Below are some examples of some of the colored covers and black and white interior editorial illustrations created by me between 2000 and 2003 for the River Cities’ Reader – an independent weekly tabloid newspaper published in Davenport Iowa.
Pet-first-aid class editorial
The American Red Cross of the Quad Cities Area, the Quad City Animal Welfare Center, and Petco have teamed up to offer a pet-first-aid class for the Quad Cities community. The class is designed to protect both pet owners and their pets from further harm, injury, or suffering during emergencies by teaching prompt, effective actions and care that will safeguard the life of an injured pet...
Privacy Villain Award editorial
The federal government earned the Privacy Villain of the Week award from the National Consumers Coalition Privacy Group (http://www.nccprivacy.org) because of sloppy protection of Social Security Numbers (SSNs) and other confidential data. The award was given based on a report from the U.S. Senate that can be found at (http://govtaff.senate.gov/031103prescouncilrpt.pdf). All but one of the 15 agencies participating in the study lacked adequate security controls over private contractors' access to and use of SSNs; private contractors kept personal-identification information in unlocked cabinets, in storage rooms, and on desktops after working hours; nine agencies had inadequate controls over SSNs stored on computers; two federal agencies even had poor controls over non-government and/or non-contractor access to SSNs.
National Credit Report editorial
Millions of Americans might pay more for their home loans and insurance, and might be denied other opportunities, because of errors or inconsistencies in credit scores, according to a new report written by the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) and the National Credit Reporting Association (NCRA)...
Broadcast captioning editorial
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.
Porker of the Month editorial
Citizens Against Government Waste has announced Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) as its April 2003 Porker of the Month for adding $98 million infunding for an Ames agricultural-research station to President Bush's request for supplemental war funding for operations in Iraq and for homelandsecurity. According to Harkin, these funds are crucial to combat bioterrorism in the form of animal diseases. The Citizens Against Government Waste is an interesting group, and its Web page at (http://www.cagw.org/) contains a great deal of documentation on the wastes of our government.
Green Party Iraq war protest editorial
More than 150 buses from across the country will be going to a January 18 event in Washington, D.C., protesting a possible war with Iraq. Green Party members from Des Moines, Iowa City, Waterloo, Cedar Falls, Decorah, and other Iowa towns plan to attend. Jay Robinson, a longtime activist in Iowa's peace community and Green candidate for governor of Iowa in 2002, will be among those making the trip...
Habitat ReStore editorial
Habitat ReStore Gets New Look. The Habitat ReStore is now presenting a much improved image to the community, thanks to the work of two young Quad City artists. Earlier this summer, Nancy Foster, a ReStore Director, approached art students employed in the Quad City Arts program. The ReStore director was seeking someone who could draw attention to the store front in an attractive way that was consistent with the Store's mission to divert building materials from the landfill and support Habitat for Humanity-Quad Cities. Jessi Black and Michelle Garrison rose to the challenge. The college students worked with ReStore directors to create and paint a beautiful new design for the store front. To see their work visit the store at 3629 Mississippi Ave., Davenport. Store hours Thurs-Fri 10-5 and Saturday 9-2.
Anti-smoking ordinance editorial
Responding to an appeal by a group of Ames restaurants and truck stops, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled May 7 that Ames couldn't enforce its new anti-smoking ordinance because it reaches beyond state law. The Ames ordinance prohibits restaurant operators from designating smoking areas. According to the Supreme Court ruling, Ames defended its ordinance based upon the home-rule power provided in the Iowa Constitution, but that provision specifies that local governments cannot pass ordinances "inconsistent with the laws of the General Assembly." Iowa's home-rule statute (Iowa Code Chapter 364) echoes the constitution in this regard.
National Drug Control Policy editorial
Taxpayers for Common Sense reports that the White House's Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) has spent more than $1 billion on an anti-drug ad campaign whose only measurable effect has been that the ads might cause some teens to smoke more dope. Despite no evidence that the ads are effective, Congress is about to authorize nearly $1 billion more for ONDCP to burn through in the next five years. The campaign currently spends close to $8 per teenager per year to reach 90 percent of all teens at least four times a week via Internet, print, and broadcast advertising. In November 2002, a government study confirmed that the campaign failed to reduce marijuana use, and might even make some kids more likely to use drugs in the future. Repeated viewing of the ads even caused some teens to think more favorably of drugs. For more on this, see the Taxpayers for Common Sense Web site at (http://www.taxpayer.net).
Public Safety Committee editorial
Legislative attempts aimed at lowering Iowa's legal blood-alcohol level are on the agenda again this year and facing a federal deadline. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted unanimously to lower the limit from .10 to .08 percent, but the Iowa House Public Safety Committee debated the change for more than an hour Thursday before voting 12-9 to send it to the House floor. A federal law requires states to adopt a .08-percent blood-alcohol level by October as the standard for driving while intoxicated. Iowa risks losing $47.2 million in federal road money between 2004 and 2007 if it does not lower its limit...