Noted urban planner Jeff Speck - the co-author of Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl & the Decline of the American Dream - will be visiting Davenport through August 14 and will present his ideas for revitalizing downtown Davenport on Thursday in the Deere Auditorium of the Figge Art Museum. The one-hour presentation will begin at 6 p.m. and will be followed by a question-and-answer session and a meet-and-greet. There is no charge to attend, and the Figge galleries will be open to lecture attendees. "In Thrall of Sprawl," an article about Speck, was published in the River Cities' Reader on July 3, 2007.

In title and in summary, the Clean Water Restoration Act sounds benign enough.

But Dan Parmeter, executive director of the Minnesota-based American Property Coalition, calls it "the biggest federal power grab probably in the history of the country."

Jim the Mule started recording its second studio album, Last Solid Ground, in March 2007, and a rough mix was finished in August.

And then the Quad Cities quartet had to do a big chunk of it again.

The covers caravan comes to town next week, as a bumper crop of new spins on old classics comes to record-store shelves. Eurythmics co-founder Dave Stewart is back with a 30-piece orchestra on Surfdog Records' The Dave Stewart Songbook, Vol. 1. Also available in a two-LP edition, the two-CD collection features new interpretations of his own "Would I Lie to You," "Sweet Dreams," and "Here Comes the Rain Again," rubbing up against an odd mix of Bon Jovi's "Midnight in Chelsea," Tom Petty's "Don't Come Around Here No More," and No Doubt's "Underneath It All." Other artists getting his lush touch include Bob Geldof, Sarah McLachlan, Bryan Ferry, and Celine Dion.