QCA.news - Quad Cities news and view from both sides of the river

UAW releases statement on John Deere employee callbacks

UAW officials said they expect all 1,600 laid off employees in the Quad Cities to return to work as contract negotiations are set to continue next year.

More than 70 immigrants become U.S. citizens in Rock Island

More than 70 immigrants from 28 countries took the oath of allegiance in Rock Island, celebrating their new U.S. citizenship.

Over 70 people become U.S. citizens at Rock Island naturalization ceremony

More than 70 people from 28 countries took the oath of allegiance to officially become U.S. citizens on Tuesday in Rock Island.

Moline Police Department pausing Flock program

MPD said that while the technology has been a valuable resource for the department, its public safety value does not outweigh maintaining public confidence.

River Bend Food Bank launches Million Meals Match for second year

River Bend Food Bank is asking businesses, organizations and community members to become ambassadors and help provide an additional one million meals.

Quincy Powerball winner cashes in billion-dollar jackpot

The anonymous winner of the billion-dollar Powerball jackpot bought a Quick Pick in Quincy and is taking the $450 million lump sum.

Western Illinois University cuts ribbon on new performing arts center

The Goldfarb Center for Performing Arts contains 100,000 square feet of performance, rehearsal and teaching space.

Support mental health programs at NAMIWalks Greater Mississippi Valley

You can raise awareness, reduce stigma and support mental health programs throughout our region and help ensure no one faces mental health challenges alone. Brooke Hendrickx joined Our Quad Cities News to talk about NAMIWalks Greater Mississippi Valley. For more information, click here.

Blues Fest returns to LeClaire Park this weekend

The annual Blues Fest, hosted by the Mississippi Valley Blues Society, returns this weekend at LeClaire Park.

Knox County Sheriff's Office warns of kidnapping scam

The Knox County Sheriff's Office is warning residents of a scam where the caller falsely claims that a juvenile family member has been kidnapped.

Man charged with attempted murder ran over father of girlfriend’s child

More details have emerged about an incident that led to a Rock Island man allegedly hitting a man he was arguing with, with his truck.

Jamison Fisher in court for hearing on pro se motions

Jamison appeared in Henry County Court in Cambridge on Sept. 15 for a hearing on pro se motions that he filed in his case in connection with the death of 11 year old Trudy Appleby in 1996. He was admonished by the court about his right to remain silent and was instructed to stop talking [...]

Rock Island ceremony welcomes 71 new citizens from 28 nations

Nearly 10 weeks after America celebrated its 250th birthday, the United States welcomed 71 of its newest citizens Tuesday, who celebrated a different re-birth.

Iowa scientists push for more renewable energy to meet growing demands

The 2026 Iowa climate statement, published Tuesday, says Iowa is at a “fork in the road” with one path continuing to develop renewable energy sources.

River Bend Food Bank challenging local organizations to expanded impact in annual food drive

The food bank gathered community partners in preparation for Student Hunger Drive starting on Monday.

Rock Island City Council moves forward with nightlife venue; puts a stop to west side junkyard

The Rose Entertainment Complex will take over the former Cabana's Campus on 4th Avenue in the Broadway neighborhood. Del’s Metal Company tried and, for a second time, failed to gain approval to store scrap metal outside and continue cutting on two properties not zoned for such operations.

North Scott Press — September 16, 2026

Remembering Sept. 11

Residents and area firefighters descended upon Lancer Stadium Friday to honor first responders killed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. They each tried to put in more than 2,000 stairsteps to mark the 110 stories of the World Trade Center buildings.        

Council, EVFC meet again to discuss fire protection future

While acknowledging there’s still work to be done and more discussion to be held, the Eldridge City Council and the Eldridge Volunteer Fire Company took a tentative step forward last Wednesday regarding the future of fire protection in Eldridge. The parties also acknowledged they may not be as far apart in their vision for fire protection as recent meetings may have seemed to indicate. A special committee of the whole meeting was held on Sept. 9 at the Eldridge Community Center. The EVFC was represented by Dave Engler, Andrew Doyle, Pat Gainer and Tim Martinek, as well as the EVFC’s attorney, Daniel Morgan. In addition to the council and city staff, Eldridge city attorney Allison Wright was present, as was Seth Porter, who serves as insurance agent for both the city and the fire department. Each side brought a proposal forward regarding thoughts and ideas on the future of fire protection, and feedback was exchanged throughout the nearly 90-minute meeting. Although smaller groups met privately throughout August, this was the first public conversation in a committee of the whole session between the EVFC and the council since a July 13 meeting, which revealed an erosion of trust in the city from the fire company. As with city council meetings since July, the audience was packed with members of the public and the EVFC. The crowd adhered to a warning at the start of the meeting not to add any additional comment throughout. Committee of the whole meetings have traditionally not included public comment time. At the start of the meeting, mayor Scott Campbell brought everyone present up to speed on developments since the last city council meeting on Aug. 17. At that meeting, Engler announced the EVFC membership had voted to postpone an Oct. 1 deadline for the city to establish a municipal fire department until Dec. 31. The council also voted to table a third reading for ordinances regarding the municipal department until Oct. 5. These decisions followed a private meeting between council members Ryan Iossi and Brian Dockery and firefighters Engler and Doyle, which Iossi described as an exchange of open dialogue. At the Aug. 17 meeting, Iossi called for a committee of the whole, to involve the council, as well as representatives from the EVFC and Scott County, including Benefitted Fire District No. 3, which represents the rural portions of Eldridge. In the aftermath of the Aug. 17 meeting, Campbell said he “did a lot of thinking and talked to several people,” including Engler. When Campbell proposed Iossi’s committee of the whole idea, Engler reportedly said he was on board, but asked that the county not be involved just yet. “He thought their involvement was premature, and that the city and fire department needed discussions first,” reported Campbell. The mayor also reported that he and council member Dockery also had a private discussion to “clear the air.” At the Aug. 17 meeting, Dockery asked to be a member of the discussion committee between the city and the EVFC. Campbell declined, saying he believed Dockery had a conflict of interest. Campbell said the two met privately for several hours. He said they have known each other for more than 35 years, previously served as volunteers on the fire department together, and have a personal friendship. “There is no doubt that Brian brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the council. And as he fondly says, he speaks his mind,” said Campbell. “Lately, we have gotten a bit sideways, and we both knew that needed to change.” During the meeting, Campbell reportedly laid out his reasoning for why he thought Dockery had a conflict of interest. Dockery, in turn, shared his perceptions of Campbell’s role as mayor and his leadership. Campbell said the conversation was “brutally honest,” and the pair agreed to try to see the situation from the other’s perspective. “I feel, and I think Brian would agree, that he and I are in a much better place tonight,” said Campbell. “At the end of that meeting, we agreed that he and I needed to try to solve the issue with the fire department together. And more importantly, in his words, heal the division.” Upon Campbell’s request, Dockery arranged for a meeting between the two with Engler and Doyle. Campbell said they talked first about trust between the parties, and then he proposed both sides present plans on how everyone could move forward. “My only stipulation was that both entities needed to present plans with the end result being that the fire department would eventually transition to a municipal department, much like they asked for in May of 2025,” said Campbell. “And whether that transition would be now, six months from now, 18 months from now, that had to be our end goal.” Iossi and city staff took the lead in writing the city’s proposal, and Campbell and Engler exchanged the proposals for review on Sept. 5. Copies of the proposals were provided for the public at the meeting, and each proposal is also available at northscottpress.com. Transition timeline may be an issue The EVFC won a coin toss to determine who would start the conversation. Engler said one of the main sticking points the EVFC members noted was the city’s proposed transition timeline of 12 months. He said that, between hiring a chief, establishing a board for overseeing the department, and all the other tasks of establishing the municipal department, 12 months may not be enough time to effectively complete the process. He said the EVFC’s proposed timeline of three years was something they felt more confident with. That timeline also would allow all parties to periodically check in with one another, particularly to discuss where they were with regards to rebuilding trust. Engler said he thought there were many things in both proposals that could be discussed and worked out, but he felt the timeline would be the largest issue for the EVFC. Doyle added, “I also think, fundamentally, we’re not terribly far away from each other on overall structure. I just think we would need to go through a more detailed plan of who’s responsible for what from a budgetary perspective, and the cadence of review of some of the metrics that were defined for response time, training, volunteer retention. I think just outlining really clear benchmarks in regard to that is a great idea across the board.” Doyle also expressed some concern with the section in the city’s proposal regarding reestablishment of trust between the parties. He said he understood the goal, but that it could be subjective for both sides. “It’s really hard to assign a (Key Performance Indicator) to regain trust, but I think ultimately the goal of everyone up here right now is to retain as much of the volunteer membership as possible, and we need to take the overall temperature of the department as we kind of move through this,” said Doyle. “And, if things are going great and both parties decide to continue the agreement as-is, fantastic. If … the trust is being restored and we feel like it’s in the best interest of the community to transition to a fully municipal department, that’s also a great outcome. I think it’s just going to be really hard for us to define in strict parameters when that takes place.” He agreed with Engler that some of the benchmarks laid out in the city’s proposal could be difficult to achieve in 12 months. Speaking for the city first, Iossi stressed that he wanted to ensure that the proposal was a working document that can be adjusted as necessary. “I’m not saying that I necessarily agree with all the ideas,” he said. “I’m certainly not saying that all the ideas are viable options, both legally and when you look at the insurance side of it an everything else. But to me, it was a starting point.” Iossi said his biggest goal was ensuring whatever is agreed upon is “a win for the citizens,” and that tweaks, adjustments and discussions will take place before the final agreement comes together. He said some of his concerns with the EVFC’s proposal were on the structural side, and he wanted to make sure that these issues could be addressed from a legal and insurance perspective. Iossi also emphasized that, while state law requires the city to provide fire protection, from his perspective, and, he believed, the perspective of the council, that also includes EMS service. “We’re not going to fix everything in one night, but if we can move the needle here just a little bit when we leave here, I think that’s the definition of success in my mind,” said Iossi. Dockery spoke next and began by thanking the EVFC for their willingness to extend the deadline to Dec. 31. He said he also understood the department’s hesitancy on the 12-month timeline, saying he “always saw it as a minimum of two years.” Dockery said he also wanted to ensure the department has a measure of buy-in regarding the hiring of the chief, with both the city and the department having input. He encouraged everyone to continue moving forward on building out the upstairs of the fire station, because the department’s stated goal is to have an increase of membership.     “My gut feeling is, we’re not far apart. Not at all,” continued Dockery. “Everything is going good, as far as the service the fire company has provided to the community. I think that will continue on, I think that will help rebuild trust. Yes, from our side, there’s got to be some trigger mechanisms that set it off, and I don’t want to go back and rehash it all. But I look at the stuff that’s behind us as behind us. “We, as a group of leaders of the community, have got to figure out a way to take, from this point forward, and move forward. I don’t like eating crow. But sometimes, we may all have to eat a little crow to keep moving this forward,” Dockery said. “The best possible outcome would be a solution that’s not 100% what the city wanted, and it may not be 100% what the fire department wanted. If we get to that point, that’s probably the right place to be.” He said ultimately, the goal was that “the general public won’t know any difference than in the past.” While Dockery reiterated that there were still a lot of things that would need to be determined going forward, he emphasized that he was glad everyone was in the same room together and talking, and he was glad rhetoric seemed to have calmed down on social media. “This is what we need as a community,” he said. “When Scott and I sat down, basically, yeah, we did have a pretty harsh conversation. But we both decided that we have to heal this community. That’s what it’s all about.” What could a 28E agreement look like? Campbell asked Wright to weigh in on some of the specifics regarding what a formal 28E agreement might look like between the city and the EVFC. Although the city currently has an agreement with the EVFC to provide fire service, it does not meet the qualifications and specifications laid out in Iowa Code 28E. Wright said much of what a final 28E agreement looks like will depend upon what the final structure of the department is, and there could be varying levels of complexity. Under 28E, there has to be some sort of oversight mechanism. Wright said that, if, as was suggested in the city’s proposal, an oversight committee was established for the department, this would also create an additional governmental body to be involved in the process. That governmental body would also be subject to open records laws and other municipal codes, and it would also require insurance. She said, ultimately, that Code 28E requires the city to “move forward in a way that’s most efficient,” and that was something the parties needed to take into consideration. Porter added, in addition to efficiency, the parties should also consider an agreement that avoids too much complexity. “Complexity invites problems and potential for possible situations that insurance can’t resolve or can’t resolve well,” he said. Porter encouraged the parties to consider taking a hard look at some of the potential agreements going forward, particularly with regard to responsibility for or transferring of assets. He said this could involve a lease agreement, which both parties suggested in their respective proposals. Porter’s advice was to be as specific and clear with the wording and structure of agreements as possible. There was considerable discussion on what an oversight board might look like, and what its structure might consist of. Doyle asked if there is any minimum requirement of the composition of the board, and Wright said there is not, except to say that all parties in the 28E agreement must be represented in some capacity. Dockery suggested, for example, if the board was made up of five people, it could include two people from the city, two from the fire department and one from the county. As the discussion progressed, Dockery also said it was important to note that the parties have options moving forward, although he said more information was probably needed on these options so everyone understood what the ramifications might be. Next steps Later, council member Scott LaPlante asked the members of the EVFC for some clarification on their proposed three-year timeline, saying residents would likely have questions about progress over that time. Doyle explained one of the biggest concerns the EVFC had was making sure they were able to run through at least one full budget cycle before the transition goes through, which they may not be able to do with the city’s 12-month timeline. He also said the EVFC wanted to provide some confidence from an employment perspective when it came to hiring a chief. “I think I would be hesitant to take a position if I knew that in 12 months, there was going to be an organizational restructure guaranteed,” Doyle explained. “So, we just wanted to put a bit of a longer runway there that we felt would just bring comfortability.” He also said a longer timeline could provide more opportunities for benchmarks, review times and further discussion on the status of the agreement. “I think that gives us a lot of opportunity for collaboration and to build that rapport and have trust back and figure out what that looks like more long term,” Doyle continued. "As things evolve and the community grows, the needs will change and we’ll kind of address that as it comes.” LaPlante said he appreciated Doyle’s response. Campbell also asked about the department’s confidence in being able to hire a chief. Doyle said they were confident, and the EVFC appreciated the opportunity to have mutual ownership over the hiring process. He reiterated a point Engler made earlier in the meeting, that the city could perhaps vet the applications that have already come in down to a set of finalists, and the EVFC could come in during the interview process. This could then create an opportunity to hire a chief for the EVFC that is already pre-qualified for the city’s requirements for a municipal fire chief. “We’ve got a lot of great insight into the qualities that we would be looking for in that role and what our expectations would be,” said Doyle. He said he believed they could all mutually come to a decision on a great candidate. The city received nine applications for the municipal fire chief’s position before putting a hold on the hiring process following the Aug. 17 meeting. Iossi said he still had some disagreement on the EVFC’s proposed three-year timeline, saying he thought it might introduce more complexity to the situation, especially with regard to fixing the trust problem. He acknowledged that 12 months might be optimistic, especially if it takes several months to hire a chief, but he said he felt a prospective chief is going to want to have a transitional end date. Iossi also acknowledged the city has a part to play in rebuilding trust, but he said he didn’t like the complexity of a three-year agreement, and he was also concerned about liability issues for both parties. Council member Jeff Ashcraft suggested there might be room for compromise between the proposals, with maybe a 24- or 36-month transitional timeline, or adjusting the timeline as the transition moves forward. Doyle said the EVFC would feel comfortable with being able to go through “a couple budget cycles” before a full transition took place. “Ultimately, we’re just trying to bring back what we feel is going to create the most comfortability and retain the highest number of folks,” said Doyle. “I think just getting through at least a couple budget cycles where they can see, OK, things are being properly funded. We’re not shorthanded on assets or resources we truly need.” He said as they went through the process, if everyone mutually agreed things were going well, adjustments could also be made. Later, Dockery also pointed out that the transition timeline might ultimately be an unusual length, perhaps 30 months, because the city and the EVFC have different fiscal cycles. The city’s fiscal year ends June 30, while the EVFC’s currently ends Dec. 31.  Wright also asked that the organizational structure of the department be taken into consideration when hiring the chief. The EVFC’s model is non-profit, and there are different requirements for working in a municipal environment. Council member Adrian Blackwell also asked for an update on the build-out of the upper level of the fire station. In its FY27 budget, the city did allocate funds to be used by the fire department for a capital improvement project, and it was generally agreed the funds would be used for the build-out. Doyle said the EVFC has started the process of getting bids for the project, and they would keep the city informed on their progress. He also said there was some ambiguity as to whether they would need to install an elevator in the building, which would obviously increase the cost of the project significantly. There was also some discussion of the ultimate endgame of the process, and whether the department would be a fully municipal and paid department, or whether it would become a hybrid department of paid and volunteer staff. Ashcraft and Wright both encouraged the parties to have a very clear understanding of what the mutual result will be and to not, as Wright put it, change the goalposts. As the meeting wound down, discussion moved to next steps. The parties mutually agreed to have Morgan, Wright and, eventually, Porter, discuss privately what an oversight mechanism might look like for the department and to present options at a future meeting. They also agreed to have another committee of the whole meeting to discuss these options, with a goal of setting a date no later than the already scheduled committee of the whole meeting on Oct. 5. If, however, the attorneys and Porter are able to come up with the necessary information earlier than the end of the month, everyone agreed they reserved the right to schedule a special committee meeting earlier than that. “I’m glad that we’re all willing to at least sit down and discuss the options,” said Dockery. “Because all of us … everybody at this table, specifically the council members, we have to make a choice. You guys have to make a choice. We both have to make a choice of what’s right for the citizens.”  

Judge sets hearing date for contempt motion against man charged in Trudy Appleby death

Henry County prosecutors filed the motion against Jamison Fisher in August following his second exclusive interview with KWQC.

OSHA finds serious violation at February inspection at Smithfield Foods

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) records show the Smithfield Foods plant in Monmouth was hit with a serious violation in February.

Moline police to deactivate Flock license plate reader cameras in city

The Moline Police Department will be deactivating all nine license plate reader cameras in the city after the department announced a pause in its partnership with Flock Safety.

'Unprecedented growth in electricity demand: Iowa Climate Statement

The 16th annual Iowa Climate Statement, which addresses the increase in demand for electricity, was released earlier today. The statement has been endorsed by 186 scientists and sustainability scholars from 31 colleges, universities and related institutions statewide. “Iowa is experiencing a massive increase in electricity demand,” said Peter Thorne, University Distinguished Professor and Chair in Occupational and Environmental Health [...]

Walcott dedicates football field to beloved late coach

Dozens of students and friends of the late Dennis Johns gathered at the foot of Walcott’s football field last Thursday afternoon. They stood there in the heat, in their Panther Pride shirts, in the shadow of a big new blue scoreboard, which proudly declared the ground Dennis Johns Field. “Coach Johns” spent 36 years at Walcott, where he served as athletic director, physical education teacher and coach for several sports teams, including football. “His legacy extends beyond wins and losses,” Dave Shovlain, athletic director for Davenport Schools, said at a brief dedication ceremony at the field Thursday. “It lives on the character of the students he mentored, the athletes he inspired, and the community he strengthened.” The Davenport School Board announced plans to name the school football field in Johns’s honor in April, just two weeks before he died at the age of 90. Members of the Johns family, who petitioned to have the field named in his honor, sat up front at Thursday’s ceremony. His son Charles Johns remembered his father as a man who treasured Walcott and its school. “When you step back and you look at an event like this—where a man who's been gone for literally decades gets this kind of support—you can see why he loved the place,” Johns said. His mother spent a decade as the school librarian, Johns recalled. “They had great pride in being a part of this district,” he said. “They revered the profession of public education, and as such, I find it so fitting to honor in his name this field after our father.” Jon Flynn, instructional leadership director for Davenport’s secondary schools, said he had played against Coach Johns’s teams. “Over the years, countless friends and former players, some of whom are standing in the back—where some of them belong—have spoken of Dennis and his staff with deep enduring fondness,” Flynn said to a round of laughter.  “He showed a genuine lifelong investment in who they became as adults. That mutual love, respect, and care for everyone around him is what truly set him apart,” Flynn continued. Kent Paustian played for Johns’s football team the first year the school spent in the Davenport school system. “We had a very small team that year,” Paustian recalled. “There were only 13 players, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. I enjoyed Coach Johns and appreciated all the effort that he put into it.” Paustian now serves as vice-chair of the Davenport School Board. T. J. Schneckloth, Davenport Schools superintendent, also played for Johns. “He was a true mentor for everybody that stepped on this field,” Shovlain said. Walcott Principal Mike Garnica praised Johns as a model for future coaches and teachers. “Even after a tough loss, Coach Johns was always entirely focused on the promise of the next game,” Garnica said. “He taught his students how to push past what they thought was possible, whether it was surviving the presidential fitness program or finding the courage to climb the rope hanging from the gym ceiling. He made kids believe in themselves.” Johns shaped a generation of Walcott students—or, in some cases, two generations Richard Golinghorst was a freshman during Johns’s first year at Walcott, 1962. All four of his children had Johns for physical education. “He was a great cheerleader for all the kids,” Golinghorst said. He turned to watch his grandchildren play the Walcott Panthers’ first game on Dennis Johns field.

Speed radar sign to be installed on West Lincoln Road in Eldridge

In response to complaints of excessive speeding on West Lincoln Road, the city of Eldridge will install a speed radar sign between South 1st and South 5th streets. At Monday’s city council meeting, the council voted to install the sign, which will be purchased from Tapco at a cost of $3,210. Following a recommendation from council member Brian Dockery, the sign will be installed on a temporary pole, which will allow it to be moved to other locations in the community if necessary. According to assistant city administrator Jeff Martens, the city received its first complaint utilizing the official traffic calming policy application on July 22 from a resident on South 5th Street. The complaint also noted increased traffic, both from new development and cut-through traffic, and the absence of sidewalks for pedestrians in the area as additional hazards. “The combination of speeding vehicles, increasing traffic volumes from new development, and school bus activity (5th and Lincoln) present a significant safety concern,” read the complaint. City engineer Zach Howell was able to locate information from a traffic study conducted by Shive-Hattery in 2024. West Lincoln Road scored an 80 on the official rubric, identifying it as a “High Priority” for traffic calming measures. The radar sign was recommended by Howell and city staff, in addition to continued speed enforcement by the Eldridge Police Department in the area. The sign was recommended over other traffic calming measures like speed humps, in part due to anticipated future reconstruction of the roadway. “Unfortunately, the condition of the road doesn’t lend itself well to in-ground methods of traffic calming, which would be speed humps and things like that,” said Martens. “Those could, of course, be considered later on. But that is a through-way, and typically you don’t see those types of calming measures on that type of road anyway.” In a memo to the council, Martens also noted that the city mechanic is currently working to convert the city’s trailer radar speed station to solar power. Once that is complete, the trailer will temporarily be stationed on West Lincoln Road until the new sign from Tapco can be installed. Rotary bandshell project The council approved a project agreement between the city and the North Scott Rotary Club for the construction of The Venue at Sheridan Meadows, a permanent bandshell that will be located near the pickleball courts. Rotary requested administrative support for the project, and asked the city to process all payments for the project using funds raised by the club. This will allow the club to use the city’s tax-exempt status to ensure funds are used more efficiently, while also allowing the city to keep a record of all information for the project. The bandshell will be financed entirely by funds raised by North Scott Rotary. Although the city will take ownership of The Venue once the project is completed, no city funds are being used to pay for any portion of the project. A similar project agreement was put in place when the Rotary Club built the inclusive Inspiration Playground in 2017. The club officially began fundraising for the project in 2024 and completed a successful capital campaign to take in all the necessary funds for the project. Council members Dockery and Jeff Ashcraft particularly thanked the family of Bill and Linda Tubbs for their generosity. “Bill was well aware of this project before his passing nearly two years ago, and was very, very excited about it,” said Ashcraft of the longtime Rotarian. “It’s too bad it didn’t come to fruition before his death, but Linda has been very involved in it as well.” “I just wanted to give credit to the Tubbs family, because it’s well-deserved,” added Dockery. “Yes, it wouldn’t be happening without them, for sure,” said Ashcraft. Dockery raised some concern about the location of the bandshell in relation to the pond at Sheridan Meadows. Terracon will be doing soil boring at the location, and Ashcraft said the final location of the bandshell could be moved further south if needed. City administrator Nevada Lemke also addressed concerns about the positioning of the bandshell. Council member Scott LaPlante said he recently received communication from a resident on that subject as well. Lemke said city engineer Howell and Shive-Hattery have been involved with the bandshell project. “Their response was that the bandshell is oriented south-southwest, so that even in midsummer, the sun sets over the left shoulder of audience members, outside their field of view,” said Lemke. “At this latitude, the sun sets well north of due west on the summer solstice in June and there are a few trees scanning low west sun. So, if audience members were to face due north or west of north, the setting sun would be in their eyes. This necessarily means that performers may face the sun for brief periods some nights, but they are used to performing in bright lights.” She and Ashcraft said an overhang and wingwalls should also protect performers from direct sun.  Ashcraft abstained from the vote regarding the agreement due to his prior involvement with the project. A groundbreaking ceremony for The Venue will be held at Sheridan Meadows on Friday, Sept. 18, at 3 p.m. Other business In other business, the council: • Approved a 28E agreement with the cities of Bettendorf and LeClaire to provide transit services. At the July 20 meeting, the council authorized city staff to participate in submitting a joint application for a DOT special project grant for FY27. This will provide continued public transit services for Eldridge residents into the Quad Cities. Eldridge’s local match requirement will be $10,836.29. The City of Bettendorf will administer the grant. • Set trick-or-treat for Saturday, Oct. 31, from 5:30-7:30 p.m. This is in keeping with Eldridge’s past policy of timing Halloween festivities to coordinate with Davenport. • Approved the third and final reading of an ordinance amending permitted uses for I-1 Light Industrial Districts to include animal boarding facilities. • Approved the reappointment of Dean Ferguson and Thomas Bauer to the Planning and Zoning Commission for terms expiring Sept. 12, 2030. In a related move, the council also approved the resetting of P&Z terms. Earlier this year, the council voted to cut the number of P&Z members from seven to five, which resulted in several unstaggered terms. The other three members of the commission, Karl Donaubauer, Mike Martin and Brad Merrick, will see their terms expire on Sept. 12, 2028. • Heard a reminder from Martens about city regulations regarding garage sale signs, as the fall citywide garage sales will be held this weekend. Martens reminded residents that garage sale signs may not be placed in the public right-of-way or on public property, including parks and light and utility poles. No off-premises signs may be displayed until the day of the sale, and all signs must be removed once the sale is completed. • Heard congratulations from Ashcraft to Chief Andrew Lellig and Cpl. Jack Schwertman, who recently attended the first-ever Back the Blue Honor Flight to Washington, D.C. “What an honor for them, and what an honor for us to have them on our department,” said Ashcraft. • Heard from two residents asking the city to consider disabling its Flock cameras due to security and cost issues. Eldridge currently has several Flock cameras in use across the city. Council member Ryan Iossi was absent from the meeting, and council member Adrian Blackwell participated via telephone.  

