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

Saturday, July 11th, 2026
	QC Latino Cinema Series will debut at Last Picture House, Davenport The Quad Cities Latino Cinema Series is set to debut July 15, bringing four unforgettable evenings that celebrate Latino stories, music, culture, and community through the magic of film, a news release says. Presented by The Last Picture House in collaboration with AJV Original, the series highlightsiconic Latino films while supporting local Hispanic nonprofit organizations. [...]
	Cook review: 'Young Washington' is solid biopic released at perfect time Here's a biopic that's just in time for the 250th birthday of the United States. Not only is it timely, but it's also revealing and well-written. If you think "Young Washington” is a faith-based film because it's an Angel Studios movie, think again. Yes, some of the Angel studios movies are faith-based, but not all. [...]
	LifeServe Blood Center plans blood drive at UnityPoint Health - Trinity Rock Island Cancer patients, trauma victims, organ transplant recipients, and so many more Americans rely on lifesaving blood transfusions every day, a news release says. According to LifeServe Blood Center, the summer months can be an especially critical time for blood donation, as donation appointments tend to drop off due to vacations, summer activities, and the change [...]
	City of Morrison updates schedule of city hall closures for system transition, training The City of Morrison would like to inform residents, businesses and other stakeholders that Morrison City Hall will be closed to accommodate staff training and the implementation of a new computer system, a news release says. These updated closures are necessary as the city completes the system conversion that will improve efficiency, enhance service delivery, [...]
	Visit Quad Cities welcomes new board chair, board members “I am thrilled to lead this organization as it continues to make a positive impact on the Quad-Cities,” new board chair Neil Dahlstrom said.
	Most people who need glasses don't have them. Can the post office change that? In some towns in India, a visitor to the post office who's squinting at fine print might be asked: Do you want an eye test?
	Eldridge lukewarm on new facilities, Bettendorf adds futsal court and more government news Read more about what happened in local governments this week in the Quad-Cities.
	Follow the yellow brick road with "The Wizard of Oz" at Circa '21 Follow Dorothy and her iconic friends to Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse's new presentation of "The Wizard of Oz!" According to a release from Circa '21 Dinner Playhouse: This glorious adaptation of L. Frank Baum's timeless storybook tale boasts such unforgettable songs as "If I Only Had a Brain," "Ding Dong, the Witch Is Dead" and [...]
	A Professor Update No. 1 This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.A while back I told you about a local professor whose grand imagination represents the pinnacle of professor-dom. I'm…
	Minnesota is pulling troops early from D.C., as pressure grows on Michigan Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz is pulling his National Guard early from Washington, D.C. as the chorus against Democratic governors sending troops to the city amid President Trump's ongoing deployment grows louder.
	Shy on the dance floor? Virtual reality 'partners' aim to help you find your groove VR dance lesson apps like Dance Guru and Trip the Light offer a judgment-free way to learn partner dancing.
	With the white nationalist group Patriot Front, what you see is not what you get Hundreds of masked white nationalists marched in the nation's capital on July Fourth. Who were they and where does their funding come from?
	Spain edges Belgium and will face France in World Cup semifinal Spain and France will meet Tuesday in Arlington, Texas, in a matchup anticipated for years. Neither team has lost at this year's World Cup.
	Trump threatens Iran after Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's funeral saw calls for his killing Trump made the comments on his Truth Social after U.S. officials demanded that Iran make a public statement saying the Strait of Hormuz is open.
	Zach Lahn responds to President Trump endorsement Zach Lahn responded to the endorsement of President Donald Trump, who supported his Republican campaign for governor earlier in the day.
	Trump administration rolls back a key protection for imperiled wildlife The Trump administration finalized a rule Friday that changes how agencies enforce the Endangered Species Act. The administration narrowed the definition of "harm" under the landmark law.
	‘Best friend,’ teen describes her grandma, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds Hundreds of Republicans gathered in Des Moines Friday night for an annual dinner that focused largely on Gov. Kim Reynolds, who is retiring.
Friday, July 10th, 2026
	Bettendorf, Assumption baseball advance to Substate semis Bettendorf and Assumption baseball both picked up wins to advance to the substate semifinals.
	10-year-old Long Grove girl honored at River Bandits’ Home Runs for Life For 10 years, the Quad Cities River Bandits and MercyOne Genesis have partnered to honor physical therapy and rehabilitation patients through the Home Runs for Life program. This year’s pediatric honoree was Haven Sottos, a 10-year-old from Long Grove.
	Moline's Riverside Park debuts new mini-pitch The new addition is the finale of the Riverside Legacy Project, which aims to bring more recreation opportunities to the area.
	State defends allegations against former deputy charged in Jackson Kradle's death Matthew Herpstreith is charged with reckless homicide, reckless conduct, obstruction of justice and failure to reduce speed in the 18-year-old's 2024 death.
	Historic Davenport firehouse finds new life as event center The grand opening for Host Station 7 will continue through the weekend.
	State defends allegations against former sheriff's deputy charged in Jackson Kradle's death Matthew Herpstreith is charged with reckless homicide, reckless conduct, obstruction of justice and failure to reduce speed in the 18-year-old's 2024 death.
	Our QC Crime Watch: You can meet the new Davenport police chief: Episode 72 Watch crime reporters Linda Cook and Sharon Wren talk about crime and courts in our area with the latest episode of the Our Quad Cities Crime Watch Podcast. In this episode Linda and Sharon discuss: updates on: A Davenport man has been charged with attempted murder after a July 4 shooting You can meet the [...]
	‘I would not be here’: Iowa cancer survivors urge continued federal funding for cancer research Cancer survivors and advocates met with Republican Rep. Zach Nunn, IA-3, to urge continued federal funding for cancer research and to highlight gaps in treatment coverage.
	Alaska expands eligibility for early interventions for children with developmental delays One month old twins are seen in April 2026 (Photo by James Brooks/Alaska Beacon)More Alaska infants and toddlers who are experiencing developmental delays or disabilities can be eligible for early intervention services under a new law now in effect. But service providers say more funding is critical to meet the needs of Alaskan children and families. The bill expands eligibility criteria that proponents say will allow earlier, targeted interventions for children from infancy to age three who are experiencing developmental delays or disabilities. The Alaska Legislature approved the legislation with bipartisan support by a vote of 59 to 1. Gov. Mike Dunleavy allowed Senate Bill 178 to go into law without his signature last month. Previously, Alaska children had to demonstrate a 50% delay in order to be eligible for early intervention services. Under the new law, the requirement was reduced to a 25% delay, thus expanding eligibility and allowing more children to receive services and interventions. Statewide, there are 17 infant learning programs that provide early intervention services funded by the state and federal Medicaid, at no cost to families. Intervention services can include screenings and assessments; targeted speech, feeding and movement therapies; and education and counseling for families on child development. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX. Amy Simpson is the executive director of the Program for Infants and Children, Inc. the largest provider of infant learning program services serving the Anchorage area, as well as rural communities in the Lake and Peninsula Borough approximately 200 miles southwest across Cook Inlet. “It’s very exciting,” Simpson said of the bill’s passage in an interview Friday. “This will allow us to serve families and children sooner, so they don’t have to fall so far behind before we’re able to give them some support and help in learning, and you know catching up on their developmental milestones.” Infant learning programs serve an estimated 1,800 families in Alaska each year, and Simpson said it’s been very difficult to turn children away who did not meet eligibility requirements. “It’s a really difficult thing to sit with a parent and say, ‘Oh, you know, we’re really worried about your child’s development, and they are clearly behind their peers, but they’re not behind enough.’ And so then we give them referrals to private therapists in the community, but you know, in most communities in Alaska, there’s not a list of private therapists to help families,” she said. Laura Norton-Cruz is a social worker, filmmaker and advocate who produced a film spotlighting infant learning program successes in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough region to push for the legislation for expanding eligibility, more awareness and funding for early intervention services in Alaska. “I was elated,” she said, of the bill becoming law on Friday. “Being able to see and hear from families about what a big difference it made, both because it’s highly effective and because sometimes they’re on wait lists forever to get into other kinds of therapies,” she said. “Every day, if there’s a developmental issue or a delay, it can get worse, and so it’s very, very important to have timely support.” But now with the new expanded eligibility, Simpson with the Program for Infants and Children said they are expecting a 77% increase in children who are eligible and funding is limited to help provide those services. Dunleavy vetoed $3 million in additional state grant funding approved by the Legislature to support infant learning programs. Legislators also approved a $2.7 million funding increase intended to offset inflation which Dunleavy did not veto. State funding for the program totals $10.1 million this fiscal year. “So this might be a little bit of a hollow victory for kids and families if funding doesn’t permit us to expand eligibility, which really could make a huge difference,” Simpson said. The legislation does provide for over $450,000 for the Alaska Department of Health to implement the changes in policy, including two new full time positions to manage expanded eligibility, billing and statewide staff training. The bill also expands the services eligible for Medicaid reimbursement, which Simpson said will be helpful. In particular, she said, serving rural communities only accessible by boat or plane requires more expensive travel for specialists and therapists to visit families to provide services. “So we’ll have to kind of see how that goes… if billing for services for all early intervention services will provide enough income for us to expand our staffing,” Simpson said. “I’m hopeful that it will, but I’m not certain.” The Senate Health and Social Services committee sponsored the legislation, which was backed by the bipartisan Alaska Children’s Caucus of House and Senate legislators. Sen. Löki Tobin, D-Anchorage, cited research on the Senate floor ahead of a vote on the bill in May that found nearly half of children who received early intervention services at age three did not require special education services when they reached kindergarten. “That equates to an average of $229,071 of potential savings over the course of that child’s K-12 education,” she said. She estimated state savings at $39 million per year. “But the most important piece of this is helping support children and families,” she said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Courtesy of Alaska Beacon
	Special Weather Statement until FRI 9:00 PM CDT Funnel Clouds and Weak Tornadoes Possible Until 9 PM
	Silvis alderman resigning amid ethics probe The resignation of second ward alderman Craig Pirmann is effective immediately, according to the mayor's office.
	Rock Island affordable senior housing project secures tax credits The apartment complex, to be located at Ninth Avenue and 25th Street, received nearly $2 million in tax credits.
	West Burlington police officers escape their own office West Burlington police officers found themselves locked inside their own office but successfully escaped.
	Elected officials hail Great Falls economic progress in two events Gov. Gianforte (center left), John Janicki, president of Janicki Industries (left), Peter Janicki, CEO of Janicki Industries (center right), and Congressman Troy Downing (right), during a ceremony at Janicki Industries’ groundbreaking in Great Falls. (Photo via Governor's Office)GREAT FALLS — An economic boom is happening to Great Falls, at least according to local, state and federal officials who spent much of Friday celebrating two large businesses coming to Cascade County. Gov. Greg Gianforte, U.S. Rep. Troy Downing and Great Falls Mayor Cory Reeves visited a new Amazon delivery building and then took part i a groundbreaking event for a massive new Janicki Industries complex at AgriTech Park. The two industries represent growth, Reeves said, who was all smiles during the two events. “I’m just glad to see that we’re finally on the map,” Reeves said in an interview. “We’re being discovered.” The Amazon investment is about $7 million, company media relations staff said, with 50 full-time employees and hundreds of flex drivers — part-time jobs Amazon is actively hiring for, they said. The Great Falls Amazon facility is a 35,000 square foot “last mile” facility. Essentially, the workers there are the people the company’s customers will see on their doorstep in the town, and beyond. Amazon delivers to many of the small communities that surround the Electric City and said they’ve now invested more than $200 million in Montana operations since 2010. Amazon officials said they were committed to safety, and brought Sarah Rose, a company vice president overseeing global health and safety operations, to talk about that topic. “There is nothing more important than ensuring the safe, high-quality jobs across our network and team right here in the state of Montana,” Rose, who is from Butte, said in prepared remarks at the Amazon facility. “That’s why I believe so deeply in what we’re celebrating today. Hard-working Montanans deserve good jobs, competitive pay, and real opportunities to grow.” The economy was fully in focus throughout the event by both political and business leaders. There’s a sense that massive missile upgrades, new industry and a booming housing industry could make a huge economic difference in Great Falls. Amazon, and the investment from Janicki is another example of a widening Montana economy, Downing said. “We were just at the Amazon facility a little while ago, that’s creating jobs in one sector. This is creating another,” Downing, whose eastern district includes Great Falls, said during an interview. “Obviously, we have Malmstrom. We’ve got the military side. Having that diversification, there’s no single point of failure. If something starts to go sideways, you’ve got other things that can pick up that slack, and in terms of long-term growth opportunity and stability for this region and for the state, I think it’s incredibly important.” Janickian aerospace company, chose Great falls for an $800 million investment that could provide more than 2,000 jobs once fully realized. The 180-acre facility will include 1.6 million square feet of production space. Janicki employees, trades workers, union members and politicians gathered at the Janicki groundbreaking, with about 200 people in attendance. According to company literature, the company “designs and builds composite and metallic tooling, parts, prototypes, and assembled structures for customers across aerospace, defense, space, marine and other industries.” Peter Janicki, the founder and CEO of the company, said once fully built, the facility will make Great Falls an “epicenter” of aerospace engineering by attracting customers from a variety of high-level tech companies. Janicki Industries looked at several sites for their new facility, but ultimately decided on Great Falls, in large part due to the people. When asked what he liked about the regulatory environment in the area, Janicki quipped, “What regulatory environment?” The community already had the site zoned and ready for a business, which made the process easier, he said. “I don’t like the idea that a big company just takes over,” said John Janicki, president of the company and Peter’s brother. “We didn’t do that, and I would not be supportive of that. It’s just really easy to work with here, and we’ve met with the city, and the city says, ‘Hey, we’re ready to help.’” He added cheap utilities, no sales tax, friendly property taxes and relatively low housing costs all contributed as well. Janicki has much of their operations based in Washington and Utah. John Janicki added that with Montana’s friendly business environment, that some Washington businesses might be looking eastward as well. “I think we’re gonna attract a lot of people,” John Janicki said in an interview. Gianforte said he felt there was a “little like cleanup on Aisle Three and Four when I came into office,” and pointed to his efforts lowering taxes and removing regulations, both of which have been longtime priorities for his administration. “The biggest issue that employers run into is the workforce,” Gianforte said in an interview. “This is why we focused on career and technical education tax credits for trade education and making it easier to break down the barriers between our higher education, K through 12 education, and the marketplace, so people can have great careers in front of them.” Courtesy of Daily Montanan
	Hot weather coming next week After several days in the 80s this week, things look to heat up next week in the Quad Cities. Highs will be in the lower 90s pretty often next week. So far this year we've had 7 days with a high of at least 90°, and we'll add on about 4 or 5 more next [...]
	Rock Island mayor revokes tavern's liquor license after shooting incident After citing numerous violations, Rock Island Mayor Ashley Harris has revoked the liquor license of DeAnna's Place.
