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

Friday, June 12th, 2026
	Keeping an eye on the New World screwworm from the Quad Cities Confirmed cases of New World screwworm are far away from the Quad Cities, but farmers are keeping it on their radars.
	Inside Iowa Politics: How Zach Lahn feels like his lt. governor choice will help Iowans Zach Lahn, the Iowa Republican candidate for governor, named state Rep. Derek Wulf as his running mate.
	QC actress realizes lifelong dream working as a Disney princess Savannah Bay Strandin is living her dream, performing as Cinderella in the newest Disney Cruise Line ship, the Singapore-based Adventure.
	Pope Leo XIV's flight home from Spain was grounded so the king came to his aid Leo's Iberia charter, due to take him back to Rome after a weeklong visit to Spain, was grounded by a technical problem Friday, prompting Spain's king to offer his private jet instead.
	Quad Cities organization marking 6 years of weekly rallies for racial equality Caryn Unsicker and Glenda Guster with Progressive Action for the Common Good began rallying after George Floyd's death. Organizers have met every Saturday since.
	Trump says U.S. military strike killed leader of Tren de Aragua gang President Trump said Friday that a U.S. strike has killed Hector Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, whom he called "the infamous leader" of the Tren de Aragua gang in Venezuela.
	Rock Island Arsenal Bridge to temporarily close for cleaning The bridge will be closed from 6:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. on June 19.
	1 injured after crash in Dubuque County 1 person was injured after a single-vehicle crash in Dubuque County.
	Virtual Ventures prepares for grand reopening at NorthPark Mall Virtual Ventures is preparing for its grand reopening at NorthPark Mall in Davenport, looking to change how people think of virtual reality through its theme park.
	Gene Shalit, longtime 'Today' show movie critic, dies at 100 Known for his puffy hair, oversized handlebar mustache and a love for puns, Gene Shalit joined Today in 1970 and became arts editor in 1973. He was a middle-of-the-road critic, known for his wit and intelligence.
	Trump's name is poised to be removed from the Kennedy Center A judge rejected a request to pause a court-ordered deadline of Friday to remove references to President Trump from the building. The institution appealed, an effort that was also rebuffed Friday evening.
	Lavender farm treehouses featured in Iowa City Parade of Homes A lavender farm in eastern Iowa is drawing national attention after its treehouses were recognized as one of Airbnb’s most wish-listed destinations in the state.
	City-wide food drive takes place in Galesburg Volunteers collected nonperishable food items and monetary donations to support FISH of Galesburg, a local food pantry that has served the community for decades.
	New Davenport police chief says recruitment, finding efficiencies among top priorities New Davenport Police Chief Greg Behning spoke to media Friday afternoon after being announced as
	Former student of Quad Cities martial arts legend raises $10K for dojo Evin Ersan has completed his “100 Days of Morrow” challenge, honoring the late John Morrow. Along the way, he raised money for Morrow’s Academy of Martial Arts dojo.
	Justice Dept. approves Paramount's acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery The decision paves the way for a proposed $111 billion merger uniting two rival studio giants — Paramount, owner of CBS, and the much larger Warner, which includes HBO and CNN.
	Lahn, Sand pick running mates in race to be Iowa governor GOP candidate Zach Lahn chose state Rep. Derek Wulf and Democrat Rob Sand picked Dave Muhlbauer for the upcoming November governor's race.
	Electric pole down after crash involving city truck Police say everyone involved will be alright after a Davenport crash. News 8 is working to learn more.
	Multiple weekend events to take place in the Quad Cities Fifth annual Village Hops, Quad Cities Pet Expo, free yoga at the Figge and world wide Knit in Public Day events will be held over the weekend.
	Cat litter facility to employ 96 in Muscatine Kent Worldwide opened a new 174,000-square-foot facility in Muscatine to manufacture corn-based cat litter, adding 96 jobs to the local economy.
	Moline announces special July 2 celebration for America’s 250th anniversary Moline announced a special July 2 celebration at Bass Street Landing for America’s 250th birthday, featuring music, a picnic, and fireworks .
	Rock Island Arsenal bridge to close for cleaning The Rock Island Arsenal Directorate of Public Works will close the Government Bridge on Friday, June 19.
	Honor fallen Clinton firefighter at Eric Hosette Memorial Ride Enjoy a great ride while you help first responders' families and honor a fallen Clinton firefighter. Jason Sharp and Korey Zigler joined Our Quad Cities News with details on the Eric Hosette Memorial Ride. For more information, click here.
	New Illinois program will expand access by libraries to digital databases for research, education The Secretary of State’s office announced a program to give all Illinoisans access to a large number of online informational and educational databases through their library.
	4 Your Money \| Worth The Risk? Stocks continue to sustain their tremendous run. John Nelson, Financial Planner at NelsonCorp Wealth Management, provides insight on whether the risk is still worth the reward or if investors should consider a strategic reallocation away from stocks.
	What would it take to stop women from bleeding to death after childbirth? A newly published series of reports calls attention to a dire situation facing millions of women after childbirth — and the solutions that can prevent death from postpartum hemorrhage.
