Many of the lighter moments in Steven Spielberg's Oscar-winning film Schindler's List came when the industrialist Oskar Schindler protested to German officials that children and people with disabilities were essential to his wartime manufacturing effort.

Leon Leyson, who will speak Monday at the i wireless Center in Moline, was the youngest person in Schindler's factory, and one of roughly 1,200 Jews that he saved from the Nazi death camps.

When Governor Chet Culver in his January 15 "Condition of the State" address proposed reworking Iowa's container-deposit law - popularly known as the "Bottle Bill" - his core idea was strong.

Bruce Berger admits that "it's a little uncomfortable to talk about" the City of Davenport's new 100 Homes program.

"This isn't a program for low and moderate income," said Berger, Davenport's manager of housing and neighborhood development. "That's an odd thing for a city housing rehab program to do. Not that it's bad."

To the backers of the Davenport Promise initiative, the developer of the model on which it is based has some words of caution:

The Promise is not a sure thing. It's not a silver bullet. And it needs to be part of a larger community-improvement push.

Jeff Speck doesn't expect to be a popular person among government officials.

"It will be a little bit controversial," Speck said of his July 9 lecture at the Figge Art Museum. "I will attack your public-works department and your fire chief - never having met them."