News Briefs

New Study Ranks America's most liberal and conservative Cities
Detroit tops liberal list; Provo, UT most conservative

A new nationwide study released last week by the nonpartisan Bay Area Center for Voting Research (BACVR) ranks the political leanings of every American city and finds that Detroit, Michigan is the most liberal and Provo, Utah the most conservative.

In all, the BACVR researchers examined voting patterns of 237 American cities with populations of over 100,000 and ranked them each on liberal and conservative scales.

The list of America's most liberal cities is dominated by cities with large African American populations that are concentrated in the Northeast, Midwest and California. Conversely, the study found that the staunchest conservative cities are clustered in the South and interior West and have extremely low numbers of African American residents.

Gary, Indiana, a rust belt former steel town, comes in as America's second most liberal city, followed by Berkeley, California, which ranks third. Washington, D.C. comes in as the fourth most liberal and Oakland, California comes in fifth.

On the list of the nation's most conservative cities, Texas cements its reputation as America's most rock-ribbed state, having three cities in the top five. Lubbock and Abilene, Texas rank as the second and third most conservative cities, respectively, followed by Hialeah, Florida in fourth place and Plano, Texas in fifth.

The Bay Area Center for Voting Research is a nonpartisan think tank based in Berkeley, California. A full copy of the report and the complete list of rankings for all 237 cities are available at www.votingresearch.org.

Rep. Tom Allen Announces NEH Grants of $403,798 to Portland Humanities Council
Money to fund a literature institute and a reading program for health care providers

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Representative Tom Allen today announced that the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) has awarded $403,798 in grants to the Portland Humanities Council. A $133,798 grant will fund a three-week institute for thirty school teachers entitled Hawthorne and Longfellow that will explore the personal and professional relationship between the two authors. A $270,000 grant will fund the implementation of a reading and discussion program for health care providers in their work settings. The program will use a variety of literary materials to examine the relationship between the patient and the health care professional.

Maine Nonprofits And Schools Invited To Explore Americorps Options

AUGUSTA - The Maine Commission for Community Service will outline the funding options for nonprofits, educational institutions, and local government agencies that may be qualified to apply for AmeriCorps funding at a videoconference on September 8, 2005 beginning at 9 a.m.

Every 3 years, all AmeriCorps grants end and a new competition for the funding occurs. Winter 2006 is the next round of competition for new 3-year grants.

The session will originate from Room 107 in the Cross Office Building in Augusta and be broadcast to the ATM studios at Bangor High School, South Portland High School, Caribou Tech Center, Machias High School, Oxford Hills High School (Norway), TelStar High School (Bethel).
AmeriCorps is a national service program that engages volunteers over the age of 17 (no upper age limit) in either full or part-time service to address critical unmet public safety, human, environmental, and educational needs in communities. The AmeriCorps members who serve full-time receive a living allowance and all AmeriCorps members, regardless of service intensity, qualify for educational awards that can be used for post-secondary educational expenses.

For more information visit www.MaineServiceCommission.gov
There is no registration fee but pre-registration is required and the deadline is September 6.