Two new park concepts are being developed by the Rock Island Parks & Recreation Department: Old Chicago Park and Douglas Park. Old Chicago Park, located on Ninth Street east of the Martin Luther King Jr. Center, will be a brand-new park. The designs can be viewed here. Comments and suggestions on the plans are being accepted by e-mail (parkrecmail@rigov.org) and phone (309)732-7275. A finalized design will be created and presented for public comment in the coming months.

After being in Davenport for 42 years, the International Woodcarvers Congress is moving its annual show to Bettendorf's new Quad-Cities Waterfront Convention Center. The event runs Thursday, June 25, through Sunday, June 28, and is the longest-running and most-prestigious competitively judged woodcarving art show in existence. Featuring exhibits from all over the United States, Canada, and some countries overseas, the show is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at 2021 State Street. Admission is $4, but children under 12 are admitted free when accompanied by an adult. For more information, visit AWCLtd.org.

President Barack Obama has picked Davenport native and former Republican member of Congress Jim Leach of Iowa to head the National Endowment for the Humanities. In a statement, Obama described Leach as "a valued and dedicated public servant" who can carry on the endowment's "vital mission of ... giving the American public access to the rich resources of our culture." Obama has proposed increasing Natinal Endowment for the Humanities funding to $171.3 million in 2010. In March, the House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution to name the federal courthouse in Davenport in Leach's honor.

MOLINE, ILLINOIS - WQPT Quad Cities PBS has ended analog transmission ahead of the June 12 nationwide shutdown due to equipment failure. The station's channel 24 transmitter failed late Monday evening. According to General Manager Rick Best, the last time this same problem occurred three years ago, it cost nearly $20,000 to make the repairs. "With less than three weeks to go before analog broadcasting ends forever" said Best, "it's not feasible to spend that kind of money for repairs."

The early shutdown will affect over-the-air viewers still using an antenna who haven't installed a digital converter box or purchased a digital TV. The station's newer digital transmitter continues to provide WQPT to cable systems and those viewers able to receive an over-the-air digital signal.

Also affected are viewers in the Sterling-Rock Falls-Dixon area that use an antenna to receive WQPT's channel 48.  That transmitter receives channel 24 from the Quad Cities and re-broadcasts it on channel 48 for that area. "We were planning to modify that transmitter in a matter of days so that it could receive and retransmit our digital signal, but until that can be done, channel 48 will also be off the air," according to Best.

"The vast majority of WQPT's viewers will not even be aware that the analog transmitter is no longer working since they are already watching on cable or satellite or have installed the digital converter or purchased a digital TV."

WQPT is the local public television station located in Moline, Illinois on the campus of Black Hawk College.

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