The ongoing Illinois drama over the medical-malpractice-reform debate intensified last week when President George W. Bush paid a visit to Madison County. Yes, that Madison County - the favored courtroom home to many of the nation's wealthiest trial lawyers, made universally infamous by the multi-billion-dollar class-action lawsuits filed over asbestos and Marlboro Lights, and the focus of a multi-million-dollar Supreme Court race last year that featured both candidates accusing each other of being soft on child molesters in front of a backdrop of stories about small-town hospitals closing their doors and doctors fleeing to neighboring states, and ending with the trial lawyers' hand-picked Democratic candidate losing both the campaign and his appellate court seat, which then spun off a bizarre sequel when the loser immediately filed a nine-figure defamation lawsuit against his opponent's financial backers.

As another in a series of opportunities for citizens to play a part in Davenport's success, the City of Davenport is creating a High Performance Government Work Group. High-performance local governments are distinguished by their ability to develop productive relationships with stakeholders, build capacity across traditional boundaries to effectively work together, and address difficult policy problems collaboratively.

Former Lieutenant Phil Yerington has decided to fight the good fight in district court in hopes of overturning the Davenport Police Department's (DPD) decision to terminate his employment as a police officer after 32 years of public service.

Isle of Capri (IOC) casino officials recently rolled out a public-relations campaign consisting of two "public courtesy meetings" featuring multimedia presentations, and face-to-face presentations to the editorial boards of the River Cities' Reader and the Quad-City Times.