	The big summer trip is getting harder to pull off. What families are doing instead. The big summer trip is getting harder to pull off. What families are doing instead.Ask most Americans about their favorite summer memory, and water shows up somewhere — a lake at dusk, a boat rocking gently, quiet mornings with nowhere else to be. For a lot of them, that feeling has been easier to remember than recreate.As travel costs climb and traditional vacations feel increasingly complicated, the appeal of something closer to home has grown. Each year, 85 million Americans find it on the water, according to the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA).Part of boating’s appeal is rooted in nostalgia and connection. Many people are drawn to the kinds of unplugged experiences tied to childhood — time outdoors, shared adventures and uninterrupted moments together. According to a Discover Boating survey, 85% of current boat owners say their fondest childhood memories involved being on the water, with nearly half recalling those experiences before age 13.The costs look different when stacked against a traditional vacation. According to NMMA, a week at an all-inclusive resort for a family of four runs around $5,000 to $8,000. Boat rentals run around $75 per hour, entry-level boat financing costs a few hundred dollars a month and boat club memberships offer access to multiple boats for a monthly fee, typically $150 to $375 after a one-time initiation fee. Many families are discovering that boating can offer multiple smaller vacations throughout the summer at a comparable cost.Those lower-commitment options are more than just a budgeting tool — they are a first step into the lifestyle. According to the survey, 45% of prospective boat buyers expressed interest in renting or chartering before committing to a purchase, while interest in boat clubs and fractional ownership also remained high. The survey further found that 49% plan to own within two years, and 46% are focused on boats priced under $50,000.For Americans deciding how to spend their time this summer, that flexibility may be part of boating’s growing appeal. It offers something many vacations promise but do not always deliver: the ability to truly disconnect and be present — not just once a year, but repeatedly throughout the season.The pull toward the water may be deeper than nostalgia. Research shows there’s a connection between water and well-being — the sight and sound of water can help people feel calmer, lower stress and support overall wellness. The concept of “Blue Mind” describes the mild meditative state associated with being near, in, on or under water. For families looking to unplug, boating offers a way to step away from screens, slow down and recharge.MethodologyThe quantitative survey was fielded Aug. 22, 2025 through Sept. 12, 2025. It included 500 boat owners and 500 prospective owners. Boat owners are defined as those who own (or used to own) a boat and consider their primary vessel a motorized/power boat or sailboat. Prospective owners are defined as 50% or more likely to purchase a motorized/power boat or sailboat in the future and not a current or lapsed owner. Note: All insights collected reflect opinions of surveyed boat owners and prospective owners only.This story was produced by Discover Boating and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
	Enjoy bluegrass on the grass at QC Botanical Center Enjoy live music surrounded by the beauty of the Quad City Botanical Center with the Culture Bright Summer Series. The botanical center is located at 2525 4th Avenue in Rock Island. The series starts with Bluegrass on the Grass. Railroad Earth and Yonder Mountain String Band will turn the gardens into one of the region's [...]
	To read more this summer, stop waiting for the perfect moment So you want to ignite a reading habit this summer. How do you get back into the groove? We talk to reading enthusiasts for their best tricks — like allowing yourself to read wherever, whenever.
	East Moline Library hosting Touch A Truck event The East Moline Public Library is hosting its annual Touch-a-Truck event on Saturday, June 20 from 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. at Runner’s Park, 742 15th Avenue. The event kicks off with Storytime in the Park at 10 a.m. Afterward, families can explore all the vehicles in the parking lot of Runner’s Park, including vehicles [...]
	Celebrate July 4 in Muscatine Muscatine is getting ready to celebrate America’s 250th birthday with a full day of hometown traditions, family activities, and a spectacular fireworks finale on Saturday, July 4. A news release from the city says the annual Fourth of July Parade, organized by the Greater Muscatine Chamber of Commerce & Industry (GMCCI), will start promptly at 4 p.m. in Downtown Muscatine. This year’s [...]
	Rhythm City Casino celebrating 10 year anniversary this weekend The casino is celebrating its anniversary Friday and Saturday with giveaways each day.
	Zach Lahn names Derek Wulf as running mate Republican gubernatorial nominee Zach Lahn has announced that he will nominate State Representative Derek Wulf as his running mate in the race for Iowa Governor. Wulf is a fourth-generation Iowa farmer, rancher, businessman and chair of the Iowa House Agriculture Committee. He also served as a co-chair of the Farmers for Trump Coalition in Iowa. [...]
	Man arrested by ICE at Iowa City market sentenced to federal fraud charge A man arrested by ICE agents at the Bread Garden Market in Iowa City last year was sentenced on a federal fraud charge.
