The City of Davenport's leadership continues to decline on so many levels that redemption is no longer possible with the current players.

Beyond the complete abdication of the public trust because of a long list of ethically dubious actions - including the fast-tracking of the high-risk, financially inequitable development agreement for the Isle of Capri's casino hotel on our downtown riverfront, the serious cost overruns at Prairies Heights, the RiverCenter scandal with contracted private manager, the attempt to burden taxpayers with the Market District and Crossings proposals that would only benefit private development, John O'Donnell's financial problems, mismanagement of critical deterioration of infrastructure (sewers, roads, etc.), parking-ramp deficits, key personnel layoffs because of budget prioritizing, to name the most recent fiascoes - conditions have potentially entered the criminal arena with the revelation of City Administrator Craig Malin's three self-imposed pay raises in a year's time.

The Rock Island Public Library in downtown Rock Island will undergo a makeover this September. The work on the first floor and in the Children's Room includes a fresh coat of paint, new carpeting, new work desks, and a new resource room on the ground floor.

Chris Vallillo studied archeology in college, but when that didn't suit him professionally, he decided to give music a shot.

"I figured if I was going to starve, I was going to go ahead and try to play music and just see if I could make a living at it," he said in an interview last week.

But Vallillo's vocational choices aren't all that different: Both archeology and the study of folk music involve the excavation of artifacts to help illuminate the way people lived deep in the past. Vallillo - a singer, songwriter, guitarist, and folklorist based out of Macomb - is one of the main-stage performers at the Midwest Folk Festival this weekend in Bishop Hill, Illinois.

My name is Jim Maloney. I am a resident of Rock Island and use a wheelchair.

My favorite Quad Cities event is the Taste of the Quad Cities, which I've attended for the past five years. In previous years, I had no problems with wheelchair accessibility at the Taste. However, this year my visit to the Taste of the Quad Cities was ruined due to changes made that totally ignored the needs of persons who use wheelchairs.