	Nursing home group asks for exemptions for Haitians working in Florida facilities The Florida Health Care Association worries that as many as 35,000 Haitian healthcare workers could be impacted by the Supreme Court decision. (Photo credit: Getty Images)The state’s largest nursing home association has asked the Department of Homeland Security to consider allowing Haitians with temporary protected status (TPS) to continue to work in long-term care and pursue “available lawful immigration pathways.” Approximately 350,000 Haitian nationals nationwide hold TPS, of whom half are estimated to live in Florida. “If roughly one in five Haitian TPS holders works in healthcare occupations, as national workforce analyses indicate, as many as 35,000 healthcare workers in Florida could be affected by recent policy changes,” a July 7 letter to DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin from FHCA Chief Executive Officer J. Emmett Reed notes. “While a portion of those individuals work in skilled nursing centers and other long term care settings, the loss of even a small percentage of these experienced caregivers would be detrimental to residents’ continuity of care as well as providers who are already struggling to fill essential positions.” The FHCA is the state’s largest nursing home organization representing more than 650 facilities. The Florida Hospital Association has yet to intervene. Neither has Jackson Health System, which employs 50 Haitians with temporary protected status, according to a spokesperson for the Miami hospital. Congress created temporary protected status in 1990. Since then, a country receives a TPS designation after the Homeland Security secretary consults with the State Department to determine whether it meets certain qualifying conditions. A TPS designation applies if it’s too dangerous to return to the country based on violence, natural disasters, or other extraordinary conditions. Protections can last from six to 18 months unless renewed. TPS designation for Haiti began in 2010 following an earthquake that killed more than 500,000 people. Former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem determined that Haiti no longer met the conditions for its TPS designation. But a U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia issued an order staying Noem’s decision. The U.S. Supreme Court in a 6-3 ruling subsequently declare that Haitian and Syrian immigrants are not entitled to orders postponing an end to their TPS while litigation is pending. The ruling has the effect of stripping their deportation protections and work permits. And that could be bad news for Florida nursing home providers who, Reed said, already are struggling to maintain staff, and the residents who live in the facilities. “Our request is driven by one priority: protecting access to quality care for Florida’s seniors and individuals with disabilities. Decisions that unintentionally diminish the long-term care workforce have consequences that extend far beyond employers — they directly affect our residents who depend on skilled, compassionate caregivers every day,” Reed’s letter reads. Following the ruling, the TPS designations were set to expire July 10. But the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced on its website Friday that it was extending TPS for Haitians until July 24. Meanwhile, a group of faith leaders has called on Florida residents to make TPS an issue in the coming elections. Courtesy of Florida Phoenix
	City of Monmouth, Lakeshore Recycling places dumpsters for storm damage drop offs The City of Monmouth and Lakeshore Recycling are placing three dumpsters on Third Street for storm debris drop-off.
	Maine, 14 other states sue Trump administration to block school mental health funding cuts Phone trees at Brewer High School store students phones for the duration of the school day (Photo by Eesha Pendharkar/Maine Morning Star)Maine joined 15 states on Friday in suing the Trump administration to prevent millions of dollars in cuts to school-based mental health funding. The new lawsuit is part of an ongoing legal battle between Democratic-led states and the U.S. Department of Education over a mental health grant program that Congress established following the 2018 school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. At stake is a $1 billion program that offers grants to school districts across the country to help them hire and train more mental health professionals to work in schools. Democratic attorneys general in 15 states say the Trump administration, in defiance of a December 2025 court order, plans to unlawfully terminate the grants at the end of this month, resulting in millions in lost funding. “Our children deal with a unique set of problems which arise from growing up in 2026 — from loneliness to substance use disorder to the ever-present fear of violence — and the programs funded through these grants are designed to help them cope and hopefully thrive,” said Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha, a Democrat, in a statement announcing the lawsuit. In 2022, after a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, claimed the lives of 19 students and two teachers, Congress allocated $1 billion to the Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Grant Program to increase the number of school-based mental health professionals. That funding effort was bipartisan; at the time Republican U.S. Sens. John Cornyn of Texas, Susan Collins of Maine and Thom Tillis of North Carolina publicly supported it. And within a year, the grants had funded mental and behavioral health services to nearly 775,000 students nationwide. But in April 2025, under President Donald Trump, the U.S. Department of Education told grantees the funding would be halted because their programs conflicted with Trump administration priorities. At that time, the grants were supporting efforts in 49 states to prepare thousands of mental health professionals to work in K-12 schools. Trump administration officials told the media that the grants were cut over what the administration saw as connections to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. A coalition of 17 Democratic state attorneys general sued last July, and a court ruled in their favor, ordering the Trump administration to stop the grant discontinuation. In the months since the order, the education department has threatened to withhold funding or terminate the grants altogether. The Democratic attorneys general said they filed the new lawsuit to cover gaps in the previous court order that could allow the Trump administration to follow through on its desire to halt the funding. “The courts have repeatedly ruled that the Trump Administration does not have the power to arbitrarily revoke grant funding that provides critical mental health services to our students,” said Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, a Democrat, in a statement about joining the lawsuit. “Still, the federal government continues its attempts to terminate funding.” Stateline reached out to the U.S. Department of Education for comment but did not receive a response before publication. Attorneys general participating in the lawsuit are from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin. Stateline reporter Anna Claire Vollers can be reached at avollers@stateline.org This story was originally produced by Stateline, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Maine Morning Star, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Courtesy of Maine Morning Star
	High diesel prices are squeezing drivers at the Walcott Truckers Jamboree With prices ranging between $4-5 across the country, drivers are adding a fuel surcharge to their rate.
	Rock Island County dedicates pollinator garden to the late Lee Barber, the Rev. Gabriel Barber County leaders said the dedication recognized the Barbers' decades of community service.
	High diesel prices squeezing drivers at the Walcott Truckers Jamboree With prices ranging between $4-5 across the country, drivers are adding a fuel surcharge to their rate.
	Muscatine family to hold annual Lemonade for a Cause fundraiser The event has raised more than $26,000 for the MCSA Domestic Violence Shelter, and this year's fundraiser aims to push that total past $30,000.
	New Mexico health officials issue warning ahead of hot weekend National Weather Service forecasters warned that much of central New Mexico experienced "major" heat risk July 10, 2026, meaning that high temperatures posed risks to anyone without access to cooling or hydration, as well as well as to health systems and industries. (Courtesy NWS HeatRisk index)New Mexico Department of Health officials on Thursday issued a warning to residents ahead of what forecasts predict will be a hot weekend, with temperatures expected to rise above 100 degrees across much of the state.SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX. According to a news release, 453 people have visited New Mexico health facilities for heat-related emergencies since April 1. Last summer included 761 heat-related emergency department visits statewide. “It’s going to be a hot summer, and certain populations — including children, adults over 65, outdoor workers and people with chronic health conditions — are among the most at-risk when temperatures climb,” NMDOH Chief of Environmental Health Epidemiology Bureau Chelsea Langer said in a statement. The health department noted that heat-related illnesses include: warm, red skin that can become cold, pale and clammy; a fast and weak pulse; nausea and vomiting, along with muscle cramps; fatigue, weakness and dizziness. Residents can try to avoid heat-related illnesses by staying cool inside; remaining hydrated; wearing lightweight, light-colored and loose-fitting clothes; and saving outdoor activities for the cooler times of day. More information on heat-related illness is available via the NM Public Health Data Portal and through the agency’s hotline: 1-833-SWNURSE. Courtesy of Source New Mexico
	Rock Island mayor revokes DeAnna's Place liquor license following 9 counts of violations Mayor Ashley Harris has revoked the liquor license for DeAnna's Place in Rock Island following nine counts of violations.
	"Next to Normal" production returns to Davenport Central High School The performances will raise money for theater improvements while also shining a light on mental health awareness.
	Rain wins again at Davenport Speedway Friday morning’s rain shower has forced SR Promotions to cancel the Friday night races at Davenport Speedway, according to a news release. Weekly points racing tops the agenda on Friday, July 17, at the Davenport Speedway. All six classes will be in action. The racing program will include the Street Stock Challenge sponsored by AVS [...]
	New mural unveiled at Rock Island EveryChild building EveryChild partnered with Quad City Arts' Metro Arts Apprenticeship Program to create the artwork.
	Silvis alderman resigning as ethics probe continues The resignation of second ward alderman Craig Pirmann is effective immediately, according to the mayor's office.
	Deanna’s Place liquor license revoked for following shootings, dozens of police calls Rock Island Mayor Ashley Harris has revoked the liquor license for Deanna's Place effective immediately after multiple shootings and police calls.
	Retired Iowa lawmaker Jean Lloyd-Jones reflects on her political life in memoir At 96, Jean Lloyd-Jones has published ‘A Woman’s Place: My Life as a Public Servant.’ The book tracks her path from the League of Women Voters to the Iowa Legislature, as well as her work founding the Iowa Institute for Peace.
	Graham Platner makes it official in Maine, submitting paperwork to leave Senate race In his withdrawal notice, Platner said "people are desperate for change" and that's why they made him the Democratic nominee. Now, Maine Democrats have to pick someone to replace him by July 27.
	Scott County Democrats nominate slate of candidates ahead of November 2026 elections Meet the newest Democratic candidates seeking Scott County offices and a state House seat this November.
	Police searching for man accused of driving into a Rock Island credit union 41-year-old Michael Lindquist allegedly fled the scene after striking the Gas and Electric Credit Union.
	15 states sue Trump administration to block school mental health funding cuts Student backpacks seen on the first day of school last year at Harborview Elementary School in Juneau, Alaska. Fifteen Democratic-led states are suing the Trump administration over cuts to a $1 billion school mental health grant program. (Photo by Corinne Smith/Alaska Beacon)Fifteen states on Friday sued the Trump administration to prevent millions of dollars in cuts to school-based mental health funding. The new lawsuit is part of an ongoing legal battle between Democratic-led states and the U.S. Department of Education over a mental health grant program that Congress established following the 2018 school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. At stake is a $1 billion program that offers grants to school districts across the country to help them hire and train more mental health professionals to work in schools. Democratic attorneys general in 15 states say the Trump administration, in defiance of a December 2025 court order, plans to unlawfully terminate the grants at the end of this month, resulting in millions in lost funding. “Our children deal with a unique set of problems which arise from growing up in 2026 — from loneliness to substance use disorder to the ever-present fear of violence — and the programs funded through these grants are designed to help them cope and hopefully thrive,” said Rhode Island Attorney General Peter F. Neronha, a Democrat, in a statement announcing the lawsuit. In 2022, after a school shooting in Uvalde, Texas, claimed the lives of 19 students and two teachers, Congress allocated $1 billion to the Mental Health Service Professional Demonstration Grant Program to increase the number of school-based mental health professionals. That funding effort was bipartisan; at the time Republican U.S. senators including John Cornyn of Texas, Susan Collins of Maine and Thom Tillis of North Carolina publicly supported it. And within a year, the grants had funded mental and behavioral health services to nearly 775,000 students nationwide. But in April 2025, under President Donald Trump, the U.S. Department of Education told grantees the funding would be halted because their programs conflicted with Trump administration priorities. At that time, the grants were supporting efforts in 49 states to prepare thousands of mental health professionals to work in K-12 schools. Trump administration officials told the media that the grants were cut over what the administration saw as connections to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives. Amid mental health crisis, new compact allows social workers to practice across state lines A coalition of 17 Democratic state attorneys general sued last July, and a court ruled in their favor, ordering the Trump administration to stop the grant discontinuation. In the months since the order, the education department has threatened to withhold funding or terminate the grants altogether. The Democratic attorneys general said they filed the new lawsuit to cover gaps in the previous court order that could allow the Trump administration to follow through on its desire to halt the funding. “The courts have repeatedly ruled that the Trump Administration does not have the power to arbitrarily revoke grant funding that provides critical mental health services to our students,” said Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell, a Democrat, in a statement about joining the lawsuit. “Still, the federal government continues its attempts to terminate funding.” Stateline reached out to the U.S. Department of Education for comment but did not receive a response before publication. Attorneys general participating in the lawsuit are from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Mexico, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin. Stateline reporter Anna Claire Vollers can be reached at avollers@stateline.org SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Courtesy of Stateline
	Reynolds expresses hope for federal appeal of SNAP ‘unhealthy’ food restrictions Gov. Kim Reynolds supports a federal appeal of a judge's ruling blocking Iowa's SNAP food restrictions, as the state celebrates low error rates.
	Silvis alderman resigns One of Silvis’ aldermen has resigned. A news release from the City of Silvis says that Alderman Craig Pirmann has resigned, effective immediately. “The resignation does not affect the City’s Ethics Commission’s review of the complaint that was filed against Alderman Pirmann for a breach of the City’s ethics code,” the release said. “That matter [...]