	The AI trend that's making financial advisors better at their jobs The AI trend that's making financial advisors better at their jobsHave you noticed a difference in your conversations with your financial advisor lately? New research points to a major uptick in the usage of AI tools for everything from notetaking to office admin. Though adoption levels vary from firm to firm, both advisors and clients are reporting a better client experience.According to the Ezra Group’s annual report on AI Notetakers for Financial Advisors, the tools have gone from novelty to near-ubiquitous in the last three years. There are more products than ever on the market, though some products claim a higher market share. Though overall adoption is high (70% of RIAs report using AI for notetaking), only 10% of AI-using advisors report its full integration into their overall business strategy. The category is maturing quickly beyond note-taking, with leading platforms handling tasks like CRM updates, compliance logging, workflow execution, and even surfacing intelligent client insights, Jump reports.Now advisors say they have more free time — and more data — thanks to these tools.Danielle Darling, founder and financial advisor at Darling Wealth Management, explains that these tools have “made the biggest difference by reducing the amount of time spent on administrative work and increasing the amount of time available for meaningful client conversations.”The data backs this up: A case study published in Investments and Wealth Review showed advisors at AI-adopting firms report saving one to three hours per day, and 80% reinvest that time in client-facing work.Darling says that she’s had approximately 450 meetings supported by her AI operating system. “If AI saves even 45 minutes per meeting,” she explains, “that equates to over 337 hours saved, or more than eight full 40-hour work weeks."Only a couple of years ago, advisors actually ranked last in AI adoption across 11 surveyed professions. Now over two-thirds use it daily, proving that these tools are earning their place by delivering visible, felt time savings."When technology is working the way it should, the advisor-client relationship becomes more efficient, proactive, and personal at the same time,” Darling says. Data from the 2026 Financial Advisor Insights Report shows that when advisors are more present in their conversations, the result is a better overall customer experience. Scoring advisors on emotional intelligence, measured by talk-time discipline, open-ended questions, expressions of empathy and emotional check-ins, the report shows that advisors with high EQ were shown to increase client sentiment by nearly 20% from the start to the end of meetings.With hours back and the proliferation of new AI capabilities, the advisor workday is changing. Beyond notetaking, AI is now handling the operational layer — the prep, the notes, the follow-up — and experts believe the fastest growing teams will pair agentic AI workflows with specialist human teams. Vaughn Bowman, head of wealth management at MassMutual, put it plainly in a recent InvestmentNews interview: "AI excels at narrow, well-defined tasks." A direct result, he argues, is that the complex parts, like reading a room, synthesizing competing priorities, and making judgment calls under uncertainty, still belong to the advisor. The tools handle the operational layer. The human handles everything that can't be automated."The best technology should not replace human connection,” Darling explains. “It should remove operational friction behind the scenes so advisors can spend more time doing the human side of the job well."Advisors are using their AI tools to go deeper than ever before, offloading the operational layer so they have more time and mental space for the conversations that actually move clients. Better prep means more present advisors. Cleaner follow-up means fewer dropped details. And when the administrative noise clears, what's left is a better relationship.This story was produced by Jump and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
	Muscatine Center for Social Action announces new executive director Naomi DeWinter, president of the Muscatine Center for Social Action Board of Directors, said the nonprofit is in good hands with Jason Dornbush at the helm.
	China arrests a U.S. scholar with a history of Myanmar activism, suspected of spying China's government said Min Zin, who heads a think tank focused on Myanmar, was detained on suspicion of engaging in "espionage and endangering Chinese national security."
	The future of compensation management: Trends in technology that will shape 2026 The future of compensation management: Trends in technology that will shape 2026Compensation has gone from being a support function to a top priority for boardrooms, with boards, investors, and executives now using it to directly drive a company’s resilience and competitive advantage. If done correctly, it helps keep employees engaged, promotes fairness in pay, and establishes employee trust, which is demonstrated in employee engagement and turnover rates. However, if done poorly, it creates liability for employers, employees, candidates, and regulators. Organizations that are doing it correctly in 2026 are those that have replaced manual, calendar-based processes with more intelligent, continuous, and defensible processes.Technological innovations that once seemed experimental (e.g., AI-supported decision-making, predictive analytics, dynamic benchmarking, and automated regulatory compliance) are becoming required. Simultaneously, new drivers (i.e., agentic AI, location-agnostic compensation models, and skills-based rewards) are increasing the rate of change. Organizations must leverage technology to create data-driven, transparent, and fair compensation strategies. However, as important as creating compensation strategies that utilize technology, organizations must also keep human judgment, interpretation, empathy, and context at the forefront of their compensation strategies.Leaders separate themselves from followers based upon their ability to integrate analytical intelligence with human judgment and to develop the infrastructure necessary to integrate both at scale. Below, Decusoft explains 10 technological trends defining the future of compensation and how leading human resource and compensation departments are integrating these trends into their organizations today. Decusoft AI-Powered Decision Support and Predictive Compensation AnalyticsArtificial Intelligence is transforming compensation planning from a backward-looking process to