Walcott adds 336 new acres farmground

Walcott will annex 336 acres of farmland owned by the Iowa 80 Group and its subsidiaries, the city council decided last week. The council simultaneously designated that property for industrial development on its future land use map. Iowa 80 said they planned to keep it in agricultural production in the near future. Iowa 80 submitted a request for voluntary annexation in July. In August, the council appeared undecided on whether or not to accept the request, and asked Iowa 80 to clarify its plans for future development. In a letter to the city council, Iowa 80 representatives stated that they did “not have any plans to develop the land asked to be annexed.” “A real estate broker advised that our land would only get noticed if it was in the city limits and have zoning potential,” the letter explained. The letter added that Iowa 80 representatives “do not see a land or building rush taking place.” “Walcott is currently not on the radar for new development,” it continued. “Maybe that will change someday?” The city council approved the annexation alongside changes to its future land use map with little discussion Monday, Sept. 7. Brothers Ross and Kent Paustian, who had questioned the request for annexation in August, appeared at the meeting. Ross, a Scott County supervisor, did not comment. Kent, a member of the Davenport school board, told the council that he “would love to see some growth taking place in the city proper” rather than in the orbit of the truck stop. Walcott City Council also approved its third payment to KE Flatwork for construction of the new city well on E. Wulf Road, and entered an engineering service agreement with Stanley Consultants to design updates to the city sewer plant. The city council also approved Walcott’s FY26 financial reports.  

Princeton moves to sell piece of Church property

Princeton City Council is preparing to put one of two lots given to the city by the former Princeton Presbyterian Church on the market. At its Sept. 10 meeting, the council voted to accept a contract with Realtor Rebekah Doering to sell a 0.41-acre lot at Chestnut and 4th Streets. Doering suggested a list price of $55,000 for the property, based on comparable lots. The property that the church stands on, in the 600 block of 3rd Street, cannot go on the market until the building has been demolished, according to the terms of a grant the city received from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. “The grant has to be completely closed,” Doering said. “Meaning the demo has to be done, DNR has to come put their stamp on it. So, probably 30 to 45 days after the demolition.” When it comes time to sell the 3rd Street property, Doering suggested a potential list price of $75,000 for the 0.53-acre lot. She also suggested the city sell the property as a single lot, rather than subdividing it. “If you were to separate them, it would probably be $40,000 each, but there would be cost with getting it subdivided,” she said. That would include fees from the county for the process, as well as installing two separate sewer systems. “Once it’s completely demolished, somebody will see the potential,” Doering said of the property. City attorney compensation The council confirmed the hiring of its new legal representation and set compensation rates. At a special meeting on Aug. 24, the council accepted the resignation of longtime city attorney Candy Pastrnak and hired the firm of Hinders, Updegraff, Franklin & Limkemann, PLC to represent the city. The firm has offices in the Quad Cities and in Norwalk. Thursday, the council adopted a resolution confirming the hiring and establishing Kylie Franklin and Brent Hinders, stakeholder partners in the firm, as the city’s new attorneys. The resolution also established the hourly compensation for the firm’s services, including $215 per hour for stakeholder partners, $185 per hour for associate attorneys, and $100 per hour for paralegals, with travel time billed at $150 per hour for attorneys.     Other business The council established trick or treat in Princeton for Saturday, Oct. 31, from 5-7 p.m. Mayor Travis Volrath and City Clerk Kisa Tweed said Princeton’s new polling location for the November election will be at Zion Lutheran Church. Postcards will be sent to residents informing them of the change, and the information will also be put on the city website. The council accepted the resignation of Penne Miller from the Community Center Board, and Victoria Morthland was appointed in her stead. Miller was thanked for her contributions to the community. Volrath also announced that a fundraiser for the Princeton Fire Department will be held on Oct. 17, starting at 4 p.m. at Red Roof Stable on Great River Road. He said there will be food and drinks, as well as many opportunities to help support the department, including gun raffles, silent auctions, 50/50 and more. Volrath encouraged residents to attend. “Number one, we don’t want a mess like they have in Eldridge. We want to make sure that our fire department feels supported,” he said. “Number two, with that 2% tax levy cap that they put on with the new tax bill, things are going to get tight next year. And we can go out here and support the fire department, have a good time and spend your money having fun, or we can pay it in property taxes. Or pay it on your homeowner’s insurance if we can’t keep them where they need to be to keep their rating. “I hope everybody shows up and has a good time. Should be a fun night.” Council member Kevin Kernan was not present at the meeting, but participated via telephone.

No outside counsel for power plant case, board decides

Scott County supervisors decided not to hire outside counsel as it prepares to contest Central Iowa Power Cooperative’s request to site a powerplant outside Maysville. Supervisors are among several parties that will protest the plant at a hearing before the Iowa Utilities Commission on Nov. 17. Democrat Maria Bribriesco pushed fellow supervisors to hire outside counsel to assist Scott County attorney Mallory Bagby as she prepares to present the county’s case. They thought the expense was unnecessary, and too late. “I don't think we need to hire outside counsel for this,” Supervisor Ross Paustian said. Supervisor Ken Beck said he thought it would be unlikely to “make any difference” at the hearing. “There's really no way we could hire outside counsel without a considerable expense,” Supervisor Jean Dickson added. “To hire somebody 60 days before a hearing on virtually anything, except maybe a small claims trial, is going to cost you.” Supervisors have asked the IUC, a state board, to defer to local zoning laws which would prevent the plant from siting on agricultural land.  Bribriesco said she was “very disappointed” by the board’s decision, which she called “shortsighted.” “We hired Mallory Bagby less than a year ago, and I don't know that she's quite up to speed,” she said. “I don’t mean to disparage Mallory or [former assistant county attorney] Kristina [Lyon],” she clarified. “Any time we hire outside counsel, it just means that that we have decided that there's someone with more experience in the area of the law that we're seeking.” Lyon, former assistant county attorney for civil matters, resigned Friday, Sept. 4. With three supervisors opposed to the decision at the committee of the whole meeting Tuesday, a resolution to hire outside counsel did not appear on Thursday’s agenda. Purchases, surveys ,grants at Medic EMS Supervisors approved the purchase of a key storage system for Medic EMS ambulances, though the equipment’s $43,150.40 price tag raised eyebrows. Paustian voted against the purchase, which passed 4–1. Medic EMS Director Paul Andorf said a pair of Morse Watchmans “KeyWatcher” key boxes were necessary to store and guard ambulance key fobs since Ford stopped offering keypad locks on ambulance doors. Key fobs for several ambulances have already been lost and replaced since ambulances without keypads arrived, Andorf said. Drivers have not previously had to carry key fobs. Supervisors agreed to purchase two key boxes for Medic locations in downtown and west Davenport, which will store a combined 224 fobs. Medic staff will use ID badges to check keys out of the key boxes, allowing supervisors to track who has checkout which keys for what vehicles. Paustian was unhappy with the cost of the storage system. “Did you tell Morse when they gave you this price that that was too much money?” he asked county procurement officer Stephanie Macuga. “I did ask them several times to make sure that there wasn't anything else that we would be able to do with that,” Macuga replied. She noted that the county had unsuccessfully tried to convince Ford to install keypads on new vehicles as well. While other supervisors agreed the system was pricey, they said it was a sound long-term investment. “We’re planning for the future, and prices are not going down,” Bribriesco said. Andorf also told supervisors that Medic was searching for a new company to perform client satisfaction surveys. They had solicited a free trial from Baldrige Group of Sarasota County, Fla., which supervisors gave the green light. Baldrige Group calls clients by phone rather than sending automated text messages and paper forms, Andorf said. He expected that method to provide Medic with more direct and consistent feedback. Andorf informed told supervisors that Medic had applied for a grant that would provide up to $700,000 per year for four years to bring non-emergency home medical care to residents of rural Muscatine, Jackson and Clinton counties. At no cost to the Scott County taxpayer, the program would allow Medic to trial a program that has lowered emergency medical call volume in other Iowa counties, Andorf said. Medic was waiting to hear whether they had been awarded the grant. Winners of the triple crown For the tenth consecutive year, Scott County has won the coveted “triple crown” of financial reporting awards from the Government Finance Officers Association. Scott County Budget and Administrative Services Director David Farmer presented the awards to supervisors last Tuesday. The triple crown recognizes excellence in a government’s budget, comprehensive financial report, and popular financial report. Only five governments in Iowa were awarded the triple crown last year. This year also marks the 39th in a row that Scott County has been named for excellence in preparing its comprehensive financial report, Farmer told supervisors. It is the 37th in the county been named for excellence in presenting its budget. Supervisors praised Farmer and fellow county staff for the achievement. “It's not an easy thing to do,” Beck said. “It takes a concerted effort of everybody within the group to get this done. So thank you everybody.” “Your name is always mentioned with the highest regard in the financial arena,” Bribriesco told Farmer. “We're lucky to have you and all the staff that supports you.” Other news In other business, the board: • Approved routine tax suspension and abatement requests. • Reaffirmed the list of banks and other financial institutions in which the county can host funds. • Accepted an $88,739 grant secured by the sheriff’s office. • Tabled a request for an over hire from the sheriff’s office. Sheriff Tim Lane was not present at supervisor’s committee of the whole to answer questions.             

Impound lot will not move ahead, Dixon council hears

A possible impound lot eyed for Dixon will not move forward, Clerk Nick Manrique told the city council Sept. 2. Either the buyer or the seller called off the sale of a private commercial lot located within city limits, Manrique said. A developer had previously reached out to the city to inquire whether any ordinances would restrict construction of an impound lot. New mayor Tami Jewell-Labath indicated that she would “prefer not having an impound lot within city limits,” according to meeting minutes compiled by Manrique. Residents also said they would prefer not to have an impound lot in the city, worrying about a possible impact on neighboring property values. Manrique told The North Scott Press that the city council could have imposed restrictions on an impound lot if it had been followed through to development. In other business, the city council heard from residents worried about “unkept” properties home to weeds, junk vehicles and other nuisances. Jewell-Labath asked Manrique to compile a list of habitual noncompliant properties, which she planned to visit. The city council approved the reappointment of Councilman Nick Phares to mayor pro tem and authorized Manrique to open a city credit card to pay certain expenses. At one point in the meeting, a resident “questioned if councilmembers received a “pass” on utility bills,” according to minutes. Manrique said there were no exceptions for utility billing. “Mayor voluntarily acknowledged that she is currently delinquent but is working to correct this moving forward,” minutes continued.

Donahue Days pie bakers raise $18K for Sportsmen, Fire Dept.

The Donahue Apple Pie Baking Contest held during Frontier Days on Sept. 6 was a HUGE SUCCESS thanks to many generous businesses, groups, families and individuals.  Our total income exceeded $18,000, which will be split with the Donahue Sportsmen and Donahue Fire Department. Our list of those making donations/buying pies included:  Eric & Jill Johnston; Matt & Kela Amhof; Above Acres Ag; On Point Trucking; Rock Platinum Construction; Paustian Concrete; Koberg Brothers; Scott County Lawns; Matt & Christa Wilson; Gronewold Services; Roger & Janet Friederichs; Wulf Pack Day Care; Austin Hunt; Dave Arp; Julie Schocker; Dan & Michelle Glunz; Dean & Randi Paustian; Pam & Dennis Golinghorst; Al Long; Mike & Lisa Kuehl; Bob Golinghorst; Mississippi Valley Fair/John Paustian; Marilyn Gronewold & Family; Donahue Fire Department; First Trust & Savings; Paul Meyer Chemical and Peter Kipper Construction. Thank you to our Apple Pie bakers.  Six junior pie entries with Claire & Lucy Golinghorst winning first place.  Seventeen entries were in the senior division with Janet Brockmann winning first place.  Fourteen specialty pie entries arrived with Randi Paustian winning first place. Congratulations to all. A special thank you to our judges:  Ken Schoenthaler, Bob Golinghorst and Cathy Lafrenz.  Also thanks to our auctioneers and assistants: Dave Wendt, Drake Golinghorst, Jim Hanson and Peggy Dietz.  Thank you Christy Henzen and Vicky Clark for assisting the committee.  This contest would not have taken place without the dedication and generosity of both our bakers and buyers.  You are deeply appreciated. Please remember that the contest will continue next year on Sep. 5, so mark it on your calendar to enter your Cherry Pie. Thank you. Becky, Sandy & Linda Donahue Pie Committee  

Long Grove council will tweak employee handbook

Long Grove City Council agreed with Mayor Mike Limberg that city vehicles should be used for city business, not commuting, and voted to update the employee handbook accordingly last Tuesday, Sept. 8. Public Works Director Nathan Loussaert asked the council in August whether he could take a vehicle home. The employee handbook indicated that would be okay, but he wanted to run it by the council first. Limberg said that the handbook should be updated. “What happens on the way in on a snowy day, and we got a truck in the ditch on 61 because they hit a patch of ice?” he asked. The updated employee handbook indicates that vehicles should be use only to travel between city business premises. In other business, Long Grove City Council set trick or treat hours from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Halloween night, Oct. 31, and designated the city hall, post office and city website as listing places for city council agendas.  

State of U.S. democracy reaches new low, report finds

A new global democracy report finds the U.S. at its lowest level of democratic performance in the 50 years it has been measured.

Keller Kearney wins Football Contest

Keller Kearney of Park View was the big winner in Week 2 of The NSP Football Contest, taking home $50. Keller had a perfect score with a tiebreaker of 39, closest to the total number of points in Iowa’s 16-13 win over Iowa State. Mike Mossage of Omaha, Neb., took second place. Mike also had a perfect score, with a tiebreaker of 42, earning him $25. Coming in third was Kelly Kashmarek of Rocky River, Ohio. Kelly missed one, with a tiebreaker of 32, and earned $10. Others missing one, and their tiebreakers, were Keaton Murphy (34), Caitlin Kearney (39), Vicki Kearney (40), Teagan Fletcher (42), Brady Ernst (45), Patrick Arguello (48), Page Mossage (36), Jennifer Kress (44) and Robert Fox (40). Making up the honor roll were those who missed two: Lance Vanfossen, Brian Wood, Eric Clark, Mike Clark, Troy Harmel, Doyle Fox, Jaclyn Kearney, Glen Naber, Chase Porter, Al Pawloski, Grant Porter, Joan Hennigan, Finn Carlson, Carson Lage, Bill Otten, Andrew Kashmarek, Reilly Kashmarek, Mary Kashmarek, Scott Kashmarek, Haylee Soda, Tanner Burchette, Cole Ernst, Hayden DeCook, Cindie Jensen, David Claussen, Matt Torres, Lisa Mealer-Burke, Liv Mossage, Rin Lillis, Nolan Mossage, Peggy Kuehn, Jeff Kress, Nicki Janoski, and Emmett DeLuca. Thirty-eight missed three and 19 missed four. There were 122 entries. Games missed most frequently included Pella over North Scott, Washington over Burlington, Michigan over Oklahoma and Texas over Ohio State. Other winners were Davenport Central over Davenport West, Western Dubuque over Waverly-Shell Rock, Alabama over Kentucky, Maryland over UConn, Tennessee over Georgia Tech, Wisconsin over Western Illinois, Iowa over Iowa State, Utah over Arkansas and UNI over Drake. Ten weeks remain in the contest, with a new slate of games in this week’s paper. Be sure to visit our sponsors to pick up your entry forms: Porter Insurance, DuTrac Community Credit Union, ORA Sports Medicine, Farm Bureau Financial Services – Tony Burkhart, First Central State Bank, Ruhl & Ruhl Realtors – Nancy Billups, King’s Material, Eldridge Body Shop, Amhof Trucking, Iowa 80 Truckstop, and Steve’s Auto.

House candidate to hold listening session Sept. 24

Karen Roebuck, candidate for Iowa House District 94, will hear from North Scott residents at an Eldridge library listening session Thursday, Sept. 24, at 6 p.m. All are welcome to attend.

‘Excessively wet’ conditions reported as harvest begins in Iowa

As most of Iowa saw heavy rainfall over the past week, about 2% of Iowa’s corn acres have been harvested, according to the latest crop progress and condition report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The report for the Sept. 7-13 reporting period noted 38% of Iowa’s corn acres had reached maturity, which is on par with the five-year average for the state, but 7 percentage points behind the 2025 crop. Slightly less than 90% of corn acres have reached the dent stage, according to the report which rated Iowa corn as 76% good to excellent for the period. While about 1% of soybean harvest has typically occurred by this reporting period, the latest report shows no beans have been harvested in the state. Twenty-two percent of the crop has started dropping leaves, however, which is 10 percentage points behind the year prior and 6 percentage points behind the average pace. Soybeans rated 74% good to excellent for the period. In accordance with the start of harvest season, Gov. Kim Reynolds issued a harvest proclamation Sept. 10, to allow vehicles transporting certain agricultural products to be overweight. State Climatologist Justin Glisan said the state had “excessively wet” conditions, with several weather stations reporting rainfall totals at 400%-600% of normal levels for the reporting period. According to Glisan’s weekly weather report, the statewide weekly precipitation total was 2.05 inches, more than an inch above the normal of 0.84 inch. Western and central parts of the state had the most precipitation during the reporting period, with Guthrie Center reporting the highest amount for the week at 7.76 inches, according to Glisan. Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said there is more rain on the horizon, making it a good time for farmers to “tackle other important work around the farm, including getting equipment ready for harvest.” In addition to the wet conditions, Iowa also experienced above average temperatures across most of the state, with a weekly statewide average of 71.2 degrees Fahrenheit, more than 5 degrees above normal.

Inside Scott County Republicans’ Reagan Dinner

Scott County’s Reagan Dinner last Thursday, Sept. 10, was a veritable who’s who of Iowa Republicans. In addition to the usual suspects—county supervisors and state representatives—I spotted Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig, Secretary of State Paul Pate, State Attorney General Brenna Bird, and Lt. Gov. and candidate for state auditor Chris Cournoyer. Former candidate for governor Brad Sherman served as emcee and current candidate for governor Zach Lahn was the keynote speaker. U.S. Representative Mariannette Miller-Meeks and U.S. Representative and Senate hopeful Ashley Hinson both spoke. State Rep. Bobby Kaufmann, House majority leader, chimed in. Scott County Attorney Kelly Cunningham led the crowd in the national anthem. It is election year, so it’s only natural that elected officials appeared in force. Scott County is the state’s third largest, and the largest in Miller-Meeks’s district. Lahn lost it to Randy Feenstra. Now it’s time to bring it home. But how to bring it home? Different Republicans have different ideas. Hinson, polished, quick, and cool, promised to “bring the minivan-driving mom common sense back to Washington D.C.”  The enemy of the minivan-driving mom is Chuck Schumer. “He will raise taxes on our families and our small businesses. He will regulate our small farms out of business, and he'll push every single radical left-wing policy imaginable.” And further: “radical nonsense, Green New Deal policies… hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of illegals pouring across our southern border, men in women’s sports, and of course those ridiculous proposals to defund the police.” Doesn’t the litany ever get old? Miller-Meeks has the same fears, but you know they are organic. “Let me tell you what I am,” she told the crowd. “I'm not a politician. I'm a doctor who got elected to Congress. I am pro-life, I am pro-God, I am pro-gun, I am pro-military, I am pro-choice in education.” It is not just that Democrats have absurd views, but that they lie about them. Her opponent, appearing in a souped-up truck in a recent ad, is all “bells and whistles trying to distract you from what they're going to do.” Not Miller-Meeks: “raw, real, authentic,” she called herself. There is very little dressing on top of her fury.  Miller-Meeks faces the tougher battle: Eastern Iowa is bluer than Iowa whole. Does her fight-like-hell style win her points for more than authenticity? Most experts have her losing the race to Johnson County’s Christina Bohannon. Hinson, buoyed by her years spent on the Hill, maintains a lead over Western Iowa’s Josh Turek. She does not think seem to think she needs to reach beyond her camp. Unlike candidates for Congress, Lahn prefers the big picture to the small fight. While other candidates “talk about these different issues… I'm here to tell you, those actually are not the issues that we’re fighting,” he said shortly after taking the stage Thursday evening. “The reason I believe we're here is we’re fighting to preserve and defend the culture of the state and the country that we love.” That culture has its roots in American history and Christianity, according to Lahn. “Thomas Hobbes wrote in the early 1600s what life was like: it was nasty, brutish, and short. But the New Testament had something else to say about that: that we have individual divinity within us, that there's a liberty that we have,” Lahn explained. “If we follow that, if we establish governments among men… we can relieve suffering, relieve oppression, secure rights, make life better for the people around us, have more prosperity.” That is “the story of what Western culture has done.” Now that is a mighty bit of philosophizing for a dinner with county Republicans, but Lahn is the philosophical type. Movements to defund the police or allow trans athletes to compete are “surface-level symptoms” of “cultural decay,” Lahn said. He argued that “the Left” disdains American individualism and prefers a kind of abstract collectivism that puts classes of people in conflict with each other: rich against poor, rural against urban, white against black. That leaves no room for personality, religion, neighborliness or dignity, he said. It’s interesting to me that Lahn does not think “the Left” is loony, or deranged, or full of hate or contempt or entitlement. Instead, it has a coherent ideology, a kind of mechanism that governs its decisions and its goals. You might call him a strategist rather than a foot soldier, but even that makes him out to be more of a partisan than I think he really is. He strikes me as intellectually sincere, the kind of person I might have been curious to share a beer with in college. Lahn gives his American exceptionalism an especially Christian flavor. “There is no religion on the face of the earth that could have written the Constitution of America except for Christianity,” he said at one point. Or later: “There is no such thing as a natural right. There's a God-given right.” Now it is all well and good to be religious, and to read the Constitution in a religious light, but it seems to me that at least one value of the Constitution is that it can be read in other lights, too. I can pretty comfortably say that, as a Jewish man, I like the Constitution just fine, and find the attempts to make it into a kind of New New Testament gratuitous and uncomfortable. A bit of Christian chauvinism may be par for the course. “It's Merry Christmas, not Happy Holidays,” Kaufmann declared Thursday during a list of provocations aimed at the “Woke Left.” Kaufmann is more vulgar than Lahn, though they have similar sympathies. I would like to note that I have never once been offended when somebody wished me a Merry Christmas, though for me, it really is Happy Holidays. What is so wrong with that?    Late in his speech, Lahn turned from philosophy to policy. For him they are not so distant. He wants to keep young people in Iowa. “We're losing our kids faster than 46 other states.You cannot build a culture, maintain your traditions, pass down your heritage, have tight-knit families if your people are leaving at a rate that's fourth-highest in the country.” Absolutely right. He has proposed income tax exemptions for young Iowans who save for a down payment on a first home. Lahn also positioned himself as an advocate for clean water and an opponent of agrichemicals and agribusiness. “The fight for clean water, the fight for lower cancer rates—those are pro-life issues,” he said. “We are going to funerals for people who are dying at 65, whose parents live to be 80. We are losing the wisdom of a generation. This is a cultural crisis we're facing as Iowans.” Right again. A question for Miller-Meeks and Hinson I had a chance to ask Hinson a question. I had spent a good part of the day reading about AI, so I asked Hinson whether she thought we needed to slow AI development. “I don’t think we need to slow down,” she said. “I think we need to make sure we have the proper lanes on it. I think we need to be responsible about AI, but we have to win that race, not China.” She added that there were promising applications of AI for farmers, healthcare workers, and the U.S. military. Channel 4 asked the same question to Miller-Meeks. “We have to be transparent. We have to talk about it. We have to discuss it,” she said. She said that several GOP members of Congress were taking a hard look at AI to “come up with legislation that has guardrails, but allows us to not lose an AI race to China, which could be problematic for the United States.” And she noted that legislation should protect domestic consumers from electricity cost increases associated with data centers. This isn’t the most local line of questioning, but I think it’s an interesting one. My hunch is that the 2028 election cycle will be dominated by AI talk—we might even see it race to the forefront in the next eight weeks. Hinson and Miller-Meeks agree we need guardrails, but that we can’t lose the race to China. That may be the GOP line but it might just be common sense. I think most Democrats probably agree. Otherwise, they’re pretty light on details. I think they’ll start to fill in. My thanks to Scott County Republican Chair Chuck Brockmann for calling to invite me to the evening.

