Nature's Treatment Illinois (NTI) Future Dispensary Development at Milan Bottoms in Rock Island, Ill

The City of Rock Island is set to experience significant economic growth with the anticipated Milan Bottoms development that includes a new Nature's Treatment of Illinois (NTI) cannabis dispensary, truck stop, car wash and franchise restaurant. The 10-acre development is at the northwest corner of Interstate 280 and Highway 92, across from Bally's Casino. The new businesses to be constructed at these four previously industrial and commercially developed and occupied parcels has spurred considerable recognition and new found stewardship for the adjacent, surrounding, city-owned 500-plus acres, including an easement prohibiting development in the to be designated wetlands.

The Friends of Milan Bottoms (FMB) are a group of local individuals and organizations who are against locating a truck stop and cannabis dispensary on a specific 10-acre site adjacent to vital wetlands. We are not against Puffing and Pumping. However, locating those businesses there will cause extreme noise and lighting that will destroy the largest Bald Eagle winter night roosting area in the Lower 48 States and jeopardize the long-term health of our area’s only real touch of wilderness, as well as pose a potential drastic risk for oil/gas contamination over the decades.

Government Accountability Office Frontage 2022

Members of Iowa’s congressional delegation love to cite the GAO. Since the dawn of DOGE, they have increasingly styled themselves as watchdogs against wasteful government spending. And in the process, they frequently turn to Government Accountability Office reports to criticize government spending. Why wouldn’t they? The GAO, along with inspectors general, are the ultimate pros at finding waste, fraud, and abuse in the federal government.

Tanawah Downing Jessica Saxton Davenport City Council June 25.2025 Facebook Video Screenshot

Last Wednesday evening, I got a text from a concerned citizen alerting me to the video of that evening's Davenport City Council meeting. Two people made presentations to the council about accessing the grand jury and did I know these people? Of course, I was glued to the playback of the council meeting that evening. After watching the video playback several times, my “Spidey-Sense” was tingling. I thought, “Is this crazy-bait? Are these people legitimate or have they been sent here to disrupt or discredit the critical discussion regarding the grand juries?”

On April 21, 1856, the nation’s first railroad bridge across the Mississippi – connecting the Rock Island Arsenal to Davenport – was completed. Built with more than 220,000 pounds of cast iron, 400,000 pounds of wrought iron, and one million feet of timber, the bridge was an engineering marvel.

Slide 2017 Northern Illinois University on Grand Juries Specifically the  Case Hurtado v CA

https://www.rcreader.com/commentary/is-this-crazy-bait#overlay=node/69084/editSupporters of empowering county grand juries in the State of Iowa were likely surprised and excited by remarks made at a Davenport City council meeting on 25 June 2025 by Mr. Tanawah Downing and Ms. Jessica Saxton [~1:14:00 mark]. Their message was direct and to the point. The 5th and 14th Amendments of the Constitution are being violated by legislation passed by Iowa that permits prosecuting attorneys and police to charge by way of information rather than grand jury indictment.

 A slight sheen, indicative of petroleum, can be seen on the surface of the water

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is investigating an oil spill that entered the West Nishnabotna River from a truck stop near Avoca. The spill follows a complaint of discharged petroleum at the same Eagles Landing Flying J Truckstop from this spring that the DNR was still investigating and working to help clean up when the June 24 spill was observed.

“I ran for governor in 2018 to change our story,” Governor JB Pritzker told a Chicago crowd on Thursday as he announced his bid for a third term. “I ran for governor in 2022 to keep telling our story. And I am running for governor in 2026 to protect our story.”

I reached out last week to several members of the “19” – the Democratic House members who refused to vote to re-elect House Speaker Michael Madigan in 2021, thereby forcing him into retirement. I asked for their reaction to Madigan’s 90-month federal prison sentence handed down a few days earlier. Because it was a holiday (Father’s Day), I didn’t expect to hear much back.

As I write this, multiple news outlets have reported that the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency is preparing to deploy its Special Response Teams to five major U.S. cities, including Chicago, in the very near future. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson’s chief of staff Cristina Pacione-Zayas told reporters last week: “There will be tactical teams, mini-tanks, other tools they use in which they plan to do raids, as we saw in Los Angeles.”

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