Friends of the Animal Shelter Foundation sent a letter to City Manager Tom Markus this month, saying that it plans to begin a $1 million capital campaign this summer.

The city is in the design phase for what is estimated to be a 12,225-square-foot, $3 million facility. The city’s old animal shelter was flooded in 2008 and the Iowa City Animal Care and Adoption Center has been working out of a temporary home since then.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has committed $1.4 million toward the shelter, which is to be built on Napoleon Lane on the south side.

A major financial commitment from the Friends of the Animal Shelter Foundation has long been part of the plans for a new facility.

In the letter, the organization said it expects to give the city $200,000 a year for five years, starting in June 2013.

A new retail outlet for Herky's Locker Room is opening this Friday in West Des Moines

Fans and friends of the University of Iowa and the Iowa Hawkeyes living in the central part of the state will no longer need to travel to Iowa City to purchase their black and gold gear. It has been announced that a retail location for the famous Herky’s Locker Room, the official team store of the Iowa Hawkeyes, is opening a second retail outlet in Valley West Mall of West Des Moines Iowa this Friday morning at 10 a.m.

This new store will be roughly half the size of the original Herky’s Locker Room located on U.S. Highway 6 in Coralville just minutes from the UI campus. Filled with approximately 1,000 different pieces of black and gold merchandise, items will vary from lip balm and lanyards, to officially licensed t-shirts, jerseys and hats.

“Thousands of fans of the Hawkeyes call the greater central Iowa home. This new location for Herky’s Locker Room will make it very convenient for these friends of the UI to show their black and gold pride,” said Gary Barta, the UI’s director of athletics.

All proceeds from Herky’s Locker Room, whether it be in Coralville, Des Moines or online, help support the intercollegiate athletic programs at the University of Iowa.

For more information, please visit: http://www.hawkeyesports.com/

To shop online, please visit: http://herkyslockerroom.com/iowahawkeyes/home.php

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Famed satirical writer David Sedaris will be performing at the IMU Main Lounge on November 11th in Iowa City

SCOPE Productions, AEG Live, and Iowa Public Radio have proudly announced a forthcoming show from famed humor writer David Sedaris to take place on Wednesday, November 11th in the IMU Main Lounge.

Known for his immediately recognizable sardonic wit and incisive social critiques, David Sedaris has made a living crafting intelligent and humorous satirical pieces that offer a refreshingly clear observation of the current social condition.

Sedaris is the author of Barrel Fever (1994), Naked (1997), Holidays on Ice (1997), Me Talk Pretty One Day (2000), Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim (2004), and When You Are Engulfed in Flames (2008), all of which have become New York Times Best Sellers. In 2010, Sedaris released an anthropomorphic collection of stories, Squirrel Seeks Chipmunk: A Modest Bestiary.

As of 2008, Sedaris has sold over seven million copies of his books.

General public tickets are now available in the University Box Office, located in the Iowa Memorial Union where students can U-Bill tickets, and all Ticketmaster locations. For additional information regarding SCOPE Productions, please visit http://www.scopeproductions.org.

This year's Iowa Arts Festival is set to take place June 1-3 in downtown Iowa City

Iowa City’s Summer of the Arts is set for its famous Iowa Arts Festival happening June 1-3. Having undergone a variety of changes in styles and events, the focus on arts and culture has remained the same since the festival’s inception. The weekend long, award winning festival features over 125 local and national artists, live music and entertainment on two stages,  a Global Village for kids to learn about other countries and cultures, Children’s Day featuring activities and entertainment geared toward kids, a Culinary Row serving regional and ethnic foods, and new this year an Emerging Artist Area featuring upcoming student artists.

The Iowa Arts Festival kid’s activities are educational and fun, featuring puppets, crafts, music and dance. On Saturday, kids can pick up a passport and tour the Global Village traveling from country to country, all in one day. Families can listen to great music and dance to tunes from all over the world. Children’s Day on Sunday features over 18 booths of hands-on activities, crafts and learning experiences presented by area businesses and groups.

Be sure to come hungry! Culinary Row features local and national food vendors with a global flavor. Roam about munching on some of the area’s best foods from traditional, Indian and African fare to good old fashioned Barbecue.

This year’s festival features an exciting lineup of artists, musicians and food vendors.

For a full schedule of this year’s festival, please visit: http://www.summerofthearts.org/festival-menu/arts-festival/schedule.aspx

Matt Byers helped lead the Hawkeye men to a fifth place finish at the 2012 Big Ten Championships. The women placed eighth.