a forward-looking strategic process. Leading organizations are using workforce data (e.g., historical pay information, performance reviews, length of service, industry benchmarks, demographic characteristics) to identify compensation insights that were previously unavailable. According to Deloitte's 2025 Global Human Capital Trends report, approximately 70% of workers would welcome AI-driven analysis of their data if it resulted in more individualized assistance and rewards.Changes:AI is identifying potential pay equity issues, outliers, patterns, and risks prior to issues occurring.Predictive analytics is estimating the potential impact of various merit increase budgets and incentive programs.Compensation professionals are asking, "What should we do next?" rather than "What did we do last year?"AI eliminates the need for guesswork and pattern blindness and enables humans to make more informed data-driven decisions.How Does This Translate Into Practice?HR leaders can focus on making informed decisions and interpreting AI insights.Managers can act with confidence with data-backed recommendations.Compensation's role will evolve towards coaching, modeling, strategy, and governance, with AI performing the heavy lifting of identifying patterns.Unifying Compensation Data PlatformsMost organizations have their compensation data stored in multiple locations, including human capital management or human resources information systems, payroll systems, stock option/equity management systems, spreadsheets, and benchmarking reports. The fragmentation of compensation data results in inaccuracies, inconsistencies, and delays. By unifying compensation management, all of your compensation data can reside in a single reliable location.Changes:"Single source of truth" compensation hubs replace manual data integration processes.Real-time synchronization eliminates errors and reduces processing time.Finance, HR, and Compensation teams can now access shared, aligned data sets.How does this translate into practice?Accurate real-time data allows for faster approval processes and eliminates last-minute corrections.Compensation teams spend more time analyzing compensation data and less time cleaning up dirty compensation data.Unifying compensation data provides the basis for forecasting and modeling.Continuous and Agile Compensation PlanningThe annual merit review process is no longer adequate for today's workforce. Economic instability, fluctuating labor markets, competitive talent markets, and increased employee movement require a more flexible and data-driven approach to compensation planning. WorldatWork has reported that many organizations have implemented off-cycle pay adjustments and more frequent performance review cycles in response to volatile talent markets and readily available real-time market data tools.Changes:Many organizations are implementing quarterly or semi-annual performance reviews.Off-cycle adjustments (e.g., market corrections, counter-offers, promotions) require structure and accountability.Agile planning frameworks allow organizations to respond quickly without sacrificing governance.How does this translate into practice?Compensation processes must accommodate more frequent decision-making cycles.Agile workflows must include automated logging, approvals, and controls.If your compensation platform was developed for annual cycles only, it will likely be difficult to use for managing the governance requirements associated with more frequent changes.Pay Equity, Transparency, and Ethical AnalyticsAccording to Mercer's 2025 Global Pay Transparency Survey, pay transparency has progressed far beyond a mere compliance requirement and is now viewed as a critical strategic business requirement. Organizations are obligated to explain how pay decisions are made in a defensible manner to internal employees as well as external candidates and regulators. Publishing salary ranges is standard practice. However, regulators and employees are increasingly expecting evidence of data governance, standardized decision-making processes, and continuous monitoring that identifies and corrects inequities prior to them becoming liabilities.Changes:Pay equity audits are being conducted on a more frequent basis (e.g., quarterly or on a rotating basis) than in the past.Regulators and boards expect more detailed reporting.AI must now be monitored for bias and explainability.How does this translate into practice?Compensation teams require tools that will enable them to identify gaps in pay before they become problems.Communicating compensation decisions becomes a competitive advantage.Ethical AI frameworks provide fairness and transparency.Manager and Employee Self-Service ExperienceEmployees and managers expect clear explanations, accessibility, and transparency regarding all aspects of their compensation experience. Workforces desire intuitive tools that allow them to easily review their pay information and understand why compensation decisions were made without requiring Human Resources as an intermediary. Similarly, managers require guided workflows, contextual analytics, real-time visibility into budgets, and guidance to make confident, informed, equitable decisions.Changes:Employees desire visibility into their pay range, progression within their pay range, total compensation package, and growth opportunities.Managers require simulation tools that will enable them to model changes before submitting requests for adjustments.Self-service experience reduces Human Resourcesâ administrative burden and enhances trust.How does this translate into practice?Transparent workflows promote organizational culture, employee engagement, trust, and equity goals.Tools must be intuitive and accessible.Human Resources moves from answering compensation questions to providing advice regarding compensation strategy. Advanced Scenario Modeling and SimulationAs Mercer has noted, organizations must transition from reactive approaches to compensation toward proactive strategic investments in key employee populations. That pressure is evident in questions that executives are now asking: “What would happen if we increased merit budgets by 1%?” and “What if we focused on specific hotspots for retaining employees?”Changes:Compensation teams can model cost, equity, goals, and retention implications instantly.Organizations can project budget impacts across multiple cycles or economic environments.Finance and human resources can collaborate more effectively by utilizing shared simulations.How does this translate into practice?Executives receive the data required to approve decisions with