03 Sep 2002

Davenport School-Board Election Comes at Crucial Juncture

By Jeff Ignatius

These are critical times for the Davenport Community School District, and next week's school-board election has the potential to alter the course of local education policy. Following a winter and spring of contention that saw the closing of Grant and Johnson elementary schools to alleviate a $4 million budget deficit, the district is now in the process of setting its long-term agenda.

03 Sep 2002

Climbing Up the Mountain (Again)

By Jeff Ignatius

Comedian David Brenner is trying to get back on top of the world. Or at least to a steady Las Vegas gig. Instead, he's stuck on a perpetual road trip. Since the September 11 terrorist attacks, Brenner has been on a nonstop "Laughter to the People" tour.

03 Sep 2002

Why You Should Care About Tool

By Jeff Ignatius

Unless you're of a certain age (under 30) and with a certain musical taste (complex loud music), there's a good chance you've never heard the music of Tool. The band gets little airplay, rarely writes the standard verse-chorus-verse song, and - to the untrained ear - produces something more akin to formless noise than music.

27 Aug 2002

Books and Bonding

By Jeff Ignatius

Marti MacAlister is not a real person. But she might as well be, for both her creator and the people who read about her life. She's a tough cookie, and not just because she's a cop. "I pull everything out of Marti," Eleanor Taylor Bland told an audience of her readers on August 23 at the Martin Luther King Center in Rock Island.

27 Aug 2002

Rock-and-Roll Symphony

By Jeff Ignatius

If the Quad City Symphony Orchestra seems a little looser this year, the organization has done its job. Its marketing for the 2002-3 season has ditched the traditional, low-key flavor of previous efforts in favor of a vibrant and energetic campaign using the work of a local commercial artist.

27 Aug 2002

Ballet Quad Cities Awarded Grants

By Jeff Ignatius

The Quad Cities' professional ballet company was recently awarded a pair of grants to present programs "exploring the humanistic foundations of dance." Ballet Quad Cities announced that it received an $8,000 grant from Humanities Iowa and $10,000 from the Illinois Humanities Council.

20 Aug 2002

Moline Working to Link the Old and the New

By Jeff Ignatius

Editor's note: This is the second in a series of articles on new developments in Quad Cities-area downtowns. The Quad Cities are divided by the Mississippi, and Moline has its own dividing line.

20 Aug 2002

Celtic Highland Games Build on Tradition of Growth

By Jeff Ignatius

The Celtic Highland Games of the Quad-Cities come into their fourth edition on Saturday at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds with a record of steady growth, and plenty of ideas to ensure that continues. The inaugural Games drew 1,000 people, and the total has risen consistently, to 2,500 in 2000 and 4,000 in 2001.

13 Aug 2002

Former GOP Legislator Tops Libertarian Ticket in Illinois

By Jeff Ignatius

When the Illinois Libertarian Party asked Cal Skinner whether he'd run for governor on its ticket, he wondered what was in it for him. The answer was a political party that's very good at collecting petition signatures, which fits right into Skinner's plans.

13 Aug 2002

Bridges to the Future

By Jeff Ignatius

Eric Trimble probably has more at stake in the re-location of the Interstate 74 bridge than just about anybody. For one thing, the multiple businesses owned by his family are located in downtown Moline, so a bigger, safer bridge might benefit them.

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