House and Senate Omnibus Transportation Policy Bills

• Concrete Placement Pumpers
• Ten Ton Roads
• 45 Foot Trucks

ARM has also been actively working on the following issues:

• Copper/Aluminum Theft
• Aggregate Preservation
• Aggregate Host Community Tax/Fee
• Aggregate Delivery Sales Tax Clarification

The 2^nd Annual Minnesota Statewide Concrete Homes will take place April 21-22, 2007. Over 80 concrete homes in more than 50 communities around Minnesota will be featured in the event. Go to www.chooseconcretehomes.com for more information.

Golfers came out of the snowbanks and registered early for the 12th Annual Concrete Open. The popular event was sold out on April 13th – almost two months before the event. A waiting list has been established in the event of cancellations. A possibility exists to add a round of golf the morning of the event. Contact the ARM office at 952.707.1250 for more details or e-mail Margaret Mills.

Tour Mixes Latest Trends, Networking, Plant Visits

The latest advances in concrete construction, production, materials and design will be showcased at the 2007 National Association of Home Builders Concrete Home Building Council Concrete Technologies Tour in Minneapolis on May 6-8. This behind the scenes event features tours of cement-based manufacturing facilities and demonstrations with various building materials. Not to mention the numerous networking opportunities with industry professionals through our welcome reception, annual golf tournament, and banquet dinner.

Tour Stops Include:

• Molin Concrete Products Company
• Schwing America, Inc.
• Becker Architectural Concrete
• Holcim (U.S.) Inc.
• Anchor Block Company
• Cemstone Products Company

For more information and to register, visit www.nahb.org/concretetour.

ARM is making order forms for ARM logo golf shirts available to its members. The shirts come in white, blue or green and will have the ARM logo embroidered on them. Cost of the shirt is $45 each. CLICK HERE TO ORDER

The National Ready Mixed Concrete Association and the Portland Cement Association have teamed with Land Development Today magazine to offer the seminar Pervious Concrete—A Stormwater Solution in six cities in summer 2007. The one-day seminar is scheduled to be held at the Eagan Community Center in Eagan, MN August 7, 2007.

This seminar provides detailed instruction on pervious concrete pavement as a solution to reducing storm water runoff from building sites and other paved areas. Attendees learn the details of pervious concrete pavement systems, engineering properties and construction techniques. Bruce K. Ferguson, Franklin Professor of Landscape Architecture, University of Georgia and Lionel Lemay, Senior Vice President of Technical Resources, National Ready Mixed Concrete Association, will be the presenters along with local representatives.

Architects and engineers earn 6 Professional Development Hours upon completion of this program. This seminar is registered with the American Institute of Architects Continuing Education Systems. The registration fee is $245 (lunch included), $295 within 2 weeks of each seminar. Registration can be completed online at www.ldbreakthroughs.com/workshops or by contacting Futurus Communications toll- free at 1-888-388-8787.

Hundreds of people, including ARM members and their employees, braved the blustery weather and showed their support of increased road-funding last week at the Transportation Rally. The Capitol Mall was overflowing with people wearing hard hats surrounded by heavy equipment, including ready mix trucks from AVR and Cemstone.

Those present were urging Governor Pawlenty to accept an increase in the gas tax with additional monies going to fund aggressive road building plan.

Thanks to all ARM members who participated in this important event!

At their recent meeting, the RMC Research Foundation Board of Trustees voted to change the name of the Foundation to the RMC Research & Education Foundation. The change better reflects the mission of the RMC Research & Education Foundation since the education and professional enhancement of the industry’s personnel is an integral aspect of the Foundation’s goals.

The mission of the RMC Research & Education Foundation is to support research and educational programs that will increase professionalism and quality in the concrete industry. Additional information about the RMC Research & Education Foundation and those programs funded by it may be found at www.rmc-foundation.org.

The Portland Cement Association has unveiled a brand-new, web-based product called the "Do it Yourself Ad Zone". This website enables the user to create customized print ads, brochures, event postcards and e-mail "blasts" for use in promoting residential concrete products to both consumer and non-consumer audiences. In addition to creating the products, PCA’s vendor, Redleaf Digital, also acts as a print fulfillment source, and can ship the completed items directly to you, or to a mailing list that you provide to them. There is no fee to register and begin using this dynamic new service. All fees are charged on a "pay as you go" system, whether you are creating a PDF file to take to your own printer, or using Redleaf as your print provider. I think you will find the printing rates charged by Redleaf to be very competitive with local printers in our area. CLICK HERE TO TRY IT OUT!

The Insulating Concrete Form Association will be offering the National Association of Home Builders Building with Insulating Concrete Forms and Train-the-Trainer courses at its annual meeting this fall.

NAHB's Train-the-Trainer course is designed for building industry professionals who wish to teach The NAHB University of Housing curriculum, including NAHBs' Building with Insulating Concrete Form course. NAHB's Building with Insulating Concrete Forms course covers the advantages and costs of ICF construction, the components and materials used, design and planning considerations, the logistics of ICF construction and important business and marketing considerations.

To learn more, please view the Train-the-Trainer and ICF for Builders pdf registration forms.