LeClaire's new downtown is finished, and the city is attempting to set a world record for the longest ribbon-cutting to celebrate. The event will be held at the MedicEMS building, 107 North Cody Road, from 4 to 6 p.m. on Sunday, November 18. There will be food, fireworks, kids' activities, a $1,000-LeClaire-shopping-spree drawing, and live music by Blue Fuzzy Monkey. For more information: call (563) 289-9970 or visit (http://www.leclairechamber.com).

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.

In the hyper-over-reactive world that is the Illinois Statehouse, every move made by every major player is analyzed to death to see who is zooming whom. House Speaker Michael Madigan's Illinois Gaming Board reform plan is a case in point.

Augustana College has joined the ranks of institutions that have adopted "test optional" admissions policies. Under the new policy, recently approved by a vote of the Augustana faculty, students who apply for admission to Augustana College will no longer be required to submit standardized-test scores. The test-optional policy affects students applying for admission for the fall of 2008 and beyond. Augustana's test-optional admissions process is described in the admissions section of the college's Web site (http://www.augustana.edu/admissions/test-optional) . The Web page includes instructions for students who have already submitted test scores for admission in 2008 who would now like to proceed under the new policy.