2001: Residents react in the wake of Sept. 11 terrorist attacks

Sept. 16, 1976 • Turnout in the North Scott School Board election was very light, with only 279 residents showing up to the polls. As expected, Robert Carter and Dr. Marvin Elliott were elected to the board. Voters also approved a capital improvement levy by a margin of 163-105. • Three residents filed papers to run for Eldridge City Council, following a vacancy created when Larry Rauch resigned. Gary Ewoldt, Frank Pancratz and Joe VanDeWiele would all be on the ballot for the Nov. 2 election. Ewoldt formerly served on the Planning & Zoning Commission. Pancratz and VanDeWiele both previously served on the council from 1971-75. • North Scott High School was implementing a new peer counseling program. School counselor Carroll Vis, teacher Leon Fox and students Suzanne Gifford, Jeni Mortensen and Dave Stedman attended a training session to learn about this new model for peer assistance. Fox said the program’s goal was to “get kids feeling good about themselves and communicating with each other to reduce the need to depend on drugs and alcohol.” • Country singer Mel Tillis was set to appear in concert at North Scott in November. Funds raised would support the junior high band program. In addition to the evening concert, the school was also working towards scheduling an afternoon concert for students. • The North Scott volleyball team was off to a strong start, recording wins over Bettendorf at the varsity, JV and freshman level. Tammy Charlan was named Player of the Week. Other starters included Gwen Tombergs, Cindy Strobbe, Peggy Geary, Koreen Knutson and Linda Strobbe. Sept. 17, 1986 • Mayors of several Scott County communities said they were displeased with Davenport’s move to enact a one-cent sales tax increase throughout the county. Davenport leaders said the tax increase would help raise funds to pay for infrastructure and development within the city. Other mayors took issue with that. “I feel that it’s Davenport’s problem, not ours,” said Plainview mayor Kenneth Koberg. “But indirectly, we’re involved.” LeClaire mayor Robert Scannell said, “They should find other ways to get the revenue without putting it on us.” Scannell added other communities had similar financial problems and managed to find ways to solve their problems without raising taxes. • The Scott County Library welcomed the governor, as Terry Branstad paid a visit to Eldridge. He attended a luncheon with library employees and then attended an open house. He was also pictured with Eldridge mayor Frank Pancratz and Ray Baetke, president of the Scott County Library Board of Trustees. • Newcomer Jerry Vollbeer and incumbent Ned Mohr were elected to three-year terms on the North Scott School Board. Gene Schneckloth ran unopposed to fill the one-year unexpired term of Jack Hill, who resigned from the board earlier. At the annual organizational meeting, Gus Youngberg was chosen to chair the board, with Jane Miles elected vice-president. • Gene Wuestenberg and Jerry Petersen celebrated the 30th anniversary of their partnership at P&W Implement in Donahue. The pair opened their Allis Chalmers dealership in 1956. Petersen ran the business for two years alone after Wuestenberg was drafted, and the two men had seen many changes, both personally and professionally in the years since. Allis Chalmers was now Duetz-Allis, and they also now sold New Idea, FarmHand and Kewanee equipment. “We’ve managed to survive for 30 years, and I’m looking forward to 10 more good years,” said Wuestenberg. “We’ve had some good times and some bad times, although the bad times have never been as tough as they are now,” said Petersen. • The North Scott volleyball team was off to a 10-0-1 start, and they won their own invitational. After losing to MAC favorite Clinton in the morning, the Lancers avenged that defeat in the afternoon championship game, crushing the River Queens 15-6, 15-4. Tracy Graham finished with 35 ace spikes on the day and was also perfect from the serving line. Heather White had 45 ace sets. “We’re really playing as a unit now instead of as six individuals,” said coach Deb Menke. Sept. 19, 2001 • The North Scott area was reeling in response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Throughout the school district, principals praised their staff for handling the day with professionalism. In most of the buildings, older students were allowed to watch some of the events on television and guidance counselors were available for all students. “A lot of reassuring was done that day,” said Alan Shepard counselor Kelly Mangels. “We knew that at the end of the day, kids would see it on TV, and that some would not have adults with them,” said Virgil Grissom principal Jim Pfaff. Every building observed the national “Day of Prayer and Remembrance” the Friday following the attacks and some teachers were adjusting their lesson plans for special projects, including writing thank you letters to first responders in New York City. “I think it’s going to take a while until we’re going to see some concerns,” said Mangels. “The children haven’t completely processed it yet.” • There would be a contest for Eldridge mayor, as Frank Wood announced plans to run against Larry Rauch. This was his first bid for public office, and he said he wanted to run because Eldridge’s government was “rather fragmented. I just want to see us get back to normalcy because I think the town of Eldridge has a lot to offer many, many people.”  • Scott County’s oldest bank, Blue Grass Savings Bank, was preparing to mark its 100th anniversary. The bank was formed on Sept. 24, 1901, when 104 investors purchased 140 shares of stock. It was incorporated on Oct. 23 of that year, and the bank building opened in 1902. President and CEO Elton D. Farley had been with the bank since 1960 and was only the seventh president in bank history. A customer appreciation event was scheduled. • The North Scott football team ruined Davenport Central’s Homecoming, with a 35-14 win over the Blue Devils. Andy Wiese led the offense with 222 yards in 33 carries, while Ben Anderson finished with 100 yards in 16 carries, including a 59-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter. • Members of North Scott’s Homecoming Court included Sasha Faust, Emily Pearson, Paige Epping, Anne Wylie, Sarah Tobin, Karen Meyer, Sarah Anderson, Lisa Kirby, Hannah Hainline, Brooke Reth and Jordan Olsen, and Larry Simon, Wes Larson, Matt Conklin, Nick Gries, Jimmy Goddard, Andrew Wiese, Mike Farley, Chris McCabe, Adam Nolan, Jared Hamilton and Joe Hanson. Recent retirees Deac and Mary Sue Ryan were named grand marshals of the parade. Sept. 21, 2011 • Voter turnout in the North Scott School Board election was high, with 2,300 voters going to the polls. This resulted in a major shakeup, as two incumbents, Tim Lane and Krista Long, were ousted from the board. Challengers Dennis Albertson, John Maxwell and Joni Dittmer were elected, with incumbent Paul Dierickx nabbing the remaining spot. Voters also defeated a proposal that would have extended the local option sales tax from 2019 to 2028 and that would have given the board authority to borrow for a new elementary school in Eldridge. “I think that, based on who was elected, it said that building a school in Eldridge at the current time is not something the community is in support of,” said superintendent Jeff Schwiebert. There was a sharp urban-rural divide in the vote, with plans for another elementary school in Eldridge widely seen as a threat to smaller communities. Concerns about this plan led to rumors an elementary school in an outlying community would be closed. • McCausland residents officially got word that the U.S. Postal Service was moving towards closing the town’s post office. The proposed discontinuance was due to “declining office workload, which may indicate that maintaining this facility is not warranted.” Residents had a 60-day posting period to offer comments, and community organizer Lloyd Claussen said an appeal was in the works. “We’re not done yet,” he said. • North Scott High School welcomed six foreign exchange students: Marie Dykmans (Belgium), Miguel Mardaji Izar (Spain), Niklas Schafranietz (Germany), Karolina Novakova (Slovakia), Julia Damman (Belgium) and Johanna Fiene (Germany). • Kasey Denison and Brian Speer were named North Scott’s Homecoming King and Queen. The flower girl and crown bearer were Anna Boelens and Kale Rohlf. • The North Scott girls’ cross-country team finished third at their own invitational, with all six varsity runners placing in the top 25. Skylar Brooks finished seventh, completing the 4K course in 16:56. The boys placed seventh, with Sean Allchin pacing the Lancers. He placed 25th with a time of 19:39. Sept. 15, 2021 • North Scott marked Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, with attendees of the Lancers football game against Davenport Assumption wearing gold. Two area boys living with cancer, Alan Shepard fourth grader Hudson Ferris and preschooler Hudson McKearney were named Kid Captains for the game. While Ferris was unable to attend, McKearney and his family – including his parents Kyle and Jessica and sister Violet – accompanied football captains Ryan Campbell, Padriac Bozik, Payton Kruse and Adam Allen out onto the field for the coin toss. • Jodi and Patrick Reid purchased the old U.S. Bank building on West Davenport Street. Patrick planned to move his financial planning business, Plan2Thrive, there, and they also planned to have other office space in the building. Also planned for the space was a coffee shop/café called The Vault, in honor of the old bank vault still in place. The building was set to be renamed the Thrive Professional Building. • There would be six candidates for three seats on the North Scott School Board. Incumbents Donn Wilmott, Tracy Lindaman and Mark Pratt announced plans to run again earlier in the month. Frank Wood also put in papers, as did former school board member Nick Hansel and newcomer Stephanie Eckhardt. • The North Scott girls’ cross-country team placed third, and the boys’ team fourth at the Cedar Rapids Invitational. Bailey Boddicker and Faith Nead finished in the top 11 – just eight seconds apart – while Logan Soedt placed 11th and Luke Crawford placed 13th. “We ran phenomenal,” said coach Amy Knoche. “It was a fast course, and we had a lot of confidence.” • As Iowa and Iowa State met up in Ames for the Cy-Hawk game, two cousins on opposite sides faced off as members of their respective dance teams, Josie Lindle (ISU) and Kaeli Verbrugge (Iowa). They were the daughters of Jim and Tina Lindle and Traci Verbrugge and Wade Verbrugge, all of Eldridge.     

Rowing International: Eldridge's Graham Matlock represents Team USA at world championships

Following his and his older brother’s double sculls national championship last summer, Graham Matlock already had his next goal in mind. Compete for Team USA. On Aug. 6, Matlock found himself in the middle of a canal in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, draped in red, white and blue, living out his dream. It capped off an unforgettable summer for the Eldridge native, repeating as a rowing national champion in June and qualifying for the United States national team the following month. Matlock, along with fellow Y Quad Cities rowing partner Kayden Coddens, was untouchable during the fall and spring seasons, setting the stage for what was to come. “We were undefeated all of fall. We hit spring and were like, ‘We’ve got to go undefeated again,’” Matlock said. “We went undefeated in the spring. Then, it was nationals. We won the time trial and had the quickest time overall.” The crew, which set the course record at the prestigious Head of the Charles Regatta in Massachusetts in October, was favored to win nationals. On the water, it was anything but smooth sailing. “There was a boat that we had beaten in our heat. We’d raced them multiple times. All of a sudden, halfway through the race, they were up on us,” Matlock said. “We were planning on getting ahead and controlling the race. It probably came down to the last five or 10 strokes that we finally got ahead… We started to get nervous, but we brought it back. We stayed together, stayed focused on ourselves, and were able to get the win.” Not long after, Matlock went from the warm waters in Sarasota, Florida, to sunny San Diego and the Chula Vista Elite Training Center, where he competed for a spot on the United States national team. After initially being waitlisted for the qualifying camp, then having his application accepted, and finally making the cut for one of six coveted spots on the team, Matlock secured his spot in a United States boat. His reaction, like any good rower, was that there is still more work to do. “This is what I’ve been working toward for a while. This is great. But the focus was still on,” Matlock said. “You can’t relax. There are another three more weeks of training where you need to get the boat moving as quick as possible. You can’t lose the focus there.” He had already spent three weeks in California. Now, he had just three more weeks to learn to row with a brand-new partner before the double sculls world championships. Matlock had a built-in connection with Andrew Vizecky of Arden Hills, Minnesota, in the double sculls boat to represent the United States. “There’s not much rowing in the Midwest, so everybody in the Midwest knows each other. I’ve known him for about three years. We’re both really competitive, and we race each other all the time,” Matlock said. Vizecky was part of the boat that finished second to Y Quad Cities at Head of the Charles. He and Matlock had never rowed together, however, so there was an acclimation period. “The first week, the idea was, ‘What are we doing?’ You come off the water, and see what you need to improve,” Matlock said. “When you take people from all over the nation, there are so many styles people will row. Everybody runs differently; everybody rows differently. In team boats, you have to be able to change and be flexible. Be able to give a little bit of your technique for the boat to move quickly.” It wasn’t long before Team USA took the 12-hour flight from Los Angeles to Vienna, Austria, and then a separate flight southeast to Bulgaria. On site in Plovdiv, the second-largest city in Bulgaria, the double sculls event was the deepest of the six men’s events at the U19 World Championships with 33 entries. The Americans were taken aback by the strength of the field when the initial pairings were released. “We were in the first heat. The heats come out, and (heat one) is loaded,” Matlock said. “Great Britain is really good. Poland is really good. New Zealand is good. Four of the six boats in our heat made the ‘A’ finals and were top six in the world. “We went all out, and we get last (place). It’s like, ‘Oh my gosh, what just happened?’ We go in and watch the times trickle in. We would’ve won a bunch of different heats. Our time was quick. They have progression through time, and we had one of the top times.” Despite finishing in sixth place in their heat, Matlock and Vizecky’s qualifying time of 6:31.28 was 12th fastest out of the 33 boats, more than enough to earn a spot in the quarterfinals. Here, four heats of six boats race to make five different finals: A, B, C, D or E, with ‘A’ and ‘B’ being the most prestigious. The quarterfinals took place in the afternoon of that same day and featured much slower conditions than the morning’s race. “In the middle of the race, the headwind hits you. Your legs are full of lactic acid. Your lungs are burning. Some of the bigger and stronger crews walked away from us,” Matlock said. Team USA got fifth place and were relegated to the ‘C’ finals, short of the team’s goal to make the ‘A’ or ‘B’ finals. “It was a really deep field. The margin wasn’t as big as it usually is every other year,” Matlock said. “The U.S. hasn’t been the best in the double at the team level. They focus more on the bigger boats. (Making ‘C’ finals) was a fair result.” Matlock and Vizecky ended on a high note, racing to third place in ‘C’ finals with a strong finishing kick. “Let’s just lay it all out right here,” Matlock said of the pair’s game plan. “We get going. We’re sticking with the pack and doing our thing, taking the lessons we learned from the first two races and applying them here. “Around the 500-meter mark left, we just go. This is it. We were able to pass the South Africans and the Greeks, and we finished in third there. That was a better race.” All of the countries in the ‘A’ final, and four of the countries in the ‘B’ final, raced a faster time than what the United States posted during the qualifying heats. It opened Matlock’s eyes to the incredible level of competition on the world stage. “The biggest takeaway was: Yeah, you can be competitive at the national level. But can you be competitive at an international level?” Matlock said. “At nationals, you line up against other guys that look like you. At worlds, the boat right next to you are guys from Turkey with full arm sleeves and are about 220 pounds. I have to put in some more work to compete at an international level.” Competing at an international level remains Matlock’s goal — at least in the long term. The next opportunity will be at the U23 level, which is far more competitive and demanding than U19. For the time being, Matlock has his sights set on rowing in college. He has official visits starting this month, and he hopes to have an idea of where he wants to commit this winter. Before that journey begins, as well as a potential international adventure in the coming years, Matlock wants to enjoy a summer off the water. “This year was a whole year away. It was fun, but I’m missing out on stuff at home,” he said. “All my friends are back. I think this year I’ll stay home. And the year after that, I’ll try for the U23 team. “They have lightweight events for U23, so I want to start racing those events. Then, maybe bulk up and try to race open weight, which is a little more competitive.”

Patel-Bryant vows to be said Sept. 19 in Des Moines

Aashka K. Patel and Aaron C. Bryant, both of Des Moines, announce their engagement and upcoming wedding. Parents of the couple are Keyur and Kinnari Patel of Round Lake, Ill., and Paula and John Bryant of Eldridge. The couple will be married Saturday, Sept. 19, at 2 p.m., at 1312 Locust St. in Des Moines. A reception and dance will follow the ceremony from 6-11 p.m. Invitations have been sent. 

Cora Miller to celebrate 100th birthday with open house

Cora Miller of Walcott marks her 100th birthday on Sept. 22. Friends and family are invited to an open house in her honor on Saturday, Sept. 19, from 2-4 p.m. at Better Living of Walcott, 510 N. Main St., Walcott. Cora has been a wonderful part of the Walcott community for many years, teaching Sunday School and Bible School at the Walcott Church from 1956-1972 and serving as the library aide for the Scott County Library – Walcott Branch from 1967-1983. She is also well-known for her crafts, including making Scrubbies and embroidering greeting cards. In lieu of gifts, please bring a card to the open house or mail it to: Cora Miller, PO Box 221, Walcott, IA 52773

Dierickx named 'Regional Teacher of the Year'

Mitchel Dierickx was one of nine teachers from across the state to have been selected as a 2027 Regional Teacher of the Year by the Iowa Department of Education. Nominations for the 2027 Iowa Regional Teachers of the Year were received earlier this year from educators, administrators, students, families and other community members. In partnership with teachers and education leaders across Iowa, the nine regional teachers were selected to represent a variety of schools, grade levels, endorsements and pathways to the teaching profession. Collectively, the teachers represent a broad range of subject areas, including English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Fine Arts, Business and Computer Science, Physical Education and Health, and Early Childhood Education. As Iowa Regional Teachers of the Year, he and his cohort advance as finalists for the 2027 Iowa Teacher of the Year award, to be announced later this fall. Dierickx, a first-grade teacher at Davenport Community School District’s Madison Elementary School, has spent the past nine years creating a positive learning environment and supporting the growth of young learners. He earned a bachelor’s degree in elementary education from the University of Northern Iowa and is expected to complete a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction from Grand Canyon University later this year. Dierickx is a teacher leader in his school and district, serving on the Building Student Assessment Team, leading the first grade Professional Learning Community, and serving as a model teacher in lesson structure, instructional planning, and student behavior management. He also co-advises student council and serves as a staff representative for the Parent-Teacher Organization. In 2025, he was named an inaugural recipient of Davenport’s Heart of Excellence Award. Dierickx credits data-driven instruction, strong relationships, and collaboration with colleagues for his success. He believes all students can achieve at high levels when supported by high expectations, strong instruction, and a caring, supportive environment. He is a 2012 graduate of North Scott High School.

Dairy processing forums to be held in October

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach will host two On-Farm Dairy Processing Forums on Oct. 9 at Empty Nest Winery in Waukon and Oct. 20 at O So Good Winery in Dyersville. The one-day programs run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and are designed for dairy producers considering value-added processing as a way to diversify their operations. The same agenda will be offered at each location. The forum addresses the questions producers face when they are considering on-farm processing, such as cost, what the market will bear and what regulations apply. Brian Tapp, vice president of value-added agriculture with the Iowa Area Development Group, will open the morning with an overview of funding resources for dairy processing. The program also features speakers from Iowa State University and the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship. Panel discussions will allow participants to interact with the expert speakers, and the day will conclude with wine and cheese tasting. "Many dairy producers are curious about processing their own milk but don't know what questions to ask first," said Gail Carpenter, assistant professor and extension dairy specialist at Iowa State. "This forum puts the funding, financial and regulatory pieces in front of them in one day, so they can make an informed decision about whether it fits their operation." Those interested in attending are asked to register online by Oct. 5 for the Waukon event and Oct. 15 for the Dyersville event. This program is offered at no cost to attendees thanks to funding from North Central Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education. Attendees who participate in wine tasting will cover the cost of their own wine. Registration and additional information about the events are available on the Dairy Team website. For more information, contact Carpenter at ajcarpen@iastate.edu. This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under agreement number 2024-38640-42989 through the North Central Region SARE program under project number ONC25-160.

Obituary: Gary Landau

Gary H. Landau, 76, of DeWitt, died expectedly after a lengthy illness on Friday, Sept. 4, 2026, at his home, surrounded by his family. Visitation will be from 3 p.m. until 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 6, at Schultz Funeral Home, DeWitt. A Celebration of Life and time of sharing will be held immediately after from 5 p.m. until 6 p.m. Gary Haines Landau was born Nov. 6, 1949, in Hawarden to Dr. Bert and Doris (Haines) Landau. He grew up in Hawarden, and it was in fourth grade that he met the love of his life, Mary Catherine Gant. It wasn’t necessarily love at first sight; Gary reluctantly agreed to share his locker with the “new girl,” Mary, and wasn’t too happy that every day, she put her muddy farm boots right on top of his clean city boots. They began dating in high school and after graduation, they moved to Minneapolis. Gary then attended the Minnesota School of Business and completed his degree in court reporting. The two of them eventually wed on Jan. 29, 1972, in Akron. Together they had two daughters, Jennifer Lynne and Carrie Jean, and Gary worked as a court reporter and court reporting instructor until his retirement in 2015. Gary loved spending his free time fishing, watching the Iowa Hawkeyes, Indiana Fever, his grandkids playing sports, and researching genealogy. Gary’s greatest hobby was listening to all types of music, but most importantly the Beatles, who he secretly hoped would ask him to be their fifth member. Gary fancied himself Paul McCartney’s doppelganger and enjoyed it when people said they actually looked alike. Gary was one of the most compassionate people. He was accepting of everyone and had a remarkable ability to put himself in others’ shoes, always seeking to understand and empathize with their perspective. Gary never met a stranger; everyone he met was instantly a friend. Gary’s gift of story-telling was uncanny and he made everyone around him feel welcome by engaging in immediate conversation as if he had known them his whole life. Gary’s jokes may have been heard by those around him thousands of times but that didn’t stop him from telling them time and time AGAIN. Gary loved going to the casino with Mary and made lots of friends playing his beloved slot machines that he was sure he had figured out the odds on. Gary’s biggest joys were his grandchildren who he spoiled greatly and loved watching grow into young adults. Gary is survived by his wife, Mary; his eldest daughter, Jennifer (Stan) Rheingans of Dubuque; his youngest daughter, Carrie (Tim) Bacha of Frankfort, Ill.; his grandchildren, Emersen (Alex) Pang of Fort Collins, Colo.; Colton Rheingans of Davenport; Jackson (Grace Riniker) Rheingans of Dubuque; and Mackenzie Bacha of Frankfort; siblings: Dr. Greg and (Deb) Landau; Jim Landau; Bill and (Peggy) Landau, and Jeff and (Carrie) Landau; sisters-in-law, Sue (Ron) Gant-Yackel, Jean (Dan) Ellis and Pat (Ralph) Gorton; and many nieces and nephews. Gary was preceded in death by parents Bert and Doris Landau; his in-laws, Bill and Beulah Gant; his brother, Steve Landau; and brother-in-law, Mike Gant. The family asks that sometime, in the next few days, you listen to your favorite Beatles song in loving memory of Gary (aka, the 5th Beatle). The family would like to offer their sincere thanks to the MercyOne Genesis Hospice Staff, Dr. Humphrey Wong and Amy, and Dr. Mary Campbell. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to MercyOne Genesis Hospice. Cremation is being provided by the Schultz Funeral Home family at their crematory in DeWitt. Arrangements are in the care of Schultz Funeral Home, DeWitt. Condolences may be expressed at www.schultzfuneralhomes.com.   Custom obituary

Obituary: Judith Roper

Judith M. Roper, 82, of Davenport, died Thursday, Sept. 10, 2026, at MercyOne-Genesis Medical Center, Davenport. Funeral services to celebrate Judith’s life were held at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Sept. 15, at the Halligan-McCabe-DeVries Funeral Home, Davenport. Visitation took place Tuesday from 4 p.m. until the service began at the funeral home. Burial will be in Rose Hill Cemetery, Eagle Grove. Memorials may be made to the family to establish a memorial at a later date. Judith Marjorie Carr was born on April 27, 1944, in Chicago, Ill., a daughter of Harry Carr and Marion (Adlam) Carr Schurman. She attended Eagle Grove Junior College and went on to graduate from the University of Nebraska – Kearney. Judith was united in marriage to John E. Roper II on Dec. 27, 1964, in Eagle Grove. They have shared over 61 years of marriage together. Mrs. Roper taught for many years, beginning in Central City, Neb., before spending over 20 years in the Calamus-Wheatland School District. She retired briefly before working many different part-time jobs including J.C. Penney and later for the U.S. Postal Service as a rural mail carrier. Judith was a loving person and true friend. She enjoyed staying busy and involved in her community, including working the election polls and getting together for lunch with her retired friends from J.C. Penney. She loved to read and spent countless hours researching her genealogy and learning more about her and John’s family history. More recently she found enjoyment watching activities along the Mississippi River, such as barge and eagle-watching, with John. John especially loved her cooking and the picnics she made for the river outings. She cherished time spent with the people she loved and spoke to her children daily on the phone. Those left to honor her memory are her husband, John E. Roper II, Davenport; children: Janie Evans, Central City, John E. (Yessica) Roper III, West Des Moines; grandchildren: Tanner Dye, Cedar Rapids, Traeger Evans, Central City, and Kylie, Elena, and Kalen Roper, all of West Des Moines; a sister, Carol Schurman, Mesa, Ariz., and a niece, Crystal Hedin, Tempe, Ariz. Judith was preceded in death by her parents, and a brother, Ron Carr. Online condolences may be expressed by visiting Judith’s obituary at www.hmdfuneralhome.com.   Custom obituary

Moline Police Department pausing Flock license plate reader contract

MPD said that while the technology has been a valuable resource for the department, its public safety value does not outweigh maintaining public confidence.

