Homers: What's going right

Gazette Editorial Board

--

SMART MOVE: The City of Cedar Rapids has launched the state's first custom-designed, city government smartphone app. Residents can use their smartphones to take and send photos and report service-related issues, and access local government information and contacts. The Droid version of the app was released last week; the iPhone app is expected soon.

lll

AA ASSIST: Kudos to the Iowa Alcoholics Anonymous organization and its volunteers who have brought their program into all but one of Iowa's state prisons and about half of the county jails so far. The initiative gives inmates with alcohol abuse problems a better chance for rehabilitation that translates into success in the outside world.

lll

PAYING IT FORWARD: A while back, union leaders at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center in Coralville decided to give something special to recognize a half-dozen of their fellow employees who recently returned from military deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan Well, the soldiers turned donations into more than $1,000 worth of children's gifts for the Marine Toys for Tots Foundation. A sign of the Christmas spirit.