confidence, versus requiring additional rounds of analysis.Compensation teams replace spreadsheet gymnastics with platform-driven strategy.Modeling becomes a routine activity for compensation teams rather than solely occurring during budget planning or when a crisis creates a need for additional information.Enhanced Security, Compliance, and AuditabilityDue to the sensitive nature of compensation data, security is a necessity. Modern compensation platforms must include secure encryption, role-based access control (RBAC), administrative controls, and continuous monitoring to protect compensation data.Changes:HR and payroll data have become valuable targets; breaches in this area have both financial and reputational consequences.Regulations regarding multicountry privacy (e.g., the General Data Protection Regulation, California Consumer Privacy Act, or California Privacy Rights Act) require stringent governance.Internal compliance/legal teams increasingly require full audit trails for every compensation action, not as a recommended best practice but as a baseline requirement.How does this translate into practice?Compensation platforms must exceed baseline security standards.Audit trails reduce liability for HR teams and minimize compliance risk.Continuous monitoring provides assurance for leadership.Skills- and Competency-Based PayFor years, job titles were used as the primary input for determining employee compensation. That logic is beginning to crumble. Compensation teams are asking themselves, "What can this person actually do?" rather than "What is this person's job?" Additionally, compensation teams are asking themselves, "What value does this person provide to the organization based upon what he/she can do?" According to EY's Future of Pay report, nearly half of organizations are already transitioning to skills-based compensation models; WTW's 2025 Skills Survey indicated that those organizations that successfully integrate skills into compensation are more likely to report higher employee productivity/retention/financial performance.Changes:Demonstrated skills/capabilities are increasingly determining employee compensation; job titles have become secondary inputs rather than primary ones.Skills taxonomies are being incorporated into compensation models.Dynamic compensation models reward growth/reskilling/performance/future potential. How does this translate into practice?Compensation structures must incorporate skills data from performance/learning systems.Teams need adaptable compensation plans, which will allow for supporting the changing needs and responsibilities of team members.WTW's 2025 Skills Survey showed that those organizations that were able to incorporate skills into compensation had higher levels of employee retention, productivity, and profitability.Employee Compensation Communications and Total Rewards EngagementEmployees want clear, personal, open, and complete explanations about how their compensation is being communicated to them.Changes:Dynamic/visual/customizable/on-demand total rewards reports.Managers are given structured talking points to help create consistency in explaining compensation decisions.Employees have access to accurate information about pay. ranges/incentive guidelines/reasoning/goals.Compensation teams build trust through continuous communication.How does this translate into practice?Create less confusion/build trust through improved communicationsManager confidence in explaining compensation decisionsCompensation teams spend less time answering questions/more time providing strategic guidanceOrganizations show transparency/equity/alignment with pay philosophy Globalization/Location-Agnostic Pay/Real Time Market DataMany organizations are evaluating location-based pay as part of a hybrid work model, with surveys from Gallup and McKinsey suggesting that over 50% of organizations globally use a hybrid model. Mercer also reported that geography is now a major factor in compensation design in the post-COVID-19 pandemic era.Changes:Many organizations are moving away from geographic-based pay models. toward hybrid/location-agnostic models.Compensation benchmarking must occur continuously/not annually.Flexible modeling is needed for multi-currency/multi-region structures.How does this translate into practice?Compensation designs must adjust to global labor markets in real time.Compensation management systems must accommodate compliance requirements/multi-currency capabilities.Benchmark data must be incorporated continuously into pay structures. Decusoft Compensation management has accelerated at a faster pace than most teams anticipated. With pay transparency laws/global workforce complexity/AI-driven analytics/economic uncertainty, it has become increasingly difficult for employees/regulators/managers/leadership teams to defend traditional methods of administering a compensation program; these groups expect immediate responses to compensation-related inquiries.Organizations that have successfully navigated this rapid transformation share several characteristics: they have made investments in technology platforms that can handle complexity/they have implemented governance structures that provide defensibility/they have provided their human decision-makers with superior data than spreadsheets can provide.If your compensation program operates on an annual cycle, disconnected data, or managerial decisions based on intuition, there is a significant discrepancy between where your organization stands today and where the market is moving; that discrepancy should be addressed.The trends discussed above are not predictions; they are occurring within compensation teams today.This story was produced by Decusoft and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
	Alfredo sauce sold in Iowa, Illinois, other states recalled over salmonella concerns The FDA has designated it as a Class I, the agency's most serious classification.
	Lunardi’s Italian Restaurant closing after 37 years Lunardi’s said skyrocketing food costs and operational hurdles are forcing them to close.
	Burlington firefighters rescue multiple pets from house fire All 15 dogs, two cats and two ducks were saved from the home. The cause of the structure fire remains under investigation.
	Davenport names new police chief The City of Davenport announced it has named Major Greg Behning as the next police chief.
	East Moline to spend over $20 million to improve drinking water quality East Moline is not only making big street improvements to downtown and The Bend area. It has a major multi-year initiative to help protect drinking water citywide.
