• Quad Cities PBS station WQPT has announced that Chad Pregracke: The River Rescuer - a film produced by WQPT staff members Lora Adams and Brad Mosier - won a prestigious CINE Golden Eagle Award. The CINE Gold Eagle recognizes excellence in professional and amateur works.
There's no getting around it. Shades of Noir, the new film by Max Allan Collins and Phil Dingeldein, is a patchwork. "It's a bit of a Frankenstein monster," Collins conceded last week, "but the Frankenstein monster gets its job done.
• Genesis Medical Center has announced that it will renovate the third and fourth hospital floors on its East Rusholme Street campus in Davenport beginning in January 2005. The focus of the 18-month project is improved patient care resulting primarily from enlarged and enhanced nursing stations, updated patient-care technology, and private patient rooms that are more conducive to rest and comfort.
When David Botsko received a letter from the Davenport Civil Rights Commission (DCRC) dated March 16, 2000, notifying him that a former employee was suing him for discrimination and harassment, he could not have predicted that, nearly five years and approximately $40,000 later, he would still be defending his claim of innocence against a system that appears to simultaneously endow the DCRC with the powers and authority of a prosecutor, judge, and jury.
• The number of ballots cast in Scott County in the November 2 election was 82,838, or more than 75 percent of the county's 110,168 registered voters, a not -unexpected number considering the nature of the campaigns.
Mr. Webster could have saved himself some trouble if, rather than defining the word "entertainer," he just ran a picture of Bobby Rush. The Esquire Lodge & Elite Temple BPOE #1265 (The Elks) will welcome back this consummate entertainer and legendary bluesman for a Saturday show at the Capitol Theatre in downtown Davenport, with proceeds benefiting local student scholarships.

Photo Synthesis

Welcome to a new feature, one that we plan to use to both showcase and prompt artwork. Periodically, we'll publish the photography of Scott A. McMeekan and ask readers to respond to his work in some form. We'll publish the best responses alongside the original photograph in a future issue.
• Scott County has set aside $114,138 for a new Mental Health Jail Diversion program that will serve as an alternative to police or hospital intervention in responding to situations involving the emotionally disturbed.
People don't get much more soft-spoken than Devin Hansen, and the proprietor of the Brew & View has a modesty that matches his voice. "I'm just filling a void here," Hansen said on the occasion of his business' second anniversary, which he's celebrating this weekend with a three-day music and movie festival.
• The Bettendorf Rotary Club has brought Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) to elementary and middle schools in the Bettendorf and Pleasant Valley school districts - a $24,000 effort made possible with the help of generous donations and a successful program already in place at the Genesis Heart Institute.

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