	Nunn pledges to support cancer research; calls for ‘sustainable’ healthcare models U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn, joined by with American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network volunteers Maria Steele and Clara Cirks, answered questions from reporters July 10, 2026 following a roundtable discussion at the Adel Public Library, hosted by ACS CAN about cancer in Iowa. (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)ADEL — U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn said Friday the current Republican-led Congress has been the most effective in “generational history” to have moved forward with cancer research funding. Nunn spoke to cancer patients, survivors and advocates at a American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) event Friday at the Adel Public Library. Nunn, who represents Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District and is running for reelection in 2026, heard stories from individuals about their struggles battling cancer personally and supporting family and friends with cancer. His Democratic opponent, state Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott, spoke July 7 at a similar event organized by ACS CAN. Those attending the “Cancer Votes Coffee Chat,” a nonpartisan event, urged Nunn to support continued federal funding for research into cancer, saying this was one of the best ways to support Iowans in a state with the second-highest rate of new cancer incidences nationally, and one of only three states with a rising rate of new cancers. Gary Steinke of Urbandale told Nunn he was diagnosed with metastatic melanoma in December 2025, and doctors at the Mayo Clinic found melanoma had spread to “every major organ in my body, liver, lungs, kidneys, bladder, even my spine,” putting him at Stage Four cancer. “This is what they said to me: number one, melanoma, 15 years ago, the doctors among themselves said that melanoma gives cancer a bad name because there was no treatment, there was no cure there, and it was hard to detect,” Steinke said. “… They said to me, looking at this scan 15 years ago, we would have said six months, maybe, because it is very widespread. But now, 15 years later, and I’m telling you what they told me because I am certainly not an expert in in this funding — but what they told me was that 15 years ago, (the National Institutes of Health) doled out $56 billion dollars and made research scientists pool the money, so that they could attack this problem and at least give people some hope or remission or something.” Steinke said he started immunotherapy on Feb. 1, 2026. When they performed another scan in May following months of treatment, “every melanoma cell in my body is gone,” he said. “I mean that is what research can do, and if they can do it with melanoma, which was incurable, then they can do it for you and for you,” he said, speaking to other individuals with cancer at the event. “… It can be done, and so don’t let people say, ‘oh well, you know, cancer, that’s a tough one.’ No, it’s not. No, it’s not. It’s just going to take a lot of research, and unfortunately, that takes money.” Nunn said he agreed funding cancer research was an important goal, and noted Congress was able to get $50 billion in cancer research funding — and that he “personally fought for $128 million to be able to help afford specific targeted cancer research.” Additionally, Nunn said, he has looked at “what we can do here locally on key cancers, things like breast cancer, things like pancreatic cancer legislation, and particularly for juvenile cancers.” “This is not a Republican or Democrat issue. This is just a good for America issue, and being able to deliver on this this year has been a good first start,” Nunn said. “… I take that as a badge of honor, but I also take as a badge of only a first start. So we have made a maximum request of $51.3 billion in next year’s funding.” ACS CAN advocates and survivors also spoke about the need to increase access to healthcare — as well as healthcare coverage — in an effort to support those in the state battling cancer. Clara Cirks of Dallas Center said she was diagnosed stage four lung cancer, with metastases to her breast, liver, lymph nodes, bones, pelvis, ovaries, and brain in February 2025 when she was 30 years old. She moved from Colorado Springs back to Iowa to receive cancer care. Most of her care was covered during the first year of treatment through Iowa Medicaid. But in January 2026, Cirks said, “I was notified that I got kicked off of Iowa Medicaid because they said I made too much on disability, so I had to purchase a healthcare plan on Iowa Marketplace, that didn’t kick in until February 1.” This meant Cirks was uninsured for the month of January, a period of time where she had two trips to the emergency room, saw two specialists, her oncologist and another cancer physician. “I’ve been doing payment plans for all of those visits, which has been a very large financial burden for myself with a disability income,” Cirks said. “Thankfully, with my insurance kicking in in February, I’ve had most things covered since then, and my surgery was completely covered.” Nunn said he believes there are certain steps Congress can take to better support individuals in situations like Cirks. He said he supported ensuring there are more navigators able to help people obtain healthcare coverage, pointing to legislation passed in the U.S. House dealing with healthcare access for veterans that he said could be used as the “gold standard to now be able to move forward to help folks in Clara’s situation.” Democrats have criticized cuts to Medicaid in the 2025 “big, beautiful bill” law as preventing people from accessing coverage. Nunn, who supported the law, said it was an important step toward preserving public healthcare coverage options for people in the most need. Nunn also said he believed “targeted healthcare” needs to be a focus, which he said was “one of the reasons that I broke with Republican leadership in saying we’ve got to have a plan to go after this” when supporting extending enhanced tax credits that subsidize premiums for Marketplace providers under the Affordable Care Act in January. He also said the national $50 billion in funding through the law for the federal Rural Health Transformation Program — from which Iowa received $209 million in 2025 — will also ensure easier access to care for people in the state. “I’ve been a strong champion for making sure that we have a Medicare, a Medicaid, and a Social Security program that are able to exist well past 2030,” Nunn said. “It means that we make sure that anybody in Clara’s situation gets the coverage that they need. It also means that anyone who’s on a Medicaid program because they’re a senior or a single parent or a child continues to get that funding. It also means that we don’t just have a one-size-fits-all government solution — and what I mean by that is a government takeover of healthcare. That is not a way that would have helped Clara at the end of this when she got onto a insurance program that was able to work for her.” Democrats, including Nunn’s opponent, Trone Garriott, have said the Rural Health Transformation Program funds will not be enough to offset the funding lost through Medicaid cuts for healthcare providers. But Nunn said funding through the program has allowed communities like Ottumwa, which has seen two clinics close, set up a regional healthcare clinic with a greater ability to focus on issues like preventative care. “Beyond with the 50 billion dollars, we want to make sure this is sustainable going forward,” Nunn said. “I do think we want to see real benchmarks for success, versus just blasting money at a problem and hoping that more money is going to fix it. We’ve seen very clearly that’s not the reality. If anything, it’s nearly broken our Social Security system. It has made both Medicare and Medicaid hit new heights. And even for people on private insurance, we’ve seen now years where there are double-digit increases on what their healthcare costs are. We’ve got to get after the root causes of what’s making people sick, and we also have to get after the root causes of what’s causing healthcare to go through the roof.” SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Courtesy of Iowa Capital Dispatch
	Blue Cross to return as the NC State Health Plan’s third-party administrator From left to right, Blue Cross NC vice president Roy Watson, Jr., N.C. Treasurer Brad Briner, Carl S. Armato, CEO of Novant Health, and Dr. Cristy Page, CEO and Dean of UNC Health and the School of Medicine talk on July 10, 2026 about changes coming to the State Employee Health Plan. (Photo: Lynn Bonner/NC Newsline)What was old is new again – Blue Cross NC will return to processing State Health Plan benefit claims as its third-party administrator, replacing Aetna in 2028. Aetna has been the health plan’s third-party administrator since 2025, after health plan trustees, guided by former state Treasurer Dale Folwell, decided to stop working with Blue Cross, which had administered the health plan for decades. Folwell fought with the company over price transparency. Aetna was the other bidder for the new third-party administration contract, but this time lost to Blue Cross. After the new contract with Blue Cross NC was announced on Friday, state Treasurer Brad Briner, Folwell’s successor, said the differences in the two companies’ proposals were stark. “The decision was very, very clear, both from a cost perspective, from a member-service perspective, as well as from every other dynamic we can think of,” he said “There really wasn’t much of a contest, to be honest.” In a statement, Aetna spokesman Phil Blando said, “We continue to believe Aetna is the strongest partner for the State Health Plan. Our expertise and service have helped the State Health Plan to advance its cost containment goals, successfully implement the Plan’s complex provider tiering strategy, and provide members access to high-quality care. “Aetna has been a trusted partner in North Carolina for decades, and that commitment remains steadfast in continuing to support the Plan and its members through the end of the current contract, December 31, 2027,” Blando continued. “We will review this decision in the coming weeks and decide how best to move forward.” Tom Friedman, State Health Plan executive administrator, said there was almost a $1 billion difference in cost between the two companies’ proposals. The State Health Plan insures more than 750,000 North Carolina state employees, dependents, and retirees. About 10,000 claims are processed each day. When the State Health Plan trustees decided to drop Blue Cross in 2023, the break-up was messy. Blue Cross challenged the change, but an administrative law judge upheld the State Health Plan trustees’ decision to switch. State Health Plan trustees also voted Friday to have Blue Cross take over as pharmacy benefit manager from CVS Caremark in 2028. CVS Caremark has been the Health Plan’s pharmacy administrator since 2017. Both contract terms run from Jan. 1, 2028, through Dec. 31, 2031, with two optional one-year renewal periods. Courtesy of NC Newsline
	SC agency considers entering the carbon business to improve state forests South Carolina’s Department of Natural Resources wants to get into the business of selling credits to companies that want to boast about being environmentally friendly and carbon neutral. It awarded a $110,000 contract to Milliken Advisors for a feasibility study. (Photo provided by The Conservation Fund)COLUMBIA — South Carolina could generate money to manage the state’s protected forests by selling credits to polluting companies. Exactly how that might work remains unknown. The state Department of Natural Resources is paying a consultant nearly $110,000 to report on whether it’s possible and how. The winning contract, awarded last month, went to Columbia-based Milliken Advisors. It has until Dec. 16 to create a plan to make agency land eligible for so-called carbon credits, according to the contract posted on the state’s procurement website. The agency manages 1.6 million acres total statewide, which includes state forests, wildlife preserves and historically important sites. How much land might be involved in the credit swap remains unknown. Other questions include how many credits the state might offer and what prompted the agency to get into the carbon credit business in the first place. Neither the agency nor the company responded to multiple messages sent over several weeks by the SC Daily Gazette. Carbon credits are essentially a way for companies to invest in projects that reduce greenhouse gasses. The argument is, while a company may not be able to eliminate all of the carbon dioxide and other climate change causing pollutants emitted by its operations, it can fund projects that reduce carbon globally. One carbon credit is equivalent to one metric ton of carbon dioxide, which is what one tree will absorb over a 40-year period, according to researchers at Texas A&M University. These credits are sold on carbon markets. Governments regulate credits done to comply with state or federal carbon reduction laws. Voluntary purchases by companies that want to tout themselves as green are handled on private platforms based on supply and demand. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX. What a company buys with a credit might include the planting of more trees, fewer trees cut down, and/or removal of growth that can contribute to forest fires. In most cases, a carbon credit buyer does not have to purchase credits in the same state where it’s polluting. California’s program, for example, allows companies to use credits from approved projects anywhere in the United States. Some of the largest buyers of carbon credits are oil and gas companies. Airlines and automotive companies also are major purchasers. And amid the boom in artificial intelligence, tech giants such as Google, Microsoft, Meta and Amazon are turning to carbon credits with increased frequency as they seek to offset the technology’s massive energy needs. In the Department of Natural Resources’ case, the agency wants to improve forests located on the wildlife management areas, heritage preserves and conservation easements it controls, according to the agency’s request for bids, posted in April. More trees mean more vegetation to absorb carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, releasing oxygen in its stead. That’s where Milliken Advisors comes in. The different swaths of land managed by the Department of Natural Resources come with different sets of rules about what it can and cannot do to alter its forests, depending on whether the land is geared toward wildlife or preservation. The advisory company will tell the agency what it’s legally allowed to do and whether those actions will be enough to meet internationally recognized standards for a carbon credit eligible project. Milliken and its partners have done this kind of thing before, largely on commercial and working timber property rather than public lands. Milliken consultants worked with Norfolk Southern Corporation on its 14,400-acre timber and wildlife preserve, Brosnan Forest, in the Lowcountry. Beginning in 2008, Milliken helped the railroad giant restore the coastal wetlands and forest. The project was the state’s first improved forest management carbon project, according to Milliken’s 51-page application with the Department of Natural Resources. The agency provided a copy of the application in response to a public records request by the Daily Gazette. Improved forest management refers to the process of increasing an existing forest’s ability to process carbon. This is usually done by reducing how often timberland is cut, allowing trees to grow older so they can take in more carbon, controlled burns to reduce the risk of forest fires and cutting back other vegetation that may compete with trees for nutrients. At the Brosnan Forest, the company had more than 2,000 plots that were carbon credit eligible and selling the credits those plots generated brought in more than $1 billion over a 15 year period. Milliken partner Lucas Clay, a forest ecologist at the Georgia Institute of Technology and adjunct professor at Clemson University, developed an improved forest management study for Clemson’s 19,200-acre experimental forest. Milliken called that project “a near-perfect analog” to what the Department of Natural Resources hopes to accomplish on its lands. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Courtesy of South Carolina Daily Gazette
	Rock Island police searching for driver accused of crashing into credit union while fleeing officers Rock Island police are hunting for 41-year-old Michael Lindquist after he crashed his truck into a local credit union while running from officers.
	City of Monmouth announces storm debris drop-off location Three roll-off dumpsters will be placed outside of the Street Department on July 17, 18 and 19 to collect storm-related debris.
	Muscatine family hopes Lemonade for a Cause tops $30,000 for domestic violence shelter The annual fundraiser benefits the MCSA Domestic Violence Shelter, with 100% of proceeds staying local to support shelter services.
	Patriotic art gets the spotlight as NEA funding shifts. Cue 'The Ronald Reagan Overture' Patriotic art and music is taking center stage this year under the Trump Administration, as funds shift away from DEI. For some orgs, like the Reagan Presidential Library, this is their wheelhouse.
	Special Weather Statement until FRI 7:00 PM CDT Funnel Clouds and Weak Tornadoes Possible Until 7 PM
	4 Your Money \| Short Leash Government debt has become a prominent topic in economic and public policy discussions. John Nelson, Financial Planner at NelsonCorp Wealth Management, is here to highlight the unusually high percentage of government debt that is being financed through short-term, adjustable-rate borrowing strategies.
	Extreme heat is coming to Utah this week. Doctors urge caution Emergency Department at Intermountain Medical Center is pictured on July 10, 2026. (Alixel Cabrera/Utah News Dispatch)With extreme heat warnings issued for northern Utah this weekend, physicians are urging Utahns to be aware of signs of heat exhaustion and heat stroke. Temperatures of up to 107 degrees are possible for the Wasatch Front and Cache Valley on Saturday from noon to 6 a.m. Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. Other areas in northern and central Utah — including the Wasatch Back, along Castle Country, the Uinta Basin and the San Rafael Swell — may experience highs of 100 degrees. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX. With those conditions emergency rooms tend to see more patients with heat exhaustion and heat stroke symptoms, according to Angela Allen, an emergency medicine physician at Intermountain Medical Center. “Extreme heat can be one of the deadliest weather hazards in the United States,” Allen said in a news release. “When temperatures climb into the triple digits it’s important for everyone to take heat warnings seriously and know the signs of heat-related illness.” Angela Allen, an emergency medicine physician at Intermountain Medical Center, speaks about heat exhaustion and heat stroke danger during a Utah heat wave. (Alixel Cabrera/Utah News Dispatch) Prevention is paramount, she said, as sometimes when heat-related illnesses appear, “it’s a little bit too late,” she said, and it could be life threatening. “The main difference between heat exhaustion and heat stroke is really altered mental status or confusion. So once you’re noticing somebody with heat exhaustion that’s starting to become confused or altered, we worry about heat stroke, which is much more of a medical emergency,” Allen said in a news conference Friday. Those most susceptible to heat-related illnesses include people over 65 years old and children less than 3 years old. Also risks are higher for patients that are pregnant, have chronic medical conditions or those who take medications that predispose them to dehydration. People who need to be outside, such as construction workers, landscapers, athletes and individuals experiencing homelessness can also be especially vulnerable to the illnesses, Allen said. Patients who are already experiencing heat exhaustion with symptoms like lightheadedness, weakness, fatigue and excessive sweating should get into a cooler environment, drink water and rest to prevent progression to heat stroke, she said. Let us know what you think... Salt Lake County has a Cool Zones program that allows people to temporarily cool off in different public buildings. County senior centers are open to everyone over 60 years old and recreation centers are open for free for all county residents up to 18 years old. For anyone else needing to get out of the heat, including people experiencing homelessness, Catholic Community Service’s Weigand Center in Salt Lake City is open daily. Physicians typically see heat stroke patients with body temperatures of 104 or greater and can have severe weakness, fatigue, headaches, vomiting, and even seizures, Allen said. “If you do notice or have any concerns about heat stroke, I would immediately call 911 to get the emergency personnel on the way,” she said. “In the meantime, while waiting for emergency personnel, if you can get these patients or individuals to a cool environment and start cooling them off, it’s ideal.” To help someone who is overheating, Allen suggested removing unnecessary clothing and cooling them off with water, ice packs and fans. However, because they may be altered or confused, she recommended avoiding giving them fluids, since they can choke. To prevent getting to that point, Intermountain Health physicians recommend drinking plenty of water throughout the day, even if you do not feel thirsty, and to avoid alcohol and excessive caffeine since they can contribute to dehydration. They also urged Utahns to limit outdoor activities during the hottest part of the day, which is typically between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Never leave children, older adults or pets in a shut-off vehicle, even for a short period. Temperatures inside a car can rise to dangerous levels within minutes, Intermountain Health doctors said. They also encouraged Utahns to “check on neighbors, relatives and friends, especially those who live alone or may need assistance” during the heat wave. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Courtesy of Utah News Dispatch
	Leveling up: The past and future of video games in the US After Sony announced it will discontinue selling physical game discs, we dug deeper into the evolution of video gaming.