Three University of Iowa track and field student-athletes won titles today at the 2012 Big Ten Outdoor Track and Field Championships. McKenzie Melander, Matt Byers, and Troy Doris each won gold for the Hawkeyes. Iowa totaled 10 medals in the three-day championship.

he Hawkeye men racked up 68 points on the final day of competition to finish in fifth with 80.5 points. The Iowa women placed eighth with 53 points. Ohio State defended the women’s title and Wisconsin became the second host school in as many years to win the men’s title. Iowa won the 2011 championship in Iowa City.

Melander captured her second medal of the championships when she won her first career Big Ten title in the 5,000 meters. She finished with a time of 16:14.03, seven seconds ahead of second place teammate Betsy Flood.

“I just went out and tried to run a good race,” said Melander. “I wanted to take things a little bit slower, just kind of roll along and let things work in my favor.”

Melander and Flood’s 1-2 finish put 18 points on the board for Iowa.

“These girls deserve this,” said Iowa head coach Layne Anderson.

Between this year and last year’s Big Ten Championships we have five or six runner-up performances, so to finally get one of those individual titles is a great thing for these girls and this program.”

Byers became the fourth Hawkeye in school history to win three Big Ten Outdoor titles in the same event when he scored a winning throw of 222-11 (67.94m) on his first javelin toss of the day.

“The winning throw was my first throw and it felt alright,” said Byers. “I’m still working through some kinks with my mechanics but the main thing is to come out here, compete and get the win. This is the meet we all work for and it’s nice to finish strong. Now we need to get further and further.”

Doris twice broke his previous school record en route to the triple jump championship. His final mark of 54-8 (16.66m) was good enough to defend his 2011 Big Ten Outdoor title.

“Jumping was good today” said Doris, who has won gold in each of his four conference championships. “I’m never really content but I am happy today. I PR’d twice and it never gets old. It just means I’m doing something new and that’s a good indicator that I’m getting better and my work is coming along.”

Ashely Liverpool and Ethan Holmes joined Flood with runner-up finishes. Liverpool’s time of 52.47 is a personal best and the third fastest 400 meters in school history. Holmes was one of three Hawkeyes to place in the 110-meter hurdles. He grabbed silver with a time of 13.74. Jordan Mullen and Dan Davis finished fifth and sixth, respectively, with times of 13.97 and 14.05.

Wisconsin natives Justin Austin and Erik Sowinski earned third-place finishes for Iowa. Austin, the defending 200 meter champion, earned a bronze medal with a time of 20.65. Sowinski grabbed bronze in the 800 meters with a time of 1:47.18.

The Hawkeyes just missed the medal stand in five events. Both men’s and women’s 400-meter relays placed fourth with times of 40:18 and 45.51, respectively. Flood ran a season-best 4:19.62 to place fourth in the 1,500 meters. Austin put points on the board with a fourth-place time of 10.52 in the 100 meters, and the men’s 1,600-meter relay clocked the fifth fastest time in school history with a fourth-place time of 3:05.77.

Iowa City School District officials are planning a vocational career class and developing partnerships with local restaurants and businesses as part of the ProStart program, a national course that instructs high-school students in skills as chefs, managers, and restaurant owners.

Joan Vandenberg, the district’s youth and family-development coordinator, said the internship would be the first of its kind in the Iowa City schools.

“I think this is a brilliant idea. It brings real world experiences to the classroom,” Vandenberg said. “I wish we had more like it in the district.”

Owners of Basta, Atlas, and Jimmy Jack’s Rib Shack restaurants have met with high-school officials to outline plans for the internship.

Jeffrey Adams, the general manager at Jimmy Jack’s, said he believes the restaurant’s atmosphere would work well with the program.

“I think that Jimmy Jack’s is definitely a learning environment,” Adams said. “That’s what we strive for, that we take the time to teach all of our employees, and that’s what we’d do with our interns.”

While students would not earn any wages directly for their 400 hours of training at the restaurants, they would receive seven credit hours if they continue on and join Kirkwood’s culinary program and also receive certification from the National Restaurant Association.

“The idea is to get the experience, and have the hands on and hopefully in the end, end up with the paying position,” Tate High Principal Will Hollander said.

Currently, plans go beyond just culinary work.

“There’s the management side of it, cooking, learning to interact, present, describe meals as a chef would — those are the aspects that come to mind immediately,” Hollander said. “The goal — besides training and educating kids — is to have that direct tie with industry and also that hands-on experience.”

The program will use resources the school already has to minimize outside costs, the principal said.

“All we need to get are some additional materials to supply the Tate High School cooking space. A lot of what we’re going to use is kitchen as it is,” Hollander said. “It’s small, but it is a commercial production kitchen.”

Vandenberg said she felt the program would be a positive addition to the post-graduation and career placement programs the Iowa City school district offers students.

“I really don’t see a downside to this,” she said. “I think it’s an excellent idea, and I’m looking forward to seeing how it turns out.”