Coroner identifies Smithfield Foods worker who died after workplace incident

The Warren County Coroner identified the worker at the Smithfield Foods Monmouth location who died after a workplace incident.

View the Scott County Sheriff's report from the Sept. 16 NSP!

FRIDAY, SEPT. 4 3:52 a.m. — Nicole Renee Arguello, 40, no address given, was charged with failure to appear on a warrant and cited for driving while license denied, suspended, cancelled or revoked, following a traffic stop near West 65th and Brady streets, Davenport. 5:02 a.m. — Deputies responded to a report of a domestic disturbance in the 500 block of West Prairie Vista Drive. 12:38 p.m. — Deputies responded to a report of an animal problem in the 8300 block of 130th Street. 2:53 p.m. — Deputies responded to the scene of an accident with property damage in the 4800 block of State Street. SATURDAY, SEPT. 5 12:47 a.m. — Deputies responded to a report of a domestic disturbance in the 700 block of Davenport Street, Dixon. The dispute was verbal in nature, and one of the parties left the residence prior to deputies’ arrival. 3:27 a.m. — Deputies responded to the scene of an accident with personal injury in the 700 block of West Walcott Road. 5:00 p.m. — Deputies responded to a report of a domestic disturbance in the 200 block of East Mayne Street. 9:47 p.m. — Deputies responded to the scene of an accident with personal injury. 10:35 p.m. — Deputies responded to a report of a disturbance in the 11200 block of 140th Street. 11:44 p.m. — Deputies began a death investigation in the 5500 block of Hillandale Road. SUNDAY, SEPT. 6 12:29 a.m. — Deputies responded to a report of a disturbance in the 12700 block of 105th Avenue. 12:38 a.m. — Brian Edwards McGee, 54, no address given, was charged with OWI – 1st offense and cited for failure to have a valid license/permit while operating a motor vehicle, operation without registration, improper use of registration, and an open container violation, following a traffic stop in the 6000 block of North Pine Street, Davenport. 12:41 a.m. — Deputies performed a welfare check in the 100 block of South Bellingham Road. 3:17 a.m. — Deputies responded to a report of a disturbance near Tremont Avenue and East 18th Street. 5:28 a.m. — Deputies responded to a report of a domestic disturbance in the 400 block of South Dittmer Street. 5:44 a.m. — Deputies responded to a report of a disturbance in the 3500 block of North Plainview Road. 6:32 a.m. — Deputies performed a welfare check. 10:10 a.m. — Deputies responded to a report of a disturbance in the 2200 block of Falcon Avenue. 11:37 a.m. — Deputies responded to the scene of an accident with property damage in the 3400 block of North Plainview Road. 1:04 p.m. — Deputies responded to a report of an animal problem at Scott County Park Cody Lake Shelter. 2:44 p.m. — Deputies responded to a report of an animal problem in the 1400 block of West Front Street. 7:09 p.m. — Deputies responded to a report of a disturbance in the 1400 block of West Front Street. 7:15 p.m. — Deputies responded to a drug complaint in the 3400 block of North Division Street. 7:18 p.m. — Deputies began a death investigation in the 11000 block of 140th Street Place. 8:18 p.m. — Deputies responded to a fireworks complaint on Park Avenue Court. 8:30 p.m. — Deputies responded to a report of a disturbance in the 2300 block of Avalon Drive. 9:23 p.m. — Phuong Xuan Vo, 71, no address given, was charged with OWI – 1st offense and cited for an open container violation, following an incident near Veterans Memorial Parkway and Utica Ridge Road, Davenport. MONDAY, SEPT. 7 2:52 p.m. — Deputies responded to a report of a disturbance in the 300 block of North Salina Street. 6:05 p.m. — Deputies responded to a vandalism complaint in the 1200 block of Eagle Ridge Road. 6:25 p.m. — Deputies responded to a report of a domestic disturbance in the 500 block of Park View Drive. TUESDAY, SEPT. 8 2:31 a.m. — Bryan Mitchell Myers, 24, no address given, was charged with possession of a controlled substance (marijuana) – 1st offense and possession of drug paraphernalia, following an incident near Elmore Avenue and East Kimberly Road, Davenport. 3:17 a.m. — Raymond Earl Hopgood, 27, no address given, was charged with driving while barred (habitual offender), following a traffic stop near West 65th and Harrison streets, Davenport. 6:19 a.m. — Deputies responded to the scene of an accident with property damage near New Liberty Road and 85th Avenue. 8:46 a.m. — Deputies responded to a fraud complaint in the 26000 block of 264th Street. 11:14 a.m. — Deputies responded to a trespassing complaint in the 4800 block of State Street. 1:52 p.m. — Deputies performed a welfare check in the 21500 block of Maysville Road. 2:27 p.m. — Deputies responded to a drug complaint on Park View Drive. 3:00 p.m. — Deputies responded to the scene of an accident with hit-and-run damage in the 4800 block of State Street, Riverdale. 3:28 p.m. — Deputies responded to the scene of an accident with property damage in the 4800 block of State Street. 7:53 p.m. — Deputies responded to a report of a disturbance in the 700 block of West Walcott Road. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 9 3:01 a.m. — Deputies responded to a report of a domestic disturbance on West Timberline Drive. 3:25 a.m. — Deputies responded to a report of theft in the 5100 block of North Fairmount Street. 10:47 a.m. — Deputies performed a welfare check on Timberline Drive. 11:34 a.m. — Deputies responded to a report of an animal problem near North Main Street and 1st Avenue. 12:46 p.m. — Deputies responded to a vandalism complaint in the 200 block of West Flagg Street. 3:20 p.m. — Deputies responded to the scene of an accident with personal injury near West 13th and Main streets. 3:32 p.m. — Deputies performed a welfare check in the 20600 block of 310th Street. 6:11 p.m. — Deputies responded to a trespassing complaint in the 5200 block of Elmore Avenue. 9:30 p.m. — Deputies responded to a report of an animal problem near West Main and North 2nd streets. THURSDAY, SEPT. 10 1:48 a.m. — Deputies responded to the scene of a one-vehicle accident in the 4800 block of State Street, Riverdale. A vehicle driven by Colton Lee Garvin, 37, LeClaire, was eluding law enforcement. The vehicle left the roadway and drove through a cornfield. The vehicle then went up over a railroad track embankment before crashing into a water-filled ravine. Garvin left the scene on foot but was later apprehended. Garvin was charged with OWI – 1st offense, eluding, possession of a controlled substance (cannabidiol) – 1st offense and interference with official acts and cited for failure to maintain control. 2:01 a.m. — Deputies responded to a report of a domestic disturbance in the 300 block of South Lincoln Avenue. 5:43 a.m. — Deputies responded to the scene of a one-vehicle accident in the 28500 block of Scott Park Road, where a vehicle driven by Christopher Patrick Jennings, 55, Iowa City, struck a deer that entered the roadway. 9:54 a.m. — Deputies responded to the scene of an accident with property damage near 280th Street and Cadda Road. 12:23 p.m. — Deputies responded to the scene of an accident with property damage in the 600 block of Belmont Road. 1:09 p.m. — Deputies responded to a report of theft in the 2300 block of West Locust Street. 1:11 p.m. — Deputies responded to a report of theft in the 2200 block of West Kimberly Road. 2:30 p.m. — Deputies responded to the scene of an accident with hit-and-run damage in the 19200 block of 290th Street, Long Grove. An unknown vehicle struck a parked vehicle in the lot at Glynns Creek Golf Course. 6:09 p.m. — Deputies responded to a report of a disturbance in the 1500 block of Wisconsin Avenue. 6:54 p.m. — Deputies responded to the scene of an accident with property damage. FRIDAY, SEPT. 11 10:15 a.m. — Deputies performed a welfare check in the 700 block of West Iowa 80 Road.  

'We're getting closer to putting all the pieces together'

If it were up to them, North Scott’s boys would probably run at Seminole Valley Park every week. At last year’s Cedar Rapids Invitational, the top five fastest Lancer boys all set personal records or season-best times. This year, the top six all set new high-water marks. North Scott’s boys showed out last Thursday, racing to an eighth-place team finish but coming within shouting distance of as good as fourth place at this year’s edition. There were five personal records in the varsity bunch, making for a memorable night. “I thought the guys did a really good job of feeding off each other and competing as a pack. When you have runners pushing each other throughout the race, it makes a big difference,” Lancer coach Amy Knoche said. “We also had some guys with varsity experience running in the freshman/sophomore and junior varsity races, and several of them put up times that, if they had been part of our varsity scoring group, would have helped us beat some of the teams ahead of us. “That’s what is exciting about this group. We have some depth, and if we can get everyone firing on the same cylinder on the same day, I think we can definitely be in the mix with some of those teams. We’re getting closer to putting all the pieces together.” It starts at the top with senior Parker Hamly. His time of 16:30.2 is a new lifetime best, and he became the sixth different North Scott boy to run faster than 16:31 in a 5K in school history. “When I crossed the finish line, I was awestruck. I ran the best race of my life,” Hamly said. “Ben (Clayton) and Bryton (Dougherty) also ran lifetime PRs, and we will only get better. I have faith we will carry this momentum into next week, and I’m excited to see where it will take us.” Hamly took ninth place overall in Cedar Rapids. “I’ve always believed Parker was capable of running in the 16s, and I honestly think he has a chance to go sub-16 yet this year,” Knoche said. “I don’t know that he necessarily did anything dramatically different in this race. I think he is starting to put together the pieces of what we’ve always known he is capable of.” The aforementioned Clayton also hit a personal record of 20 seconds with his time of 17:11.9 at Seminole Valley Park. This was 56 seconds faster than his time at this event in 2025. “I came into this race with a new motto, ‘212’, which is the boiling point of water. I felt like the last few meets I was sitting at ‘211’ where the water is just warm,” Clayton said. “Sometimes, it only takes one degree to go from good to great. I wanted to not get too comfortable. I decided today to go out fast and try to not get too comfortable. Racing is uncomfortable, and I wanted to experience that.” Right on Clayton’s tail was Dougherty, who has dropped over a minute off of his start-of-season personal record in just the last two races. At Crow Creek Park, Dougherty ran 18:04. Last Thursday in Cedar Rapids, he ran 17:16.7, good for third-fastest on the team and 30th place overall. “Bryton has definitely been impressive over the past two weeks,” Knoche said. “Even though he is only a sophomore, he now has another year of experience under his belt, a track season behind him, and a summer of more consistent training and mileage. He is starting to embrace the distance runner mentality and what he is capable of, and that is showing up in his races. “The fun part is that I think (Clayton and Dougherty) feed off each other. Ben is a senior, and I think he would tell you he doesn’t want to get beat by the younger guys. Bryton is pushing the older guys, and the older guys are pushing Bryton right back. When you have teammates competing for each other and pushing each other like that, everybody benefits.” The effects are visible even further down the lineup. Junior Zeke Skyles set his season-best time at 18:06.0, sophomore Cooper Esch hit a personal record of 18:34.9, and freshman William Crawford set his lifetime mark at 19:09.3 Senior Nate Holst won the junior varsity race with his time of 18:18.9, and sophomore Miles Unwin went sub-18 in the underclassman race, placing second at 17:50.8. Seminole Valley Park didn’t only help North Scott’s lineup. The event’s six fastest boys set personal records. It is an elite racing environment, in more ways than one. “Seminole Valley is a flat, fast course, but I think it’s also a combination of the kids believing they are capable of running fast, along with the quality of competition around them,” Knoche said. “When you put those things together, it creates an environment where the athletes feed off each other and are willing to push themselves. That combination tends to bring out some really good performances.” Bettendorf’s Andrew Heden, the fourth-ranked 4A runner, won the meet at 15:14.4. Davenport Central’s Zack Ryan was second at an even 15:30. It was a different Mississippi Athletic Conference school, Central DeWitt, that won the team title with 77 team points — two points ahead of Central. Central won the girls’ race with 53 team points. North Scott’s girls finished in 10th place out of 14 schools, and most of the Lancers matched their previous times from Mount Vernon and Crow Creek at this meet. Junior Natalie O’Flahrity (20:58.4 — 20th place) was the fastest of the group again. She was followed by senior Khloe Hamilton (21:31.2 — 32nd), sophomore Vivian Ohsann (22:09.8— 41st), sophomore Zoey Ayers (23:18.2 — 66th) and sophomore Amelia Bowers (24:01.6 — 79th). “The girls are running really consistently right now, and I think that is a good sign for us,” Knoche said. “They have been pretty steady from race to race, and we are seeing them continue to compete well even when the conditions or competition change. “With such a small group, consistency is really important because every runner matters. I think we are still figuring out exactly what our ceiling is as a team, but the girls are doing a good job of showing up and competing every week.” If the team can’t run in Cedar Rapids again this week, their home trails will have to do. North Scott hosted its annual invitational at Scott County Park on Tuesday, a meet everyone on the team has circled on their calendars. “The kids really look forward to the Lancer Invite. Scott County Park is a challenging course, so it gives our athletes a good opportunity to compete on a course they know well,” Knoche said. “It’s also a smaller meet, which means a lot of our kids have a chance to come away with some hardware, which is always exciting for them. “I really like that more of their classmates and peers have the opportunity to come out and watch them race. Having that support along the course makes it feel like a true home meet.”

Lancer golfers are runners-up in Clinton

The North Scott and Pleasant Valley boys’ golf teams continue to jockey for positioning in the early part of the season. At Valley Oaks Golf Course in Clinton last Wednesday, both teams were over 30 shots clear of the next best schools, showcasing their dominance over the rest of the Mississippi Athletic Conference. Pleasant Valley won this battle, taking the River King Invitational team title 277 to 283 over North Scott. Both schools massively improved their performances at this event from a year ago, with the Spartans taking 14 strokes off of their winning total, and the Lancers cutting 16 strokes from their runner-up total. Spartan senior Zander Panek won the meet with a 6-under 66, while course horse Jaxon Adkisson relinquished control of his reign by just one shot. Adkisson’s 67 is a high school personal best 18-hole score. Adkisson is a two-time defending champion of this tournament. He won both times as a freshman and sophomore, and he finished in third place last year after shooting even par. Lancer junior Luke Leverenz tied for third this year with a 3-under 69 round. Sophomore Michael Phillips was the third-best scoring Lancer, tying for sixth with a 1-over 73. Junior Andrew Vollbeer scored for the team with a 2-over 74. Freshman James Vollbeer was one shot behind his older brother, and senior Griffin Frank shot a personal-record round of 75. This tournament shows just how close it is at the top of the Class 4A game. Last week, before the Clinton tournament, IowaGolfPreps flipped the Lancers’ and Spartans’ placement in the rankings, putting North Scott at No. 2 and Pleasant Valley at No. 3. Both schools still sit behind preseason No. 1 Dallas Center-Grimes. There were no changes to the top nine of the individual rankings. Leverenz (No. 2), Adkisson (No. 5) and Andrew Vollbeer (No. 8) held their positions. Due to a pair of weather-related postponements, North Scott has played in just four meets so far this season. However, the team is about to ramp up its frequency of tournaments. This week, North Scott plays twice in three days: first, on Sept. 16 at Palmer Hills Golf Course in Bettendorf, and again on Sept. 18 at Geneva Golf & Country Club in Muscatine. Then, next week, the team takes on the DeWitt Invitational at Springbrook Country Club on Sept. 22 before the two-day conference tournament begins on Sept. 25 at Midland Golf Club in Kewanee. North Scott wraps up its September slate with a conference quad meet at Glynns Creek Golf Course on Sept. 29, as well as the rescheduled Assumption Invitational at Emeis Golf Course on Sept. 30.

Entering the postseason in style

North Scott’s girls’ tennis team is an in-form unit heading into this week’s conference tournament. As a team, the Lancers have not lost a singles or doubles match since Aug. 24. North Scott has earned four straight 9-0 conference wins against Davenport Central, Davenport North, Davenport Assumption, and now Bettendorf, which occurred last Thursday on senior night. North Scott had not defeated Bettendorf since May 14, 2024, during team regionals. “It was a great team win,” Lancer coach Emily Jepsen said. “Tonight, overall, it was a fun atmosphere with a lot of people here to support. It was good to see everyone compete in their spots and find the success they deserve.” Senior Maddy Jepsen, freshman Claire Jepsen and senior Victoria Samara all rolled through their singles matches at No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3. Without senior Ava Pins due to injury, sophomore Kelsey Clayton stepped up to No. 4 and won 7-6, 6-1. Junior Olivia Uhlenkamp moved to No. 5 and won 6-3, 6-3. At No. 6, freshman Sloan Varner came back from 1-4 down in the second set to win in straight sets, 7-5, 7-5. In doubles, the Jepsen sisters beat Jordyn Blake and Natalie Kelso 6-2, 6-0 at No. 1. Samara and junior Chloe Rickertsen won 6-0, 6-3 at No. 2, and Clayton and Varner won 6-2, 6-0 at No. 3. The team got to celebrate its seniors, Samara, Pins, Maddy Jepsen, Jayven Frye, Lorelei Gephart, and Hailey Schaack, with a big victory. “There are six of them, and four of the six have played all four years,” Jepsen said. “(Jayven) is brand new. Hailey has played for three. Lorelei has played all four years. Tori, Ava, and Maddy have been on varsity for three or four of their full years. Senior night was very special as a Mom and as a coach.” Now, North Scott prepares for the Mississippi Athletic Conference tournament on home courts this week. Day one of the tournament runs all day Wednesday, with medal matches taking place Thursday afternoon. The Lancers are looking for strong results after going 6-3 in MAC duals this year, and after showing improvements since facing the heavy-hitters on its schedule in August. “I feel like our schedule was packed early on. Knowing we had a team that had to get some time to develop, I was hoping we would hit the groove mid-to-end of season. And we did hit the groove,” Jepsen said. “It’s good. We’re ending on a good note. We just have to keep it going and keep competing. “As a whole, (the team has learned) how to take what we’ve done in practice and bring it out to the court. More of a good mental game as well. Short-term memory, better strategies going on as well, and lifting each other up and supporting each other. Each meet it gets better and better. Those things matter sometimes more than your actual skills.” North Scott will enter the MAC tournament with strong players in its top three singles spots. Maddy Jepsen has yet to lose a set this season, and all of Claire Jepsen, Samara and Varner are 7-4 overall in singles. The Jepsen sisters are the team to beat in No. 1 doubles, having not lost a set as a duo this season. “Maddy, Claire and Tori all had strong singles. They should go in feeling good about that,” Jepsen said. “Without having Ava Pins, Kelsey stepped up. Olivia stepped in, and Sloan got the win. Everyone should be feeling good, but we still have a lot of work to do. There will be tough competition with PV, Clinton, DeWitt, Assumption, and Bettendorf. We feel good, but the work still isn’t done yet.”

Over 500 without power in Davenport

Over 500 people are without power on Tuesday according to MidAmreican’s outage map.

Moline police to pause Flock license plate reader program

The Automated License Plate Reader Program is made up of nine cameras in the city, according to a media release.

Volleyball team hits rough patch after strong start

After surging in its first handful of matches, the tailwinds around the North Scott volleyball team have started to ease up. The Lancers’ record dipped to below .500 over the weekend after starting the season 4-1. North Scott has six wins and seven losses, and went 1-3 last week in conference and tournament play. The week started with a battle of reigning state champions as 4A No. 5 Davenport Assumption entered The Pit for a big conference clash. The match lasted a little over an hour as the Knights slashed the Lancers 25-21, 25-12, 25-14. North Scott won the first point of the match, but did not lead again the rest of the night after Assumption took a 2-1 lead. Despite the close first-set score line, Assumption had leads of 10-4, 15-8, and 20-13 before North Scott made a late charge. Assumption had a .290 kill efficiency and blocked North Scott 12 times. The Knights served at a 94.6 percent rate in the match. Two days later, Assumption defeated 5A No. 5 Pleasant Valley in five sets, taking a commanding position in the race for the Mississippi Athletic Conference crown. Assumption and 5A No. 12 Bettendorf are the lone undefeated teams remaining in MAC play at 3-0. A matchup between the Knights and Bulldogs is set for Sept. 22 at Bettendorf High School. On Saturday, North Scott traveled down Interstate 80 to Iowa City West High School for the Spartans’ home tournament. Here, North Scott went 1-2, defeating Mid-Prairie (12-21, 21-18, 15-12) but falling to 5A No. 10 Iowa City Liberty (21-10, 21-13) and 5A No. 4 Ankeny (21-6, 21-17). Individual statistics for North Scott for all matches last week were unavailable as of Monday morning. North Scott dropped out of the Class 5A rankings in the Sept. 10 release, but the team will have opportunities this week to reenter the conversation for a top 15 spot. The Lancers hosted Davenport Central on Tuesday and travel to the Benton Community Bobcat Volleyball Invitational on Saturday. Teams in attendance at the tournament include 4A No. 12 Benton, 4A No. 10 Bondurant-Farrar, 4A No. 13 Burlington, 5A No. 2 Dallas Center-Grimes, Grinnell, 5A No. 14 Iowa City High, and 4A No. 3 Marion.

