St. Anthony's Catholic Church (at 417 North Main Street in Davenport) broke ground on Sunday, June 14, on a new multipurpose hall, an education center, a gathering center, parish offices, a warming kitchen, a patio, and a distribution window out of which meals will be served to the homeless and underprivileged. The $1.8-million expansion project will be completed by June 2010. For more information on St. Anthony's, visit StAnthonysDavenport.4LPI.com.
The Iowa Finance Authority has been awarded $73 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Treasury to ease pressure on the housing market. The Treasury Department will work with state housing agencies to jump-start the development or renovation of qualified affordable housing for families across the country.
On June 11, Iowa state Senator Jack Hatch (D-Des Moines) spoke about the benefits of Senate File 389 -- signed into law last month -- at the Community Health Care center in Davenport. SF389 works toward providing all children under 18 with health care by raising the level of those who are eligible from 250 percent of the federal poverty limit to 300 percent. The Community Health Care center in Davenport sees approximately 1,000 uninsured children a year, said Director George Barton. Those who are eligible can sign up on the spot at various locations, including the Community Health Care center. SF389 also contains a mandate that requires parents to sign up eligible children, and it allows legal-immigrant children to sign up immediately instead having to wait five years, as in the past. - Tushar Rae
On June 9, the Illinois Quad City Chamber of Commerce presented an optimistic message for the future of the Quad Cities area during the State of the Community Address at the i wireless Center in Moline. East Moline mayor John Thodos spoke confidently about the Quad Cities' economy. "We've gone through a lot this year," he said. "Yet here we are today, pushing forward." Thodos mentioned several encouraging statistics regarding the local economy, for example citing that the cost of housing in the Quad Cities is 20 percent below the national average. He also mentioned that Forbes magazine ranked the Quad Cities second in the cost-of-living category. Rick Baker, the chamber's president and CEO, discussed the goals of Blueprint 2010, a regional economic-development plan. Regarding recent economic downturn, Baker said, "We were impacted here in the Quad Cities, but ... we are much better off and much more fortunate than many other communities." For more information about Blueprint 2010 or the Illinois Quad City Chamber of Commerce, visit QuadCityChamber.com. - Emily Heninger
The "Teen Battle of the Bands" is back for its fourth year as part of the Davenport Public Library Summer Reading Program. The event will be held at the Fairmount Street branch (3000 North Fairmount Street) on Wednesday, June 17, at 5 p.m., with a special guest performance by the United States Navy Rock Band. The top three bands will receive a cash prize and will be invited to perform at two paid gigs for the City of Davenport this summer. For more information, call (563)326-7893 or visit DavenportLibrary.com.
Quad City Arts is employing 52 apprentices and four area artists to produce artwork for its 10th-annual Metro Arts Summer Youth Employment Program. A closing showcase and art market is scheduled from Thursday, July 16, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in Arts Alley, located next to Quad City Arts at 1715 Second Avenue in Rock Island.
The University of Iowa Museum of Art will extend the run of its first exhibition at the Figge Art Museum in Davenport, A Legacy for Iowa: Pollock's "Mural" & Modern Masterworks from the University of Iowa Museum of Art, through December 31. The exhibition had been slated to close August 2. The University of Iowa museum proposed the extension after it decided it would be too risky to move the paintings again, said Interim Director Pamela White. The museum had tentatively planned to send A Legacy for Iowa to other Iowa museums.
Scott Community College Foundation and the Culinary Arts program will host an area chef competition to showcase the value of cooking with fresh, locally grown food. Eight area chefs will compete each Monday in July from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Trinity Terrace Park farmer's market. One winner each week will advance to the Home Grown Iron Chef Competition Final Showdown on August 2 at the Isle of Capri casino. For more information, call (563)441-4063 or visit EICC.edu/ironchef.
The Greater Iowa Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association is holding a series of community forums and asking participants to assist in creating a "wish list" that will be used to influence state legislative priorities in 2010. The next meeting will be held Thursday, June 25, from 8:30 to 10 a.m. at CASI, 1035 West Kimberly Road in Davenport. Attendees are encouraged to register by calling (563)324-1022.
WVIK will be hosting a special preview of the new film about Garrison Keillor, the man behind public radio's most popular radio show, A Prairie Home Companion. The 86-minute film follows the public-radio icon as he weaves fact and fiction to create Lake Wobegon. The event will be held Saturday, June 20, at the Figge Art Museum (225 West Second Street in Davenport) with two seatings: 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. The cost is a $5-per-person donation that includes admission to the museum.
U.S. Senator Tom Harkin has announced that one of his aides will hold three "Listening Posts on Health Reform" on Thursday, June 25, in Scott County. The events will be held at Trinity at Terrace Park (4500 Utica Ridge Road in Bettendorf) from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m.; Genesis Medical Center Adler Health Education Center Room 1-2 (1227 East Rusholme Street in Davenport) from 11 a.m. to noon; and Community Health Care (500 West River Drive in Davenport) from 1 to 2 p.m.