	US host cities made transit improvements a World Cup goal US host cities made transit improvements a World Cup goalThe latest addition to Seattle’s already expansive public transit system opened to great fanfare this spring when more than 200,000 people rode the Crosslake Connection light rail line.Its March 28 debut was second only to the parade that followed the Seahawks’ Super Bowl victory as Sound Transit’s busiest day ever. Trains now glide across Lake Washington on what is believed to be the world’s first electric rail line that spans a floating bridge, linking the city with Bellevue and Redmond, and doubling the frequency of stops in the heart of the Emerald City.Those same tracks will carry tens of thousands of fans downtown to Lumen Field for the six World Cup matches the city will host between June 15 and July 6. Kirk Hovenkotter, who leads the transit advocacy organization Transportation Choices Coalition, has no doubt that Seattle’s sustained commitment to public transit helped it become a host city.This summer’s spotlight follows an earlier snub. When the World Cup came to the United States in 1994, Seattle hoped to host matches at Husky Stadium but came away empty-handed.In the 32 years since, the Seattle metropolitan area has grown from 2.5 million people to more than 4 million. Its transportation infrastructure has boomed as well. Steady investment that began with voter approval of the Sound Move transit package in 1996 helped launch light rail in 2008 and turn Seattle into one of the country’s most ambitious builders of public transit. This summer’s World Cup became the deadline for opening the Crosslake Connection.“Our region hasn’t been preparing for the World Cup for 18 months,” Hovenkotter told Grist. “It’s been preparing for 18 years.”Seattle is one of 16 cities, 11 of them in the U.S., that will host matches in a tournament FIFA, the sports’ sanctioning body, expects to draw more than 5 million fans. Several are using the event as an opportunity to open rail lines, redesign bus networks, and make other changes that will benefit residents long after the final match. Some cities used the tournament as a deadline. In others, it helped build support for projects or push delayed efforts over the goal line.These investments come as rail and bus systems nationwide continue recovering from the steep ridership decline sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic while confronting aging infrastructure and a dire financial outlook. In a country that is less supportive of mass transit than other nations, the World Cup has become an unusual catalyst for change.Plenty of stadiums remain disconnected from public transportation, of course. But what’s happening in places like Seattle and Atlanta shows that a megaevent like the World Cup can strengthen transit systems — if the investment starts long before kick-off.The World Cup’s infrastructure legacy has often been more cautionary than celebratory. Past tournaments have raised questions not only about human rights violations and environmental harm, but also about whether host cities deliver the public benefits they promise. Brazil and South Africa, for example, failed to fulfill the mass transit commitments they made.Such disappointments often reflect a broader problem: Host cities plan first for the event, then for the people who live there, said Simon Kuper, who wrote “World Cup Fever” and has attended nine World Cups. He likens it to hosting a wedding. “Let’s say it’s at the house,” he said. “You paint the house, you fix the toilet, you fix the door that wasn’t working, you redo the kitchen.”But the transit needs of 80,000 fans differ from those of residents. “You risk overinvesting in the route to the stadium and not in what makes residents’ lives better every day,” Kuper said.Seattle followed a different plan. The $1 billion Crosslake Connection was not built for the World Cup — the money came from a funding package voters approved in 2008, 14 years before Seattle’s selection as host city — but Sound Transit used it as a deadline for finishing a project that was three years behind schedule.“It was like, ‘We’re going to do everything. We’re going to move heaven and earth. We’re going to be working every shift to make sure that when the world is here, our flagship bridge and our double capacity are ready to run passengers,’ and they were,” said Henry Bendon, a public information officer with the agency. Courtesy of Sound Transit Building infrastructure matters, but so does helping people use it. Brian McCullough, who lived in Seattle from 2014 until 2020 and is now an associate professor of sport management at the University of Michigan, said communication will be key to the system’s success.Here, too, Seattle has a blueprint. When it hosted the 2018 Special Olympics USA Games, McCullough helped with a campaign encouraging athletes, coaches, and caretakers to use alternative transportation. The plan included providing them with free rides on the city’s expansive light rail system. It worked: Initially, 78% of participants planned to rent a car, but in the end, only 7% did. Sound Transit has an extensive messaging campaign geared toward soccer fans, including signage in the languages of the countries playing in Seattle.That lesson is shaping preparations for the World Cup that could further benefit residents, too. Sound Transit expanded its airport bus service to provide 24-hour rides to and from Seattle. The Legislature funded an intercity bus between Pasco, a city in Washington’s rapidly growing southwestern corner that is hosting a tournament event, and Spokane, which is hosting an Egyptian team with one of the sport’s biggest stars. It also increased frequency on other routes throughout the state. Hovenkotter hopes those improvements are here to stay.