	Eight school-based health clinics close in Southwest Virginia as federal funding pressures mount Exam gloves in a health clinic. (Photo by Charlotte Rene Woods/Virginia Mercury)Federally Qualified Health Centers in Southwest Virginia have shut down eight school-based health clinics, prompting the Virginia Community Healthcare Association to urge U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, to intervene. The association, which represents FQHCs across the state, sent Griffith a letter Thursday about the closures. The outreach program had served as an extension of health services into communities where access to primary care is limited. It has been funded by reinvesting savings from a federal drug pricing program back into the communities the clinics serve. The federal program, known as 340B, allows qualifying hospitals and clinics that treat underserved populations to buy prescription drugs at steep discounts while charging insurers full price and keeping the difference. The arrangement helps safety net providers that operate on tighter margins reinvest the savings back into their communities, including the school-based clinics that have since closed. VCHA CEO Tracy Douglas wrote in her letter that the Southwest Virginia coalition of clinics had realized about $2.7 million in annual 340B savings, but those savings are projected to decline by $400,000 amid rising demand for care. FQHCs are among safety net providers that also include free clinics and health-related nonprofits, all of which are facing growing demand as people lose health coverage amid various federal actions. Simply put, it’s getting harder to stretch 340B dollars at a time when clinics are stretching everything. Complicating matters are ongoing debates over the future of 340B. After some hospital systems in Virginia and elsewhere were found to have improperly used the program, state and federal lawmakers have spent years exploring reforms to strengthen accountability, restrict how 340B is used and adjust how payments are made. Reaction to the proposals has been mixed, with large pharmaceutical companies, pharmacies, hospital systems and smaller clinics like FQHCs offering competing views on how the program should be changed. Outgoing U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., recently released draft legislation that FQHCs and other smaller clinics say could hurt them by changing reimbursement timelines, though broader reforms have drawn favorable responses from a variety of groups. President Donald Trump’s administration also continues to pursue regulatory changes that would scale back the program. “Because of the drama around the effectiveness of the program, we’re forced to have to make tough decisions,” Douglas said in a recent interview about the service cuts in Southwest Virginia. The affected schools are: Northwood Middle School Saltville Elementary School Chilhowie Elementary School Chilhowie Middle/High School John S. Battle High School Highpoint Elementary School Virginia Elementary School Virginia High School Calling the financial reality “stark,” Douglas said 340B savings had allowed the clinics to absorb the financial losses associated with operating the school-based health centers. Using 340B funds for that purpose, she said, is exactly what the program was designed to support. Douglas also recently participated in a roundtable discussion with Gov. Abigail Spanberger and representatives from Virginia hospitals, free clinics, state health agencies and health insurers. With expired enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies — though Virginia’s budget will help offset some of the impact for residents come November — and changes to Medicaid and hospital funding included in the federal reconciliation bill passed last summer, healthcare providers are warning lawmakers about mounting financial pressures and discussing ways to respond. As thousands of Virginians lose or risk losing health coverage, providers expect greater demand for FQHCs, free clinics and hospital emergency rooms. “What is happening in Virginia is very similar to what we know is happening in other states,” Spanberger said at the roundtable meeting earlier this week. She emphasized that her administration is listening to providers and working to “look at how we can protect our vulnerable neighbors.” SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX. Courtesy of Virginia Mercury
	National French Fry Day 2026: How to get free fries and other food deals We've rounded up the promo codes that unlock free fries on National French Fry Day.
	Houston neighbors started seeing more ICE agents around. Then came a fatal shooting. Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was a 52-year-old Mexican national who worked in construction for more than three decades. The father of three was shot by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents after they attempted to pull him over.
	Aproveche al máximo sus viajes por carretera este verano y prémiese durante el camino. (BPT) - Puntos clave:Los gastos de los viajes por carretera en verano pueden acumularse, pero con un poco de planificación puede conseguir recompensas por el camino.Lleve su auto al taller para una revisión antes de salir a la carretera. Así podrá optimizar el consumo de combustible y conducir con mayor confianza.Planificar las paradas a lo largo de su ruta puede ayudarle a ahorrar tiempo y dinero durante el trayecto.Cuando se detenga, asegúrese de cargar combustible en gasolineras que ofrezcan recompensas y descuentos.Busque una tarjeta de recompensas como la tarjeta bp rewards Visa®, que le permite sacar el máximo partido a sus compras diarias y le ofrece la flexibilidad de gastar sus puntos de recompensas como desee.Por Alyssa Callahan, directora de marketing del área de movilidad y conveniencia de bp Organizar los viajes de verano puede convertirse rápidamente en un trabajo a tiempo completo. Elaborar presupuestos, reservar hoteles y planificar las paradas para descansar puede resultar agotador, sobre todo cuando se busca la mejor relación calidad-precio.Aunque el combustible suele ser el gasto que primero nos viene a la mente, con frecuencia es solo una parte de todos los costos asociados con el tiempo que pasamos en la carretera. Las múltiples visitas a las tiendas de conveniencia, las comidas fuera de casa y las pequeñas compras impulsivas se acumulan rápidamente. También están las compras que hará antes del viaje para abastecerse de todo lo necesario para el trayecto, además de las compras grandes de comestibles y las cenas para llevar cuando regrese a casa.La buena noticia es que, con un poco más de planificación, puede ahorrarse cientos de dólares e incluso conseguir algunas recompensas durante el camino. Para las familias que vayan a salir de viaje este verano, aquí tiene algunos consejos sencillos que le permitirán ahorrar un poco de dinero.Planifique la ruta. El verano tiene una curiosa manera de convertir una sola parada en cuatro. Planificar las rutas con anticipación, agrupar los recados y consultar el estado del tráfico antes de salir puede ayudar a los conductores a aprovechar al máximo las millas que ya van a recorrer.Salga en busca de grandes ahorros. A veces, la mejor forma de ahorrar dinero es saber en qué gastarlo. Planifique sus paradas de descanso para detenerse siempre en gasolineras que ofrezcan descuentos y recompensas por cargar combustible y comprar refrigerios para el viaje.No escatime en las revisiones mecánicas. Mantener los neumáticos con la presión adecuada, cambiar el aceite con regularidad y realizar el mantenimiento de rutina puede mejorar la seguridad y la eficiencia de su auto. Quizás no sea lo más emocionante, pero el mantenimiento básico puede marcar una gran diferencia durante un verano con muchos viajes en auto.Saque más partido a sus gastos habituales. Más allá de los viajes por carretera, el verano puede ser una temporada costosa, con más cenas fuera de casa, compras de comestibles y gastos cotidianos que pueden afectar su presupuesto. Pero ¿y si pudiera hacer que esas compras le beneficiaran? Considere la posibilidad de solicitar una tarjeta de recompensas que le ofrezca beneficios por sus compras habituales. Las mejores suelen adaptarse a su estilo de vida actual, sin exigir cambios en su rutina.No deje pasar las recompensas. Cuando se trata de las recompensas de las tarjetas de crédito, la flexibilidad es fundamental. Opte por tarjetas como bp rewards Visa®, que ofrecen recompensas y múltiples opciones de canje, como reembolsos en efectivo, tarjetas de combustible y tarjetas de regalo de las principales cadenas comerciales, para que pueda gastar sus recompensas como más le convenga.¿Y lo mejor de todo? Los nuevos titulares de la tarjeta bp rewards Visa® ahorran 50 centavos por galón1 en combustible en las gasolineras bp y Amoco participantes durante los primeros 60 días, y a partir de entonces, un descuento de 15 centavos por galón1 para las cuentas abiertas entre el 18 de mayo de 2026 y el 30 de septiembre de 2026. La tarjeta no tiene cuota anual2 y permite acumular puntos por compras que cumplan los requisitos, incluidas las compras que no sean de combustible en establecimientos participantes de bp y Amoco, así como las compras de comestibles y las comidas en otros establecimientos.Cualquier tarjeta de recompensas solo resulta útil si se adapta a los hábitos reales de cada persona. Al igual que con cualquier producto financiero, conviene revisar detenidamente las condiciones y evaluar si la tarjeta sigue siendo conveniente una vez finalizada la oferta introductoria.Para la mayoría de los conductores, los gastos de verano no suelen deberse a un único derroche importante. Es el ritmo constante de una temporada en continuo movimiento. Y las pequeñas decisiones que se toman antes, durante y después del viaje por carretera son realmente importantes. Una ruta mejor planificada, un auto en buen estado y una herramienta de recompensas que se adapte a sus hábitos cotidianos quizá no parezcan algo extraordinario, pero, en conjunto, pueden hacer que un verano ajetreado resulte un poco más gratificante, además de divertido.__________________La oferta por tiempo limitado es válida para las nuevas cuentas abiertas entre el 18 de mayo de 2026 y el 30 de septiembre de 2026.*Las ofertas varían en función de dónde se presente la solicitud, por ejemplo, por Internet o en persona. Para aprovechar esta oferta, envíe su solicitud ahora mismo directamente a través de este anuncio. Revise los detalles de la oferta antes de hacerlo.1Consulte los Términos y condiciones del programa de recompensas para obtener más información, incluidos los detalles sobre la acumulación, el canje, el vencimiento y la pérdida de puntos (sujeto a la legislación aplicable). Válido en las gasolineras bp y Amoco participantes. Pueden aplicarse restricciones.2Para obtener más información sobre las tasas de interés anuales (Annual Percentage Rates, APR), las comisiones y otros costos, consulte el Resumen de las condiciones de crédito.Las tarjetas son emitidas por First National Bank of Omaha (FNBO®), en virtud de una licencia concedida por Visa U.S.A., Inc. Visa y Visa Signature son marcas registradas de Visa International Service Association y se utilizan bajo licencia.© 2026 BP Products North America Inc.
	Federal Trade Commission and five states file motion to accept settlement in right-to-repair lawsuit against Deere & Company A years-long lawsuit alleges that Deere & Company has been withholding vital repair and diagnostic services behind costly software subscriptions, which are sometimes only available at John Deere-certified dealers. The FTC and attorneys general of Arizona, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin filed a joint motion to resolve their lawsuit with a settlement agreement totaling nearly $100 million. WVIK spoke to a farmer and a right-to-repair advocate who caution claimants to read the fine print.
	Snapchat messages preceded deadly shooting by a former police officer: court records Caitlynn J. Girkin, a former Creve Coeur police officer, faces up to 60 years in prison for allegedly shooting her roommate Adolfo Cazares in March.
	Thousands of grills sold at Walmart and Lowe's recalled nationwide Thousands of grills sold online and at Walmart and Lowe's stores nationwide are being recalled, according to a notice posted by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
	Special Weather Statement until FRI 1:45 PM CDT Slow-Moving Thunderstorm with Potential Funnel Clouds in Western Scott and Southeastern Cedar Counties
	Uncertainty creeps in for Oklahoma’s agriculture industry after trade deal misses deadline A combine harvests soybeans in northern Oklahoma. (Photo by Todd Johnson/OSU Agriculture)U.S. agricultural goods make up a piece of the trade pie among the U.S., Mexico and Canada. The U.S.’s neighboring countries are important markets for Oklahoma. Last week, the U.S. declined to renew the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement(USMCA), which replaced the North America Free Trade Agreement in 2020. That doesn’t mean the agreement is canceled. Instead, the countries now have 10 years to hammer out details of how they trade in the future. The agreement is a big deal for Oklahoma crops, said Todd Hubbs, grain marketing specialist at the Oklahoma State University Extension. He said Mexico is the state’s largest wheat, corn, milo and oil seeds export market. “All of these things would impact Oklahoma growers if for some reason down the line USMCA got torn up,” Hubbs said. “It just goes into a yearly review unless there’s a formal withdrawal, and we haven’t heard that yet.” This comes as farmers are facing high input costs, particularly on fuel and fertilizer because of the Iran war. Crop prices are also relatively low. Hubbs said generally, there were large crops around the world last year and the industry has been working through them. Although the USMCA has its critics, farm groups pushed for renewal. Hubbs said people working in the crops sector have not been upset with the trade setup – loads of corn and wheat go to Mexico, and ethanol or corn moves to Canada. “It’s very difficult from a crop markets perspective for me to see a positive in this,” he said. “Now, if they had negotiated a whole new deal, right? That was really positive for us. But how can it get any more positive than it is now?” The countries also trade a lot of beef back and forth across their borders. While the U.S. exports cattle to Mexico and Canada, it imports even more. That’s because the U.S. is larger, said Derrell Peel, livestock marketing OSU extension specialist. He said there won’t be a major price shock immediately – but long-term uncertainty behind the scenes could impact cattle markets. “It’s probably lost opportunities is really the real impact here and that comes from the uncertainty of just not knowing,” Peel said. “Parties on both sides of the border are going to be a little more cautious and a little more conservative in their plans, relative to what they might have done if we had more certainty about the fact that we were going to continue to have this trading relationship.” The cattle industry operates on a long time frame, it’s not instantaneous. Peel said having more certainty among producers is important. The U.S.’s cattle herd remains low. Supplies just got tighter because the southern border is closed to live cattle to help prevent the spread of the New World screw worm, a parasitic pest. “It’s created some additional challenges for the beef industry in the U.S. because we’re in kind of a short volume situation right now,” Peel said. This article was originally published by KOSU. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX. Courtesy of Oklahoma Voice
	West Virginia Department of Human Services announces ‘pause’ of SNAP soda ban A sign explaining restrictions on buying soda and sweetened drinks using Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits is displayed in a grocery store in Bountiful, Utah on Feb. 11, 2026. (Photo by McKenzie Romero/Utah News Dispatch)Two weeks after a federal judge ruled against a ban on West Virginia’s federal food assistance program being used to buy soda, the state Department of Human Services announced Friday a “pause” on the ban. “Retailers should update their point-of-sale systems and related processes as soon as possible to ensure SNAP recipients can purchase eligible items using their Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards without interruption,” the state said in a news release. Last month, U.S. United States District Judge Amy Berman Jackson struck down West Virginia’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program soda ban, along with SNAP food restrictions in four other states. The judge ruled that the section of law the United States Department of Agriculture used to authorize SNAP waivers with the restrictions doesn’t cover projects meant to improve the health of SNAP recipients, and that the agency sidestepped the section that does address the projects, which has strict requirements. The USDA also failed to meet a requirement to post notice of pilot projects likely to have significant impact on the public in the federal register 30 days prior to implementation, the judge wrote. Earlier this month, the USDA told West Virginia SNAP retailers to again allow soda purchases. In its news release Friday, the department said the soda ban is being discontinued while the state and the USDA “evaluate next steps” in response to the court ruling. “DoHS is committed to using taxpayer dollars appropriately and to encouraging West Virginians to choose healthy food options,” the statement said. “It will administer the SNAP program in accordance with federal law and USDA guidance while ensuring eligible West Virginians have access to their benefits.” The department did not immediately respond to a question from West Virginia Watch about what the “next steps” could be. A USDA spokesman told West Virginia Watch Friday, “USDA will not comment on pending litigation,” and referred a reporter to the U.S. Department of Justice, which did not immediately respond Friday. West Virginia Gov. Patrick Morrisey requested the SNAP waiver to restrict soda purchases last spring. It was part of the governor’s “Four Pillars of a Healthy West Virginia and one part of U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda. The USDA formally approved the SNAP waiver in August 2025, and the restrictions took effect Jan. 1. The state’s SNAP ban included regular soda, diet soda and zero-calorie soda, but did not include water, milk, juice or energy drinks. The state referred questions about the ban to the DoHS Office of Constituent Services, 1-877-716-1212 or DoHSPublicComments@wv.gov. Retailers who need technical assistance may contact bfasnapretailer@wv.gov. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Courtesy of West Virginia Watch
	Iowa National Guard deploys 120 soldiers to Washington for America’s 250th anniversary A sendoff ceremony was held in Des Moines for 120 Iowa National Guard soldiers deploying to Washington, D.C., to provide anniversary security.
