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Thursday, September 16
Iowa Schools Get F in Affordability
by
Linda Thieman
on Thu 16 Sep 2004 06:01 PM CDT
 Iowa Schools Get F in Affordability
Waterloo-Cedar Fall Courier
DES
MOINES - Iowa public universities received an "F" in affordability, one
of 36 states to receive a failing grade, according to a report issued
Wednesday.
"It's a
direct result of the actions of the Iowa Legislature," Regent David
Neil of La Porte City said. "We've been trying to maintain the quality
of education, and we have pushed students to the end with that. We
can't do it anymore."
"Measuring
Up 2004," released by the nonprofit National Center for Public Policy
and Higher Education, says many Iowa families are struggling to afford
a college education.
According
to the report, 28 percent of family incomes are needed to pay for a
public four-year university in Iowa, up from 18 percent a decade ago.
Meanwhile, the state's poorest students devote 36 percent of their
family incomes to attend a community college after financial aid is
factored in, the report says.
Iowa ... got a "C-minus" in 2002 and a "B" in 2000.
Tuition
and fees at Iowa public universities have increased 71 percent in the
past five years to an average $5,403 this school year. Costs rose 42
percent at community colleges during the same period and now average
$2,754.
(Click here to read the complete article.)
Call Congress Now to Protect Our Votes
by
Linda Thieman
on Thu 16 Sep 2004 12:33 PM CDT
 Call Congress Now to Protect Our Votes
MoveOn.org
With
just a few weeks left until Election Day, it's increasingly urgent that
Congress act now to ensure that we all have a chance to vote on Voter
Verified Paper Ballots.
Members
of Congress will only be in Washington for a couple of weeks before
leaving to hit the campaign trail. We've got to demand immediate action
on a key federal bill that would require paper ballots: the Senate bill
S.2437, sponsored by Sen. John Ensign (R-NV).
Please call our Senators now:
Senator Tom Harkin
Washington, DC: 202-224-3254
Senator Charles E. Grassley
Washington, DC: 202-224-3744
Urge our Senators to:
"Please co-sponsor Senator Ensign's 'Voting Integrity and Verification Act,' S.2437."
The
evidence is overwhelming: electronic voting terminals are susceptible
to manipulation before and after voting. If they malfunction, votes may
be lost irretrievably. That's why we should be able to verify our votes
on secure paper ballots that can be counted and re-counted.
The
Senate bill above would require that all electronic voting systems
provide a Voter-Verified Paper Ballot, and would make the paper ballot
the official ballot of record. Ensign's Senate bill would do this by
2006.
Even a
2006 deadline will help convince state election officials that they
shouldn't buy electronic voting terminals this year or next unless they
produce Voter-Verified Paper Ballots.
We deserve the most reliable and trustworthy voting systems available anywhere. Please make these calls today.
Thank you, for all you do.
Peter Schurman
MoveOn.org
Iowa: Lessons in Wind Power
by
Linda Thieman
on Thu 16 Sep 2004 09:46 AM CDT
 Lessons in Wind Power
Iowa Policy Project
ESTHERVILLE,
Iowa - Wind-power pioneers in education held the attention Wednesday of
renewable energy advocates touring four Midwestern states on bicycles.
The
Wednesday leg of the six-day Green Bike Tour 2004 opened at Iowa Lakes
Community College, where riders met with 15 students from Iowa and
other states who are in a program for wind-machine maintenance.
"This
may be the only college in the nation doing this type of program," said
David Osterberg, executive director of the Iowa Policy Project, which
is sponsoring the Green Bike Tour with the Minnesota-based League of
Rural Voters. The riders toured the Iowa Lakes facility, where a
new turbine is going up.
"The
community college will be producing wind power and selling it back to
the city, an example of how you can put everything together in a
moderate-sized town," Osterberg said. "It's local economic development.
It's value-added. It's what we want to see happen."
The tour
began Monday in South Dakota and Minnesota, moving to Iowa on Tuesday
with stops in both Iowa and Minnesota on Wednesday. By Saturday, the
riders wind up in Wisconsin, having seen several more examples of
renewable-energy development in the Midwest. As part of their effort to
show off sustainable energy technologies, three riders use bicycles
that carry solar panels to produce electricity.
After
visiting the wind turbine site near Estherville, the bicyclists went on
to Fairmount, Minnesota, and returned to Iowa in late afternoon, to a
stop at Lake Mills and on to the Top of Iowa wind farm near Joice
which a similar group visited in 2002 in a northern Iowa tour.
(Source: Iowa Policy Project)
Fresh Promises for Rural Iowa
by
Linda Thieman
on Thu 16 Sep 2004 04:33 AM CDT
 Fresh Promises for Rural Iowa
Center for Rural Affairs
Presenting strategies and practices that are helping to revitalize rural communities
Swaledale Bio-Village – Business in rural Iowa using available resources ...
Rural
communities face challenges in keeping their small towns alive and
vital. State spending cuts, school consolidations, and more affect
small cities daily. To combat the challenges facing their community,
several leaders from Swaledale, Iowa are working together to help their
town reverse a downward trend and begin to grow.
Swaledale,
population 174, has no grocery store or gas station. Through town
meetings held in June 2003, a committee of concerned citizens developed
a concept to draw people and businesses to their community. John Drury,
former Swaledale mayor, and a team of community members developed an
idea for a bio- and regular fuel gas station, certified kitchen, and
Iowa products store and restaurant called the Swaledale Bio-Village.
The
Bio-Village, located near the I-35 Interstate, will sell both unleaded
and diesel fuel, bio-diesel fuel made from soybeans, and up to 85
percent ethanol fuel. The Swaledale Bio-Village will also offer a
certified kitchen for people with a food product they would like to
sell in a retail store.
The
certified kitchen will serve as a business incubator, allowing cooks to
turn their small-scale food processing into a business. Retail stores
wishing to sell “home grown” products are limited to products prepared
in a regulated environment. A certified kitchen meets these legal
requirements.
Drury
explained, “If someone from North Iowa grows a lot of tomatoes and
makes salsa or spaghetti sauce, they cannot sell their product in
stores. When the product is produced in a certified kitchen, it can be
offered in a retail environment.”
(Source)
To learn more about Dean Dozen candidate John Drury, Democrat for Iowa Senate in District 6, North Iowa, click here. To contribute to his campaign, click here.
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