This feature collects articles published online by Quad Cities-area media outlets and by CapitolFax.com and the state-politics sections of the Des Moines Register and the State Journal-Register.
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This year’s rules for the Reader's Short-Fiction Contest stipulated 300 words or fewer and the piece had to include one of 10 sentences pulled from Mark Twain’s 1889 comedic novel A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. Thank you and congratulations to all who entered!
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This article was first published on February 19, 2015 as the cover story for that week's Reader. On February 26, 2015 "As expected, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) passed new net neutrality regulations. . . " On December 14, 2017 the FCC will vote to replace the "current Open Internet or net neutrality rules, which prevented Internet service providers (ISPs) from blocking or throttling legal content users sought to access, as well as preventing ISPs from accepting payment to prioritize some data.".
On February 26, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will be voting on rules that would reclassify broadband Internet as a public utility. The stated goal is to give the commission the authority to enforce what's called "net neutrality."Unless you're a rare breed, I've already frightened (or bored) you with a topic you're certain is arcane, technical, obscure, and confusing. You might also think it's irrelevant.
So to goose your interest, I'll note that John Oliver - the host of HBO's Last Week Tonight series - recommended replacing the dull "net neutrality" with "Preventing Cable Company F---ery."
My goal is to present a simplified (and in some cases over-simplified) explanation of net neutrality as a public-policy issue, specifically in the context of the FCC's impending vote. The proposed rules won't be made public before that meeting, but FCC Chair Tom Wheeler has sketched out the broad strokes - no blocking, no throttling, no paid prioritization.
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Education funding is a complicated topic anyway, but it’s especially difficult to understand in Illinois given the heated rhetoric from both Democrats and Republicans.
The situation is actually pretty simple, however: Pretty much everybody agrees on the problem and the solution, and additional money has already been budgeted to start the process.
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Traffic-enforcement cameras have been a common sight in Davenport for 13 years, but now the city is using new cameras for a different purpose: to help prevent and solve violent and property crimes.
Davenport in the past month has begun a pilot project with 18 cameras at four intersections on Washington Street south of Locust Street. The city purchased the cameras for nearly $54,000 as part of a larger neighborhood-revitalization program that also includes street and sidewalk improvements.
The idea is to see to what extent the cameras prevent crime, and how much they assist police in solving crimes that do occur.
But police surveillance cameras, in general, are not particularly good at deterring crime. They can be effective in certain circumstances, but not in the way Davenport is using them.
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Several months ago, House Speaker Michael Madigan’s chief of staff Tim Mapes made copies of candidate nominating petitions for what appeared to be every single candidate in the state, regardless of party or office sought. Madigan’s spokesperson was mum when asked why.
It turns out that a database was constructed of the names of all the petition circulators who worked during the primary.
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I’ve read, watched, and heard a whole lot of commentary about the upcoming state-budget negotiations during the past few weeks and it pretty much all ignores recent history and focuses instead on one-sided claims of pending controversy.
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JB Pritzker appears to have chosen a solid message for the fall campaign. The overall theme at the successful Democratic gubernatorial candidate’s press conference the day after he won the primary race was “Bruce Rauner is a failed governor.” The message is also the primary subject of his online advertising push against Rauner.
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The oddest political couple in all of Illinois did pretty well in last Tuesday’s Democratic primary.
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Governor Bruce Rauner’s veto of a gun-dealer licensing bill last week took a lot of folks by surprise. It probably shouldn’t have.
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You've got to move it, move it over to the Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse for the children's-theatre production of Madagascar: A Musical Adventure. It's showtime at the Central Park Zoo, and these animals are on the prowl.
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With the popularity of television series such as Downton Abbey and The Crown, contemporary audiences have become intrigued by, even addicted to, European aristocracy. I can’t help but think that in comparison to the many works of William Shakespeare, our obsession with binge-worthy TV must be like attending live theatre over 400 years ago. Take, for example, the twisted path of dysfunction, poor leadership, and random acts of stupidity as illustrated in Shakespeare’s tug-of-war tale King John.
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Described by TheatreMania.com as “an artful amalgamation of oral history, fashion show, and musical theatre,” Crowns: A Gospel Musical will fill Moline's Black Box Theatre with glorious singing and spectacular style April 26 through May 6, author Regina Taylor's tune-filled play lauded by the New York Times as “wholly theatrical” and “a show that seems to arise out of spontaneous combustion.”
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Winner of five 2006 Tony Awards and described by Variety magazine as “irresistible” and “superior, smartly crafted pastiche,” the joyous musical-comedy spoof The Drowsy Chaperone will receive a season-ending staging at Augustana College April 27 through May 6, its feel-good delights suggesting why the New York Times stated that “few productions have ever pulled an audience so immediately and unconditionally on their sides.”
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One of the most beloved forces in comedy, comic books, movies, and podcasting visits Maquoketa's Codfish Hollow Barn for two April 28 performances of An Evening with Kevin Smith – 7 and 11 p.m. presentations and Q&A sessions featuring the legendary, baseball-cap-wearing indie filmmaker, author, and “Silent Bob” icon.
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With AllMusic.com calling him “a singer/songwriter with a robust, full-throated wail and knack for pairing Stones-ian hooks and Dylan-esque wordplay,” pop, Americana, and alt-country musician Kyle Craft appears as the Moeller Nights headliner on April 24, his signature sound described by Rolling Stone as a “poetic gumbo of Southern roots, electric folk, and preening glam rock.”