“It’s going to be hard to disinvest in this once these start running and people start benefiting from it,” he said.Some 2,600 miles to the southeast, another city is preparing for an influx of soccer fans. The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority, or MARTA, is rolling out a major redesign of its bus network and preparing new railcars with expanded capacity, moves that will move more people more often during the event — and long after it.Like Seattle, Atlanta did not make the list of 1994 World Cup host cities. But two years later, it faced a bigger transportation challenge: the 1996 Summer Olympics. MARTA added 7 miles of rail to ensure everyone got around efficiently.Today, the system, which typically carries more than 5 million passengers per month, has 48 miles of track and more than 1,500 miles of bus network.Soccer fans will discover a system overhauled first and foremost to serve residents. Beginning in 2021, MARTA started working with the community on the first revamp in 40 years. The remake launched in April, and although it cut the number of bus lines from 113 to 81, the agency said the change increased the number of residents who live within a quarter mile of a stop. It also nearly tripled the number of residents living near a route with buses that arrive every 15 minutes, according to MARTA.MARTA also added a rapid transit line in downtown Atlanta and introduced 12 on-demand “microtransit zones” in which vans provide short rides within each zone. Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority The rail system saw similar changes. MARTA plans to update all 224 train cars, some of which have been in service since the 1980s, with more spacious interiors starting in June. Each four-car train will carry 752 passengers, a 13% increase. That will be a boon during the tournament, given that four stations are within walking distance of Mercedes-Benz Stadium.The World Cup provided an incentive to move quickly. “Folks around here figured out if I want to get my projects some priority … I need to say ‘I want to do this for the World Cup,’” said Rhonda Allen, the agency’s deputy general manager.Not everyone is convinced these projects will benefit the community, however. Bakari Height, cofounder of the transit advocacy group MARTA Army, said transit has stagnated since the Olympics, with only two stations added. He called the new trains a “subtle upgrade,” and the bus redesign a “sour point” because it cut routes. He doubts the system will handle the World Cup.“I don’t know if they’re really ready,” he said, “and for sure, not ready for these crowds.”In some cities, the changes are smaller, but still practical.The Massachusetts Bay Transit Agency will open an expanded station near Gillette Stadium in Foxboro this month. The $35 million project adds an additional platform that improves accessibility and allows the station to handle more cars. Caitlin Allen-Connelly, executive director of the advocacy group Transit Matters, said the upgrades will benefit people headed to New England Patriots games and concerts long after the tournament ends. “There was definitely a need to make beautification and accessibility standards to be able to accommodate this level of service for the World Cup,” she said.That said, moving all those soccer fans around will impact residents. The MBTA is also reducing commuter rail service on most lines during the tournament. The transit agency said it has “made some minor reductions and adjustments” to service on nongame days to account for the need to reconfigure trains and make other changes to suit the influx of riders to the stadium to watch matches.Kansas City Streetcar extended its southern service by 3.5 miles last fall and opened a 0.7-mile northern extension in May. While the line does not reach Arrowhead Stadium, it will help soccer fans reach the “Fan Fest” events that accompany matches. Shuttle buses will carry fans from there to the stadium. Tom Gerend, executive director of the Kansas City Streetcar Authority, said the city highlighted the growing system in its host-city bid and that the tournament provided additional pressure to finish projects. “We’re certainly using the World Cup as motivation to make progress and to have these services up and running in time,” he said.Whether transit projects for the World Cup provide lasting gains often depends on who pays for them — and whether cities keep investing after the tournament ends.So far, the federal government has done little to help host cities with this. The Department of Transportation allocated $100 million in March, or roughly $10 million per U.S. host city — far too little to transform most transit systems. FIFA does not contribute anything toward transportation costs. That’s forced cities to seek funding elsewhere, including the fare box. The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority plans to charge $80 for round-trip train tickets to each World Cup match in Boston, while NJ Transit will charge $98 for round-trip tickets to games in New York.Balsam Nehme, director of sustainability at Sidara Collaborative, a firm that advises on large-scale infrastructure and sustainability projects, said the World Cup can bolster greener transit if cities use it to test new ideas and accelerate existing plans. That can mean short-term fixes like shuttle buses or long-term investments like light rail, she said, so long as they fit broader sustainability goals. The priority, she said, should be “long-term system-level thinking.”For Gerend, the most important question was what would be useful after the fans left. Kansas City, he said, avoided spending big on permanent event services with little long-term value. That meant using the World Cup as a deadline, not a blueprint. “Let’s invest our resources in permanent solutions that are part of a long-standing, regional plan that will have staying power.”This story was produced by Grist and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
	Milan police investigating Wednesday shots-fired incident The department reported no injuries or arrests made in its investigation of the incident on Wednesday.
	Lunardi's closing after this weekend in Davenport The owners were originally planning to close down at the end of the summer. However, they say a database error accidentally canceled out their liquor license.
