Of Muscatine County
Making Democracy Work
Election Day is fast approaching! November 8 is just a month away. The League of Women Voters of Muscatine County's actions in the community offer voter registration and candidate forums.
Muscatine County candidates spoke on September 20. The public heard from Auditor Leslie Soule, candidates running for Sheriff C. J. Ryan and Michael Channon, and those running for the Muscatine County Board of Supervisors Scott Sauer and Nathan Reichert, and Kas Kelly and Nathan Mather.
On October 4 voters will hear from candidates to the Iowa House and Senate. The candidates planning to attend are Bobby Kaufmann, Gary Carlson, Phil Weise, Ryan Drew, Chris Brase, Mark Lofgren, and Tom Courtney.
Our voter service includes registering voters. This year League partnered with League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) to register voters at Wal Mart, Hy Vee Mainstreet, Fareway, and the International Festival. Our efforts also included back to school registration at MCC. I want to thank Susan Cory, Jean Clark, Paula Stover, Mel Steckel, Ann Mayes, and Debbie Paulson for their work.
LWV Muscatine County is collaborating with Leagues in Johnson County and Ottumwa, and the Johnson County Task Force on Aging to sponsor a forum for the US 2nd Congressional District with Dave Loebsack and Dr. Christopher Peters. The forum will be held on October 10, 2-3:30, at the Coralville Public Library.
David Osterberg will speak about Iowa's at 7 p.m. on November 29, 2016 Muscatine County Community College’s McAvoy Center 1400 block of Park Avenue.
Our featured speaker, David Osterberg, has a long career in the field of environmental health and environmental quality. He is a professor in the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health at the University of Iowa.
His talk, “Can Voluntary Action Bring Adequate Water Quality,” will address the 2013 Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy which is a plan conceived to improve Iowa’s streams and lakes and address the large dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico. The strategy imposes mandatory action in urban areas (improved sewage treatment plants) but depends on the agricultural sector to voluntarily change practices. What evidence exists that it can work?
In addition to his work at the University of Iowa, Osterberg is the founder and past executive director of the Iowa Policy Project, a non-profit policy research organization. Osterberg remains active at the non-profit in water quality and energy policy research and has published widely on Iowa environmental issues. He received his bachelor’s degree in economics from Washington State University, and master’s in water resources management, economics and agricultural economics, all from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. From 1983 to 1994, Osterberg served in the Iowa House of Representatives, serving as chairman of the Committee on Agriculture and the Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection.
More Water – Upper Mississippi River Region Inter-League Organization (UMRR ILO)
Watershed Game Training!
Local Leagues in our ILO are invited to sponsor watershed education events with community groups such as city councils, and other civic groups using the Watershed Game. UMRR ILO member Leagues are urged to send a representative to training so they can run the Watershed Games on their own. Thanks to LWV Jo Daviess, training will be offered in lovely Galena, Illinois, on October 24, which is the first anniversary of the ILO’s official launch. What a fitting way to celebrate! The training is being held at the DeSoto House Hotel in historic Galena, IL. The cost of the training is only $25, to cover food costs.
Laugh a Little
Riverside Theatre offers LWV members a discount for production of ‘The Taming.’ Call Sue Johannsen by October 20 if you are interested.
Riverside Theatre, 213 N. Gilbert St. in Iowa City, is offering League of Women Voters members a special group rate of $25 per ticket to the production of “The Taming” which runs from Friday, Oct. 28 through Sunday, Nov. 13. “What happens when a conservative senatorial aide, a liberal political activist and a newly-crowned Miss Georgia walk into a bar? The results are hilarious, but this play is no joke. Lauren Gunderson’s THE TAMING takes on America’s overheated political rhetoric, some surprising truths about our founding fathers, and the passions of three slightly insane women who just might be revolutionary geniuses.” To go to Riverside Theatre website use https://goo.gl/tVHS2r
Community Read
League's choice for Community Read will be The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. Pick up this timely and extraordinary book and get started now. Discussion will be February 28, 2017.
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