Homers -- What's going right

COUNTING BIRDS: Thanks to hundreds of volunteers, coordinated by the Iowa Ornithological Union and the Department of Natural Resources, there will be a second Iowa Breeding Bird Atlas. The six-year project, in its fourth year, sends volunteers statewide to identify all the bird species nesting in Iowa. The information is vital to conservation and management of our bird populations. The first atlas, of 20 years ago, identified 158 species that breed in Iowa. Land-use and climate changes are driving the second project.

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PRACTICAL PROJECT: Kudos to University of Iowa professor Charles Connerly and his 13 urban planning graduate students who surveyed neighborhoods in southeast Iowa City, an area where concerns about crime and other problems surfaced recently. The project's recommendations for city officials included: More public transportation, parks and public gathering places to spur more community engagement.

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BEAUTIFICATION: A volunteer group called Eye 380, which drove Interstate 380 landscaping at the Boyson Road exit, is tackling the Kirkwood-Highway 30 southbound exit area. The group taps a designated state fund.