A look at Linda Downs' career shows one thing for certain: She knows how to stick with her jobs. After getting her Master of Arts in art history at the University of Michigan in 1973, she was an adjunct faculty member in that field from 1976 to 1989 at Wayne State University.
• Vera French Housing Corporation (VFHC) and Heartland Properties (the housing subsidiary of Alliant Energy Resources) have joined together to address the housing needs of persons with mental illness in Scott County with the construction of a 10-unit special-needs housing development for persons with mental illness.
When public-radio station KUNI finished last month's "Drive to Survive" having raised $106,000 over five days, it didn't see the total as a failure even though it fell far short of the massive budget cut it was about to endure.
• Governor Tom Vilsack and Lieutenant Governor Sally Pederson announced the appointment of Jamie Howard of Davenport to the Commission on the Status of African Americans. Howard currently serves as alderman at-large and mayor pro-tem of the City of Davenport.
When Charles Ara fell in love, at the age of 39, he faced an anguished choice. As a priest in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, he had taken a vow of celibacy. But after working alongside the 28-year-old religion educator in his parish for almost three years, he felt that his vows had become impossible to live out honestly.
• The pro-life Life & Family Educational Trust has announced the opening of the newly completed Women's Choice Center at 2711 Happy Joe Drive in Bettendorf. The Woman's Choice Center is a facility - located across the street from Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa - providing information about pregnancy, fetal development, and related issues.
• A poll of 300 registered voters conducted for DavenportOne has found that slightly more than 60 percent of Davenport residents would support renovation of John O'Donnell Stadium. That support waned somewhat, though, when poll respondents were asked whether they would support a property-tax increase to pay for any renovations; slightly less than 50 percent said they would support a tax increase to pay for an upgrade.
If you want to get excited about politics again, join Scott County's Democrat and Republican Chairwomen's energy in getting their candidates elected, generating broader awareness of the issues, and motivating voters to the polls next November.
• I was surprised when I learned that I live merely 3.6 miles from the nearest proposed nuclear-waste route, Interstate 80, which will be used to transport nuclear waste to Nevada's Yucca Mountain. According to the Environmental Working Group, one in seven Americans live within one mile of a proposed nuclear-waste-transport route.
When it became public in late May that Compass Facility Management had discovered $14,000 in misappropriated funds in its management of the RiverCenter/Adler Theatre in Davenport, the timing could scarcely have been worse for the Ames-based company.

Pages