	Platner’s exit from Maine’s Senate race leaves Democrats in a deep financial hole Platner’s exit from Maine’s Senate race leaves Democrats in a deep financial holeMaine Democrats have plenty of questions about who will replace Senate nominee Graham Platner on the ballot. But one thing is clear — his successor will start from a severe financial disadvantage, OpenSecrets reports.Platner’s withdrawal amid a sexual assault allegation has triggered a scramble over who will replace him and exposed a deeper problem — a financial crater left behind in a pivotal race Democrats view as central to their hopes of regaining control of the chamber.Before his populist campaign unraveled, the 41-year-old combat veteran and oysterman raised $16.3 million through May 20 and held nearly $2.2 million in cash on hand, according to filings his campaign submitted to the Federal Election Commission before the June 9 primary. While that cash total falls well short of the $10 million banked by Republican incumbent Susan Collins — who in 2020 kept her seat even though Democratic challenger Sarah Gideon outraised her by more than $45 million — it nevertheless dwarfs every potential Platner successor.State party officials said they will hold a nominating convention to select a new nominee, with details on the timeline and mechanics to be announced later. Under state law, Platner faced a July 13 deadline to withdraw, and the party has until July 27 to replace him. The scramble has set off a whirlwind of political drama that University of Maine political scientist Mark Brewer says obscures a deeper issue.“Everybody’s focusing on who the replacement’s going to be, but … even beyond that, no one’s paying attention to the money yet,” Brewer told OpenSecrets.Platner, who won the primary despite a series of controversies, faced growing calls to exit the race following a July 6 Politico report that a woman he formerly dated accused him of sexually assaulting her in 2021. Platner has denied the allegation, and did so again in the 11-minute video posted July 8 in which he announced the suspension of his campaign with the intention of withdrawing from the race. With the deadline looming, he said the accusation weighed on him and his campaign.From a financial standpoint, most of Platner’s potential replacements will effectively be starting from scratch.Gov. Janet Mills — whose profile as a quintessential establishment candidate sharply contrasts with the populist appeal Platner previously enjoyed — appears to be in the best financial position of all to challenge Collins, and she hasn’t raised a penny in more than two months. After receiving support from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), she suspended her campaign April 30 amid fundraising concerns — but reminded voters before the primary that she remained on the ballot as controversy around Platner grew. Her roughly $717,000 cash-on-hand total is about one-third of Platner’s — and 13 times smaller than Collins’ bankroll.Mills’ 2022 gubernatorial campaign has no cash left. That’s not the case for several other potential replacements who ran for state office earlier this year. But under state-to-federal fundraising rules, any money they raised in those races is off limits in a federal race.That means former state Senate President Troy Jackson cannot use the $140,000 in cash on hand he reported earlier this year when he unsuccessfully ran to replace Mills as governor. Jackson, a former Platner ally, filed paperwork with the FEC July 7 to launch an exploratory committee for a Senate run, then launched his campaign within minutes of Platner’s announcement.Similarly, Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows may not touch the $419,000 in her gubernatorial campaign’s bank account. Bellows — the state’s Democratic nominee for Senate in 2014, when she lost to Collins — ended that campaign with just under $18,000 in cash on hand. Her Senate campaign remains active, according to the FEC, but as of July 9 she had not announced her plans.And Nirav Shah, the former director of the state’s Center for Disease Control & Prevention who finished second in the primary for governor, said anyone seeking the Senate nomination should agree to at least one televised debate and multiple town halls and committed to do precisely that “if I run.” But he can’t use the $275,000 his gubernatorial campaign banked. As of July 9, Shah had no presence on the FEC website.“Whoever it is going to be, they’re going to be significantly behind Susan Collins, and almost certainly, they’re going to be at a significant disadvantage to Collins throughout the entirety of the race,” Brewer said.There also isn’t an easy way to make up that much financial ground just three months before Election Day, Brewer said, noting that those time constraints mean any fundraising efforts will have to lean heavily on established relationships with past donors and party-aligned groups.“There’s really no game plan for this, because it’s kind of unprecedented to a certain degree,” Brewer said.One option that’s probably off the table: asking Platner to send over the cash his campaign has in the bank.His exit leaves him with several options for his war chest. OpenSecrets reached out to the campaign asking about its plans for those funds but did not immediately receive a response.Under FEC rules, candidates who accept pre-primary contributions for the general election but do not participate in it have 60 days to return or redesignate any contributions they received earmarked for the general. FEC records show that while Platner received roughly $6.4 million in itemized individual contributions, only about $587,000 of that total was designated for the general election. However, most of Platner’s fundraising came in the form of unitemized individual contributions — those small-dollar donations under $200 — and FEC records do not publicly break those down by election.He may pay the campaign’s bills, donate the remaining funds to charity, save them for a future bid for office or contribute them to a state or local candidate in accordance with state law. But he isn’t allowed to simply hand all of it over to his successor: Federal law caps candidate-to-candidate transfers at $2,000.Yet a week-old Supreme Court decision provides a road map to a possible workaround: In National Republican Senatorial Committee v. FEC, the court struck down limits on how much political parties can spend in coordination with candidates. Because the law allows candidates — even those who have withdrawn – to transfer unlimited amounts to any national, state or local party committee, it is theoretically possible that Platner could send what’s left of his cash to a Democratic Party entity, which could then coordinate a spending strategy with the chosen candidate — whoever it winds up being.Then again, with the state party accusing Platner’s team of trying to put “their thumb on the scale” in the process of picking his replacement, it is fair to wonder whether such a transfer — and any potential influence that may accompany it — would be welcomed or accepted. OpenSecrets reached out to party officials for comment but did not immediately receive a response.“If he can get the money to the DNC, then they can certainly spend it in coordination with whoever the candidate is,” Brewer said. “There’s no doubt about that, right? The Supreme Court’s made that part clear.”This story was produced by OpenSecrets and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
	Special Weather Statement until FRI 6:00 PM CDT Funnel Clouds Possible This Afternoon and Evening
	Monmouth officials warn of deadly generator mistake delaying storm power restoration Monmouth officials are warning residents against a dangerous generator mistake called backfeeding that can electrocute workers and cause fires.
	Quad-Cities Hy-Vees celebrate Birdies for Charity donations to local nonprofits Ten Quad-Cities nonprofits are receiving $1,000 each from the donation.
	6 rules of car show etiquette every attendee should know 6 rules of car show etiquette every attendee should knowCar shows are one of the highlights of the summer season and the warm weather that comes with it, allowing enthusiasts to showcase their labor of love to fellow gearheads. While auto shows should be enjoyed by attendees of all ages, demographics, and walks of life, there are certain unspoken rules of etiquette every guest should follow—whether you’re popping in as a viewer or setting up a camp chair behind your immaculately-restored ride. These guidelines are essential for both participants and observers, ensuring these events remain safe, respectful, and enjoyable for all. Whether you’re a veteran of the car show scene or looking to attend your first event, follow along through RealTruck.com’s list of car show etiquette rules that every attendee should know.What Is a Car Show?While most people are familiar with the purpose of a car show, new hobbyists may not understand the value these events hold for the automotive community.Car shows are gatherings of enthusiasts and their vehicles—typically rare, vintage, or heavily-modified examples—put on display to showcase the love, care, and labor that gearheads put into their rides. From bone-stock, unmodified survivors to ground-up restomod projects and heavily modified off-road rigs, most car shows have a little bit of something to appease everyone. While participating vehicles are generally selected by the event staff, the show itself is typically open to the public, allowing guests of all ages to gander at the four-wheeled works of art on display.Car Show vs. Car MeetCar meets and car shows are similar in theory, but often end in wildly different results. Car shows are heavily organized, featuring staff, aftermarket manufacturer booths, and often award ceremonies, where the highest honors are given to select cars.Alternatively, car meets are far less organized and, often, illegal. Depending on the location and level of organization, car meets can range from a gathering of gearheads in a fast-food parking lot to well-planned cars-and-coffee meetups. That said, these events often get a negative reputation due to irresponsible attendees who rip burnouts, rev engines, and cause a commotion.Car Show Etiquette: 6 Rules of ThumbA car show is like a fine art exhibit. Most of the vehicles on display aren’t just modes of transportation, but are prized possessions that’ve required countless hours of blood, sweat, and tears to reach their current forms. Taking that fact into account, here is a list of six rules of thumb when attending a car show.Rule 1: Look, Don’t TouchWould you touch a priceless work of art hanging in a museum? Smear your fingers across a freshly-decorated cake? Rub the detail off a competition-level sand sculpture? If you answered yes to any of those questions, you might want to stay away from any and all car shows.The number one rule for any event, such as a car show, convention, or exhibit, is to use your eyes, not your hands. There’s no reason you should be touching another enthusiast’s vehicle without prior explicit permission. Many enthusiasts spend years perfecting their vehicle’s finish and details, and doing anything that may mar that finish—like standing on bumpers, rubbing your hands across freshly-corrected paintwork, or sitting on upholstery—is highly frowned upon.Rule 2: Keep Negative Opinions to YourselfHave you ever heard the adage, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”? There’s a lot of truth behind this statement, especially when it comes to judging another’s hard work. As many seasoned enthusiasts like to say, “You don’t have to like it, so long as they do.”Everyone has different tastes and preferences, and whether or not you agree with their decision shouldn’t dictate your appreciation for the caliber of work that went into their build. Additionally, you never know whether the vehicle's builder is standing right beside you.Rather than make a degrading comment, find something you like about the build and keep it moving.Rule 3: Supervise KiddosMany enthusiasts recall attending car shows as kids and cherish those memories for a lifetime. However, equally as important as instilling passion at a young age is teaching responsibility and respect for another’s belongings—like the six-figure restoration project your kid is using as a jungle gym.If you bring your kids to a car show, be sure to keep an eye on them, particularly around vehicles. It only takes one tossed rock or toy, a bump into a fender, or a spilled soda to damage a show-car finish. And regardless of how cute you may think they look sitting in the driver’s seat or on the trunk of a classic car, it doesn't make it appropriate, especially without asking.Rule 4: Keep Photos Quick and RespectfulSome enthusiasts can be a bit sensitive about picture-taking, so before you snap a photo—especially if the builder is sitting in earshot—ask their permission to pull out your cellphone for a couple of snapshots.Once approval is given, it’s best to snap the photo quickly and move on. The last thing you’ll want to do is obstruct others’ views of the show. Another pro tip: Don’t lean on one car to get the perfect snapshot of another.Rule 5: Be Mindful of Belts, Watches, and JewelrySo you just picked up some fresh jewelry, a crispy watch, or a custom belt buckle you’re dying to show off at the local car show—for the sake of everyone in attendance, leave them at home. Brushing against paintwork with jewelry, belts, or watches is one of the easiest ways to damage a pristine paint job, leading to thousands of dollars in scratch repairs.If you must sport your pinky ring and Rolex, consider holding your hands behind your back when approaching a vehicle, and be mindful of your distances.Rule 6: Eat, Smoke, and Drink Only in Designated AreasTypically, venues have designated areas for eating, smoking, and drinking—away from the cars. If so, adhere to the rules and keep the greasy snacks, sugary sodas, and sloppy sauces away from paintwork and interiors.If you take a beverage or snack into the main viewing area, keep a greater distance from the cars and be mindful of spills.FAQsQ: What should you wear to a car show?A: Since car shows typically take place in the summer, wear something cool and comfortable, like shorts and a T-shirt. Make sure to bring comfortable shoes, a hat, sunglasses, and plenty of sunscreen to protect yourself from UV exposure.Q: How should you display your car at a car show?A: Typically, organizers will have specific guidelines for where to park and how. If staff direct you to a specific spot, follow their instructions. Also, parking is often first-come, first-served, so don’t try to save spots for your buddies who are running late.Q: How do you judge a car show?A: Judging a car show requires a keen eye for detail. Typically, judges evaluate a build on various criteria, including paintwork, interior, engine bay, wheels and tires, and undercarriage. You’ll need to be willing to pick over a build with a fine-toothed comb and hone in on every minute flaw.Q: What is the biggest car show in the world?A: The biggest car show in the world is typically considered to be Auto China in Beijing, spanning over 380,000 square meters and featuring nearly 1,500 vehicles.Q: What is the biggest car show in the US?A: The New York International Auto Show typically holds the title for the most attended show in the US, drawing over one million guests. However, the largest car show by vehicle count is generally the Woodward Dream Cruise in Detroit, which draws over 40,000 cars.This story was produced by RealTruck.com and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
	Walk to End Alzheimer’s Oct. 24 in Muscatine The Alzheimer’s Association Walk to End Alzheimer’s – Muscatine Area takes place on Saturday, October 24 at Discovery Park's Environmental Learning Center, 3300 Cedar Street in Muscatine. Participants honor those affected by Alzheimer’s on Walk Day with the Promise Garden ceremony. Walkers will carry flowers of various colors during the ceremony and each color represents [...]
	Eligible Illinois seniors to get help buying farmers' market produce Farmers market season is underway across Illinois, and low-income seniors may be able to get help buying fresh, local produce. According to a release from the State of Illinois, the Illinois Department on Aging and Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) are administering the Senior Farmers' Market Nutrition Program to give income-eligible older adults benefits [...]