Yet Hollander said officials still have a few kinks to work out before the class opens to students in the fall.

“It’s a long ways from being implemented,” he said. “It’s still in the brainstorm stage. We have training for staff to do, we have equipment to purchase, and transportation issues to take care of.”

And Hollander said he’s optimistic.

“Knock on wood that we do get it kicked off on time,” he said.

*Article Credit: Asmaa Elkeurti, Daily Iowan Staff

Don Nelson will hold a press conference Saturday following the commencement for the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences

University of Iowa men’s basketball All-American Don Nelson will hold a post-commencement press conference Saturday, May 12, in Carver-Hawkeye Arena’s practice gymnasium.

The press conference will begin at approximately 11:45 a.m. (CT), and will be available live from start to finish on Hawkeye All-Access, the multi-media portal inside hawkeyesports.com, the official World Wide Web of the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Nelson is 10th on Iowa’s all-time scoring list with 1,522 points in 72 games from 1960-62 (21.2 points per game). He won five world championships as a player for the Boston Celtics, and as head coach in the NBA, Nelson compiled a league-best 1,335 regular-season victories.

Rather than returning to the UI to finish his degree in 1962-63, Nelson opted for a professional playing career, and was selected 17th overall by the Chicago Zephyrs. He has since fulfilled the requirements for a bachelor’s degree in physical education, and will receive a diploma Saturday at the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Commencement beginning at 9 a.m.

Article credit: hawkeyesports.com

Troy Doris and the Iowa Hawkeyes look to defend their B1G title this weekend at the 2012 Big Ten Track & Field Championships

This week the University of Iowa Men’s and Women’s Track and Field team swill travel to Madison Wisconsin for the 2012 Outdoor Big Ten Championships. The competition will take place Friday and Saturday.

In 2011, the Hawkeye men won their first conference championship in 44 seasons, capturing three individual titles in the process (Justin Austin, 200m; Matt Byers, javelin; Troy Doris, triple jump). The team set a program record for points at the outdoor conference championships (125.5). Head Coach Larry Wieczorek was also crowned Coach of the Year at the conclusion of the championships.

Hawkeyes Justin Austin, Matt Byers, and Troy Doris are currently ranked within the top five in the Big Ten in their respective events and are looking to defend their individual titles this weekend.

The Hawkeye men also look to defend their 4×400 meter relay title from last year, while the Hawkeye women aim to gain their second consecutive title in the 1,600 meter relay.

Big Ten Network will air tape delay coverage of the weekend’s events on May 20. Live results will be available on the Track and Field schedule page of  hawkeyesports.com. all weekend.

Blues legend Robert Cray is set to rock the Englert Theatre on May 31st

On Tuesday May 31st, the Englert Theatre is proud to welcome legendary blues artist Robert Cray and his band back to the stage, four years after performing on the same stage in 2008.

As a five-time Grammy award winning, singer/songwriting guitar legend, it would be hard to overstate Robert Cray’s impact on rock, rhythm & blues. He is considered “one of the greatest guitarists of his generation” (Music Critic, Steve Matteo) and since his 1980 album debut Who’s Been Talkin, Cray has been inviting audiences along on his epic musical journey – breaking through the pop ceiling with his gate crashing/blues-edged trademark sound, distinct playing style and daring innovations.

“Robert Cray is not only making great music,” says Guitar Player Magazine, “he’s making history. With a few exceptions… it used to be that there was the blues and there were the masses and never the twain shall meet. But Cray, who obviously is respected in blues circles, is a press darling and crossover smash. ”

Along with his Grammy wins, Robert Cray has released twenty award winning multi-platinum albums, received 15 Grammy nominations, and was recently inducted into the 2011 Blues Hall of Fame. Cray has performed thousands of sold-out shows worldwide with The Robert Cray Band featuring longtime (and Robert’s original) bassist Richard Cousins, keyboardist and band cornerstone since 1989 Jim Pugh, and drummer Anthony Braunagel (Bonnie Raitt, BB King, Taj Mahal).

He has performed alongside blues titans Albert Collins, Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton and B.B. King- touring extensively with both Collins and Clapton and has his own line of Fender Signature Guitars. Cray has also worked with legends Tina Turner, Keith Richards, Chuck Berry, Bonnie Raitt, friend and fellow guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughn and Willie Dixon, to name a few and his songs have been covered by many including, BB King, Clapton, and Tony Bennett. Featured in Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues series, Cray has also appeared in Tina Turner’s TV special Break Every Rule, the Chuck Berry tribute Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll, and the Rolling Stones’ pay-per-view video Voodoo Lounge.

Reserved seating tickets are available at the Englert Box Office as well as online. For more information, please visit: http://englert.org/event_details.php?id=723