Late scores boost Dutch over Lancers

An avalanche of fourth-quarter touchdowns pushed Pella past North Scott last Friday, 27-10, in week three of the Iowa high school football season. North Scott had a 10-6 lead at halftime and at the end of the third quarter, but three consecutive scores by Dutch senior wide receiver Logan VanDenBroek turned the tide of the game. “Our defense played lights out. They played great all night,” Lancer coach Tony Stewart said, speaking by phone Monday. “In the second half, we put them in some really tough situations offensively. Our defense kept us in the whole game. “Offensively, I felt like I didn’t have us prepared quite enough up front for what they were going to do defensively. We couldn’t get a run game going. I didn’t coach some of our guys up enough on things.” Pella’s defense entered the game having allowed just seven points through its first two contests. It put up a brick wall on the line of scrimmage again this week, holding the Lancers to just 13 rushing yards on 30 carries. North Scott ended the night with more passes than rushes, 34 to 30, in the first career varsity start for junior Conlan Panther. Panther threw for 178 yards, one touchdown, and had one interception on a tipped pass. He completed 20 of 34 passes and rushed 14 times. “Their defense is pretty tough. I thought, especially for Conlan’s first start, we came out and moved the ball well. Scott Hartin had his first varsity field goal, 37 yards, so I was excited about that,” Stewart said. “There were things offensively that we couldn’t get out of our own way. They are too good. Their linebacker, No. 7 (Kyler VanMaanen), he is a dude. He would make us pay. All of a sudden, you’re behind the sticks.” North Scott found its touchdown on the fifth possession of the game, a two-minute drill before halftime. Panther kept the drive alive on a fourth and 15 from the Pella 30-yard line by avoiding a free rusher and firing a pass into senior Ryder Maher on the sideline for a first down. Panther found Maher a few plays later on the goal line for the score. Maher was North Scott’s go-to guy, hauling in 11 receptions for 97 yards and the touchdown. Maher was only outshone in the game by VanDenBroek, who had five catches for 95 yards and four touchdowns. All four scores came on nearly identical end zone balls. “They threw it up to their six-six kid. They executed it well,” Stewart said. “I thought one time we got beat. The other times we were in great position, and they made a play over a shorter guy.” The Lancers did not receive many good bounces from the prolate spheroid ball in the final minutes of the game, leading to a pair of Pella scores. On Pella’s second possession of the final frame, on fourth and one from North Scott’s 14-yard line, Pella fumbled their offensive snap. The ball bounced right into the arms of the running back, who rushed it forward 10 yards. The Dutch scored on the next play. North Scott’s ensuing possession saw its punt get blocked. Pella took over just outside of the red zone at the 7:11 mark and scored less than two minutes later to take a three-score lead. “That’s the way it snowballed out of place… I was disappointed in how we finished, but I was encouraged in how we started. Now, we just have to carry that into both halves.” North Scott has already hit adversity in the season with injuries to its starting quarterback and backup running back, as well as one of its defensive captains. On offense, the Lancers are averaging just 2.5 yards per carry and have more turnovers than touchdowns. “I have to put our kids in better positions to overcome some of those things,” Stewart said. “We were just so poor with execution in the second half that you can’t win games like that. That’s on me, and we’ll get that fixed. Our staff is working hard at it. We will try to improve every week.” Despite the trials and tribulations, the team’s attitude has not wavered. “We’ve had so much change lately with injuries. I’m pleased that nobody has hanged it up because Miller (Haedt) gets dinged up, Jonas (Schlichting) was out for a while, now Christian (Perez) has an injury. They’re saying, ‘We are going to figure this out.’ We still have to grow in other areas, but I’ve been pleased with their response,” Stewart said. “I’m proud of our kids. I got an email from (the Pella) athletic director saying how impressed he was with how our kids handled things. The locker room was left as nice as they’ve ever seen it. That’s part of what we do in our program. Even though the game didn’t go our way, our kids still hold the standard we expect in all areas.” North Scott will host the non-district finale against Clear Creek-Amana. The Lancers won in overtime at Clippers Stadium last fall. Last week, Clear Creek-Amana led Cedar Rapids Xavier 17-14 in the fourth quarter, before the Saints scored two late touchdowns to pull away. The Clippers are led by junior quarterback Texton Bollers, who is also the team’s leading rusher. Junior Tay Seals, the Class 3A 110-meter hurdles state champion, is the team’s leading receiver with 179 yards and three touchdowns. Junior Jonah Drake leads the Clippers in receptions with 11. He has 154 yards and two touchdowns. “They are a good program. They are well coached, fast and athletic,” Stewart said. “They do some different things defensively as well. I imagine we will get a lot of pressure, based on film. We will have to be prepared. “They have two receivers that present quite a challenge. Their quarterback is tough. We will find out if we can slow them down. We need to run the ball a little bit better. If we do that, keep their offense off the field, they don’t have as many opportunities to go to those two guys.”

Lancers take on Linn-Mar Invite last Saturday

North Scott’s girls’ swimming team made the trek to Linn-Mar on Saturday for the Lions’ swimming and diving invitational. Here, they faced a gauntlet of elite state teams — eight of the top 10 scoring schools from last year’s state meet were in attendance. While North Scott did not score any team points, there were a number of noteworthy performances. Junior Olivia Durkin had a pair of them in the 100-yard breaststroke and the 200-yard individual medley. In both of these races, Durkin beat eight other swimmers in each event. In the 100-yard breaststroke, Durkin swam to a 1:23.80 time and finished 23rd out of 37 total swimmers, two of which were her teammates Tori Gruenhagen (1:31.36) and Lillian Farro (1:53.07). Durkin was the lone Lancer in the 200-yard individual medley. She also placed 23rd in this event, out of 31 swimmers, with a 2:39.57 time. Sophomore Madyson Sparkman also turned in a pair of great performances. First, in the 100-yard butterfly, Sparkman beat four rival swimmers by placing 26th with a time of 1:13.69. She swam faster than three other swimmers in the 200-yard freestyle with her 2:24.21 effort. As a team, the North Scott 200-yard freestyle relay team of Durkin, Sparkman, Gruenhagen and eighth grader Kaylee Mose beat three other relay teams, clocking out at 2:05.28. Other notable results came from Mose in the 50-yard freestyle relay, beating two rival swimmers with her 34.46-second time. Additionally, freshman Rylie O’Flahrity beat two rival swimmers and two teammates in the 100-yard backstroke with a 1:26.74 time. North Scott hosted its first of three meets at the local YMCA on Tuesday against Clinton. Saturday brings another invitational, this one at the Mercer Park Aquatic Center and Scanlon Gym for Iowa City High’s Little Hawk Invitational.

View the Eldridge Police report from the Sept. 16 NSP!

FRIDAY, SEPT. 4 8:06 p.m. — Skylar Landsee, 39, of Sterling, Ill., was cited for operating a non-registered vehicle, following a traffic stop on Highway 61. 8:14 p.m. — Complaint of hit-and-run damage to a vehicle parked in the 600 block of South 5th Street. Handled by officer. 11:11 p.m. — Report of an alarm sounding in the 200 block of South 16th Avenue. Keyholder contacted. Handled by officer. SATURDAY, SEPT. 5 1:32 a.m. — Assisted Medic with an EMS call in the 300 block of North 5th Street. 2:42 p.m. — Performed a welfare check in the 500 block of South 2nd Street. Handled by officer. 2:58 p.m. — Kelli Menes, 38, of Davenport, was cited for operation without registration, following a traffic stop near South 1st Street and West Pinehurst Drive. 5:40 p.m. — Souahibou Arogou, 34, of Silvis, Ill., was cited for speeding and operation without registration, following a traffic stop on Highway 61. 5:53 p.m. — Andre Heam, 41, of Bettendorf, was cited for operating a non-registered vehicle, following a traffic stop in the 500 block of South 1st Street. 11:07 p.m. — Complaint of a disturbance near North 7th and West Donahue streets. Handled by officer. SUNDAY, SEPT. 6 2:26 a.m. — Complaint of suspicious subjects near West Davenport and North 2nd streets. Handled by officer. 6:44 a.m. — Report taken for a dog bite in the 400 block of Linden Lane. 7:59 a.m. — Complaint of two dogs running loose in the 400 block of West Torrey Pines Drive. The call was turned over to animal control. Handled by officer. 8:13 a.m. — Complaint of an unsupervised juvenile near South 5th Street and West LeClaire Road. The juvenile was returned to a parent. Handled by officer. 11:56 a.m. — Assisted Medic with an EMS call in the 300 block of North 4th Avenue. 6:18 p.m. — Complaint of a dog running loose in the 300 block of West Torrey Pines Drive. The animal was returned to its owner. Handled by officer. 7:09 p.m. — Emma Riley, 25, of Davenport, was cited for operating a non-registered vehicle, following a traffic stop on Highway 61. 10:26 p.m. — Ryan Grunewald, 31, of Davenport, was arrested for driving under suspension, following a traffic stop on Highway 61. 10:48 p.m. — Assisted another agency with a report of an assault in the 700 block of North 1st Street. MONDAY, SEPT. 7 9:44 a.m. — Complaint of a reckless driver on Highway 61. Handled by officer. 6:25 p.m. — Assisted another agency with a report of a domestic disturbance in the 500 block of Park View Drive. 6:38 p.m. — Complaint of a suspicious subject in the 800 block of East LeClaire Road. Handled by officer. 6:49 p.m. — Performed a welfare check near West Price and North 2nd streets. Unable to locate. Handled by officer. 8:06 p.m. — Complaint of a suspicious vehicle in the 700 block of North 1st Street. Handled by officer. 9:01 p.m. — Complaint of a disabled vehicle on Highway 61. Handled by officer. 11:25 p.m. — Complaint of suspicious subjects in the 800 block of North 1st Street. Handled by officer. TUESDAY, SEPT. 8 12:47 a.m. — Assisted a citizen in the 400 block of East LeClaire Road. Handled by officer. 8:09 a.m. — Report taken for vandalism to property in the 200 block of North 9th Avenue. 2:35 p.m. — A juvenile was cited for person under 21 using tobacco/vapor product – 1st offense, following an incident in the 200 block of South 1st Street. 6:27 p.m. — Dominique Nuci, 35, of Davenport, was cited for operating a non-registered vehicle, following at traffic stop on Highway 61. WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 9 2:05 a.m. — Removed debris from the roadway in the 600 block of East LeClaire Road. Handled by officer. 4:32 a.m. — Removed debris from the roadway on Highway 61. Handled by officer. 9:15 a.m. — A juvenile was charged with possession of a controlled substance, following an incident in the 200 block of South 1st Street. 12:16 p.m. — Travis Childs, 37, of Eldridge, was arrested for interference with official acts, public intoxication, and assault on persons in certain occupations, following an incident near North 4th Avenue and East LeClaire Road. 4:26 p.m. — Complaint of kids playing in the street near North 8th and West Donahue streets. Unable to locate. Handled by officer. 4:46 p.m. — Assisted Medic with an EMS call in the 200 block of East Price Street. 5:57 p.m. — Carlea Samberg, 38, of Davenport, was cited for operating a non-registered vehicle, following a traffic stop near North 1st and West Davenport streets. 8:07 p.m. — Report taken for a death investigation in the 600 block of South 2nd Street. THURSDAY, SEPT. 10 8:18 a.m. — Complaint of a dump truck losing cement in the roadway near South 5th Street and West LeClaire Road. The call was turned over to public works. Handled by officer. 12:01 p.m. — Complaint of a fire alarm sounding in the 900 block of Trails Road. False alarm; handled by officer. 4:47 p.m. — Lori Bassow, 65, of Davenport, was cite for operating a non-registered vehicle, following a traffic stop on Highway 61. FRIDAY, SEPT. 11 3:05 p.m. — Report taken for an accident between two vehicles in the 400 block of West Donahue Street. 4:34 p.m. — Complaint of a reckless driver in the 600 block of East LeClaire Road. Handled by officer. 6:11 p.m. — Complaint of a subject in the 700 block of North 1st Street being harassed. Handled by officer. 9:38 p.m. — Complaint of suspicious vehicles in the 800 block of South Buttermilk Road. Handled by officer. 10:16 p.m. — Assisted Medic with an EMS call in the 700 block of North 1st Street. 10:24 p.m. — Complaint of juveniles ding-dong-ditching near North 6th and West Donahue streets. Unable to locate. Handled by officer. 10:39 p.m. — Report of an alarm sounding in the 800 block of East LeClaire Road. Keyholder contacted. Handled by officer. SATURDAY, SEPT. 12 2:08 a.m. — Logan Pacha, 17, of Donahue, was cited for violation of graduated license conditions, following a traffic stop near South 6th Avenue and East Iowa Street. 10:09 a.m. — Complaint of a gas leak in the 3200 block of South 26th Avenue. The call was turned over to MidAmerican Energy.  Handled by officer. 12:05 p.m. — Breanna McGowan, 24, of Davenport, was arrested for driving under suspension, following a traffic stop near South Scott Park Road and Stone Brook Lane. 12:43 p.m. — Report of an alarm sounding in the 100 block of South 6th Avenue. Keyholder contacted. Handled by officer. 3:14 p.m. — Emily Wilkening, 27, of Eldridge, was cited for operation without registration, following a traffic stop near Scott Park Road and 214th Street. 5:51 p.m. — Complaint of juveniles riding scooters in the street in the 200 block of West Spring Street. Unable to locate. Handled by officer. 5:57 p.m. — Complaint of a disabled vehicle in the 21100 block of Scott Park Road. Handled by officer. 6:14 p.m. — Sydney Kustes, 20, of Clinton, was cited for operation without registration, following a traffic stop on Highway 61. 6:36 p.m. — Removed debris from the roadway near East LeClaire and North Scott Park roads. Handled by officer. 10:22 p.m. — Camari Leshoure, 21, of Davenport, was cited for operating a non-registered vehicle, following a traffic stop on Highway 61. SUNDAY, SEPT. 13 7:32 a.m. — Complaint of vandalism to a porta-potty near Muhs Circle and South 1st Street. Handled by officer. 2:15 p.m. — Assisted Medic with an EMS call in the 400 block of South 14th Avenue. 4:21 p.m. — Complaint of a dog running loose in the 800 block of Davies Court. Handled by officer. 9:09 p.m. — Randy Meade, 39, of Dixon, was arrested for driving while barred, following a traffic stop on Highway 61. 11:08 p.m. — Complaint of a subject trespassing in the 1000 block of East Iowa Street. Handled by officer. 

Grain harvest webinar to be offered Sept. 21

The Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Agriculture and Biosystems Engineering team will hold the 2026 Iowa Grain Harvest webinar Monday, Sept. 21 at noon.  Planned for grain producers and anyone with an interest in this fall’s grain harvest in Iowa, the webinar will feature segments discussing grain quality concerns and potential issues, harvest losses and equipment set up and planning for successful grain storage. “Harvest comes with challenges related to grain quality, harvest equipment and short-and-long-term storage,” said Tony Mensing, field agricultural engineer with ISU Extension and Outreach. “This webinar will feature experts from the Iowa Grain Quality Initiative and the Iowa State University Kent Feed Mill and Grain Science Complex providing commentary and sharing insight on grain harvest 2026.” Gretchen Mosher, professor of agricultural and biosystems engineering at Iowa State who leads the Grain Testing Laboratory, will explore grain quality issues and potential concerns as we go into harvest. Dirk Maier, director of the Iowa State University Kent Feed Mill and Grain Science Complex, will share valuable information on the science of grain storage and managing it successfully. Mensing will discuss grain loss during harvest and equipment setup and adjustment. The timely topics have a direct impact on the bottom line for growers and the entire grain value chain and aim to help participants understand potential challenges and make the most of what has been produced. The webinar is available at no cost to participants, but online registration is required. For more information, contact Tony Mensing at tmensing@iastate.edu or 515-290-0952. For registration inquiries, please contact Melissa McEnany at mmcenany@iastate.edu or 515-294-9075.

Judge blocks plan to return Trump's name to the Kennedy Center

The judge ruled that the arts center's board may not put Trump's name back up on the building, saying such a change needs Congressional approval.

Moline Police Department ending Flock Safety contract

Another Quad Cities police department is ending its fixed Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) contract with Flock Safety. A news release from the Moline Police Department said the department has decided to pause its fixed Automated License Plate Reader (ALPR) program currently under contract with Flock Safety. The program consists of nine cameras within the [...]

Davenport man accused of grooming, sexually abusing minor

A Davenport man was arrested on Monday on grooming and sexual abuse charges involving a minor.

Prosecutors won't seek the death penalty for Nick Reiner

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman said his office spoke with Reiner's siblings and took their wishes into consideration in the decision.

Republican Rep. Massie moves to impeach Defense Secretary Hegseth over Iran war

Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie introduced articles of impeachment against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Tuesday over the war in Iran.

Developers balk at $16k-per-acre sewer connection fee for Bettendorf annexation

Two developers sent a letter to the Bettendorf city council warning them that proposed connection fees would raise the costs of homes.

Gas is up 20 cents in the Q-C, see how that compares to neighboring communities

Peoria's gas is the most expensive, averaging $4.54 per gallon.

Tiny krill are turning up in deep-sea hydrothermal vents. Scientists want to know why

Antarctic krill serve as a crucial food source for penguins, seals, and whales. They recycle nutrients used by algae. Now researchers say they've found krill in a surprising place: hydrothermal vents.

Burlington secretary arrested for forgery after allegedly embezzling over $50K

A secretary at a Burlington business was arrested last week after allegedly embezzling over $50,000 from her boss.

Waga Energy opening natural gas production facility in Atkinson

Waga Energy has been chosen to build, own and operate a Renewable Natural Gas (RNG) production unit at the Eco-Hill Landfill in Atkinson. The facility will turn the gas naturally generated by the landfill into renewable energy for homes and businesses in the area. The unit will have an initial capacity of 3,000 SCFM (Standard [...]

Judge to consider contempt motion against man charged in Trudy Appleby death

Henry County prosecutors filed the motion against Jamison Fisher in August following his second exclusive interview with KWQC.

Bettendorf police arrest man suspected of domestic assault

Bettendorf police responded to the City Center Motel Monday after a woman reported an assault by her boyfriend. After a standoff, police were able to arrest the man.

See at which factories John Deere has called back workers

John Deere has begun calling back workers to its factories, with about 746 people back to work.

Mon Laferte: Tiny Desk Concert

Mon Laferte aims to contradict, expose or challenge norms; she takes the assignment of performing in an office space as no exception.

The hidden factors affecting your energy level

The hidden factors affecting your energy levelPeople are tired, and the feeling has become so common that some may barely think to question it anymore. The National Institutes of Health notes that fatigue is one of the symptoms people report most often, while burnout continues to affect workers across nearly every profession.Longer workdays and constant screen time usually take the blame, leaving many people trying to catch up with more sleep, another cup of coffee, or a better way to manage stress. While those habits still deserve attention, research into cellular and metabolic health has widened the conversation.Here, Fatty15 examines how scientists are looking at how the body creates energy before it ever becomes the stamina and focus people depend on each day. That work is pointing deeper inside the body than people may expect.Beyond Sleep: Rethinking the Causes of FatigueThe standard fix for constant exhaustion is more sleep, and most people try it before anything else. Yet plenty of people log a full eight hours and still drag through the day despite following every recommended habit, without any real payoff.In a discussion with Harvard Health Publishing, Dr. Daniel Sands, a primary care physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, separates being sleepy from being fatigued, noting that "everyday things like walking to the bathroom or doing the dishes wear you out."This stubborn exhaustion resists rest, and it often traces back to how well the body uses nutrients and how efficiently it runs its own metabolism, not how many hours were spent in bed.How the Body Actually Produces EnergyThe human body runs on remarkable chemistry, turning a sandwich or an apple into the power behind every heartbeat and thought. And digestion is where that work starts, breaking food down into simple pieces like glucose that travel through the blood to waiting cells.Once those pieces arrive, tiny structures called mitochondria take over as the cell's power plants, converting the raw material into adenosine triphosphate, the ATP that fuels muscles, focus, and nearly everything else the body does.Each burst of ATP gets spent and recharged around the clock, which keeps a steady supply ready whenever it's needed. In NIH’s News in Health newsletter, Dr. Vicky Whittemore of the NIH describes fatigue as "difficulty in starting or continuing an activity," the exact sensation that surfaces when this conversion runs short.The Role of Cellular Health in Daily EnergyCellular health carries more day-to-day importance than most people give it credit for, since the roughly 30 to 40 trillion cells doing the work help set the ceiling on how much usable energy the body produces.Each cell sits inside a protective membrane that needs to stay strong and flexible, letting nutrients in while helping move waste out. Healthy cells use fuel more efficiently, while worn cells can leave a person dragging even when nothing obvious has changed.Anna Thalacker-Mercer, a cell biology professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, points out in an interview with UAB’s Heersink School of Medicine News that "deficiency of both nutritionally essential and non-essential nutrients can impact cell function," and that decline speeds up with age, poor diet, and everyday exposure to toxins.Burnout Culture and the Energy DeficitBurnout culture may be the easiest place to see how daily pressure becomes physical.The World Health Organization defines burnout as chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed, with exhaustion as one of its core signs. And that exhaustion begins to make more sense when stress keeps the body’s alarm system running longer than it was built to run, pushing cortisol into the bloodstream again and again.As cortisol and other stress hormones stay active, Mayo Clinic notes that long-term exposure can disrupt nearly every bodily process, including immune response and digestion.Over time, that strain can feed inflammation and make energy harder to recover. Burnout, then, leaves a mark on the body, with long-term fatigue often building from months of staying on high alert.Everyday Habits That Influence Metabolic EfficiencyMetabolic efficiency comes down to how well the body turns food into usable energy, and daily habits shape how smoothly that conversion runs.For example, whole foods with protein and fiber give cells a steadier fuel supply than heavily processed meals that send blood sugar up and down. And movement builds on that steadier supply, since exercise prompts cells to make new mitochondria and raise their energy capacity.Psychology Today notes that this response runs through AMPK, an enzyme that senses low energy during activity and helps trigger new mitochondrial growth.Supporting healthy cells over time is important because energy production depends on cells having the materials and conditions they need to keep working well.And those conditions include recovery, when the demand on stressed cells drops, and the body has more room to restore itself before the next day begins. But none of these habits work in isolation, and the payoff shows up when good fuel, steady movement, and quality rest reinforce one another.Why Energy Is Becoming a Central Health MetricLow energy has pushed many people to rethink how they read their own health, and daily stamina is now the gauge many watch first. A 2022 survey conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics found that more than 13% of American adults reported they felt very tired or exhausted most days in the last three months.A complaint this common has moved the conversation past sleep schedules and caffeine, landing on the harder question of what a drained body keeps trying to flag. Answering it has drawn scientists back to the subject, with fresh attention on what feeling energized actually involves.Columbia University's Martin Picard makes the case for medical research that looks closer at how energy moves through the body, and his work carries the conversation to the cellular and metabolic roots of tiredness, where daily energy starts to read as a real signal of how well the body keeps up.Looking Beneath the Surface of FatigueFeeling tired now and then is part of being human, but always feeling exhausted and fatigued is not. Ongoing fatigue deserves more than another shrug or another cup of coffee, especially when rest no longer brings a person back to themselves. And that is where the conversation has to move past the usual explanations and closer to the body doing the work.New Scientist describes energy as a body-brain conversation, with the brain reading how much fuel cells have available and how much the body may need to spend. And a drained feeling may be one way that signal grows harder to ignore.Listening to it does not require panic or perfection, but it does begin with treating low energy as information the body has been trying to send.This story was produced by Fatty15 and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

Is it actually possible to boycott AI in 2026?