	Three Kansas GOP candidates for governor share harmony, hostility in party-sponsored debate Kansas Republican Party gubernatorial candidates, from left, Philip Sarnecki, Scott Schwab and Charlotte O'Hara, take part Thursday night in a televised debate. The majority of the seven GOP candidates on the Aug. 4 ballot either chose not to participate or weren't eligible because they didn't pay a $10,000 fee to the state GOP. (Composite from Kansas Reflector photos)TOPEKA — The three Kansas Republican gubernatorial candidates eligible and in attendance at a televised debate Thursday agreed the state’s public schools had plenty of funding to operate successfully but were mired in inefficiencies that harmed student learning. Philip Sarnecki of Overland Park, who declared his lack of experience in elective office an advantage, said local, state and federal government spent a combined $18,800 per public school student in Kansas for 2024-2025. Tragically, he said, barely half that money was deployed where it was needed — in classrooms — while support for administrative bloat continued. “We got the worst outcomes that we have ever gotten in the state of Kansas on our testing scores,” Sarnecki said. “This is not a money issue. It’s an allocation of resource issue on where the money is going.” Secretary of State Scott Schwab and former Johnson County Commissioner Charlotte O’Hara, GOP gubernatorial candidates from Overland Park taking part in the debate, also faulted spending priorities in K-12 schools. Schwab said public school districts had plenty of cash, in part, because the Kansas Supreme Court sided with a handful of school districts that prevailed in a series of school-finance lawsuits against the state. He dreaded a potential new suit by districts confounded by the Legislature’s refusal to fully fund special education instruction in Kansas. “It is so frustrating that the funding formula is based on who can afford to sue the state and win,” Schwab said. O’Hara, who earned a college degree in education and homeschooled her children, said the public education system in Kansas was “absolutely broken.” She said the state was “failing our children” because student testing showed 70% of Kansas’ fourth-graders weren’t proficient readers. “We need to get computers out of the classroom,” she said. “Our kids are addicted to these computers.” She offered radical ideas of defunding the $300 million Kansas Department of Education and refusing all federal money for K-12 education in Kansas. In O’Hara’s view, the result would be an “incredible economic development boost to have the school districts actually competing with each other.” This was the fourth and final campaign gubernatorial debate sanctioned by the Kansas Republican Party before the Aug. 4 primary. For a candidate to take part in the series of debates, each had to pay $10,000 to the state party. Five candidates did, including O’Hara, Schwab and Sarnecki. Former Gov. Jeff Colyer paid the fee and took part in an early GOP-endorsed debate in Wichita, but he decided not to formally file as a candidate by June 1. Senate President Ty Masterson of Andover, who received the endorsement of President Donald Trump, declined to take part in this forum hosted by television stations WIBW in Topeka and KWCH in Wichita. Sarnecki had predicted Masterson would skip the debate and denounced the decision as “insulting to Kansas voters.” Three Republican candidates for governor — Insurance Commissioner Vicki Schmidt of Topeka, Stacy Rogers of Wichita and Nick Reinecker of Inman —declined to pay the $10,000 and weren’t eligible to share their views with the audience. Hans Torgerson, spokesman for the Kansas Democratic Party, said the GOP primary turned into a “parade of no-shows. Kansans deserve candidates who tell the truth and actually show up when it counts.” Candidates seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination for governor include Overland Park Mayor Curt Skoog, state Sen. Ethan Corson of Fairway and state Sen. Cindy Holscher of Overland Park. Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly, who endorsed Corson, cannot seek a third term in office. Data center growth Addressing the escalation of data center projects in Kansas, O’Hara said the motivation was a 2025 law adopted by the Kansas Legislature to provide developers a 20-year sales and use tax exemption on construction, remodeling, equipment and repair services for data centers. Qualifying projects had to make a capital investment of $250 million within five years of operation and were required to create at least 20 jobs within two years. “Can you imagine?” O’Hara said. “Wouldn’t you like to have a 20-year sales tax exemption? That absolutely has to be repealed. If there’s not feed in the trough, the hogs are not going to come. And that is the answer to keeping the data centers out of Kansas.” Proposals have surfaced for $32 billion in data center projects in Johnson, Wyandotte and Miami counties, the Kansas City Business Journal has reported. Despite the subsidy offered by Kansas, there has been public criticism because data center facilities draw huge public subsidies, consume vast quantities of water and electricity and create few permanent jobs. Schwab, who served in the Kansas House before elected secretary of state in back-to-back elections, said there were national security implications if the United States allowed China to prevail in the artificial intelligence war associated with the data center expansion. He also said city and county governments should be allowed to decide whether data centers were built. “We don’t want a monolith of Topeka telling counties whether they can or cannot have a data center because some communities actually want them,” he said. Sarnecki, who sounded an alarm about proliferation of tax breaks for big business, said data centers should be allowed to proceed if the project didn’t have an undue burden on the water supply, didn’t increase local utility rates, avoided use of eminent domain and was endorsed in a local vote. Marijuana, abortion politics Schwab, O’Hara and Sarnecki shared opposition to legalizing medicinal or recreational sale of marijuana in Kansas. Polling by the Docking Institute of Public Affairs at Fort Hays State University indicates 70% of Kansans support medicinal sales of marijuana, while 59% endorse recreational sales of marijuana. Schwab, who is married to a pharmacist, said the decision should be based on scientific assessment by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration rather than political considerations. He worried marijuana wouldn’t be dispensed in a consistent manner. In Colorado, for example, consumers had the option of products with THC levels ranging from 15% to 30%, and some concentrates on the market exceeding 50%. “With the potency coming out of cannabis, there is no consistency,” Schwab said. “I’ve never met anybody who consistently used marijuana and suddenly got smarter.” Sarnecki said consumers of modern incarnations of pot were experiencing hallucinations, anxiety and schizophrenia. “If we open this Pandora’s Box, we are also going to increase crime in our state,” Sarnecki said. Meanwhile, O’Hara said in her opening and closing statements that a top issue in Kansas was the future of abortion rights. She said it was alarming that 19,000 abortions were performed in Kansas during 2024. The numbers surged in Kansas as abortion restrictions were tightened in nearby states. Despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to reverse Roe v. Wade, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled the state’s Bill of Rights created a fundamental right for women to end a pregnancy. “Life is the most important issue in the state of Kansas,” O’Hara said. “This is utterly morally bankrupt. That we cannot honor life from conception to natural death is just unbelievable.” Courtesy of Kansas Reflector
	Pharmaceutical marketplaces: How online platforms are changing drug purchasing Pharmaceutical marketplaces: How online platforms are changing drug purchasingPharmacies have spent the better part of a decade absorbing pressure that other industries felt only briefly during the COVID-19 pandemic, and the people inside each pharmacy responsible for ordering medications and tracking inventory have felt it most. Their daily work of finding the right drug at the right cost has gotten harder as prices move week to week and reimbursement from pharmacy benefit managers keeps tightening.A January 2025 National Community Pharmacists Association survey found 48.6% of independent pharmacists said the financial health of their business declined significantly during 2024, with 30.3% considering closing their doors in 2025. And the supply side has been every bit as unpredictable, with the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists closing out 2025 with 216 active drug shortages still on its tracker.Here, PrimeRx examines how these pressures have piled up across the daily work of keeping shelves stocked, and how digital pharmaceutical marketplaces have entered as one answer to a buying process that has outgrown what teams handle by hand.Why Traditional Drug Purchasing Has Become More ChallengingThe buying side of an independent pharmacy used to run close to autopilot, with most stores leaning on a single primary wholesaler for the bulk of what passed through the dispensing counter. The setup worked while the market underneath moved at a predictable pace and rebate structures rewarded loyalty to one supplier, but the setup no longer holds.Independent pharmacies now juggle a primary wholesaler alongside two or three secondary suppliers, where each secondary picks up lower-cost generics or hard-to-find medications that the main account cannot deliver on time.The juggling runs through a string of separate supplier portals, each one with its own login and its own way of describing the same drug. Comparing prices across them is manual work that adds up over a workday, and inventory shown on one portal often disappears before a buyer finishes opening the next.The friction lives inside an industry built on generic dispensing, with the 2025 NCPA Digest reporting that 84% of prescriptions filled at independent pharmacies are generics, the same category where prices move fastest, and margins are thinnest.Backorders pile on top of that workload, sending staff hunting across multiple portals while patients wait at the counter for refills that should have taken minutes. And a poor buying decision now cuts deeper than it once did, with one overpaid order or one missed rebate threshold hitting the bottom line directly.What Pharmaceutical Marketplaces Actually AreUnlike the traditional setup, where a pharmacy buyer signs onto one wholesaler’s catalog and orders within that single supply lane, a digital pharmaceutical marketplace brings catalogs from dozens of vetted suppliers into one dashboard.A buyer enters a drug name, and the platform returns competing prices and live inventory from every supplier on the network, with quantities showing exactly what sits on a warehouse shelf at that moment. The model runs closer to a flight comparison site than a wholesaler portal, with suppliers shown side by side rather than buried inside separate logins.Group purchasing organizations, often confused with marketplaces, operate differently, since a GPO is a negotiating club that locks in discount contracts with manufacturers on behalf of members, while the marketplace is the software where the actual buying takes place.Why Pricing Transparency Is Driving AdoptionPrice transparency has done more to drive marketplace adoption than any other single factor, since seeing supplier prices lined up on one screen exposes the price differences independent pharmacies absorbed for years without seeing them clearly.A buyer who watches a fast-moving generic drug come in at three different prices across three vendors now has a real number to act on rather than an estimate. And speed protects those savings, since discounted lots on shorter-dated stock can sell through quickly once other buyers see the same price.The pharmacy that sees the lower price first has a better chance of securing it before the option disappears. And that same visibility carries over to shortages, where a buyer can turn to whichever supplier still has inventory rather than waiting on a primary distributor to restock.Jennie Jarrett of the American Medical Association has called the lack of supply transparency a force that “limits the ability to act proactively,” and independent pharmacies, working with little room to absorb a bad buy, have the most to gain when that visibility finally arrives.How E-Commerce Principles Are Influencing Healthcare Supply ChainsThe buying habits independent pharmacies are adopting trace back to the consumer e-commerce playbook, where buyers expect to see options laid out clearly rather than locked inside a single catalog. Forbes has noted that pharmaceutical e-commerce can support more efficient and transparent prescription drug buying, and that expectation is now showing up in pharmacy purchasing.Faster product visibility takes a process that used to feel manual and makes it feel closer to ordinary online ordering, with one screen replacing the hunt across separate vendor sites. But that speed still has to fit the rules of prescription drug distribution, where transactions have to support Drug Supply Chain Security Act tracing requirements.Independent pharmacies still rely on a primary wholesaler for much of their daily volume, with the marketplace working as a complement when the main account cannot fulfill the order. And that role gives buyers another place to look for backordered medication or better generic pricing, without asking them to replace the supplier relationships they already use.Challenges Pharmacies Still Have to ManageEven with the convenience marketplaces bring, the daily work of running a pharmacy still leaves practical responsibility with the buyer.Verified suppliers remain the starting point, since a low price means little if the seller is not properly licensed, and pharmacies have to confirm that every trading partner meets FDA guidance tied to the federal Drug Supply Chain Security Act.Compliance work runs beside the purchase itself, with track-and-trace documentation attached to every prescription drug moving through the supply chain, and pharmacies expected to keep those records on file for six years.But inventory accuracy only holds up if the data feeding the screen is current, since a stale stock number sends a buyer chasing product already sold to someone else. Staff training creates its own version of that delay, since the platform only saves time after the team knows how to read the screen and place the order without slowing the counter down.The Future of Online Drug Purchasing for PharmaciesPharmacy buyers are getting used to seeing price and availability on the same screen instead of chasing each piece across separate calls and tabs. And having both in one view makes supplier comparison feel less scattered, since one dashboard now holds what used to take an afternoon of phone calls to gather.The next stretch of that work will likely come from AI-assisted buying recommendations that flag a better-priced generic drug before the order is finished. And predictive inventory tools could push the buying decision even closer to the pharmacy’s own counter by matching orders to what the store actually dispenses.Tools like those turn clearer information into faster decisions, and faster decisions protect both the margin and the people behind the counter who are already stretched thin. The best version of marketplace buying gives those teams a clearer answer before the order is placed, leaving less of the day spent searching and more of it spent keeping the pharmacy moving.This story was produced by PrimeRx and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
	North Dakota AI committee releases agenda for first meeting next week Senate Majority Leader David Hogue, R-Minot, announces a new interim Artificial Intelligence and Data Center Committee at the Capitol on June 25, 2026. Also pictured are, from left, Rep. Todd Porter, R-Mandan, Rep. Mike Nathe, R-Bismarck, Rep. Jonathan Warrey, R-Casselton, former North Dakota University System Chancellor Mark Haggerott, and Sen. Mike Wobbema, R-Valley City. (Photo by Michael Achterling/North Dakota Monitor)The new committee tasked with studying artificial intelligence and data centers ahead of North Dakota’s 2027 legislative session has released the agenda for its first meeting. The inaugural meeting of the committee is scheduled for 9 a.m. Wednesday in Bismarck. The committee will hear presentations on how other states and the federal government are regulating AI, how AI differs from traditional computing and the existing use of AI in North Dakota state government agencies. The day will end with a presentation on the relationship between the data center industry and the energy sector. Tony Clark, a former public service commissioner in North Dakota and the current executive director of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, will brief lawmakers on this topic. Clark is also a member of the committee. North Dakota lawmakers zero in on AI, data centers Links to the presentations typically are added to the online agenda in the 24 hours before the start of a legislative committee meeting. Clark and former North Dakota University System Chancellor Mark Hagerott, who has expertise in AI, will join 10 lawmakers on the committee. It is chaired by Rep. Jonathan Warrey, a Republican from Casselton. The committee was formed at the end of June in order to equip legislators with a foundation of knowledge on AI and data centers before the Legislature considers policy changes when it convenes in January. Warrey has previously said the committee will meet three to five times before the session and that some of the meetings may be field trips held in other parts of the state. The committee scheduled 45 minutes for comments from the public at 11:15 a.m. A livestream will be available through the legislative website. North Dakota Monitor reporter Jacob Orledge can be reached at jorledge@northdakotamonitor.com. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Courtesy of North Dakota Monitor
	Traffic alert: Country star Luke Bryan at Vibrant in downtown Moline Friday night Drivers should expect traffic delays on River Drive in Moline this Friday night.
	Vehicle strikes GECU building, Rock Island Police in Rock Island responded to GECU, 2300 4th Avenue, for a report of a vehicle striking a building and leaving the scene. A pillar in the credit union's drive-through was heavily damaged, with chunks of brick scattered around the drive-through. A large chunk of brick went into a parking lot next to the credit [...]
	QC Arts unveils new mural at EveryChild Quad City Arts unveiled its latest mural this morning in Rock Island. The new mural at EveryChild, 420 23rd Street, was created by apprentices from Quad City Arts’ Metro Arts Apprenticeship Program, under the direction of lead artist Sarah Robb. The mural features paper cranes flowing from a starburst surrounding a parent and child, reflecting [...]
