Retail Store You'd Like to See in the Quad Cities

1. Macy's

2. IKEA

3. Circuit City

Restaurant You'd Like to See in the Quad Cities

1. Cheesecake Factory

2. Joe's Crab Shack

3. P.F. Chang's

Underrepresented Cuisine

1. Fresh seafood

2. Authentic Italian

3. Indian

Local Business You'd Like to See Re-Open

Best Restaurant - Cup A Jo

Michael Huggins knows about well-kept secrets. He said a magazine named the chicken salad at his coffee shop/restaurant at 1603 Fifth Avenue in Moline the best in the country. He just doesn't know the name of the magazine, and "I don't have the magazine to prove it," he said.

Listening to Paul Rumler and Jim Bohnsack talk about passenger-rail service is not unlike attending a pep rally.

When Augustana College announced earlier this month that it was eliminating standardized tests as an application requirement for prospective students, it highlighted a trend in higher education.

"There has been an accelerating surge of selective colleges dropping their admissions-testing requirement," said Robert Schaeffer, public education director for the National Center for Fair & Open Testing, also known as Fair Test. "The pace is such that some folks have suggested we're reaching a critical mass or a tipping point."