A recent survey conducted for the Genesis Heart Institute is providing the fuel for an outreach campaign for people to get their cholesterol and blood-sugar levels tested. The survey asked questions of 525 people in the Quad Cities area age 50 and older, discussing everything from demographics to health-care habits to risk factors for heart disease.

Suing Over Sue

In 1990, Peter Larson paid Maurice Williams $5,000 for some fossilized dinosaur bones that his team had found on Williams' property in South Dakota. It wasn't a speculative buy. "We knew it was really good," Larson said in a phone interview last week.
• The Iowa Department of Transportation reports that Iowans have achieved a major milestone in highway safety, with preliminary data indicating 380 fatalities occurring in 2004. This is the lowest number of fatalities since 1945.
Re-development of abandoned industrial sites is, by now, old hat. But what might be happening in the coming years in Rock Island is something fresh. What's unusual is that the Quad City Industrial Center isn't abandoned at all.
Leigh Funk loves glass beads. I could tell from her appropriately named Web site (http://www.funky-beads.com), a kind of glass-bead heaven that features photos of Funk's original designs, including sea creatures, food & drink, animals, holiday themes, and whimsical pieces.
• The Putnam Museum & IMAX Theatre will receive $4,000 in grant funding from Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage Area to design and install a new interactive program in the museum's Black Earth/Big River exhibit hall.
The Rock Island Housing Authority (RIHA) announced January 7 that it has received Housing Choice Vouchers for the remaining 48 families residing at the Valley Homes public-housing complex in Rock Island, giving residents the ability to relocate to housing owned by private landlords.
As the River Music Experience prepares for its second director in its first year, the roots-music museum has established a new mission - one that focuses on entertainment as much as education. A new director is expected to be named as soon as this week and might start the job by February 1.
Two sports bars in the Quad Cities are catering specifically to non-smokers, giving people the opportunity to eat and drink without the smoke that clogs most taverns. "My friend is a smoker, so it is funny to watch him squirm while we sit and have a drink because he knows he has to wait to have a cigarette," said Jay Keim, a resident of Rock Island and a customer at 3rd & 22.
• The Quad City International Airport has announced that 2004 set a new annual enplanement record of 442,737 passengers, an increase of 34,968 passengers over 2003. December 2004 was the 11th month in a row with a new monthly enplanement record.

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