	New Mexico behavioral health committee signs off on $8M plan for northern region The Behavioral Health Reform and Investment Act Executive Committee met in Santa Fe on July 9, 2026, to approve the second of 13 regional plans to rebuild New Mexico's behavioral healthcare infrastructure. (Joshua Bowling/Source NM)The committee tasked with overseeing the reconstruction of New Mexico’s behavioral health care infrastructure on Thursday unanimously approved an $8 million plan for the second of 13 regional proposals aimed at doing so.SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX. The Behavioral Health Reform and Investment Act Executive Committee met in Santa Fe to vote on the plan for Region 1, which includes Santa Fe, Rio Arriba and Los Alamos counties, the Jicarilla Apache Nation and a half-dozen pueblos. Region 1’s plan has five priorities: regional medical detox, recovery and crisis stabilization expansion; medication-assisted treatment expansion; workforce development; regional navigation and on-demand transportation services; and prevention efforts across the age spectrum. Detox efforts, in particular, have been a priority for local leaders in recent years. Nearly a year ago, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham declared an emergency in Española, which is included in Region 1, and mobilized the National Guard to the area due to its outsized rate of fentanyl deaths. Overall, the plan comes with a funding request of more than $8 million, Nick Boukas, the executive committee chair and director of the state Health Care Authority’s Behavioral Health Services Division, said during Thursday’s meeting. Boukas praised local leaders for compiling a “very comprehensive plan” and, in particular, said he believes its age-based prevention efforts will prove fruitful by intervening in New Mexicans’ lives early. The executive committee had previously approved the regional plan for Region 2, which includes Bernalillo County and Albuquerque. Lujan Grisham signed the guiding legislation for this effort, which carved the state into 13 behavioral health regions mirroring the state’s 13 judicial districts, in 2025. The law was aimed at repairing the state’s behavioral health system after former Republican Gov. Susana Martinez accused several providers of fraud and froze their Medicaid payments, which led to an exodus of providers. In the nearly 18 months since Lujan Grisham signed the legislation, the process of implementing it has not always been smooth. At a recent interim legislative committee hearing, an Otero County official working to finalize one of the regional plans told lawmakers that he had often received “nebulous” goals from the many stakeholders in his community. And at a recent interim Legislative Finance Committee hearing, Administrative Office of the Courts Deputy Director Sarah Jacobs told lawmakers that the lack of a uniform governance structure across the 13 regions was leading to some friction and “varying politics at the local level.” A report presented at that hearing found that some residents still struggle to schedule behavioral health appointments despite the state investing nearly $844 million on the effort in recent years. Thursday’s meeting, however, gave officials overseeing the effort cause to be optimistic. Boukas told Source NM that, in addition to approving two regional plans this year, his committee is scheduled to review another nine at its August meeting, although the agenda has not yet been finalized. That would leave just two of the 13 outstanding. “I think it’s meaningful progress,” he said, adding that he hopes to have all 13 plans approved by the end of the year. “When you have new legislation, you want to move as quickly as possible, but you also want to be very mindful of how you’re doing it.” The process has felt long at times, in large part because each of the 13 plans will have significantly different details tailored to the areas’ respective needs, Boukas said. “They’re not just saying, ‘Give us money and we’ll figure it out later.’ They’re saying, ‘Here’s what we’re doing to do with this money,’” he said. “It might just take a little bit of time.” Courtesy of Source New Mexico
	Premiums rise, but overall costs could fall for NC State Health Plan members under a new system NC Treasurer Brad Briner and State Health Plan Administrator Tom Friedman talk about insurance plan finances on Aug. 15, 2025 (Photo: Lynn Bonner/NC Newsline)State health plan members will pay less for their care beginning next year if they use UNC Hospitals, Novant Health, and Iredell Health System under a new plan adopted to help lower costs for state employees and the State Health Plan. State Health Plan trustees on Friday agreed to contracts with three health systems designated as “preferred providers.” These are hospital systems that have agreed to lower prices for the Health Plan with the expectation that they will treat more of its members. The new strategy sorts providers into three groups. “Preferred” providers would offer patients the lowest out-of-pocket costs. “Access” providers would stay at current out-of-pocket costs, and “non-preferred” providers would cost plan members the most to use. Atrium Health, the state’s largest healthcare system, is a “non-preferred” provider network, so members who go there for care will pay some of the highest out-of-pocket costs. Some Duke/LifePoint hospitals and Granville Medical Center are also “non-preferred” providers where care will cost members more. The picture for the Triangle remains unfinished. Health Plan administrators are continuing to negotiate with Duke Health and WakeMed about becoming “access” providers, locations where out-of-pocket costs will remain unchanged. Tom Friedman, executive director of the State Health Plan, said the system has to change. “The status quo is bankrupting the State Health Plan and not getting members healthier,” he said. Big changes ahead for State Health Plan as trustees work to lower costs The Health Plan is using preferred provider contracts to help close its own deficit and reduce costs for members. The State Health Plan insures about 750,000 employees, dependents, and retirees. At the same time, the trustees adopted insurance premium increases of 5%. That would mean a monthly increase in premiums anywhere from $1.76 per month to $8.04 per month for individual coverage for members who are still working. Monthly premium increases for family coverage will range from $28.76 per month to $42.04 per month. Members’ premiums are based on salary bands the Health Plan began using this year. The size of the premium increases are based on members’ salaries and whether they’re enrolled in the standard or the plus plan. Ardis Watkins, executive director of the State Employees Association of North Carolina, said workers shouldn’t have to pay higher premiums when their raises haven’t kept up with inflation. State employees received no raises last year and most of them received a 3% raise this year. “We don’t want premium increases,” she said. “We think that’s absolutely wrong-headed.” She challenged the trustees to speak out against the Atrium Health merger with WakeMed, which is projected to increase healthcare costs. State Health Plan members will be able to save money even with premiums increasing if they use preferred providers because their out-of-pocket costs will be lower, Friedman said. “The premiums are going up with inflation,” he said. “There’s an opportunity for your costs to go down.” For example, the yearly deductible for an individual enrolled in the standard plan using preferred providers will be cut in half, dropping from $3,000 to $1,500. For the same person using a non-preferred provider, the yearly deductible will increase to $5,000. Some healthcare services, including trips to the emergency room, transplant services, cancer treatments, maternity care, and neonatal intensive care, will not cost more for members who use non-preferred hospitals. State Treasurer Brad Briner said the health plan is using its bargaining power as the largest commercial payer in the state to lower costs. Using preferred providers, members will pay 2012 prices for their health care, Briner said. “This is monumental. It’s thousands of dollars for the average member of the State Health Plan if they participate in the preferred provider program. Our members know that those thousands of dollars are much more important than the $2 to $4 premium increases.” Choosing preferred providers will likely be easier for some plan members than others. For example, in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg area, 54% of members use Atrium, a non-preferred provider. Taking advantage of the cost cuts will require some of them to seek treatment at different hospitals. “We have to communicate to a lot of different people in a lot of different places,” Friedman said. Courtesy of NC Newsline
	Gen Z’s political gender divide is now showing up in schools Gen Z’s political gender divide is now showing up in schoolsOn Nov. 5, 2024, men and women around the U.S. headed to the polls to decide a race hyped as a battle of the sexes.By evening’s end, Kamala Harris’ quest to punch through the “highest, hardest glass ceiling” and become America’s first female president lay in shambles. Donald Trump, the Republican Party’s undisputed alpha male since 2015, would return to the White House. And voters, especially the youngest ones, were themselves divided starkly on lines of gender.As in each of the three previous federal elections, women’s support for the Democratic ticket considerably exceeded men’s. But the gulf separating Americans between the ages of 18 and 29 was historically wide: According to an analysis by Catalist, a data and analytics company that contracts with progressive organizations, Harris won the backing of 63% of women and just 46% of men.The 17-point gap cleaving through Generation Z was not only bigger than that of every other age group; it was comfortably the largest Catalist had measured across four presidential cycles. Surveys of Trump’s approval conducted by NBC News corroborated the same trend the following year, showing disparities between the men and women of Gen Z that eclipsed smaller splits among Millennials, Gen Xers, and Baby Boomers. Catalist Jennifer Benz, a political scientist who leads the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, said findings like that were consistent across surveys she administered prior to the Trump-Harris contest, as well as exit polling conducted at the end of the campaign. Men and women have generally favored different political parties for roughly a half-century, but it was unusual for newly minted voters to lead the way, she added.“What’s been notable about this younger generation is that the gender divide is already shaping up now, as opposed to when they age into the more typical partisan patterns we’ve seen over recent years,” Benz said.While Gen Z’s gender gap is a relatively new phenomenon, its features can already be seen in K-12 schools. They spring from the rancorous gender politics of the 2020s, which have left girls repelled by Trump’s policies and boys disaffected by Democrats’ seeming indifference to their concerns. Spencer Platt // Getty Images As the youngest “Zoomers” enter high school this year, they appear to be accelerating toward the political — and often social — estrangement already evident among their older brothers and sisters. Their stories, based on interviews with The 74 and supported by the insights of educators and public opinion researchers, offer a rare snapshot of that polarization as it takes shape. In America’s college dorms and high school homerooms, young adults are seeing the world differently, occupying separate online spaces and even demonstrating an aversion to dating.Sarah Campbell, a high school teacher in Brunswick, Maine, said she’d noticed a pronounced change in her social studies classroom. Earlier in her career, students broadly approached discussions of politics and public policy with open minds. But over the past 10 years, a growing number have entered those conversations “already aligned with certain ideas.” Peter Zay/Anadolu Agency // Getty Images “I’ve had girls talk about things like safety, rights or future opportunities in very real, personal ways, and in the same conversation, boys are questioning whether those issues are still relevant,” Campbell wrote in an email. “They’re not just disagreeing, they’re experiencing these issues from completely different realities.”‘Feminism rooted in me’Those distinct worldviews may have origins stretching long before adolescence. Celeste Lay, a professor at Tulane University who studies how young people acquire political beliefs, noted that their beginnings overlap with children’s early attempts to fashion adult identities for themselves.“At the same time young people are going through political socialization, they’re also going through gender socialization,” she said. “So as they’re developing their politics, they’re learning what it means to be a boy or a girl and what society says those concepts mean.”In a 2022 paper, Lay and several co-authors used survey data from more than 1,500 children to determine when they start to examine the world through the lens of partisanship. They discovered that kids as young as 6 are already tottering down the path to the ballot box, and nearly half the study’s participants affiliated with a party by the age of 12.A high school senior named Lily was once such a novice partisan. Raised in South Lyon, Michigan, along the outskirts of Metro Detroit, she was encouraged by liberal-minded parents to take an interest in U.S. history and current events. When she was 8, the Democrats nominated the first woman to lead a major party’s presidential ticket. After that, her course was set.“This sense of feminism rooted in me because my parents were letting me educate myself,” Lily recalled. “When Hillary Clinton was up against Trump, I was like, ‘There’s never been a female president! I have to support her.’” Justin Sullivan // Getty Images A decade after that formative electoral heartbreak, she spoke to The 74 while taking part in the National Student Leadership Council, a for-profit summer program offering learning experiences in a range of fields. Alongside a few dozen others with similarly arcane interests in bicameralism and campaign finance, Lily — whose last name has been withheld to allow her and her peers to speak freely about political matters — spent nine days last July at the Georgetown University campus. In between sessions, role-playing as U.S. congressmen, the group made field trips to walk the halls of the Capitol in person.Lily and her fellow government enthusiasts might reasonably be called some of the most civically engaged high schoolers in the nation. But countless girls her age followed a similar trajectory to both political consciousness and the political left.In the years spanning the Clinton and Biden administrations, the youngest female voters steadily warmed to the label of “liberal” (historically the least-popular ideological category). By 2023, Gallup research shows, the proportion of women aged 18-29 who described themselves as liberal had leapt from 28% to 40%, while liberal men of the same age stalled at 25% over the same period.The evolution was not merely rhetorical. Teenage and 20-something women adopted more progressive stances on the environment, abortion, gun rights, marijuana access, the Israel-Palestine conflict and an array of other cultural issues. Today, the women of Gen Z are commonly regarded as the single most liberal voter demographic.Marie Sarnacki, an English and history instructor in South Lyon, contrasted recent waves of female students with those in her own graduating class of 2009. While stipulating that she spoke only for herself, Sarnacki added that girls in 2026 had far fewer reservations about voicing feminist beliefs on some of the most pressing questions of the day.“I don’t know if they would give themselves the label, but it’s safe to say they’re more open about their concern for reproductive rights or supporting classmates who are gay,” she said.The elephant in the roomSarnacki believes that the ideological shift she has witnessed throughout 11 years in the classroom can be substantially explained by a corresponding development unfolding on the right.Trump’s presidencies, each achieved through the defeat of historic female candidacies, have repeatedly pushed debates around sexism and women’s rights to the center of the national agenda, she argued. From the Women’s March to the #MeToo-inflected Brett Kavanaugh hearings, the stunning demise of Roe v. Wade, and the president’s demeaning comments about various female antagonists, the Trump era may have hastened a leftward drift that was already in progress. Mario Tama // Getty Images Daniel Cox, director of the conservative American Enterprise Institute (AEI)’s Survey Center on American Life, agreed with Sarnacki. While women have lately gained ground against or even pulled ahead of men in some professional and educational spheres, he continued, many of the most “momentous cultural events” of the last 10 years led them to the conclusion that their rights were imperiled.“They were doing really well in higher education and high schools in terms of AP courses and graduation rates, and tons of statistics suggest that young women were comparatively doing better than men,” Cox said. “But when they looked around politics and the culture, they were upset about a lot of things and became politically active.”Public opinion research provides clear signs that their dissatisfaction remains high during the second Trump presidency — and is equally vivid among those too young to participate in elections. An AP-NORC survey from last summer revealed that, within a representative panel of children aged 13-17, girls were vastly more negative than boys in their assessments of Trump (-38 from females versus -7 favorability from male respondents) and the GOP (-16 from girls and +2 from boys), while also much warmer toward the Democratic Party (+13 from girls and -5 from boys). Andrew Lichtenstein // Corbis via Getty Images Trump’s macho stylings and media omnipresence play a crucial role in expanding the rift. Lily remarked that he has become an inescapable figure, whether in school or on social media. If anything, the president’s ubiquity was actually heightened by his reelection defeat in 2020, which lengthened his time in the spotlight.“He’s so loud, with all the scandalous things he’s done,” she said. “You can avoid the news, but you can’t avoid him.”Another participant in the NSLC’s Georgetown session was Cate, a junior enrolled at a small private school in Louisville, Kentucky. Like Lily, she said she was motivated by societal injustice to become involved in politics. Her father is gay, and his experiences were part of what spurred her to activism.But whether engaged in private discussions with friends or public outreach through her school’s Human Rights Club, Cate felt frustrated by her male classmates’ lack of interest in the politics of Kentucky or the wider world.She expressed particular disappointment with boys in her school who, she suspected, held views similar to hers but would not voice them out of fear of losing face with friends who “idolize” Trump’s brash manner. The gush of short-form entertainment glorifying the president on platforms like TikTok helped foster a hero worship that was difficult to puncture.It was understandable that young men would seek to emulate a powerful personality, Cate said, specifically citing the 2024 assassination attempt on Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania. The moment after that attack, when the then-candidate rose to his feet and exhorted his audience to “fight,” has become a centerpiece of video edits aimed at teenage boys, she said. Yet his influence heightened a dynamic in which “empathy is seen by this generation of men as weak, feminine.”