06 Jun 2025

Where Is Scott County's Local Grand Jury When You Need Them?

By Todd McGreevy
DCI Report on 324 Main Street Case Number 2023014262 Version 1 Cover Page

The watchers are no longer being watched by the people. At least in Scott County, Iowa, that is.

04 Jun 2025

Got Curruption?

By Kathleen McCarthy
1034 June 2025 3 Faces of Uncle Scam Three Branches

Inexplicably, for decades, incurious American voters refuse to remove elected bad actors, even though we are responsible for giving them power and access. The lawlessness and corruption has gotten so over the top and still we do nothing, ever-expecting the ones who are breaking our system to fix it. This inertia is beyond wishful thinking: It is lazy, cowardly, slothful civic conduct.

04 Jun 2025

Tariffs in American History

By John Steele Gordon
At inauguration, George Washington had been symbolically careful to wear a suit made of cloth wov

Tariffs are among the oldest of taxes for the simple reason that they are easy to collect. Just send in the tax collectors and don’t let the goods being transported move until the duty has been paid. Being one of the earliest forms of taxation, it is not surprising that tariffs produced one of the earliest forms of tax evasion: smuggling.

02 Jun 2025

Alexi Giannoulias and Susana Mendoza Both Want the Mayoralty, But Neither Wants to Be the First to Admit It

By Rich Miller

For quite a while now, most folks in politics have assumed that Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias and Comptroller Susana Mendoza will probably run for mayor of Chicago in 2027. The incumbent Brandon Johnson is spectacularly unpopular, and a real hunger is developing in the city (again) for new leadership.

26 May 2025

Illinois Medicaid Coverage After Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill Will Be a Big, Bitter Pill to Swallow

By Rich Miller

The U.S. House’s Energy and Commerce Committee released its recommendations for budget reconciliation early last week. A preliminary review by the Congressional Budget Office projected that, if implemented, at least 8.6 million Americans would lose their Medicaid coverage during the coming decade. That translates to well over 300 thousand Illinoisans.

19 May 2025

It’s Speaker Welch’s Fingerprints on the Blade Sticking Out of Fred Crespo, in Case You’re Wondering

By Rich Miller

House Speaker Chris Welch took the extraordinary actions last week of permanently kicking Representative Fred Crespo (D-Hoffman Estates) out of the House Democratic caucus, stripping him of his legislative staff, removing him from his appropriations committee chair’s position, and booting him from the bicameral Legislative Audit Commission.

13 May 2025

Scott County Attorney Keeping DCI Report on 324 Main Collapse Secret Will Cost Taxpayers … Again.

By David Ezra Sidran

[The remarks below were delivered during Public With Business at the Scott County Board of Supervisors Board Meeting Thursday April 24, 2025.]  "I will save you the suspense: It is a public record. We all know how this is going to end. The only question is if you’re going to write another check for $93,000 to Mike Meloy or not?"

13 May 2025

Debris in Davenport Is Gone, but the Secrets Remain: May 15 Iowa Public Information Board Might Hear County Attorney Request to Keep DCI Report on 324 Main Street Collapse Hidden

By Randy Evans

As we approach May 28, the second anniversary of a tragedy that shocked the people of Davenport and brought national attention to the issue of building safety, secrecy continues to cloud public confidence in their government officials.

13 May 2025

Timeline: Elected Scott County Officials Keeping Public Information Secret Cost Taxpayers $93,000: Scott County Played Games Even After Iowa Supreme Court Ruling

By Kathleen McCarthy
Scott County Iowa Vacancy Appointment Committee 2022 Tompkins Knobbe Vargas

For two years, lifelong Scott County residents Dr Allen Diercks and Diane Holst (a former Scott County Board of Supervisor) put their money where their convictions are and hired Attorney Mike Meloy to take Scott County, Iowa, and Auditor Kerri Tompkins to court in 2023 to compel her in the direction of greater transparency and participation with Scott Countians by disclosing the list of names and addresses of 27 candidates who submitted résumés for a vacant supervisor seat on the Scott County Board of Supervisors (SCBS).

12 May 2025

Pritzker Reiterates: Now’s Not the Time for Budgeteers to Make It Rain

By Rich Miller

I spent some time talking with a top legislative budget negotiator last week who said rank-and-file legislators will very soon have to come to terms with a state budget environment unlike anything many have ever seen before.

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