Is it actually possible to boycott AI in 2026?You can boycott AI to a point. You can cancel ChatGPT, delete AI apps, switch tools, and refuse to give money to companies whose practices you disagree with. What you cannot do in 2026 is avoid AI completely, because it already runs inside the search engines, email, banking, maps, and phone you use every day, WebFX reports.In Clearfield, Pennsylvania, a town of about 5,000 people, a rumor that a data center was coming recently circulated. Although the rumor was unverified, the reaction resulted in a wave of public sentiment from residents swearing off AI entirely.What does it mean to boycott AI?Boycotting AI means deliberately refusing to use or pay for AI products or the companies behind them, as a form of protest. In practice, that ranges from canceling a ChatGPT subscription to avoiding an entire company’s ecosystem because you object to how it builds or deploys AI.The broader case for boycotting AI usually comes down to concerns that reach past any single company: The environmental cost of data centers, the use of artists’ and writers’ work to train models without consent, data privacy, and the effect on jobs.While canceling a chatbot subscription is a direct action, it is distinct from the broader challenge of navigating AI's integration into essential digital services.What does boycotting AI actually involve?A real AI boycott starts with the tools you choose and pay for, then runs into the AI you never signed up for. The first part is straightforward. The second is where “I’m done with AI” stops being realistic. WebFX Here’s what you can actually control:Cancel paid AI subscriptions: Drop ChatGPT Plus, Gemini Advanced, Claude Pro, or any stand-alone AI tool you pay for. This is the most direct way to stop funding a company you disagree with.Delete stand-alone AI apps: Remove the chatbots and AI image or writing tools you’ve installed.Disable built-in AI features: Turn off assistants like Apple Intelligence, Microsoft Copilot, or Google’s AI features in your browser and operating system where the settings allow it.Switch to alternatives: Move to tools from companies whose policies line up better with your values, or to services that lean less on AI.Opt out of data sharing: Adjust privacy settings so your activity isn’t used to train models where platforms offer that option.Do all of that and you’ve meaningfully cut your direct AI use. You’ve stopped paying the companies you object to, and you’ve sent a signal with your wallet, which is the part of a boycott that actually carries weight.What you haven’t done is escape AI entirely, because it also runs your search engine, your bank’s fraud detection, your phone’s keyboard, and the map that gets you to work. That’s worth understanding, because it changes the goal from avoiding AI to using it on your own terms.Can you actually avoid AI in everyday life?You can’t fully avoid AI in everyday life without giving up most modern technology, but you can be deliberate about how you use it. Most people picture AI as ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude, the tools you log into and ask questions. Those are easy enough to quit. The harder part is that AI is baked into the fabric of everyday technology in ways you never see. WebFX Some of these you’d never want to turn off. AI-powered fraud detection protects your bank account, and collision detection makes your car safer. Others are worth a closer look, like how your social feed is ranked, what your phone records, or how much you trust an AI overview before acting on it.That’s the real takeaway, because you’re not choosing between using AI and avoiding it. You’re choosing how deliberately you engage with the AI already woven into your day. Full avoidance would mean deleting your social media, ditching your smartphone, dropping online banking, and buying a car from before 2015, and even then you’d meet AI every time you dealt with a company that uses it.Short of moving off the grid, a full AI boycott isn’t realistic in 2026. The more useful question is which tools you trust, which settings you adjust, and where the convenience is worth it.AI is already here, and adoption is growing fastAI adoption is accelerating quickly, and referral data shows the shift plainly. Tracking of website visits across more than 1,000 sites, primarily established mid-to-large businesses, provides a view of how quickly people are shifting to AI tools.Data shows ChatGPT referral traffic to those sites grew by more than 100,000% between May 2024 and May 2026. That’s the kind of growth curve you rarely see outside the earliest days of a breakout technology, and it happened in just two years.And that’s only ChatGPT. It doesn’t count Perplexity, Gemini, Claude, Meta AI, or Google’s AI Mode, all of which send people to websites, too. Add them in and the shift is even sharper.The reason it’s happening so fast is simply because AI removes friction that traditional search never could. Google a question and you get ads, an AI summary, ten links, cookie banners, and pages written to rank rather than to help. Ask an AI and you get a direct answer at whatever depth you want. It isn’t always right, but it answers the exact question you asked, and people are moving toward that experience quickly.This isn’t a trend that reverses, so instead of asking whether you can avoid AI, the more useful question is how to engage with it deliberately, starting with the concerns driving people to boycott in the first place.The real concerns, and what to do about themThere are legitimate concerns regarding AI that involve policy, regulation, and accountability. So if these are the concerns driving people to boycott, the real question is what you can actually do about each one.What about AI’s environmental impact?AI does require significant computing infrastructure, which means increased demand for energy, water, and data center capacity. Those environmental costs are real, but they’re also highly dependent on how and where that infrastructure is built.For example, data centers use water for cooling, but newer approaches are reducing freshwater demand. Closed-loop cooling systems can significantly reduce water use, while companies like Microsoft are developing data center designs that eliminate water evaporation for cooling.The same applies to energy. More efficient chips, cooling systems, data center designs, and cleaner energy sources can all change the environmental footprint of AI over time.The takeaway: AI has an environmental cost, like other large-scale digital infrastructure. The more useful question is how that impact can be measured, managed, and reduced as the technology scales.Will AI take everyone’s jobs?As the workforce changes, professionals are increasingly tracking how their fields evolve and building skills alongside AI technology. AI will reshape more roles than it eliminates outright, though the disruption is real enough to take seriously.Certain roles will shrink, which deserves thoughtful regulation and real investment in workforce development. As with most shifts in tech, jobs tend to evolve with the technology. While AI may not replace humans entirely, it is expected to change the positions available in some industries.Is AI a privacy problem?Regarding privacy, users can be deliberate about which tools they use and what they share, as there is variance between platforms. AI does raise genuine privacy questions.A common concern is that mobile devices are “listening” because users see ads for topics they have discussed. Research indicates that ads are powered by millions of signals, and AI processes that intent data at scale to serve relevant ads. That pattern can often be explained by behavioral data and advertising signals without assuming the device recorded the conversation.Is AI regulated enough?Regarding governance, voters can research where local, state, and federal candidates stand on AI policy.AI policy in the U.S. is underdeveloped relative to how fast the technology is moving. That’s changing slowly, but it needs to move faster. It is expected to be a major issue in elections over the next several years.Conversely, AI is also being utilized in sectors that receive less public attention.AI is already making our lives better in ways that don’t get enough credit. It’s accelerating drug discovery and medical diagnostics, making vehicles safer through collision detection and driver assistance, and optimizing power grids and flight routes to cut waste. It’s putting comprehensive knowledge within reach of people regardless of where they live or what they can afford. Even the smartest people can only hold so much in their heads, and AI can pull from an almost unlimited pool of data to surface answers faster.And again, we are in the very early stages of this. The tools people are reacting to today are a rough draft. They’ll get dramatically more efficient, more accurate, and more useful over the coming decade. Just as the early internet was slow and clunky before it became something nobody could imagine living without, AI is on a similar path, though we’ll need better solutions than massive data centers spread across the world to scale it.An alternative approach: Use AI intentionallyOne approach to the prevalence of AI is to use the technology responsibly and intentionally. A full boycott isn’t realistic, but that doesn’t leave you powerless. You have real choices about which tools you support and how you use them.Instead of asking “Can I avoid AI?”, consider these questions:Which tools do you actually trust with your data? Choose companies whose ethics and privacy practices line up with yours.Are you informed about how AI is being regulated? Factor candidates’ AI positions into how you vote.What trade-offs are you willing to make? Decide where you’ll reduce use and where the convenience is worth it.This approach allows users to choose tools based on personal standards, advocate for regulation, and hold technology companies accountable for responsible development.This story was produced by WebFX and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

Bettendorf events will close roads, impact drivers

Three local traditions taking place in the next couple of weeks may impact drivers in Bettendorf. The Pleasant Valley High School Homecoming Parade takes place on Belmont Road on Thursday, September 17, starting at 6 p.m. Belmont Road will be closed from the entrance of Scott Community College (500 Belmont Road) to Pleasant Valley High [...]

Why die when you’ve got AI? The startups racing to outrun aging

Why die when you’ve got AI? The startups racing to outrun aging“Why do I need to die? I really enjoy experiencing life,” Filippo Nigro said when asked why he launched his longevity startup You(th).“It’s actually potentially possible to reverse aging. These are solvable problems according to the law of physics. When I discovered that I said, ‘Okay, even if there is 0.1% probability of reaching longevity escape velocity during my lifetime, then I'm just going to put blood, sweat and tears into trying to solve that.’”Longevity escape velocity refers to a future when humans can use science and technology to extend their lifespans faster than they age, meaning that, theoretically, they never need to die. Nigro identifies two factors required to make this a reality: biotech breakthroughs in gene reprogramming, and a scalable platform for measuring people’s health that can predict potential risks before they occur.It’s the second piece of the puzzle that he’s working on with his company You(th), which combines smartphone cameras and microphones with clinically validated AI models to let users screen for more than 50 biomarkers.Nigro’s mission to give people a better understanding of their overall well-being is part of a broader trend. Specialized “longevity clinics,” which offer advanced health screenings for patients, have quadrupled in number since 2020.Now startups like You(th) are trying to make the benefits of these elite and expensive services more accessible, using AI and information from smartphones and wearables to let people better track their well-being, The Infinite Loop by Nebius reports. But with a potentially limitless stream of data to work with, there are questions about how to build the infrastructure to support these products as they scale, not to mention whether playing god in the pursuit of living forever is really a good idea.“Making sci-fi a reality”Nigro co-founded You(th) in 2023, after coming across research showing that smartphone cameras and microphones could be used to detect biomarkers for conditions ranging from cardiovascular well-being to prediabetes and mental health. The app licenses clinically validated, third-party AI models that allow users to check biomarkers such as their blood pressure and heart rate variability, based on short selfie videos, photos and voice recordings.“The camera measures how light is reflected on your forehead, on your chin, and so on. And the light is different depending on blood flow, so you can detect: how fast does it flow, how strong does it flow, how often does it flow,” said You(th) co-founder, Johannes Kraus.The ability to test for these kinds of biomarkers with such widespread consumer technology might be impressive, but You(th) now has a challenge in educating the market that its product actually works.“The biggest barrier to product-market fit is trust, because you are making sci-fi reality,” said Nigro.After initially launching as a customer-facing app, You(th) now runs a B2B2C model, partnering with clinics and insurance providers looking for ways to keep their customers more engaged with their own well-being. Beyond getting the You(th) app into more users’ hands, Nigro said that working with established health providers is a helpful way to build confidence in AI’s capabilities: “We’re scaling B2B2C to build trust.”“Homo Superior”Another longevity startup using AI to help people understand their own well-being is Dubai-based AVARA, which combines data from wearables with blood test information to deliver personalized nutrition protocols for its users.“The one thing we do from the moment we're born to the moment we die is eat food, that's a guaranteed nonstop. Why is that not personalized?” said co-founder Josh Sharron.AVARA’s platform draws on a dataset of more than 1,000 peer-reviewed sources from research into how different foods affect different biomarkers, to give users insight into how their diet influences their bodies.“We hook up the wearable, then we get the data from sleep, your recovery, what your actual habits look like, then we're able to hyperpersonalize your meals, because we know what you're lacking in which biomarkers,” Sharron said.He believes that, by giving people a better understanding of how nutrition affects their well-being, AI can help move humanity into a new, sci-fi-inspired era, where people can relentlessly optimize themselves in pursuit of longer and healthier lives.“In X-Men they call [the mutants] ‘Homo Superior.’ You’ve got Neanderthals, then Homo sapiens, then the next stage of evolution is [like a] Homo Superior, where we’ve got so much tech and data that we can optimize ourselves in every way that we're actually pushing the frontier of human evolution,” said Sharron.Cheating death?But moving humanity to its next stage of evolution could come with a big token bill. You(th)’s Nigro said that, in the future, users won’t even need to open the app to give it the information it needs to assess their biomarkers, as the company will be able to use “passive” data, gathered from their wider digital footprint.“You’ll just unlock your phone, take stories on Instagram, send voice messages on WhatsApp, right now I'm speaking with you [on Zoom], generating facial and voice data,” he told The Infinite Loop. “I can basically have a longitudinal assessment about my blood pressure, metabolic health, respiratory health, cognitive health and skin health from that data.”To make processing all of this data feasible, startups like You(th) are trying to move as much processing as they can to the edge to avoid hefty cloud-inference costs.“You will need to have quite a sophisticated system. For example, our facial video data is processed on-device; it doesn’t go to the cloud,” said Nigro. “We just need to watch out that the app is not so loaded by adding so many models onto the device that it then takes ages to download the app.”When asked whether he believes critics of the longevity movement who say that aging is a natural part of life that shouldn’t be pathologized, have a fair point, Nigro responded saying that people will get with the program.“Society needs to adapt. Right now, it might feel unnatural, but in the early 1900s we were not even flying, so planes were unnatural because people couldn’t fly, and 60 years later we’re flying to the moon,” he said.But, while Nigro’s motivations to cheat death are on the more extreme end of the scale, AI platforms like You(th) and AVARA might also help those of us who just want to stay healthier for longer. At a time when public health care systems are under increasing strain, the move to a more preventive system that spots potential problems before they arise, rather than treating them reactively, might be no bad thing.This story was produced by The Infinite Loop by Nebius and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

Report: In June, nearly 50% of press releases were written with AI

Report: In June, nearly 50% of press releases were written with AIIndividuals are using AI to write LinkedIn posts for them at a rate outpacing almost any other AI writing use case. But how common is generative AI in other kinds of public relations writing? In particular, what does AI uptake look like among business communications, like press releases?To answer this question, Pangram looked at the AI contribution rate in corporate press releases on the largest press release distributor in the U.S., PR Newswire. Companies pay the service to syndicate internally written public relations material like earnings reports, product launches, and announcements, which PR Newswire pushes to newsrooms and financial terminals. It is one of the main syndication networks for companies obligated to make Securities and Exchange Commission disclosures, and handles releases from companies such as Pfizer, Toyota, and Walt Disney World.Pangram scanned 178,672 English press releases published on PR Newswire, and found that 34% of them contained AI-generated text in the last 12 months. Moreover, weekly AI share doubled in the last year, from 22% to 48% in June 2026. Of the 61,523 releases that flagged for AI content, 25% flagged as fully AI-generated (15,205), and 75% flagged as mixed (46,318).Key findings:In June 2026, 48% of press releases on PR Newswire contained AI-generated textAI prevalence in PR Newswire releases has doubled in the last year, and the rate of adoption is increasingAdvertising had the highest share of fully AI-generated press releases at 41%, as well as the highest overall AI content share, at 64%AI share has doubled in the last yearThe share of press releases syndicated on PR Newswire containing AI-generated text has doubled in the last year, from 22% in Aug 2025 to a peak of 48% in June 2026. Pangram Labs AI contribution per press release was substantial on average: The median press release flagged for AI content was 52% AI-authored. Of all documents that were flagged for containing AI-generated text, 25% were fully AI-generated; the remaining 75% of flagged documents contained mixed human and AI text. Across all flagged documents, the AI contribution rate was bimodal, showing either very light contribution or full AI generation. Pangram Labs AI authorship also seems to be driving a modest word count increase in press releases. The median word count increased about 15% in PR Newswire releases in the last twelve months, from 488 to 562 words. Mixed and fully AI press releases are becoming longer than fully human authored ones: In July 2026, the median human press release was 521 words compared to a weighted average of 601 words for documents that contained AI-authored text. Pangram Labs Which industries are publishing AI-generated press releases?AI share in press releases varied by industry. Finance, energy, and biotechnology all had the lowest rate of AI-generated text, and in particular had sub 5% rates of fully AI-authored press releases. Advertising had the highest share of fully AI-generated press releases at 41%, as well as the highest overall AI content share, at 64%. Pangram Labs Some of advertising's high AI share is down to the prevalence of authority laundering content marketing agencies, which release a high volume of editorial-style marketing articles on behalf of local businesses. One such issuer, HelloNation, was responsible for 2,265 press releases in the dataset. Among those releases, 2,198 were fully AI (97%), 66 were mixed, and only one was flagged as human-written.In general, sectors dominated by small businesses and startups had much higher AI share than those occupied by larger, more established institutions. For example, financial technology releases (n=1526) — populated by small, single-person startups and crypto ventures — had an AI contribution rate of 44%, with 12% fully AI-generated. On the other hand, banking and financial services (n=8,817), dominated by traditional banks and funds, had an AI contribution rate of 25%, with only 7% of press releases flagging as fully AI-generated.This was also true for newswires that market to small businesses. We scanned the last 12 months of releases from two budget wires: PRWeb, which is a self-serve distributor, and Newswire.com, which caters to small and midsized businesses. Both had close to double the AI contribution rate of PR Newswire. Pangram Labs Previous studies overestimateA previous study of AI use in corporate communications by Liang et al., "The Widespread Adoption of Large Language Model-Assisted Writing Across Society", used word frequency analysis to estimate AI prevalence at a population level. For the present study, Pangram rescanned their corpus of PR Newswire releases. By stitching the results for the two datasets together, we can see that AI uptake in press releases is accelerating. According to Pangram 4, AI contribution rate took two years to reach 9% in August 2024, doubled to 22% by July 2025, and doubled again to 44% in July 2026. Pangram Labs Contrary to Liang et al.'s results, the analysis indicates that AI uptake was actually quite gradual in the months following ChatGPT's November 2022 launch. Pangram found that it took nearly a year for press releases to break a 5% AI contribution rate. Pangram Labs The Liang et al. releases also double as a benchmark set for Pangram 4: for releases that predate ChatGPT, Pangram 4 achieves one false positive among 21,625 releases, or 0.0046% false positive rate.MethodologyPangram used four datasets for this analysis. The primary dataset was a census of 178,672 English PR Newswire releases longer than 100 words, published between Aug. 16, 2025, and July 31, 2026. To extend the analysis, Pangram scanned 175,712 releases from the Liang et al. PR Newswire corpus from January 2022 to September 2024, which they released publicly here. To compare those results with budget wires, Pangram analyzed 8,824 PRWeb releases published between Aug. 21, 2025, and July 31, 2026, and 6,410 Newswire.com releases published between Aug. 1, 2025, and July 31, 2026. You can find the full dataset of AI press release statistics here.Industries were determined by their tags on PR Newswire, and tags with more than 1,400 entries were considered. In two cases, one tag was entirely contained within a larger one: “medical pharmaceuticals” and “pharmaceuticals” were treated as a single industry, while “financial technology” and “finance” were kept separate because their populations differed significantly.What is the problem with AI writing press releases?None of the wires scanned require any sort of AI disclosure. In fact, just as with LinkedIn, PR Newswire actually sells an AI writing tool, and states outright that it "does not publicly tag press releases to indicate they were created using AI."Large language models may be well-suited to producing a large volume of polished, grammatical, good-enough text at a very low cost. The flaws of AI-written text — that it can be impersonal, formulaic, or lack information density — are also common critiques of human-authored professional writing. That means those flaws may be easily overlooked here, although AI writing still contributes to burdensome, low-effort communications, otherwise known as workslop.AI use in press releases does likely degrade their quality regardless. People find AI writing less trustworthy, and fatigue around common LLM-isms like "quietly" and "delve" continues to grow. Moreover, AI can also introduce errors into copy, which could have legal ramifications for press releases designed to fulfill SEC obligations.Perhaps the most significant negative effect of using AI for professional writing comes down to volume. Because large language models allow massive amounts of low-information text to be produced at scale, we are entering a world where anyone can publish a press release, memo, or report essentially at the cost of distribution, and the length and frequency of these texts will increase accordingly. Similar AI-driven volume increases are happening in areas like adjudicating pro se lawsuits and processing literary manuscripts. It seems likely that, left unchecked, these AI outputs will degrade the signal of many channels of professional and corporate communication, affecting smaller players, like genuine local businesses, the most.This story was produced by Pangram Labs and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

Dozens walk off job after worker dies at Smithfield Foods plant in Monmouth

A worker died in an accident at Smithfield Foods in Monmouth. Dozens of employees walked off the job after management ordered production to continue that day.

WIU to celebrate opening of Goldfarb Center for Performing Arts With ribbon-cutting Tuesday

WIU will hold a ribbon‑cutting Tuesday to open the new Goldfarb Center for Performing Arts, a 100,000‑square‑foot facility featuring two theatres, academic spaces and an inaugural season of touring and student performances.

‘Fatal Fiction’ fundraiser returns Sept. 26 to support Davenport Public Library

The FRIENDS of the Davenport Public Library will host its second annual Fatal Fiction fundraiser on Sept. 26, offering an immersive mystery performance and supporting community programs powered entirely by FRIENDS funding.

Morning vs. night: Does it matter when you take blood pressure, statin, antidepressant and other common medications?

Morning vs. night: Does it matter when you take blood pressure, statin, antidepressant and other common medications?Timing isn't just about remembering to take your pills—it's about maximizing their therapeutic benefit while minimizing side effects through strategic scheduling. Many people assume that as long as they take their medication daily, the specific time doesn't matter. However, emerging research in chronopharmacology reveals that your body processes medications very differently depending on whether you take them in the morning or at night, Doctronic reports.Your internal biological clock doesn't just control when you feel sleepy or alert. It also regulates critical bodily functions like hormone production, blood pressure fluctuations, and liver enzyme activity—all of which directly affect how medications work in your system. Understanding these patterns can help you work with your healthcare provider to optimize your treatment plan for better results and fewer side effects.Key takeawaysMedication timing can significantly impact absorption rates and therapeutic effectivenessYour body's circadian rhythm influences how drugs are metabolized throughout the dayBlood pressure medications work best when taken at bedtime for most patientsMorning dosing reduces sleep disruption for stimulating medications like antidepressantsUnderstanding Chronopharmacology and Medication TimingChronopharmacology is the scientific study of how your body's natural 24-hour rhythms affect drug absorption, distribution, and elimination. This field has revealed that taking the same medication at different times can produce vastly different therapeutic outcomes. Your liver enzymes, which break down most medications, operate on predictable cycles throughout the day, with some becoming more active during certain hours.Blood flow patterns also vary significantly between morning and evening hours. During morning hours, increased circulation can enhance drug delivery to target organs, while nighttime patterns may slow absorption but extend medication duration. These variations explain why some people experience stomach pain in the morning when taking certain medications with breakfast, while others find evening doses more tolerable.Hormone levels like cortisol and melatonin follow strict circadian patterns that influence how receptive your body is to different medications. Cortisol peaks in early morning hours, potentially affecting anti-inflammatory medications, while melatonin rises at night, which can interact with sleep-related treatments.When Morning vs Night Dosing Makes a Critical DifferenceCardiovascular medications demonstrate some of the most dramatic timing-dependent effects. Research shows that patients taking blood pressure medications at bedtime achieve up to 60% better blood pressure control compared to morning dosing. This timing advantage stems from the fact that blood pressure naturally rises in early morning hours, and having medication active during this critical period provides superior protection.Cholesterol-lowering statins work more effectively when taken at night because your body produces most of its cholesterol during overnight hours. Taking these medications in the evening allows them to interfere with this natural production cycle more effectively. Similarly, medications for conditions that involve morning stiffness, which might be rheumatoid arthritis, often work better when timed to provide peak effectiveness during early morning hours.Acid reflux medications provide better symptom relief when aligned with meal patterns and natural acid production cycles. Osteoporosis medications require morning dosing on an empty stomach for proper absorption, as food and beverages can significantly interfere with their effectiveness.How Your Body's Clock Affects Medication ProcessingYour digestive system operates on predictable daily rhythms that directly impact oral medication absorption. Gastric emptying rates are typically faster in the morning, which means pills dissolve and enter your bloodstream more quickly after breakfast compared to evening doses. This faster processing can be advantageous for medications that need rapid onset but may cause more intense side effects.Kidney function follows distinct circadian patterns that influence how quickly your body eliminates medications from your system. During nighttime hours, kidney filtration rates typically decrease, which can extend medication duration and potentially increase the risk of drug accumulation. Body temperature variations throughout the day also affect how well topical medications penetrate skin and reach their target areas.Sleep-wake cycles play a crucial role in determining optimal timing for psychiatric medications. Taking stimulating antidepressants too close to bedtime can significantly disrupt sleep quality, while some anxiety medications work better when taken in evening hours to help with nighttime worry patterns. People dealing with night sweats in kids often find that timing fever-reducing medications appropriately can improve overnight comfort.Benefits of Strategic Morning vs Night Medication TimingStrategic timing can dramatically reduce medication side effects by administering drugs when your body is naturally more tolerant. For example, taking diuretics in the morning prevents nighttime bathroom trips, while scheduling potentially sedating medications for evening hours can actually improve sleep quality rather than cause daytime drowsiness.Improved medication adherence often results from aligning dosing schedules with natural daily routines. Morning medications can become part of breakfast rituals, while bedtime doses integrate seamlessly with nighttime preparations. This natural integration makes it easier to maintain consistent medication schedules long-term.Enhanced therapeutic effectiveness occurs when peak drug levels coincide with periods of maximum disease activity. Many inflammatory conditions worsen during early morning hours, so timing anti-inflammatory medications to provide peak coverage during these periods can improve symptom control. Better sleep quality results from avoiding stimulating medications near bedtime and using the sedating effects of certain drugs to promote restful sleep.Morning vs Night Dosing Guidelines by Medication Type Doctronic Morning dosing works optimally for diuretics, thyroid medications, and most antidepressants because these drugs can interfere with sleep if taken too late in the day. Diuretics increase urination frequency, thyroid medications can be stimulating, and many antidepressants have activating effects that promote wakefulness.Evening dosing is generally preferred for blood pressure medications and cholesterol drugs because they work more effectively when timed to counteract natural nighttime processes. Some medications may require evening timing to provide relief during overnight hours.For patients taking medications like zepbound, individual factors such as side effect profiles and lifestyle considerations often determine the optimal timing. Twice-daily medications should maintain consistent 12-hour intervals regardless of specific morning or night preferences.Frequently Asked QuestionsCan taking medication at the wrong time reduce its effectiveness?Yes, improper timing can significantly reduce medication effectiveness and increase side effects. Some medications show up to 60% better results when taken at optimal times versus suboptimal timing.How do I know if my medication timing is causing side effects?Common signs include sleep disruption, digestive issues at specific times, or symptoms that worsen despite medication use. Keep a symptom diary noting timing patterns and discuss with your healthcare provider.Should I change my medication schedule without consulting my doctor?Never change medication timing without medical guidance. Your healthcare provider can assess your specific situation and recommend safe timing adjustments based on your health conditions and other medications.What if I work night shifts - does this change when I should take medications?Shift work can significantly impact optimal medication timing. Your healthcare provider may need to adjust dosing schedules to align with your reversed sleep-wake cycle for maximum effectiveness.Can I split doses between morning and night for better tolerance?Some medications can be split, but others must be taken as single doses for effectiveness. Only split doses under medical supervision, as this can affect absorption and therapeutic outcomes.The Bottom LineMedication timing represents a powerful yet often overlooked tool for optimizing treatment outcomes and minimizing side effects. Whether you take your pills in the morning versus night can make a measurable difference in how well your medications work for your specific health conditions. From cardiovascular drugs that provide superior protection when taken at bedtime to stimulating medications that work best in morning hours, understanding chronopharmacology principles can help you get maximum benefit from your treatment plan. Conditions like morning sickness or more complex issues involving hyperemesis gravidarum may require carefully timed medications for optimal relief. Working with healthcare providers to optimize your medication schedule based on your individual circadian rhythms, lifestyle factors, and specific health needs can lead to better therapeutic results and improved quality of life. Whether you're managing a simple daily routine or following something like a 7-second morning ritual, proper medication timing deserves the same careful attention you give to other aspects of your health routine.This story was produced by Doctronic and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

