At first blush, the proposal from the Isle of Capri and the City of Bettendorf for financing an expanded hotel, a new parking garage, and a convention center seems ludicrous. Less than half of the money for the project would come from the casino, with the rest of the funding coming from the city and the Scott County Regional Authority (SCRA).
Scott County is a step closer to putting a new jail proposal before voters, and although it's less expensive and smaller than the one in a referendum rejected in 1998, it's not the most cost-effective option available.
Nick Clooney hit upon an interesting idea when he was approached about doing a book about film: that movies sometimes should be looked at outside the realm of entertainment. A persistent literary representative kept asking him to write a book, but he kept deferring because of his schedule as host of American Movie Classics.
• The Quad Cities Convention & Visitors Bureau (QCCVB) is now offering bicycle rentals from its offices in downtown Davenport (102 South Harrison Street) and downtown Moline (2021 River Drive). The hours for rentals from both offices are 8:30 a.
A sign in the parking office of the City of Davenport reads, "Parking Should Be a Non-Event." That's certainly the dream in Davenport, but currently it's far from being a reality. Right now the city's parking system is getting pressure from two sides.
• The Family Museum of Arts & Science has achieved the highest recognition for a museum, accreditation by the American Association of Museums (AAM). Of the nation's nearly 16,000 museums, approximately 750 are currently accredited.
The Americans Who Tell the Truth project started with one portrait. Then it became a planned series of 50. Now, even its creator isn't sure where it will stop. The genesis of the project was the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
• A recently released report by the Washington, D.C.-based group American Rivers warns that the Mississippi River could face "ecological collapse" unless Congress directs the Army Corps of Engineers to fix problems afflicting the river in the next Water Resources Development Act.
The number of entries in this year's River Cities' Reader short-fiction contest jumped to over 120, up more than 25 percent from last year. There was one significant rule change - the word limit was cut from 250 to 200 - but that didn't seem to affect the quality of entries.
• First Lady Laura Bush has designated Rock Island as one of 20 new "Preserve America" communities. The official designation was announced March 18 and was delivered last week by U.S. Representative Lane Evans (D-Rock Island) to Rock Island Mayor Mark Schweibert during a ceremony at city hall.

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