• St. Ambrose University and Genesis Medical Center have entered into a preliminary agreement that could lead to the construction of a multi-million-dollar health-sciences education center on the Genesis West Campus in Davenport.
• Xstream Cleanup, a Quad Cities-wide watershed cleanup event on August 28, reported better-than-expected results, with more than 1,300 volunteers cleaning up 27 sites, including creeks, drainage ways, and the Mississippi and Rock rivers.
Ken Hoffman stands in a muddy bean field near Milan, showing off the 72 acres of land that he plans to turn into a housing development called The Conservancy. To the north is a grove. "All the trees will remain," Hoffman said, referring to the wooded area.
• High school students in Iowa continued their strong showing on the SAT college-entrance exam and have increased access to Advanced Placement classes, according to the 2004 summary report from the College Board.
In Minot, North Dakota, in 2002, a train derailed at 1:30 a.m., spilling 200,000 gallons of deadly gas. All six commercial radio stations in the area were owned by Clear Channel, and all six were fully automated.
• Applications are currently being accepted for the legislative page program, which is an opportunity for ambitious high-school juniors and seniors to be employed by the Iowa House of Representatives, Iowa Senate, or Legislative Services Agency.
MyPlane, a fractional-ownership air-travel service, had an open house at Elliot Aviation air field in Moline last Wednesday. MyPlane is a sister company to Short's Travel Management, which is headquartered in Waterloo, Iowa.
Don Wooten says the Quad Cities have a vibrant enough collection of cultural organizations to support a much larger population. "We have so many different arts and cultural organizations," said Wooten, the primary artistic force behind the Genesius Guild's classic theatre and the chair of Quad Cities Presenters, Incorporated.
• Twenty-five boxes containing 645 books are en route to a K-12 school in Skopje, Macedonia, the result of a successful book-donation drive at Black Hawk College (BHC). Many are science, business, computer-science, and English textbooks that would be nearly impossible to obtain in Macedonia, a small eastern-European nation with 40-percent unemployment.
Tom Meeker has a folksy charm, speaking in a low voice that can sound gruff and clipped on the phone but is transformed when you meet him in person. His face is open and warm, and he comes off as one of the friendliest people on the planet.

Pages