The rental portfolio math that changes the DIY vs. property manager debate

The rental portfolio math that changes the DIY vs. property manager debateWhen rental owners consider how to manage a growing portfolio, the answer often comes back as a choice between two options: do it yourself, or hire a property manager. The DIY landlord path gets painted as chaotic: late-night maintenance calls, slow rent collection, the risk of something falling through the cracks. The professional property management path gets painted as the responsible move for anyone serious about saving time and scaling. Pay the fee, hand over the keys, focus on acquisitions or other aspects of your life.What that framing leaves out is a third option that consistently outperforms both on cash flow: self-management with the operational infrastructure built using property management software that allows landlords to keep more cash flow without creating more work.Over the past ten years, RentRedi has worked closely with thousands of landlords, and the pattern is consistent: the rental owners who build the right systems and stay operationally involved keep significantly more of the income their properties earn than those who outsource, and they do it without the chaos that makes self-management feel difficult and overwhelming in the first place.Below, you will see where the math turns against the actual costs of professional property management in two different scenarios based on two hypothetical portfolio sizes. This article also demonstrates how DIY landlords increase their cash flow without raising rent by putting the right systems and processes in place.What professional management actually costsProperty management fees typically run 8%-12% of monthly gross rent per unit. The full cost structure also includes a leasing fee (often a full month’s rent per new placement), lease renewal fees around $200, and maintenance markups of 5% to 15% that owners may not see itemized.When rent is paid through the property manager, there is a payment delay that takes new landlords by surprise, because it doesn’t always show up in fee disclosures. After rent is collected on the first of the month, property managers wait about 8-15 days (some up to 30 days) to disburse the payments to owners. This “payment float” is to ensure the tenant’s check clears, but it affects the landlord’s personal cash flow.On a rental portfolio generating $20,000 a month in rent, that’s a lot of working capital sitting in someone else’s account for the better part of every month. The rental owner loses out on using that money to earn interest, pay bills, or reinvest during that period of time.The cash flow scenariosThe scenarios below use the following conservative assumptions: a 10% PM fee less $200 annually for a flat fee software-based management platform (this takes into account some extra money for payment processing fees), a 14-day average vacancy period with 40% recovery from faster re-leasing, and $100 per unit annually in maintenance savings. They both use a hypothetical rate of $1,800 monthly rent per unit.Scenario #1: 2 units at $43,200 gross annual rentAt two units, PM fee savings amounts to $4,120 annually. If you add in vacancy recovery at $864 and $200 in maintenance savings, the net annual cash flow increase is $5,184, or $432 per month. An annual savings of $5,184 is a meaningful amount of money that can be put towards repairs and renovations, added to a rental portfolio emergency fund, or cover several months of unexpected vacancy. Property management software that makes this possible costs less than 1% of what a property manager charges on a single unit.Scenario #2: 20 units at $432,000 gross annual rentAt 20 units, PM fee savings reaches $43,000 annually, with an extra $8,640 for vacancy recovery and $2,000 in maintenance savings. The net annual cash flow increase is $53,640, or $4,470 per month. That amount of additional annual cash flow is a down payment, a substantial renovation budget, or the reserve fund most rental owners know they should be building, but may otherwise struggle to fund. Monthly software cost: a fraction of the cost of a monthly streaming subscription or a tank of gas.The data favors self management with smart systemsThe scenarios above are modeled. The payment outcomes below are not. Based on RentRedi internal platform data from independent landlords over a five-year period, using automatic payments yields a 99% on-time rent payment rate. Tenant screeding produces a 90% on-time payment rate. Adding credit reporting as a payment incentive leads to a 13% increase in on-time payments. A property manager collects rent, but the incentive to produce outcomes like these is not built into the fee structure.Financial visibility is another kind of advantage afforded by systematized self-management. A real-time portfolio performance dashboard tracks payment status, maintenance requests, expiring leases, and vacancy exposure across every unit simultaneously. AI-powered expense tracking categorizes costs into Schedule E and profit and loss statements automatically, replacing the end-of-year scramble to reconstruct records from emails and receipts. Most management agreements do not include this level of reporting, and the ones that do charge extra for it.Maintenance is where many owners expect professional management to earn its fee. But software routes tenant-submitted requests with photo and video documentation directly to the owner’s preferred vendors. The owner keeps the vendor relationship, avoids the markup, and maintains full visibility into every open request.Before you decideThe decision to hire professional management deserves a full accounting of what the fee structure costs annually across the whole portfolio, not just what the percentage looks like against gross rent.Here are some evaluation tips:Calculate your PM fee as a percentage of net cash flow, not gross rent.Assess whether you have a system or a habit. Unstructured self-management and systematized self-management produce different outcomes at every portfolio size, and the difference widens as the portfolio grows.Run the numbers against your own rent roll. The figures above are conservative. Most rental owners who work through the calculation get higher numbers than what the models show.A well-built DIY landlord operating system can keep more cash flow in the rental portfolio than a property management agreement does.This story was produced by RentRedi and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

Winner claims $1.04 billion Powerball jackpot sold in Quincy

Officials with the Illinois Lottery confirmed on Tuesday that the $1.04 billion Powerball jackpot that was purchased in Quincy has officially been solved.

Moline man accused of possessing stolen gun out of Muscatine County

A Moline man is facing charges in Scott County District Court after allegedly possessing a stolen gun out of Muscatine County, found by Davenport police during a traffic stop Sunday.

What ingredients to look for in fresh dog food

What ingredients to look for in fresh dog foodFresh dog food is exactly what it sounds like—real, whole food made with ingredients you can recognize. Think human-grade meats, vegetables, fruits, and healthy fats that are gently cooked to preserve nutrients and flavor.Unlike highly processed kibble that’s packed with fillers and by-products, fresh dog food focuses on quality and transparency. Look for human-grade ingredients, prepared in kitchens that meet the same safety standards as human food production. Ollie explains the indicators to evaluate.Core Ingredients in Fresh Dog FoodFresh dog food isn’t just about being “natural”—it’s about being complete and balanced, with every ingredient serving a purpose. Here are the foundational food groups to look for:High-Quality Animal ProteinsChicken, beef, turkey, lamb, and porkSupports strong muscles, healthy skin, and energyVegetablesCarrots, spinach, peas, butternut squashPacked with fiber, antioxidants, and essential vitaminsAid in digestion and immune supportWhole Grains or StarchesRice, sweet potatoes, chickpeasProvide slow-release energy and help keep pups full and satisfiedGreat for active dogs and those needing weight managementFruitsBlueberries, pumpkin, cranberriesRich in antioxidants and digestive-friendly fiberHelp with inflammation, gut health, and cell repairHealthy FatsFish oil, sunflower oil, chia seedsEssential for brain development, joint health, and shiny coatsIngredient Quality: Fresh vs. ProcessedNot all dog food ingredients are created equal. The difference between what goes into fresh dog food and what’s found in most commercial kibble is night and day.Fresh Dog Food IngredientsReal meats like chicken, beef, turkey, not vague “meat meal” or “animal by-product.”Whole vegetables and fruits, not powdered remnants or synthetic fillers.Healthy fats from sources like fish oil and chia seeds, not low-grade animal fats.Processed Kibble Ingredients“Chicken meal” or “meat by-products” made from rendered parts not fit for human consumption.Corn, wheat, and soy fillers added for bulk—not nutrition.Artificial preservatives (like BHA/BHT) and flavor enhancers to mask poor ingredient quality.Why Ingredient Transparency MattersKnowing exactly what’s in your dog’s food shouldn’t be a guessing game. Unfortunately, many traditional pet food brands rely on vague labeling or catch-all terms like “meat meal” that make it hard to know what your dog is actually eating.Look for full ingredient transparency—down to every last carrot, piece of chicken, or dash of rosemary. Here’s why that matters:Helps avoid allergens and sensitivities: If your dog reacts poorly to certain ingredients, knowing the exact components makes it easier to find the right recipe.Supports informed choices: You can feed your dog with confidence, knowing each ingredient has a purpose.Builds trust with your vet: Clear labels make it easier for your vet to evaluate your dog’s diet and support any health goals.Special Additions: Natural Supplements in Fresh Dog FoodWhile fresh ingredients provide the bulk of your dog’s nutrients, certain critical elements—like taurine, zinc, calcium, and vitamin E—are added to meet the complete nutrition guidelines set by AAFCO.Look for food providers with natural supplements.Key Natural Additions:Taurine: Essential for heart health and vision supportCalcium & Phosphorus: Crucial for bone growth and maintenanceZinc & Iron: Support immune health, metabolism, and wound healingVitamin E: A natural antioxidant that protects cells and boosts skin healthRead the Label, Feed with ConfidenceKnowing what’s in your dog’s bowl should be easy.Look for recipes with whole, real ingredients, and made to the same standards you’d expect from your own food.This story was produced by Ollie and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

How to start microsaving

How to start microsavingSaving money can feel like a far-off financial goal. With so many pressing needs and expenses, savings goals can end up on the backburner. However, a strategy known as microsaving could help you stay the course and ensure your savings habit sticks. Ally Financial explains how microsaving works and tips to get started. What is microsaving?Microsaving refers to regularly putting away small amounts of money often in a savings account. How frequently you make these deposits is up to you and depends on the technique you use.How does microsaving work?While you could manually set aside a small amount of money — say, $5 from each paycheck — toward your savings, many approaches to microsaving are automated. This allows you to “pay yourself first” by pulling your savings directly from your paycheck through a method like direct deposit.Over time, these seemingly insignificant amounts can really add up. When you put your savings in an account with a competitive interest rate that compounds daily, your money will perform even smarter for you.Why should you consider microsaving?If you currently feel you don’t have space in the budget for saving, microsaving might be a great approach to get started. Starting small can help new savers, or those who are looking to start again, get over the initial challenge of setting money aside.What are the benefits of microsaving?Microsaving allows you the freedom to put aside however much you can truly afford. Setting high savings goals can sometimes result in needing to dip back into your savings to pay for everyday expenses or emergencies. A micro approach to your savings can help you build a long-term habit slowly as opposed to saving in bursts.By taking a more incremental approach, you can keep a little extra money on-hand for your spending needs. Leaving your savings untouched helps ensure your money has the time to grow — especially if you’re keeping it in an interest-bearing account.Putting money aside, no matter the amount, allows you to make progress toward your goals. Seeing your savings grow can be a great motivator to help you keep moving forward financially.How microsaving can help you save for small luxuriesTake time to brainstorm specific small luxuries or nonessential purchases you’d like to save up for. Whether you want to purchase a new gadget, try out a high-end restaurant in town or even plan a spa weekend with friends, creating clear goals and setting aside small amounts of money allows you to gradually build up the funds needed without feeling overwhelmed.Examples of microsavingIf you are contributing to a retirement account or adding small amounts to your investment portfolio, you could set a low contribution percentage, like 1% of your income. Once you’re comfortable with that amount, try increasing by small increments. You can also create recurring transfers between your accounts to ensure your money moves where you want it to be automatically.Whether it’s $5 or $50, regularly applying some of your income toward your next financial goal will help you get there faster.This story was produced by Ally Financial and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

Tickets available soon for musical "Six" scheduled for Davenport's Adler Theatre

Tickets will go on sale at 10 a.m. Friday, Sept. 18, for "Six: The Musical," the Tony Award-winning show that will be presented Nov. 23 and 24 at The Adler Theatre, Davenport. From Tudor queens to pop icons, the six wives of Henry VIII will take the microphone to remix 500 years of historical heartbreak [...]

Skerryvore brings Scottish hits to Galva's Wiley Park

Internationally acclaimed Scottish band Skerryvore is bringing its blend of traditional Scottish music, folk, pop and rock to Wiley Park, 301 NW 4th Avenue in Galva, on Tuesday, September 22. The evening will begin at 6:30 p.m. with Black Hawk Pipe and Drum Band, followed by Skerryvore. The all-ages event also features food and drinks [...]

Rock Island City Council hears Centennial Bridge project update

The Rock Island City Council received an update on the status of the Centennial Bridge project during Monday's meeting, with the Illinois DOT saying a preferred alternative could come soon.

Davenport man faces charges after allegedly sexually assaulting a minor

A Davenport man is facing sexual abuse charges after allegedly sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in December of 2025.

Fall Community Garage Sale and Vendor Fair has deals for all

Find bargains and treasures at the Fall Community Garage Sale and Vendor Fair on Saturday, Sept. 26 from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Upper Longview Park, 1300 17th Street in Rock Island. Shoppers can browse over 6,000-square-feet of makers’ market, garage sale and craft vendors for toys, home décor, furniture, trinkets, home-made items, vendors [...]

How to talk honestly about money with your partner

How to talk honestly about money with your partnerManaging money as a couple relies on trust. But what happens when that trust is tested or even broken?Building and maintaining financial intimacy is key for any long-term relationship that involves major decisions. Often, that requires talking about your personal finances, which can be particularly hard if you or your partner has a complicated relationship with money.“Talking about money is really, really hard,” said Lorilee Mills, a family dynamics, education, and governance consultant with Wealth & Investment Management. “The bottom line is that the roadblock to financial conversations is rarely about numbers. It’s much more about the emotion that’s tied to those numbers — fears, expectations, and past experiences where we saw failures.”When communication breaks down, financial infidelity can undermine a couple’s well-being, goals, and even their relationship. If you or your partner find it hard to talk about money matters, or if you’re navigating a break in trust around finances, Wells Fargo shares what you should consider.Key takeawaysFinancial secrecy is common. Many people feel fear, shame, or judgment when it comes to their finances.Be honest about your money story. If you struggle with talking about money or have made financial mistakes in your relationship, analyze how you’ve formed a relationship with money over time. Use that to ground your financial conversations.Make money check-ins fun and routine. You can shift your thinking about money to be more positive if you and your partner treat it as an opportunity to do a fun activity and get aligned with your aspirations.What makes for a financially healthy relationship? Transparency, regular check-ins, common goals, joint decisions, and autonomy.Many people keep financial secretsDo you keep some of your financial life secret? If so, you’re not alone. The truth is that many find discussing money uncomfortable. Mills said some people are raised to keep their finances private.“Often, I’d say Gen Xers and Baby Boomers really struggle with discussing finances openly because it may not have been normalized in their families to talk about money,” she said.Financial secrecy can turn especially negative when it leads to decisions that erode the trust you and your partner have built. While every relationship is different, these mistakes can undermine your shared goals or financial strategies:Dishonesty, such as lying, withholding information, or keeping secrets about money, debt, or accountsOverspending, such as impulsive or uncontrolled spending beyond what you earn or taking on more debt than you’re able to pay backCarelessness, such as not updating critical account information like beneficiaries or making major financial decisions without a partnerWhy people struggle to discuss moneyIf you’ve made one of these money mistakes or find the topic uneasy, try asking yourself, “What’s my money story?” Mills said.No matter how you grew up and experienced money, you have a relationship with it. Your money story could be influenced by how your family earned — or didn’t earn — money, how spending or debt affected your life, or how a defining financial decision or moment had a long-term impact on you. Maybe your loved ones passed on a lack of financial literacy or honesty that’s affected your own decisions.How has your story affected your personal finances? Whatever that story is, it may lead to feeling anxiety, embarrassment, judgment, or shame with money later in life. These negative emotions can fuel poor decision-making, Mills said.“For example, if a parent lost a job while you were growing up, you might feel more anxious about money or fear not having enough,” she said. “Those financial worries and trauma can really get us in hot water.”If your money story doesn’t align with how you’d like to experience money, don’t worry. “Here’s the good news: You can rewrite that story once you acknowledge it,” Mills said. “Ask yourself, ‘What do you want your money story to be?’ Then, go out and create a new one.”How to talk to your partner about moneyHere are some steps you can take to reestablish your relationship with money and build financial intimacy with your partner.Remember: Transparency, consistency, and accountabilityTransparency can help you and your partner make financial decisions together and keep each other accountable. Honest communication is the foundation of a shared financial strategy, whether that’s saving for a home or making the retirement you’ve always dreamed of possible.Consistency is also key. “If you know once a month you’re going to have a check-in, then it may not feel like you have to talk about it all the time,” Mills said.If the foundation of trust and transparency is shaken, be honest and take accountability. Return to your money story if it’s relevant.“No. 1, you have to be honest if there’s a break in trust,” Mills said. “Just like any other trust that needs to be rebuilt, you have to have full disclosure of what happened. Then there’s work to understand why it happened.”One way of rebuilding trust after a mistake like overspending is agreeing to a spending guideline or disclosing purchases. For example, you and your partner could decide that any purchase over a certain price point requires approval from both of you. If one of you spends more than the guideline, then you might commit to regular check-ins or sharing account activity.Make money fun (as much as possible)If money feels like a scary, embarrassing, or negative topic, it may be time for some reprogramming, said Sylvia Guinan, a financial advisor with Wells Fargo Advisors. She suggests couples treat getting aligned on their finances like a date night. A fun activity or a nice dinner may help to shift your thinking in a more optimistic direction.“Is money being negative a story that you’re telling yourself?” she said. “We can change the way we view finances and take it from being a negative to it being a very positive.”Having fun and being intentional with money talks might make the topic easier for you and your partner to navigate. Getting on the same page with your spouse can pay dividends. The earlier you can do this, the better, Guinan said, as you risk never addressing these important questions and not realizing your goals.“Come prepared to talk about a vision, even if it’s five or 10 years out. Make sure you’re aligned with your partner,” she said. “A lot may come up. Ask questions like ‘What’s keeping you up at night? What’s scaring you about money? Where are we going? Are we reaching our goals?’”5 green flags when it comes to love and moneyNot keeping secretsTransparency with money can make decisions easier, keep you both accountable, and drive a shared financial strategy.Open to regular money talksConsistent check-ins can continue to make money easier to talk about. These moments are also great to measure — and celebrate — progress.Sharing common goalsDiscussing a shared goal or financial target will help you learn about each other and make sure you’re working in tandem, rather than going in separate directions.Making joint decisionsShared decisions help ensure both members of the relationship are heard and their needs are addressed, whether it’s about buying a home, car, or another important choice.Maintaining autonomyYou and your partner may both have financial roles. This may mean divvying up responsibilities fairly based on skills and interests, rather than evenly splitting them. Don’t be afraid to talk to a professionalThird parties can help with financial hurdles. For example, a financial advisor can help both you and your partner commit to regular check-ins, focus on specific challenges like overspending, and suggest potential solutions to help you reach your goals.“A financial advisor can be a really powerful balance for a couple. That person can hear both sides and say, ‘Here’s a compromise,’” Mills said.A psychiatrist, therapist, or other medical professional might be useful if you or your loved ones’ emotions around money are affecting your mental health. Guinan said she’s referred clients to these professionals before to help them with their family and financial issues.“It’s worth working with somebody else who can really guide you because it’s something you want to get right,” she said. “You don’t want to keep having the same issue.”FAQWhy should couples seek help to manage their money?Help from a third-party, like a financial advisor, can be especially useful when you and your partner struggle with coming to an agreement or compromise on a financial decision. Outside guidance can cut through the emotions that may cloud our decision-making.Should couples combine their finances?Whether you and your partner decide to combine your finances is up to your preferences. However, the decision to combine your finances should not preclude combining your financial strategies through honest conversations about your money and goals.Is it OK to keep some financial information private in a relationship?Yes, keeping some financial information private between you and your partner can be acceptable in a relationship. However, maintaining financial privacy is not the same thing as being dishonest. Be upfront with your partner about when and where you need privacy.For example, you two may decide to have fun money accounts to use at your personal discretion. Or you may have sensitive family finances — such as a trust or business — that you’d like to keep private. It’s important to be transparent about information that is critical to you and your partner’s decision-making.This story was produced by Wells Fargo and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

The farm bill fight that will shape rural broadband

The farm bill fight that will shape rural broadbandSenate Agriculture Committee Chairman John Boozman, a Republican from Arkansas, held a markup hearing on his version of the farm bill on Thursday, Aug. 6. It didn’t go very well.In the long-delayed milestone meeting – which could ultimately reshape rural Americans’ connections to the internet – Republicans were unable to move their bill forward. Democrats held together, and the absence of two GOP senators, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, meant the measure failed on a 10-11 vote.Most people think of the farm bill primarily because of its connections to crop insurance, commodity price supports, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). But the legislation, which Congress reauthorizes roughly every five years, governs an enormous swath of American agricultural and rural policy, including conservation programs, farm credit, rural water and wastewater infrastructure, forestry, and energy.The current fight between the House and Senate over SNAP funding levels has been the loudest obstacle to passage, and proved to be the case on Aug. 6. But tucked inside the farm bill’s rural development title is a provision that governs the future of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s ReConnect broadband program.The Daily Yonder examined how the congressional fight over the farm bill will impact federal rural broadband programs.What’s at Stake in the Farm Bill for BroadbandReConnect has provided more than $4.4 billion in loans and grants for rural broadband deployment since 2018, reaching some of America’s most remote and expensive-to-serve communities. The House farm bill, passed in April by a narrow 224-200 margin, would extend funding for ReConnect through 2031.But the House version sets minimum project speeds at just 50 Megabits per second (Mbps) for downloads and 25 Mbps for uploads. And it restricts eligibility to areas lacking 25 Mbps for downloads and 3 Mbps for uploads for service. Critics say that, as with previous broadband programs such as the Connect America Fund deploying broadband at 10 Mbps for downloads and 1 Mbps for uploads, such low thresholds would doom rural America to a lower tier of service.The proposed Senate version takes a more ambitious approach. In addition to making ReConnect permanent, it would use higher required speeds and broader eligibility. At a previous hearing on the topic before the Senate Agriculture Committee, Jesse Shekleton, director of Broadband Operations at Jo-Carroll Energy, pushed for the higher speed standard. “Demands for bandwidth on farms will continue to grow,” he said.The farm bill also matters for broadband beyond ReConnect. Both the House and Senate versions would codify technical assistance for rural broadband planning and include provisions preventing ReConnect from overlapping with the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) grant program of the U.S. Commerce Department.Under Threat From Both SidesEven as Congress debates how to strengthen ReConnect, the program faces pressure from an unexpected direction: The USDA itself proposed canceling $40 million in unused ReConnect funds in its fiscal year 2027 budget request. House appropriators broke with that request and restored the funding in April, a rare instance of Congress overruling an agency on its own program budget.But with BEAD money now flowing, calls to eliminate USDA broadband programs as duplicative have grown louder.Broadband Now ‘Table Stakes’ for Rural Economic DevelopmentBroadband and rural economic development was the subject of Wednesday’s Broadband Breakfast Live Online discussion. In it, panelists said that broadband has become the price of admission for a rural community rather than a growth strategy on its own.Well-connected rural counties see 18% higher per capita income and about 210% higher business growth compared to underserved peers, per a Center for Rural Innovation study cited by Bartlett Cleland, executive director of the Innovation Economy Alliance.Also contributing to the discussion was Amy Huffman, policy director of the National Digital Inclusion Alliance, who cited her 2011 master’s thesis on the question of whether rural residents would get online if networks were built. Her answer, both then and now, is maybe.Also weighing in on the benefits for rural communities was Jonathan Chambers, co-CEO of Conexon, which works with co-ops to build fiber networks, and has helped transform connectivity in many rural communities.On the Ground, BEAD Is Getting ComplicatedOn another front, the $42.5 billion BEAD program is now becoming operational in states across the country, with providers moving into permitting and early construction. Minnesota signed its first construction contract under the federal program on July 30.California cleared federal review July 17, while Illinois became the last state approved for the federal program on Aug. 25 after waiting on sign-off from both the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology.But being approved is not the same as being built. Minnesota’s projects will reach 74,739 locations with $378.9 million in federal money and nearly $190 million in matching funds. The state must place its remaining initial projects under contract by Oct. 8. Getting the first one signed took more than 18 rounds of revisions with federal reviewers.And often, the fights are over poles. Electric cooperatives, which own much of the existing pole infrastructure in rural America and are well-positioned to build broadband alongside it, are finding BEAD’s pole attachment rules onerous. Two co-ops said they turned down tentative BEAD awards entirely because compliance costs made the projects unworkable.NTIA, however, has defended this pole-attachment policy as necessary for deployment.Starlink Changes the Math – AgainAn accounting of rural broadband in mid-2026 has to grapple with Starlink, a key part of Elon Musk’s now-public company, SpaceX. Low-Earth orbit satellite internet has improved dramatically in speed and reliability, so much so that Starlink’s performance is showing up in cable company Q2 earnings calls.Comcast, Charter, and Shentel have all faced questions from Wall Street analysts about rural customer losses to satellite — a signal that Starlink is now a genuine competitive threat in markets those companies assumed were captive.This feeds the argument of some that federal programs are racing to build fiber infrastructure that commercial satellite has already rendered unnecessary. But that argument doesn’t account for exactly how capacity-constrained Starlink is in dense-use scenarios. It also doesn’t account for questionable reliability standards for Starlink – as good as it is – versus symmetrical fiber networks.This article was produced in collaboration with Broadband Breakfast, a news and events community focused on broadband infrastructure, investment, and impact.This story was produced by The Daily Yonder and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

New owners plan to rejuvenate former Cabanas property in Rock Island

A pair of business partners plan to turn the bar into The Rose, with indoor and outdoor entertainment spaces.

