(a.k.a. Likable Art.)

Pretty darn cool to see other young artists engaging the culture and presenting their art in faith.

Saints from Cory Heimann on Vimeo.

..all for the glory of God.

[via The Curt Jester, via Domenico Bettinelli]

Ameren Illinois Utilities is giving one-time grants of up to $300 to customers who were laid-off since December.

In order to qualify, a residential electric customer must provide documentation of unemployment, such as confirmation of an unemployment insurance claim.

There is a limit of one grant per household.

A total of $2.2 million is available for grants.

The funds are part of the Illinois rate relief package adopted by the Illinois General Assembly and signed into law in 2007.

Spitzer, 55, will return to study, teaching and writing in the ethics field. He is a prominent scholar-critic of the movement to legalize assisted suicide, and a leading Catholic spokesman on the right to life.

Spitzer, who is legally blind, has overseen a turnaround on the Spokane campus since taking over Gonzaga's presidency in 1998. Enrollments at the Jesuit university have risen from 4,500 to 6,900, and a higher volume of applications has allowed Gonzaga wider leeway in who it accepts.

Dozens of US cities may have entire neighbourhoods bulldozed as part of drastic "shrink to survive" proposals being considered by the Obama administration to tackle economic decline.
 
...The government looking at expanding a pioneering scheme in Flint, one of the poorest US cities, which involves razing entire districts and returning the land to nature.

...The radical experiment is the brainchild of Dan Kildee, treasurer of Genesee County, which includes Flint. Having outlined his strategy to Barack Obama during the election campaign, Mr Kildee has now been approached by the US government and a group of charities who want him to apply what he has learnt to the rest of the country.

...In Detroit, shattered by the woes of the US car industry, there are already plans to split it into a collection of small urban centres separated from each other by countryside.

..."Much of the land will be given back to nature. People will enjoy living near a forest or meadow," he said.

If you have driven north on highway 101 anytime during the past five years, you have certainly noticed the proliferation of vineyards - and winemakers - that line the highway in Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties. Wine has become a lucrative industry and a pastime for many.

If you have been to church, you may also have noticed that sacramental (Communion) wine is more available (the recent H1N1 virus scare notwithstanding). That shouldn't be a surprise, says Steve Riboli, vice president of San Antonio Winery in Los Angeles, one of the largest producers of sacramental wines in the country.

"When things are really tough, the majority of us as Catholics go back to our faith and our roots for strength and comfort," says the parishioner of Holy Angels Church in Arcadia. "Going to Mass and receiving Communion increases our comfort level."

San Antonio's sacramental wine sales grew eight percent in the 2007-2008 fiscal year. The winery produces about 80,000 cases of sacramental wine per year, about 15 percent of its business. "It represents an important component for us," Riboli says.

Riboli attributes the uptick in sales of sacramental wine to the need for Catholics to receive Communion, especially when their lives are in crisis or transition. He has noticed over the past 35 to 40 years that in difficult economic or social periods --- such as following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks --- business increases for both sacramental wines and varietals.