Noted urban planner Jeff Speck - the co-author of Suburban Nation: The Rise of Sprawl & the Decline of the American Dream - will be visiting Davenport through August 14 and will present his ideas for revitalizing downtown Davenport on Thursday in the Deere Auditorium of the Figge Art Museum. The one-hour presentation will begin at 6 p.m. and will be followed by a question-and-answer session and a meet-and-greet. There is no charge to attend, and the Figge galleries will be open to lecture attendees. "In Thrall of Sprawl," an article about Speck, was published in the River Cities' Reader on July 3, 2007.

In title and in summary, the Clean Water Restoration Act sounds benign enough.

But Dan Parmeter, executive director of the Minnesota-based American Property Coalition, calls it "the biggest federal power grab probably in the history of the country."

Davenport has been awarded $2.3 million under the Department of Housing & Urban Development's Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) and HOME Investment Partnerships programs. The $1.7 million awarded to HOME will provide formula grants to fund a wide range of activities that build, buy, and rehabilitate affordable housing for rent or ownership or provide direct assistance to low-income people. The $644,670 awarded to CDBG will be used develop viable communities by providing housing and a suitable living environment and by expanding economic opportunities, principally for persons of low and moderate income.

After voters cast their ballots, they think they've voted for the candidates of their choice; they take their "I voted" stickers and await the outcome.

But not all votes get counted. In a 2006 election in Sarasota, Florida, the votes of more than 18,000 people who went to the polls never made it into the final tallies.