“It gets into all this misogyny,” she lamented. “But women, who don’t care about that and can be empathetic loudly, are more able to share their political opinions.”‘Where am I in this equation?’Girls were not alone in observing the stridency of gender conflict. Nor were self-described progressives the only ones to complain about its occasionally personal nature.Nathan, a junior from the prosperous suburban enclave of Westfield, New Jersey, struck a note of bemusement when describing an oft-abused target of the online right: left-leaning white women, a category encompassing many of the students he’d met that week at Georgetown.“There’s a stereotype that liberal white women are self-hating,” he said. “And supposedly it’s not feminine, and it’s not attractive, and it’s not manly if you support it.”Voluble and direct, Nathan described himself as a “right-winger,” one of the few participating in the program. But he professed no admiration for political harangues mingled with sexism, and he objected to the treatment suffered by some of his gay classmates at home, who he said were frequently mocked in private.Instead, along with several other male students, he spent much of an hour-long conversation with The 74 lampooning the fixation of social authorities — including his school’s leaders — with identity politics. A multitude of perceived sins drew their attention, including the proliferation of various “heritage months” across the school calendar and the alleged maligning of the Founding Fathers in history curricula. The most annoying of these were dismissed as “virtue signaling.” The 74, Source: apnorc.org Many politically engaged young men share Nathan’s perspective on the newfound prominence of equity-focused language and policies.This is, in fact, a key distinction between male and female Zoomers. According to an AP-NORC poll released in 2022, Gen Z men and their Millennial counterparts were only about half as likely as women to “closely follow” news coverage of social issues. And while the rising salience of such causes, including LGBT rights and abortion, has clearly played a role in politically activating many American women, they do not appear to have galvanized men to support Democratic candidates.Catalist’s overview of the election results shows that both men and women became more likely to vote Republican between 2020 and 2024, but the gender gap across all ages was principally driven by men abandoning the Democratic Party.Monty, a junior from deep-blue San Diego, said that students attending his private high school were “extremely left,” and typically surrounded by friends and family members of the same mindset. A strong impulse to activism also pervaded the halls, he added, attracting a number of his peers to Pride marches and No Kings rallies over the past year.As Monty described it, the somewhat airless ideology of his school mirrored that of the larger progressive movement: Just as he’d periodically felt isolated during a long stretch of school assemblies commemorating the historic contributions of women and minority groups, a groundswell of “stranded people” was successfully targeted by the Trump campaign with identity-focused appeals.“You have all these other groups represented, and then you have a generation of these young white males saying, ‘Okay, where am I in this equation? Because I’m not Black, I’m not a woman, I’m not LGBTQ, and I don’t know where I’m going to fit into this,’” Monty said.Rachel Janfaza is an independent researcher who writes the newsletter The Up and Up, which aims to surface the attitudes of Gen Z for a national audience by convening focus groups and listening sessions around the United States. In an interview, she said Democrats had “fumbled” in 2024 with a critical group of potential male supporters.“I don’t think the Republican Party necessarily set out to attract young men from the start, but the Democratic Party being so coded as being friendly to women made it hard for young men to see themselves in that party,” Janfaza said. “A lot of the men I spoke to who voted for Trump in 2024 felt like they were still not being messaged to by the Democratic Party.”‘This system doesn’t benefit us’Part of the difficulty in communicating to Gen Z is the fact that, beneath the level of partisan affiliation, perceptions of society and gender often differ significantly.Nowhere is this clearer than in the respective views of men and women toward feminism, a cause that has continually gained public support since the 1960s. Women have always been more keen than men to accept the label of “feminist,” but a 2023 poll from AEI showed that over half of male Millennials said the term fit them personally; that figure was actually higher than the proportion of women from preceding generations who agreed with the description. The 74, Source: American Adolescence Survey, 2023 Yet far fewer of the youngest male respondents agreed. Zoomer men were only as likely as those in Gen X — a group more than twice their age — to call themselves feminists. Between that striking reversion and the leap in self-described feminism among younger women, Gen Z saw the widest gender gap on the issue of any age cohort.In the same survey, 23% of Gen Z men said they had experienced gender-based discrimination, a nearly fourfold increase over the oldest men included in the sample. Women are also increasingly likely to express this belief, with half of all Gen Z females saying they’d been discriminated against (compared with just 38% of Boomer women).Some fear that such sharp departures on fundamental questions will foment mutual resentment. Nathan, the New Jersey high schooler, said that boys his age were becoming embittered by a lack of recognition from the political left. In particular, he said that white males could be alienated from the Democratic Party in the same way that African Americans tossed aside their Republican allegiances in the 20th century.“I think a similar situation is happening with young white men,” Nathan said. “They’re like, ‘This system, this establishment, doesn’t benefit us in any way. We have no stake in maintaining it.â€˜”Meanwhile, dramatic developments in the political realm can leave residue in the social one. The interpersonal relations of men and women are under greater strain than at any time in the past few decades, epitomized by a plummeting number of teenagers exploring romantic relationships. While almost 90% of high school seniors reported that they’d gone out on at least one date in 1987, according to a recent poll by the Institute for Family Studies, only about half said the same in 2024.Competing partisanship seems to be at least partially responsible for the decline. In a poll conducted last year by NPR and PBS News, 60% of Zoomers agreed that it was “important to date or marry someone who shared your political views”; by contrast, 62% of respondents aged 60 or older said that politics didn’t carry much weight in matters of the heart. A broader report published last year on the American dating scene found that fully three-quarters of single women with a college degree said they would think twice before dating a Trump supporter.Campbell, the Maine social studies teacher, said she had seen both sides of the dichotomy in her high school class. Girls are increasingly hesitant to pair off, or even socialize, with male classmates. Boys jokingly attack one another as “simps” — a slang term for men desperate for the attention of women — and have become “much more likely to push back” in class discussions of gender differences.“There is almost a defensiveness in their attitude, as if I am trying to tell them they aren’t important and girls are,” Campbell wrote. “It is genuinely a shift that is concerning to me.”Lily, who now attends high school in State College, Pennsylvania, didn’t address her dating life. But she opined that the apparently right-wing outlook expressed by some boys may simply reflect their wish to fit in — an instinct with which she sympathized.“The same way we find ourselves in social situations where we’re pressured to join some clique, that’s present in our political positions too,” she said. “And guys experience that too. I just think they’re better at hiding it.”What comes next?Neither students, teachers, nor researchers could guess whether the gender gap would reverse with time or continue to grow.In his sixth year in office, young women haven’t relented in their loathing for Donald Trump. In fact, it might be said that American women and the Democratic Party have become increasingly synonymous, both measurably more feminist, more liberal, and more credentialed than they were a generation ago. According to Gallup data, 1 in 3 Democrats is now a college-educated woman.On the other hand, it is far from clear whether a sufficiently large number of today’s high school boys will reverse course and embrace the Democratic candidate in 2028. A recently released edition of the semiannual Yale Youth Poll showed that 68% of voters aged 18-22 disapprove of Trump’s performance in office, a four-point increase since the previous fall; still, men in that age range actually became less favorable toward the Democrats during that same five-month span.If national Republicans hope that disenchantment brings them an army of converts, they may find themselves disappointed. AEI’s Cox said the evidence from most polling and election results shows only that young men have become hostile toward Democrats — not that they have become doctrinaire conservatives.“I’m not even sure they like the Republicans that much, honestly,” Cox said. “It’s not so much that they’re attracted to the whole GOP agenda — it’s that, between the two parties, they’re looking at which one seems more receptive to the concerns they have.”Asher, visiting NLSC’s summer program from Pennsylvania’s solid-blue Delaware County, said he would have voted for the Democratic ticket in 2024 had he been old enough. The measured junior particularly came to admire Tim Walz after he was selected as Harris’ vice-presidential pick.Yet he critiqued the way in which the party sought to woo men as “pandering,” including an affinity group launched to rally “White Dudes for Harris,” and Walz’s misuse of football lingo. (The Minnesota governor later disclosed that he saw his ability to “code talk to white guys” as one of his major contributions to the campaign.)Nathan recalled an episode that saw Walz join Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in a gaming session streamed on the popular service Twitch. “They had the most artificial attempts to win over men,” he marveled. “Tim Walz and AOC playing video games, and you could tell they weren’t actually playing. No one related to that!”Asher — happy to number himself among the relatively scarce white dudes for Harris, albeit one without a vote — said he hadn’t personally felt excluded from political debates with left-leaning classmates, but acknowledged that such conversations sometimes hinged on participants’ personal “credibility” to speak on specific issues.“I have seen that happen with people: ‘You don’t have female genitals, so you don’t get to have an opinion about abortion,’” he said.The Up and Up’s Janfaza said that similar complaints are a hallmark of her listening sessions with college undergraduates. Many feel as though their sentiments, goals, and desires are so diffuse that they are “talking past each other.”“When I ask young men and women, ‘Do you see a gender divide in your community?’ they are so quick to tell me that they feel men and women are on different playing fields,” she said. “This isn’t fun for anyone.”This piece was copublished with The 19th, a nonprofit newsroom covering gender, politics, policy, and power.This story was produced by The 74 and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
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	New 'Little House' remake will inspire you to rewatch the '70s TV series Netflix's new Little House series features the same characters and setting as the original, but its reliance on hand-held cameras, in extreme close-up, calls too much attention to itself.
	Among the millions of Americans affected after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, 100,000 Tennesseans lost SNAP food aid Among the millions of Americans affected after the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, 100,000 Tennesseans lost SNAP food aidAs she neared her 60th birthday, the stable pieces of Cassandra Doyle’s life began to fall away: first, she was laid off from her job. Then, her newly purchased used car died in the middle of the freeway.She depleted her savings and retirement to pay rent, while unsuccessfully trying to find a job with limited transportation. Ultimately, Doyle said, she decided to make a fresh start in Nashville, arriving in December from her hometown of Minneapolis-St. Paul.Weeks after she moved to Tennessee, Doyle was diagnosed with ovarian cancer.Living in a woman’s shelter while undergoing treatment at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Doyle, in January, qualified for a $300 Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or SNAP, to supplement the food provided at the shelter with the healthy and fresh foods her healthcare providers urged her to consume. She lost that benefit in April.“The notice said I was denied because I am able-bodied,” Doyle told Tennessee Lookout. Notice came from the Department of Human Services, which administers the federal program in Tennessee.Doyle joins about 100,000 people in Tennessee who have lost the federal food aid since July 2025, according to state enrollment data. In May of this year, 597,890 Tennesseans received some level of SNAP benefits, down from 696,000 people in July 2025, the data shows. One in 7 individuals who relied on the benefit last year no longer have it.The drop in enrollment coincides with a new law from the Trump administration that overhauled many of the program's rules. Beginning last July, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act cut $186 billion from the SNAP program, an 80-year-old federal program that provides individuals and families with low income a monthly cash benefit, loaded onto debit cards, to spend at the grocery store.The law also added and expanded the requirement to hold down a job or attend school as a condition of receiving the benefit: previously, the rules made exceptions for individuals over the age of 55, veterans, children aging out of foster care and individuals experiencing homelessness. Now, these individuals must work or attend training or school to get the food assistance.Doyle falls into two of the new categories: she is unhoused and over 55. She has applied for federal disability benefits, but these can take months, or even years, to obtain. In the meantime, she said that even if she felt physically well enough to work, her frequent cancer treatments and doctor’s appointments make it nearly impossible to find a job. John Partipilo // Tennessee Lookout “I’m just so close to saying, ‘forget it,’ and figuring out a way to get any job,” she said. A job would allow her to rent an apartment and move on with her life. “But the reason I haven’t done it is simply, with my medical stuff going on, who’s to say I wouldn’t end up homeless again in a few months?”“It’s frustrating, because I’m trying to do the right thing all the way through. That’s what it feels like, ‘You are doing what you are supposed to do, and you get penalized for it,” she said.A spokesperson for the Tennessee Department of Human Services said last week the agency does not track how many individuals lost benefits due to new work or other federal requirements imposed by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Individuals may roll on and off for a variety of reasons, including changes in their economic circumstances, job loss and job gains.“We do not have data available at this time specifically tracking the information you have requested,” the spokesperson said. “As previously mentioned, there are many factors that affect an individual’s SNAP eligibility.”Advocates with the Tennessee Justice Center, a Nashville-based nonprofit legal advocacy organization, said the steep drop in enrollment since the legislation’s adoption makes the correlation clear.“Tennesseans did not suddenly stop needing help putting food on the table,” said Signe Anderson, senior director of nutrition advocacy at the Tennessee Justice Center.“What changed was the law. New barriers and paperwork requirements have made it harder for working families, older adults, veterans, and children to access the nutrition assistance that they are qualified to receive.”Even as enrollment drops, the Department of Human Services has taken alternative steps to expand eligibility for certain individuals, the department spokesperson said.The state last month adopted a new category, referred to as “broad-based categorical eligibility,” that raises the income and asset limits for individuals and families to qualify for SNAP benefits.Previously, families’ gross income limit was 130% of the federal poverty guidelines. Under the newly adopted rules, the gross income limit was raised to 200% of the federal poverty guidelines. Under the former guidelines, families could not qualify if they had more than $3,000 in savings. The new Tennessee guidelines eliminate this asset test.The federal government has long permitted states to adopt the broad-based categorical eligibility rules. Tennessee was the 47th state to adopt them, according to the Tennessee Justice Center.This story was produced by Tennessee Lookout and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
	Crime Stoppers Solved: Man wanted by Rock Island police on charges of sexual abuse and assault arrested Christian Beard is wanted by the Rock Island County Sheriff’s Office for failure to appear for armed violence.
	Visit Quad Cities announces new board chair, board members Visit Quad Cities has announced its FY2026-2027 board of directors. Neil Dahlstrom will serve as board chair, succeeding Jennifer Sautter, a news release says. Dahlstrom has served on the board since 2022. He currently leads Heritage Marketing for John Deere and is Deere’s official archivist, serving the company for more than 25 years. “I am [...]
	A major housing bill is set to become law at midnight — even though Trump says he won't sign President Trump says he is refusing to sign the bill without Congress first passing his sweeping voter ID bill.
	Milan Harvest Festival returns this Labor Day weekend Enjoy four days of family fun at the 2026 Milan Harvest Festival in Camden Park, 1247 32nd Ave E, this Labor Day Weekend. This year's festival offers more excitement with a larger layout, more attractions and activities for all ages. The festival grounds will have carnival rides, food vendors, live entertainment, a fireworks display, a [...]

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