• The Scott County Board of Supervisors has announced that Scott County has received the 2005 Digital Counties Survey Award from the Center for Digital Government and the National Association of Counties. The survey recognizes counties that make extensive and effective use of technology, and Scott County is the only Iowa county to receive the 2005 award.
The big attraction in LeClaire this past weekend was Tug Fest, but city leaders hope visitors paid attention to 6,000 square feet on the levee. It's nothing special - it looks like paving stones embedded in gravel - but it's a symbol of what's happening in this small town situated on the Iowa side of the Mississippi River.
• Iowa's congressional delegation has secured $2.36 billion for transportation projects throughout the state in the Highway Reauthorization Bill. Included is: $67.4 million for I-74 bridge replacement over the Mississippi River in Bettendorf and other I-74 improvements on both sides of the river; $5.
• The Rock Island Housing Authority (RIHA) recently purchased the Hickman Community Center located four blocks from the Martin Luther King Community Center. The Hickman Center will be restored and used as the primary RIHA maintenance distribution and warehouse facility.
As Development Director Margaret Babbitt led me up the Figge Art Museum's wide stairway to its second-floor galleries, I was momentarily stunned by Sol LeWitt's enormous drawing that occupies most of the north wall.
"We just unpacked Grand Wood's palette," a worker told Figge Art Museum Director Linda Downs on Monday, while she was giving me a tour. Such are the details that the museum's staff is attending to in the days leading up the Figge's grand opening on Saturday.
• A 40-foot colon replica with appropriately sized polyps is intended to amuse, educate, and ultimately save lives. The Colossal Colon, a crawl-through replica of a human colon, is the creation of Molly McMaster, a colon-cancer survivor who was diagnosed with the disease on her 23rd birthday.
If you're in a band, you might know that things are getting serious when business overtakes music as your primary concern. "Lately, it's been all business," said Tom Swanson, singer and guitarist for Jim the Mule.
• After a small fire on June 22 caused Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse to temporarily close for an extensive clean-up, the Rock Island dinner theatre is pleased to announce its grand re-opening on Wednesday, July 20.

Living History

He helped create Southern rock music. He was instrumental in paving the way for today's jam bands. He is indisputably one of the greatest guitarists to ever live. His group was one of the inspirations for Cameron Crowe's Almost Famous.

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