• The City of Rock Island has received a $1.9-million Lead Hazard Control grant from the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development. Funds will be used to reduce lead hazards in 140 privately held homes over a three-year period. The grant will also provide funding to support prevention and education initiatives making citizens more aware of the dangers of exposure to lead in their homes. Rock Island is partnering with the City of Moline, Project NOW, Rock Island Economic Growth Corporation, and the Rock Island County Health Department to implement the program. The City of Rock Island had made three previously unsuccessful attempts at this extremely competitive grant. Only 31 cities in the nation received Lead Hazard Control grant funding in this round, with one other Illinois community - Chicago - also receiving funds.

• Donna Bushek, Davenport's Ward 2 alderman, has donated two art sculptures, valued at $5,000, to the city's Fairmount Branch Library, which is scheduled to open January 14. Both sculptures are by Kristin Garnant of Camanche, Iowa. Turning Point will be placed in the Memorial Garden at the front of the building. The other sculpture will be placed in front of the book-return and pick-up window. The sculptures will be placed once the site is prepared after the building construction. At a recent city-council meeting, Alderman Roxanna Moritz donated $2,500 of her ward's beautification funds for the Fairmount branch and challenged other council members to do the same.

• The Iowa Coalition Against Sexual Assault (Iowa CASA) has received $1.3 million from the U.S. Department of Justice's Office on Violence Against Women. The funding will help Iowa CASA with two projects: assisting rape-crisis centers serve survivors and implementing its National Resource Sharing Project. Iowa CASA received $1.2 million to help support the National Resource Sharing Project, which will provide training and technical assistance to 54 sexual-assault coalitions throughout the United States and four territories. The remaining $85,000 will be used to help support training and technical assistance efforts for Iowa rape-crisis centers. Each year, more than 198,850 people are sexually assaulted. Sexual-assault coalitions in every state help more than 1,250 rape-crisis centers nationwide support survivors.

• Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa's 45th annual fall book sale drew nearly 9,000 customers and raised more than $240,000 during its 10-day run. Proceeds from the book sales support the expansion of education and community-outreach programs within the communities served by the agency. Areas recently devastated by Hurricane Katrina will also benefit from Planned Parenthood's year-round book donations. Among the valuable items lost to the hurricane were thousands of library books, many of which are no longer in print. Iowa's former state librarian now works in Mississippi and is helping coordinate the shipment of hundreds of leftover books to the hurricane-ravaged state.

• The Black Hawk College Jazz Combo will host a jazz jam session every Tuesday evening from 7 to 9 p.m. at Mojo's coffee house in the River Music Experience, located at 131 West Second Street in Davenport. A variety of jazz styles will be played, including bebop, jazz standards, Latin jazz, and funk. Experienced jazz musicians are welcome to bring instruments and sit in with the band on invitation. Admission is free, but donations will be accepted for the Black Hawk College Jazz Society and the River Music Experience. For more information, contact Edgar Crockett at (crockette@bhc.edu) or call (309)796-5479.

• The Quad Cities/East Central Iowa Chapter of Project Linus (a nationwide program with 357 chapters in 50 states) presented 50 security blankets to the American Red Cross at the United Way of the Quad Cities area office. The new, homemade, washable blankets will be given to children who have experienced a tragedy, are hurricane victims, or are from families that are simply unable to afford a blanket on their own. Project Linus has been collecting and making blankets for children since 1995 and has donated more than 22,000 to hurricane victims nationally. Locally, the organization plans to donate roughly 50 more blankets to the American Red Cross to help children affected by house fires or Hurricane Katrina. If you would like to donate a homemade blanket or materials to make a blanket to Project Linus, contact Karen Brix at (563)847-2300 or at (sixbrix@gmtel.net.)

• As it's done for several years, the Muscular Dystrophy Association will provide free flu shots to people with any of more than 40 neuromuscular diseases in the association's program. Influenza is much riskier for anyone who has a progressive neuromuscular disease that damages the muscles responsible for lung function. It's particularly dangerous for those with muscular dystrophy, spinal muscular atrophy, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (Lou Gehrig's disease). For more information about obtaining a free flu shot for someone with a neuromuscular disease, call the MDA office at (563)359-5181 or visit (http://www.mdausa.org).

• The Bi-State Literacy Council is now accepting applications for its fall round of funding requests for grants to literacy programs. Requests may range from $100 to $500. The application is available online on the new Bi-State Literacy Council Web site at (http://bistateliteracy.org) under "Grants & Awards." Applications may be mailed to Bi-State Literacy Council, PO Box 1602, Bettendorf IA 52722. If you are unable to download the application from the Web site, call Dave Layton at (309)793-4425 to obtain a form. The deadline for applications is October 31.

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