If the members of the Davenport Community School District board take their jobs seriously, they have a lot of information to sort through between now and April 22, when they're scheduled to vote whether to close Johnson and Grant schools.
• The Davenport Museum of Art last week unveiled the final design of the $30 million Figge Arts Center - slated to open in 2005 - and announced more than $3 million in new gifts. Architect David Chipperfield explained that the building is designed to have two "front doors" - one facing the river and one on Second Street, to encourage people to enter the facility.

Thinking Big

The biggest change atop Museum Hill in west-central Davenport has been the opening of the Putnam Museum's new 270-seat IMAX theatre, with its contemporary glass-dominated architecture dwarfing the adjacent history-and-natural-science museum and the Davenport Museum of Art.
It's shorter than a one-night stand - well, it should be, anyway - but it's not like that at all. "You're committed to them for seven minutes, and that's it," said Susan Esser. What Esser is describing is Seven-Minute Dating, a service she started a year ago to help singles meet each other with little commitment.
• The Midwest Writing Center will be moving into the first floor of the Goldman Building in the Rock Island Arts & Entertainment District later this month. The office space, adjacent to the new MidCoast Fine Arts Gallery West, features a large front room, a main office, and the shared use of two conference rooms, a kitchenette, and restroom facilities.
Steve Banks has a jovial intensity, and while he takes his art seriously, it's not too seriously. When I tried to maneuver around one painting to avoid damaging it, Banks said, "You're not going to hurt anything but yourself.
• People will pay more to send mail via the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) starting June 30, as the Postal Rate Commission on Friday approved a hike that includes raising first-class mail rates from 34 to 37 cents. This is despite a highly critical report that, according to a March 15 Wall Street Journal article, the Postal Service is trying to keep hidden.

Rapid Rip-Off

With the filing deadline for income taxes in less than three weeks, a lot of people are turning to professional tax preparers to assist with their returns. But those services can come at a steep cost, and a recent study found that they're also steering hundreds of millions of dollars away from recipients of the Earned Income Tax Credit.
An e-mail from a 39 year old Wisconsin woman stated she was frustrated because her heavy periods and severe cramps continued despite undergoing a D&C, a trial of progesterone hormone therapy, and multiple doses of ibuprofen.
• The Bettendorf Park Board has decided to keep all of Splash Landing closed until 2003, resulting in a savings of $73,500. Water-clarity issues and structural problems forced the closing of the aquatic center following a $1.

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