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Winner of five Grammy Awards and three citations as Bass Player magazine's “Bass Player of the Year,” jazz-fusion and funk-rock artist Victor Wooten headlines a special Redstone Room concert co-presented by the River Music Experience and Polyrhythms, his April 25 engagement demonstrating why Wooten made the lineup in Rolling Stone's 2011 survey of the “Top 10 Bassists of All Time.”
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Serving as the final guests in Quad City Arts' 2017-18 Visiting Artists series, the chamber musicians and educators of the Akropolis Reed Quintet will perform their public concert at St. Ambrose University on April 26, treating attendees to an ensemble praised by Ioregon ArtsWatch for its “clear, richly-textured, well-rehearsed group dynamics,” and by Fanfare magazine for its “imagination, infallible musicality, and huge vitality.”
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With the Chicago Tribune deeming him “an artist who makes deeply introspective music that by turns can project a hazy, late-night vibe or a lighter, sunnier flavor,” the 21-year-old rap and hip-hop musician Kweku Collins headlines a Daytrotter concert on April 27, his most recent LP Grey praised by HipHopDx.com for its creator “effortlessly conjuring melodies that gracefully tread the line between spoken word and rap.”
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For its latest full-length family concert, guest conductor Carl Topilow and the Quad City Symphony Orchestra will celebrate space – the final frontier – in the Adler Theatre's April 28 event QCSO: A Space Odyssey, an afternoon of thrilling and inspiring compositions familiar to fans of everything from Star Wars to Harry Potter to The Flintstones Meet the Jetsons.
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Frequently amusing though it is, the you-go-girl comedy I Feel Pretty isn't great, but it does boast greatness in the fearless blond comedienne who makes the whole experience worthwhile. Hilarious and touching while refusing to deliver even one line in a predictable manner, this much-lauded performer, whenever she appears, turns what might've been a forgettable trifle into surprisingly resonant and satisfying entertainment. Her character also makes important points about self-image, biased expectations, and both blatant and hidden misogyny in offhanded and unexpected ways. I'm referring, of course, to Michelle Williams. But the movie's star isn't bad, either.
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I suppose there have been flimsier inspirations for movies than Rampage, the 1980s arcade game that has players assume the forms of giant monsters who try to demolish entire cities before the military demolishes them. Inspirations such as, say, the Strawberry Shortcake doll, or My Little Pony. But I'll be damned if I could think of any examples while being pummeled by the thunderous stupidity and terrible jokes of the new action blockbuster Rampage, a work that somehow makes its director Brad Peyton's previous Dwayne Johnson adventure San Andreas look like the magazine-cover subject for Cahiers du Cinéma.
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Isle of Dogs is Wes Anderson's stop-motion-animated tale of a 12-year-old boy's search for his missing pooch, and somehow, against all logic, it feels like one of the least precious works on its writer/director's résumé.
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Friday, April 6, 10:05 a.m.-ish: Call me an optimist, or maybe just a nitwit, but I was really looking forward to starting my day with Blockers, director Kay Cannon's tale of three middle-aged parents who attempt to foil their daughters' prom-night plan to lose their collective virginity. Sure, its central conceit, as several characters here point out, was sexist, retrograde, and more than a little icky, and there was bound to be an awkward blend of slapstick and sentiment, and the previews' comedic highlight was the sight of John Cena chugging beer through his anus. Still, though: Potential belly laughs! Likable leads! John Cena chugging beer through his anus!
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Adapted from Ernest Cline's famed sci-fi novel and set in the dystopian 2045 of Columbus, Ohio, Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One is about a teen gamer (Tye Sheridan's Wade Watts) who, like millions of others, enters a worldwide virtual-reality competition intent on finding a hidden Easter Egg that will reap him untold fortune. This is no knock against Spielberg's generally exhilarating, occasionally frustrating, frequently jaw-dropping entertainment, but considering the film runs 140 minutes, I'm rather astounded that the kid didn't find the thing within the movie's first seconds. Because good God is this thing lousy with Easter Eggs.
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From April 28 through June 21, the wonders of the great outdoors, and the creatures who make their homes there, will be celebrated in the latest exhibition at Bettendorf's Beréskin Gallery & Art Academy: An Intimate Encounter with Nature, featuring evocative paintings by Mary Kline Misol and expressive photographs by Larry Mendenhall.
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Beginning March 10 and lasting through April 28, Bettendorf's Beréskin Gallery & Art Academy will be aglow with the outdoor photography of Czech Republic native Radim Schreiber, whose works will light up the venue in the haunting and beautiful exhibit The Magical Glow of Fireflies.
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The photography of 20th Century photographer Wynn Bullock is currently included in more than 90 major museum collections worldwide, and in the Figge's new exhibit Wynn Bullock: Revelation – on display from January 13 through April 29 – museum guests will be treated to the most comprehensive assessment of Bullock’s (1902-1975) extraordinary career in nearly 40 years, as well as the first major exhibition of his work to be held in Iowa.
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Paintings, sculpture, and encaustic works will be on display in a trio of exhibitions by a quintet of artists, when Quad City Arts and the Quad City International Airport Gallery present March 2 to April 30 showcases for Tilly Woodward, David Zahn, Cindy Lesperance, Carol Hamilton, and Brad Hook.
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A St. Ambrose University professor whose works can be found in the art collections of Yale Art Library, Ringling College of Art & Design, and the University of Dallas, Joseph Lappie will find his talents showcased locally in the Figge Art Museum exhibit Personbal Mythologies, on display from February 24 through May 20.
