The largest contingent of Quad Cities' private business and public sector leaders ever assembled flew to Washington, DC, last week and spent three days meeting face-to-face with all eight of our region's elected federal legislators.
The saga of the Davenport Community School District's decision to close Johnson and Grant elementary schools took several twists on Monday and Tuesday. At a hearing last week before an Iowa State Department of Education hearing panel, both the school district and parents who appealed the January closing decision agreed to a continuance so that the board could re-consider its vote.
In Rock Island County, the Democratic primary is almost always the toughest battle, with the general-election result nearly a foregone conclusion. There hasn't been a Republican sheriff in Rock Island County in 20 years, and that makes the March 19 primary for the office especially important.
Editor's note: This story went to press before the Davenport Community School District agreed to re-visit at its March 11 meeting the issue of closing Johnson and Grant schools. The hearing on the appeal was continued to April 5.
Central High School's Scholastic Journalism Week (SJW) is an imaginative program that began in 1995, thanks to the vision of Central's preeminent journalism teacher, Deb Buttleman Malcom, and her dedicated students.

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Supporters of cultural organizations will descend on Des Moines this week to lobby Iowa legislators for a $10 million trust fund that could be a long-term - albeit relatively minor - funding source for arts groups.
Adam Zelsdorf and Jason Held aren't your typical high-school seniors. Well, they are in some ways: They throw things at each other and don't try to hide their youthful enthusiasm and itchy feet. But teenage mannerisms aside, Zelsdorf and Held are unusual.
Following the resounding 1998 defeat of a $48 million bond referendum to build a 500-bed jail in downtown Davenport, Scott County embarked on a long process of re-evaluation that would culminate in a decision whether the county needs a new facility to house inmates.
The movie-theatre landscape in the Quad Cities might have changed significantly when the Nova 6 opened last weekend in Moline - in the old home of the Super Saver second-run theatre. Nova 6, located at 2018 36th Avenue (near SouthPark Mall north of John Deere Avenue, behind Key Auto Mall), is an "intermediate run" theatre, somewhere between the first-run shows at National Amusement's theatres in Davenport and Milan and the months-old product of cheaper , second-run houses.
After several years of development and project changes, The Quarter riverfront-revitalization project in East Moline is nearly ready to break ground. Last week, the East Moline City Council directed city staff to begin the process of issuing bonds that will be used for infrastructure improvements to the brownfield development.

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