, organization, or business that can serve as a model for protecting and caring for the environment in the Quad Cities region. The Putnam Environmental Stewardship Award was established in April 1999 at the opening of the museum exhibit hall Black Earth, Big River. The first recipient of the award was river-cleanup activist Chad Pregracke. The museum will announce the recipient later this spring. Nominations can be mailed to the Putnam Museum at 1717 W. 12th St., Davenport, IA 52804, faxed to (563)324-6638, or e-mailed to (museum@putnam.org). The deadline for nominations is April 28.
• Judicial Watch, a conservative public-interest group that investigates government corruption, reports that it has served a subpoena for testimony and documents on Mohammed Al-Douri, who serves as Saddam Hussein's ambassador to the United Nations. Judicial Watch is suing Iraq for victims of the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Murrah building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The suit alleges Iraqi government involvement in the conspiracy with Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols to blow up the building. Judicial Watch believes Al-Douri has information concerning not only the Murrah-building bombing but also the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. A copy of the complaint and more information about Judicial Watch is available on the Internet at (http://www.judicialwatch.org).
• In a legal memorandum filed with the federal court in Washington, D.C., on March 21, Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), joined by library and booksellers' organizations, challenged the Justice Department's refusal to disclose basic statistical information concerning implementation of the controversial USA PATRIOT Act. The groups argue that the withheld information is critical to the public's ability to evaluate the new surveillance powers and to determine whether further expansion of the government's surveillance authority is warranted. FBI documents that have been obtained through the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit reveal that the bureau is aggressively using a sweeping power that - without the approval of a judge - allows the government to force banks, Internet service providers, telephone companies, and credit agencies to turn over their customers' records. The legal memorandum is available at (http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/usapatriot/foia/sj-memo.pdf). Information on the litigation, including copies of documents that have been released, is available at (http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/usapatriot/foia/).
• The Quad City Symphony Orchestra Association Board of Trustees has approved an extension of the contract with its music director, Donald Schleicher, through the 2005-6 season. Schleicher, who completes his fourth session with the orchestra this spring, will continue to conduct 10 classical concerts and the Riverfront Pops show, and will provide artistic guidance for all orchestra and chamber-music performances as well as the organization's eight music programs. In addition to his Quad Cities responsibilities, Schleicher is currently director of orchestra studies at the University of Illinois, where he leads the graduate program in orchestra conduction. You can keep track of what the Quad City Symphony is up to at its Web site at (http://www.qcsymphony.com).
• Staying on top of the Iowa Legislature can sometimes be difficult, as a large number of bills are debated during any given week. Naturally the Internet has a solution. For bills to be debated in the Iowa House, look at (http://www.legis.state.ia.us/Current/HDD.html). Senate bills can be found at (http://www.legis.state.ia.us/Current/SDD.html). You can see what bills will be debated, who sponsored them, the bills they were derived from, and the actual text of the bills.
• Endow Iowa, a new philanthropic/economic-development proposal before the Iowa legislature this session, has the support of the Community Foundation of the Great River Bend. Developed by the Iowa Council of Foundations, Endow Iowa would enable community leaders to use philanthropy as a catalyst to build endowment funds and improve quality of life. Endow Iowa has two main components: a seed-grant program that would allow communities to apply for $25,000 in matching funds to establish an endowment fund; and a tax-credit element that would provide donors a credit against their Iowa taxes for investing in a qualified endowment fund. To learn more about Endow Iowa, visit the Iowa Council of Foundations' Web site at (http://www.iowacounciloffoundations.org).
• U.S. Senators Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) co-sponsored bipartisan legislation with 20 senators that would help meet the increasing demand for broadcast captioning and communication access real-time translation (CART) services by millions of Americans. The Training for Real-time Writers Act seeks $60 million over three years to train real-time writers to meet the captioning and CART requirements established by the Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Similar legislation was recently introduced in the House of Representatives with 47 co-sponsors, including Representatives Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa) and Jim Leach (R-Iowa). The funds from the Training for Real-time Writers Act would benefit approximately 100 million Americans.
• The Putnam Museum is seeking nominations for its Fifth Annual Environmental Stewardship Award that recognizes an individual, organization, or business that can serve as a model for protecting and caring for the environment in the Quad Cities region. The Putnam Environmental Stewardship Award was established in April 1999 at the opening of the museum exhibit hall Black Earth, Big River. The first recipient of the award was river-cleanup activist Chad Pregracke. The museum will announce the recipient later this spring. Nominations can be mailed to the Putnam Museum at 1717 W. 12th St., Davenport, IA 52804, faxed to (563)324-6638, or e-mailed to (museum@putnam.org). The deadline for nominations is April 28.
• Judicial Watch, a conservative public-interest group that investigates government corruption, reports that it has served a subpoena for testimony and documents on Mohammed Al-Douri, who serves as Saddam Hussein's ambassador to the United Nations. Judicial Watch is suing Iraq for victims of the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Murrah building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The suit alleges Iraqi government involvement in the conspiracy with Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols to blow up the building. Judicial Watch believes Al-Douri has information concerning not only the Murrah-building bombing but also the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. A copy of the complaint and more information about Judicial Watch is available on the Internet at (http://www.judicialwatch.org).
• In a legal memorandum filed with the federal court in Washington, D.C., on March 21, Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), joined by library and booksellers' organizations, challenged the Justice Department's refusal to disclose basic statistical information concerning implementation of the controversial USA PATRIOT Act. The groups argue that the withheld information is critical to the public's ability to evaluate the new surveillance powers and to determine whether further expansion of the government's surveillance authority is warranted. FBI documents that have been obtained through the Freedom of Information Act lawsuit reveal that the bureau is aggressively using a sweeping power that - without the approval of a judge - allows the government to force banks, Internet service providers, telephone companies, and credit agencies to turn over their customers' records. The legal memorandum is available at (http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/usapatriot/foia/sj-memo.pdf). Information on the litigation, including copies of documents that have been released, is available at (http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/usapatriot/foia/).
• The Quad City Symphony Orchestra Association Board of Trustees has approved an extension of the contract with its music director, Donald Schleicher, through the 2005-6 season. Schleicher, who completes his fourth session with the orchestra this spring, will continue to conduct 10 classical concerts and the Riverfront Pops show, and will provide artistic guidance for all orchestra and chamber-music performances as well as the organization's eight music programs. In addition to his Quad Cities responsibilities, Schleicher is currently director of orchestra studies at the University of Illinois, where he leads the graduate program in orchestra conduction. You can keep track of what the Quad City Symphony is up to at its Web site at (http://www.qcsymphony.com).
• Staying on top of the Iowa Legislature can sometimes be difficult, as a large number of bills are debated during any given week. Naturally the Internet has a solution. For bills to be debated in the Iowa House, look at (http://www.legis.state.ia.us/Current/HDD.html). Senate bills can be found at (http://www.legis.state.ia.us/Current/SDD.html). You can see what bills will be debated, who sponsored them, the bills they were derived from, and the actual text of the bills.