How much of a problem is AI’s water use?

How much of a problem is AI’s water use?“Protect our water,” “Water for people not AI,” “Don’t mess with our water,” declare protest signs from Texas to New Mexico to Arizona. Angered by water use, energy consumption and pollution, locals are increasingly protesting the rapid expansion of data centers in the United States as tech companies work to rapidly expand capacity for AI.Many data centers rely at least partly on water to absorb heat from air or surfaces, and then cause cooling as it evaporates, just like sweating keeps our bodies cool. The processors inside data centers can reach internal temperatures of up to 176 degrees Fahrenheit, for the same reasons that an overtaxed laptop heats up.But while there’s little doubt that data centers are consuming significant amounts of energy, water consumption is more complicated, as Knowable Magazine reports. Claims circulating online bring scant clarity, ranging from articles claiming that chatbots can consume 500 milliliters of water per query to online commentators declaring AI's water issue nonexistent. And the consumption data from large tech companies themselves is often incomplete and inconsistent.Experts stress that, overall, data center water consumption pales in comparison to the usage by industries like agriculture and certain types of manufacturing. Researchers have estimated that data center cooling systems consumed 66 billion liters of water in 2023, less than 1% of the nation’s total consumption. Natalie Behring // Getty Images That figure could considerably rise with the rapid buildout of AI data centers, however. This may not be a big problem for water-rich regions, but it could significantly add to local water stress in drought-strapped places like New Mexico and Arizona.Fortunately, engineers say there’s a host of things that can be done — and are being done — to reduce the strain on local water resources. “There are many good ideas out there,” says energy systems expert Fengqi You of Cornell University. When you add in efforts to replenish and restore natural water resources, he says, “there’s a good chance that, eventually, it could be net-zero water for the on-site cooling.”More renewable energy and better sitingRecent advances in AI technology have already reduced water demand for many data centers. Electrical and computer engineer Shaolei Ren of the University of California, Riverside, says that an estimate he made based on GPT-4, an earlier version of the model powering ChatGPT, as recently as 2024 — that drafting a short email would consume 500 milliliters of water — is already outdated because AI models have become more efficient. This study was the origin of the half-liter-per-query claim. In 2025, Google estimated that five drops of water are spent on processing a median-length query with its chatbot Gemini.But even tiny amounts add up, given the rise in AI use. You’s group recently predicted that by 2030, U.S. data centers could consume 731 billion to 1,125 billion liters annually — the latter roughly equivalent to New York City’s annual drinking water supply. T. Xiao et al // Nature Sustainability 2025 Still, these numbers factor in not just cooling, but also a greater amount of water used to generate the electricity that powers data centers. Much of that comes from burning coal or gas, with water being used to cool steam back into liquid after it’s been used to spin the electricity-generating turbines. In other words, AI’s water consumption can be significantly reduced by shifting to solar and wind, which require little to no water to operate, You says.You adds that companies should locate data centers in areas less prone to drought and with ample renewable energy sources, like regions in Montana, Nebraska, parts of Texas and South Dakota, instead of constructing new data centers in water-stressed places, such as in Arizona, New Mexico and Southern California. Strategic siting, along with other measures, could reduce AI’s future water footprint by up to 86%, he says.New cooling technologiesAdvances in cooling technologies are also helping. The newest data centers that specialize in AI are already more water-efficient than their predecessors.Pre-AI data centers use fans to carry away heat from processor-filled racks, then use chilling systems that funnel cool water through the building to cool the warm air down again. The heated water is then fed into a cooling tower, which removes heat but also releases some water to the atmosphere. This evaporative cooling uses a lot of water, says Eric Masanet of the University of California, Santa Barbara, who researches data center sustainability.But the energy-hungry processors inside AI data centers generate so much heat that it’s hard to remove it with air alone. That’s why many tech companies — including Amazon, Microsoft and Google — use a more efficient technique called liquid cooling.In this method, a system of pipes filled with water, sometimes mixed with temperature-regulating chemicals, runs on top of the hardware, cooling the processors directly rather than the entire data center. And because this is a closed-loop system, no water is lost: The heated fluid can be cooled down by exposing the pipes to outside air, if conditions are cool enough, or by an air-conditioner-like system, which uses energy.But when it’s extremely hot or humid, the centers need to bring online extra, more effective methods that involve water; one of these is to mist the air around the pipes. Mechanical engineer Vaibhav Bahadur at the University of Texas at Austin says that most AI data centers in Texas use this kind of water-based cooling only during the hottest parts of the summer.Still, he and his colleagues recently estimated that the state’s growing number of data centers — which currently consume less than 1% of the state’s water demand — could be using 3% to 9% of that water by 2040. He expects that figure to reduce considerably, though. “Data centers are becoming much more efficient in their water usage,” he says.Indeed, recent technological developments have made it easier to avoid water-based cooling, even in hot climates, says Josh Parker, head of sustainability for NVIDIA, the company that designs many of the processors that populate AI-specialized data centers. Their latest generation of processors runs at such high temperatures that they can be cooled with water at around 113 degrees Fahrenheit, which, Parker says, is significantly warmer than traditional approaches. That reduces the need to bring on water-based cooling. Unless local temperatures regularly exceed 113 Fahrenheit, a threshold generally crossed only during severe heat waves, “typically we can just get away with large efficient fans cooling the infrastructure and the ambient air is sufficient to pull the heat away,” Parker says.Ren cautions that some companies may not want to run their processors that hot because it can interfere with computational performance, while others also house non-AI servers in the same space that cannot take the heat. But other cooling technologies are in development.Some of these rely on elaborately designed pipe systems that draw heat even more effectively from processors. A number of U.S. companies are exploring immersion cooling, where data center hardware sits in a tank filled with cooling liquid. In China, some companies have taken a similar approach by installing data centers in the ocean, although this makes them hard to access should hardware need replacing or upgrading, Bahadur says.Advances in cooling technology will be necessary for tech companies to meet sustainability goals they have set for their operations. According to a statement from Amazon, its Web Services “set a goal to be water positive by 2030 — returning more water to communities than our direct operations use — and as of 2024, we’re more than halfway there.”A spokesperson for OpenAI points to a web page outlining the company’s plans to minimize water use, while Google aims to replenish 120 percent of the freshwater its data centers consume by 2030 through a variety of water stewardship projects.Some companies, such as Google, are also finding smart ways to use waste heat from data centers to help address other sustainability challenges, such as making building heating less reliant on fossil fuels. Across Europe, some data centers are funneling heat from cooling circuits into district heating systems that warm buildings.The future of AI’s water usage hinges on decisions that tech companies, engineers and policymakers will make in the coming years, Masanet says, including where data centers are sited, their local energy infrastructure and climate, and how they’re designed. “If you choose one set of choices, your number is going to be off the charts,” he says. “You choose another set of choices, it’s going to be way down here.”This story was produced by Knowable Magazine and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

New data: Hispanic business owners are less likely to go it alone, and more likely to scale

New data: Hispanic business owners are less likely to go it alone, and more likely to scaleEvery year around this time, small business coverage runs the same Hispanic Heritage Month story: hard work, grit, a photo of someone standing proudly in front of the shop they built from nothing. All of it true. None of it new.Here's what doesn't usually make the cut: According to the 2026 Business Ownership Report from Intuit QuickBooks, Hispanic business owners report the strongest commitment to their businesses of anyone in the data, despite reporting more financial risk and more pressure than almost any other group surveyed. Nearly six in ten (57%) describe themselves as fully "locked in" to their business for the long haul.That same conviction carries into how Hispanic business owners see the future. Fully 61% expect to be running their business with AI as a core daily tool within five years, more than any other group surveyed.None of that erases the harder parts of the story. Hispanic business owners take on more personal financial risk than nearly every other group surveyed, and they carry a heavier sense of responsibility to represent their communities well.But put the risk and the forward-thinking side by side, and a sharper picture emerges. This isn't a group weighed down by hardship, or one coasting on easy confidence. It's both at once: more risk, more pressure, and the highest long-term commitment rate in the data.The numbers come from the 2026 Business Ownership Report, which polled 1,305 U.S. business owners, including 304 who identify as Hispanic, Latino, or of Spanish origin.Hispanic entrepreneurs are a younger, actively scaling wave of ownershipHispanic business owners skew younger than the overall population of business owners surveyed. Three-quarters (75%) are Millennials or younger, compared with 63% overall, and only 2% are Baby Boomers, compared with 10% overall. This isn't a group easing toward retirement while holding onto a legacy business. It's a group still building. Many are early in that build, too: 52% say their business started as a side hustle or hobby that grew into something bigger, slightly above the overall rate (49%). Intuit QuickBooks And they're less likely to work solo: just 22% run their business alone, compared with 31% of white business owners. Nearly a third (33%) run businesses with 10 to 49 employees, among the highest share of any group in the survey—more evidence that this is a population actively scaling, and carrying some big responsibilities.Younger owners building fast-growing businesses may face more financial risk along the way. For Hispanic business owners, the data backs that up.How Hispanic business owners are betting on themselves financiallyWhen the business needs cash, Hispanic business owners are more likely to reach into their own pockets first. Nearly 1 in 4 (24%) have tapped retirement savings to keep things running. Another 28% have borrowed money from family or friends, while 26% have sold personal assets. Each of those figures runs well above what white business owners report. The flip side tells the same story. Only 17% of Hispanic business owners say they haven't taken a real financial risk for the business, compared with 26% overall. Intuit QuickBooks That risk shows up in smaller, repeated ways as well. More than half (55%) of Hispanic business owners have skipped or reduced their own salary one to five times in the past year just to make payroll or pay the bills, while another 7% have done it six times or more. Only 38% say they have never resorted to skipping or reducing their own salary, compared to 46% overall and 50% of white business owners.This group is also more likely to make sacrifices in their personal life (like sleep, physical or mental health, or time with family) or miss important personal milestones for the sake of their business. Less than 1 in 10 (9%) say they haven't sacrificed any aspects of their personal life for the business—the lowest share of any group in the survey, by a wide margin. And only 30% say they’ve never missed a personal milestone. Intuit QuickBooks None of that risk tolerance makes the anxiety go away. If anything, it shows up every day in how these owners think about cash flow.How cash flow weighs on Hispanic business owners every dayHispanic business owners are far more likely to say cash flow worry follows them around all week. Roughly 1 in 3 (34%) say it's "constantly on my mind," compared with 19% of business owners overall. Only 3% say they never worry about cash flow, compared with 10% overall.That worry isn't abstract. The standard wait for funds to clear (the 1-3 day lag for ACH transfers or credit card payments) affects Hispanic business owners more than most, according to the survey. More than half (62%) report ongoing cash flow gaps while they wait on payments, and 15% of those call the impact critical—both notably higher than what white and other business owners report. To close that gap, 71% of Hispanic business owners have paid an extra fee for instant transfer or faster deposit just to get their own money sooner, compared with 59% overall.Late payments carry more weight, too. Only 47% of Hispanic business owners say they've never struggled to make payroll or pay a bill because a payment came in late, compared with 61% overall. When cash flow is this unpredictable, a loan or line of credit is exactly the kind of cushion that would help. But Hispanic business owners are less likely to even try: 43% have avoided applying for a business loan altogether because they assumed they'd be denied, compared with 35% overall. Intuit QuickBooks Without that outside cushion, the pressure has to land somewhere. For a lot of Hispanic business owners, it lands on their own values: 73% say they've felt pressured to make a financial or operational decision that conflicted with their personal values, compared with 59% overall and 57% of white business owners.Put together, Hispanic business owners report managing more financial exposure with fewer reported external financing cushions, and paying (literally) to close the gap.Why representation weighs so heavily on Hispanic business ownersFor many Hispanic business owners, success isn't just personal. Two in three (66%) say they feel a real responsibility to prove that people from their background can succeed as entrepreneurs, compared with 49% of white business owners—a 17-point gap. More than half (53%) also say they feel pressure to code-switch, changing how they speak, dress, or act to be taken seriously by investors, lenders, or clients.That pressure shows up in action, not just feeling. Fully 57% of Hispanic business owners have taken concrete steps to guard against bias in their business, compared with just 33% of white business owners. That includes Hispanic business owners avoiding race, gender, or age references in marketing (27% vs. 14% of white business owners) and modifying their dress or style to sidestep stereotypes (20% vs. 11%). Intuit QuickBooks The stakes feel different, too. When asked what they'd fear most if their business failed today, 45% of Hispanic business owners point to letting down their family or community, not just financial loss, compared with 32% of white business owners. And 59% say it's important that their business creates career paths for people from similar backgrounds, compared with 42% of white business owners. Intuit QuickBooks Running a business, for a lot of Hispanic business owners, means carrying more than their own name. And that same forward-looking instinct shows up in how they think about technology, too.Hispanic business owners are leaning into AI, not away from itMore than half (55%) of Hispanic business owners expect to be running their business with AI as a core daily tool within five years, more than any other group surveyed. Another 6% say AI will drive the majority of their business operations. That same forward-leaning instinct shows up everywhere else they were asked about AI—Hispanic business owners are planning for a more AI-enabled business, not just letting it happen. Intuit QuickBooks From the books to the busy work, to developing marketing campaigns and doing complex analysis, Hispanic business owners are leaning on AI to streamline and improve operations across multiple business functions surveyed. Only 10% say they'd still want a human handling every part of their job, even if a trusted AI assistant could do it with complete accuracy, the lowest share of any group.That confidence in technology extends to how they see the competitive landscape overall: AI as a way to close the gap with bigger competitors, not widen it. Four in 10 (42%) Hispanic business owners believe AI helps small businesses compete with larger companies, compared with just 30% of white business owners.The flip side of that optimism is urgency. Fully 44% of Hispanic business owners are concerned their business will fall behind competitors if they don't keep up with AI, and only 12% write off that risk entirely, less than half the rate of white business owners (24%). This isn't a group waiting to see how AI shakes out. They feel the clock ticking, and they're already moving.That mix, leading the curve while feeling the pressure to keep leading it, carries into the next part of the story: even with more on their plate than most groups, Hispanic business owners keep betting on where things are headed.Despite the pressure, Hispanic business owners are the most committedEvery stat so far points to a group carrying more financial risk and more pressure than most, and still showing up anyway. When asked how that stress is shaping their plans for the future, Hispanic business owners are the most likely of any group to say they're staying the course. Nearly 6 in 10 (57%) describe themselves as "locked in," fully committed to their business for the long haul, compared with 51% overall, the highest share of any group surveyed. Intuit QuickBooks That commitment extends beyond their own business. A third (32%) of Hispanic business owners plan to use their business to mentor up-and-coming entrepreneurs over the next five years, significantly more than white business owners (24%) and the overall sample (27%).Carrying more hasn't made Hispanic business owners more likely to walk away. If anything, it's made them more likely to stay, and to make sure someone else gets the same shot they did.About this dataIn December 2025, Intuit QuickBooks surveyed 1,305 U.S. business owners, all sole owners, co-owners, or co-founders of businesses with 0 to 250 employees. To make reliable comparisons across racial and ethnic groups possible, the survey oversampled Black, Hispanic, and Asian business owners, then weighted the results to reflect the actual demographic makeup of U.S. business owners, based on U.S. Census Bureau data. Intuit QuickBooks Differences between racial and ethnic groups called out in this piece are statistically significant at the 95% confidence level. For the full sample, the estimated margin of error is ±2.7 percentage points at the 95% confidence level. Percentages are rounded to the nearest whole number and may not always add up to 100%.This story was produced by Intuit QuickBooks and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

Survey: AI hallucinated travel destinations for 1 in 6 users

Survey: AI hallucinated travel destinations for 1 in 6 usersOftentimes, to plan a trip, you Google where you want to go. Now it’s asking AI chatbots. Yet in a new study by travel concierge company Greetwell, 1 in 6 AI-using travelers were recommended a place, tour or activity that wasn’t real. More than half of AI users (55%) hit at least one bad recommendation of any kind.AI is being adopted throughout all parts of life, and can plan trips in seconds with less effort on the searcher. Deloitte’s 2026 travel research shows that AI use for travel rose from 15% to 25% in a year.So why is it sending travelers to places that don’t exist?AI Is Great For Planning, Not So Much for BookingThe survey says that a little over half (53%) of respondents have used AI or tried AI for travel. But that trust vanishes when it comes to making actual reservations. Greetwell A little over a third (34%) used AI to research or plan a trip, but not to book anything. Meanwhile, 14% used AI to research and book a trip, while 5% tried AI but didn’t find it useful.Adoption is high, but the real question is how it performs.More Than Half Experienced an AI Inaccuracy Greetwell Among the travelers who used AI for trips, more than half encountered at least one bad recommendation. Broken down, here are the failure types (respondents could pick more than one):Incorrect prices, hours, or other details (27%)Fully booked or unavailable (21%)Simply wrong for what they asked (17%)A place, tour, or activity that didn’t exist (16%)A business that was permanently closed (10%)A wrong address is one thing. Planning a vacation around an event that doesn’t exist is wasted time that people cannot get back.Travelers Who Hit Problems Report Declining TrustDespite the inaccuracy, a little over a third (34%) said their trust in AI increased over the past year, versus 14% who say their trust declined.Yet ask the same question to the travelers who’ve experienced a problem with AI recommendations, the answer changes. Perhaps the rose-colored glasses are slipping, but among those who encountered at least one problem, 21% said their trust declined versus 5% of those who didn’t.The survey is clear that it cannot establish a causal relationship between the two, but it does beg the question of how far travelers will let AI go before they vet it.The Trust Stops at BookingThe majority of respondents don’t trust it to book for them unsupervised, from flights to dinner reservations:Flights (68%)Rental Cars (65%)Hotels (64%)Local tour or activity (63%)Restaurant reservations (54%)Additionally, when given the scenario of one free afternoon in an unknown city, respondents would rather take the recommendations of friends or family (31%) than AI (9%). And when asked if their activities were to be cancelled because of the weather, nearly two thirds (65%) said they want a real person they can call or message about a rebooking or a refund. Greetwell The human touch is still wanted. AI has many benefits when it comes to travel planning, which is still fragmented across traditional search. Yet when it comes to reliable recommendations, humans are still the better source of information.MethodologyGreetwell commissioned an online survey in August 2026 of 1,000 U.S. adults. These adults took at least one overnight leisure trip in the past 12 months. Out of that base, 485 people used or tried AI for travel. That subgroup is the base for the accuracy and the trust-gap findings. Percentages in the study used respondent-level weights and may not sum to 100% due to rounding.This story was produced by Greetwell and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

The Supreme Court will decide who can sue over the video on your website

The Supreme Court will decide who can sue over the video on your websiteA privacy law written nearly 40 years ago, before anyone streamed video online, is now the subject of a case the U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear this fall. Congress passed the Video Privacy Protection Act in 1988 to stop video rental stores from telling other people what movies their customers rented, after a newspaper published Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork's video rental history during his 1987 confirmation hearings.Today, that same law is being used to sue companies that have nothing to do with video rentals: sports websites, news outlets, retailers, and other businesses whose sites simply show video next to the same advertising tools most websites already use.The case, Salazar v. Paramount Global, comes down to one question: Who can sue under this law? Courts around the country don't agree on the answer, and whatever the Supreme Court decides could make many more, or many fewer, businesses vulnerable to these lawsuits.Clym reviewed Supreme Court filings, court rulings, and lawsuit and settlement records to see how a law built for VHS-era video stores ended up being tested against the technology that runs most modern websites.According to the American Bar Association, people file roughly 200 lawsuits a year under this law. Most follow the same basic pattern: Someone watched a video on a website, and a tracking tool, often one built by Meta, Facebook's parent company, was running in the background.What the Supreme Court agreed to decideThe Court agreed to hear the case on Jan. 26, 2026, and will hear arguments on Oct. 14, 2026. The question in front of the justices: Does this 1988 law only protect people who signed up for video-related products and services, or does it protect anyone who signed up for anything on a website that also happens to show video?Here's how the case started. Michael Salazar signed up for a free daily email newsletter from 247Sports.com, a college sports recruiting website owned by Paramount Global, giving the site his email and IP address. He claims Paramount had a Meta tracking tool installed on the site, and that later, when he watched videos there while logged into Facebook, that tool sent his Facebook account information, along with the names and links of the videos he'd watched, straight to Meta without asking him first.A federal judge and a divided panel of appeals judges sided with Paramount: signing up for a newsletter, they said, doesn't make someone a video consumer, so the law didn't apply to Salazar.Several major companies and trade groups, including Meta, the National Retail Federation, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, have filed briefs urging the Supreme Court to side with Paramount. A privacy rights group, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, has filed on Salazar's side. That kind of lineup suggests plenty of mainstream businesses, not just tech companies, are watching how this turns out.Why courts don't agreeTwo other federal appeals courts have already looked at nearly the same situation, someone who signed up for something free on a website that also shows video, and reached the opposite conclusion. In one case, a fan who'd signed up for the NBA's free newsletter and then watched free video on NBA.com while logged into Facebook made the same complaint about the same Meta tool; that court said the law protects him, too. In another, people who'd given a classic-TV website their email and zip code in exchange for show reminders got the same result.The court deciding Salazar's case went the other way: It said the law was written specifically to protect people's video-watching habits, so it protects only people who signed up for something related to video, not just any newsletter on a site that also shows clips. That disagreement between courts is why the Supreme Court stepped in.How a video and a tracking tool intersectMost websites use small pieces of tracking code, often called pixels, that report to companies like Meta or Google about what visitors do on the website. That's usually done to measure ads or figure out who to show ads to later, and it's everywhere: a 2024 study found that roughly half of the websites it analyzed used Meta's version of this tool, including more than half of S&P 500 companies.These lawsuits aren't about having one of these tools on a website. The specific claim in these cases is narrower: that when someone watches a video, the tracking tool sends the name or web address of that video, together with something that identifies the visitor, like an account ID pulled from a cookie already sitting in their browser, back to a company like Meta. Plaintiffs say that combination, exactly what video someone watched plus who they are, is the kind of private information this 1988 law was written to protect.Not every website with both a video and a tracking tool has automatically broken this law; it depends on what information that tool sends and, as the Supreme Court is now deciding, whether the visitor counts as someone the law protects in the first place. But the basic setup, video content next to a tracking tool and some way to identify visitors, shows up on a huge range of ordinary business websites, which is exactly why this case matters well beyond Hollywood or streaming services. A retailer, a local news site, a sports league, or a real estate company could all, in theory, face one of these lawsuits.What a $5 million settlement shows, and doesn'tThe financial stakes became very real recently in a case against Dapper Labs, the company behind blockchain-based collectible platforms like NBA Top Shot and NFL All Day. People who'd used those platforms sued, claiming tracking tools on the sites sent their video-watching and purchase activity to advertising companies without asking first.The $5 million settlement covers anyone who had an active account on those platforms between June 2020 and January 2025. A New York state court gave it final approval in April 2026, and Dapper Labs sent payments to eligible people in July. Dapper Labs never admitted to breaking the law, and the settlement doesn't say it did; the company agreed to pay to avoid the cost and risk of a long court fight, not because a judge ruled against it.Beyond streaming: who else has been suedBecause so many ordinary websites combine video with basic advertising tools, these lawsuits have already reached sports leagues and betting sites, sports news sites, classic-TV streaming services, real estate listing sites, and, in one case that was later thrown out, even a cereal company whose newsletter and online videos drew a similar complaint. Courts haven't treated every claim the same way, and simply being sued isn't proof that a company actually did anything wrong.Part of why so many companies are fighting this in court comes down to money. The law guarantees at least $2,500 per violation, even if nobody can prove they were actually harmed. If a single lawsuit covers tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of website visitors, that $2,500 minimum can add up to a claim worth tens of millions of dollars, which helps explain why businesses have pushed this fight to the Supreme Court.Whatever the Supreme Court decides, it won't rule on whether any specific tracking tool or video setup is against the law. It will decide something narrower but still very important: who is even allowed to walk into court and make that claim in the first place. That answer could open the door to a lot more lawsuits, or close it, for businesses that never thought of themselves as being anywhere near the video industry.This story was produced by Clym and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.

Geopolitics and grain don't mix, say these Montana farmers

Farmers in states bordering Canada say they are reeling from President Trump's trade wars and resulting retaliatory tariffs. And it's just not neighborly.

Centennial Bridge lights will be turned off for remainder of fall bird migration

Biannually, millions of birds make their way across the night skies of the Midwest in search of their migratory destinations, according to a news release from River Action. This happenstance causes the birds to contend with our light pollution which can be disorienting, confusing, and exhausting for the birds on their already tiresome journey. In [...]

Moline Dollar Tree opens Thursday at former Salvation Army

Dollar Tree at 701 19th Ave. in Moline was home to the Salvation Army Family Store that closed last fall. Moline’s second Dollar Tree opens on Thursday.