	Iowa nursing home added to federal list of the nation’s worst care facilities Northgate Care Center in Waukon. (Photo via Google Earth)A northeast Iowa nursing home repeatedly cited for medication errors has been added to the federal list of the nation’s worst care facilities. Northgate Care Center of Waukon has been added to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ list of candidates for special-focus status, indicating a history of serious, recurring resident-care issues. At any given time, no more than two nursing homes per state appear on the list of federally designated Special-Focus Facilities, although the list also includes hundreds of other nursing homes — typically, 10 per state — where ongoing quality-of-care violations have made them eligible for that status. On May 27, 2026, the Arbor Court care facility in Mount Pleasant, recently renamed the Woodland Health and Rehabilitation Center, was deemed to have “graduated” from the list of designated special-focus facilities after 26 months. At the same time, Northgate Care Center was added to the list of Iowa’s 10 eligible candidates for special-focus status. Northgate’s addition to the candidate list appears to stem from regulatory violations related to staffing and medication issues. In late 2025, Northgate Care Center was cited by the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing for medication errors and failing to properly assess and treat a resident who was given the wrong medication and subsequently died. The home was also cited for failing to employ a sufficient number of staff to meet residents’ needs, with residents reporting wait times of up to 2 ½ hours to have their call lights answered. According to state inspectors, the female resident who died last year had been given medications intended for another resident — including melatonin to encourage sleep, an antidepressant, an antianxiety medication and an anticoagulant. Video surveillance footage recorded a short time later showed the resident sitting in a recliner, standing up and immediately falling to the floor. The woman later complained of pain. An ambulance crew arrived and took her to a hospital, where an X-ray indicated she’d sustained a broken leg. According to inspectors, the resident’s family chose to forgo surgical intervention, which led to hospice care and, at some unspecified point over the next few days, the resident’s death. ‘I knew I was wrong.’ According to the inspectors’ report, a licensed practical nurse at the home admitted that after the resident was taken to the hospital, she called the emergency room to report the resident had been given only one incorrect medication — not four — shortly before the fall. “When asked why she had not told the truth in the beginning, the nurse responded by stating, ‘Because I knew I was wrong,’” the inspectors’ report states. Four months later, in March 2026, the home was cited again for medication issues, with inspectors noting that four of seven nurses on staff were knowingly violating protocols for dispensing medications. Inspectors said the nursing staff was aware that in order to avoid confusion and minimize the risk of dispensing the wrong medications to residents, they should not set up, in advance, various cups of medication to be administered to the residents hours later. A certified nurse aide told inspectors that when she recently reported for work one day she saw the staff setting up, in advance, the residents’ medications to be distributed later. The CNA reportedly stated she “could not believe they were doing exactly what the facility just got in trouble for” days earlier during the first day of the state inspectors’ visit. One registered nurse told inspectors she “knew it was wrong,” having been trained on the issue five days earlier, but the process saved time. A licensed practical nurse at the home reportedly told inspectors that because the home was always short on staff, she set up morning medications in advance to “get the job done.” The nurse allegedly added that she had worked at the home for eight years, had always set up medications in advance, and “could not get (her work) done if she had to actually do it the right way.” The home’s medical director reportedly told inspectors that “economics only allows the facility to staff a certain way,” and that while the system of setting up medications in advance did “kind of bother” him, he was unsure how to solve the issue “and meet the expectation with efficiency.” Last year, the Northgate facility was among several Iowa nursing homes included in a staffing-shortages report published by the nonprofit Long Term Care Community Coalition. The coalition’s analysis concluded Northgate was among the 12 lowest-ranked homes in Iowa with regard to staffing levels, indicating the home’s staffing was 39.9% below expected levels. Courtesy of Iowa Capital Dispatch
	Crews rescue 15 dogs, 2 cats, 2 ducks from house fire No injuries were reported. Officials are investigating.
	Davenport announces next police chief City of Davenport names Major Greg Behning as chief of police.
	4 dishwasher DIYs homeowners should be doing 4 dishwasher DIYs homeowners should be doingWhether you’re a first-time homeowner or have owned your home for years, it may come as a surprise to you that you need to wash your dishwasher. You read that right: wash your dishwasher. As HomeServe knows all too well, homeownership is just an endless cycle of paying bills and cleaning things that clean other things — and your dishwasher is by no means an exception to the last part.If you’re saying to yourself right now, “I’ve never once even thought of cleaning my dishwasher,” don’t worry. This article boils dishwasher maintenance down to four tasks you should do at various intervals. Each one is eminently doable for most homeowners. Plus, they’ll help keep your dinnerware, flatware, and stemware spotless, and your dishwasher smelling fresh, operating efficiently, and running longer before you need to replace it.Here are four dishwasher DIYs homeowners should be doing.1. Clean Your Dishwasher FiltersFirst, clean your dishwasher filters. These filters catch all the gunk and nasty food particles that come off your dishes during a wash cycle so that they don’t clog the drain or wind up right back on your bowls, plates, and glasses. If you don’t routinely clean these filters, debris will build up, causing unsanitary conditions and foul odors, not to mention reducing efficiency and shortening the lifespan of your appliance.The specific location, configuration, and removal process for your filters will vary by manufacturer and model — so check your manual — but they’ll generally be found at the base of the inside of your dishwasher, underneath the bottom rack.Follow these steps to ensure your dishwasher keeps on washing dishes:1. Remove the bottom rack.2. Find your fine mesh filter.3. Remove your fine mesh filter per manufacturer instructions.4. Scrub out all that gunk using a clean sponge or brush and warm water with a little bit of dish soap.5. Now remove your coarse mesh filter.6. Scrub the coarse mesh filter clean, too.7. Replace the coarse mesh filter.8. Replace the fine mesh filter.9. Replace the bottom rack.You should do this as often as once a week if you have a large household with daily dishwasher use — but once a quarter will probably put you ahead of most.2. Clean and Unclog Your Dishwasher Spray ArmsNext, clean and unclog your dishwasher spray arms. Dishwashers most commonly have two spray arms — one at the base of the dishwasher that sprays upward, and one affixed to the underside of the upper rack that sprays downward. These cleaning mechanisms rotate in a fanlike motion during a wash cycle, spewing high-pressure hot water onto dishes in order to break up tough grease and grime.Over time, the spray holes can become clogged with food debris, detergent residue, and mineral buildup, reducing effectiveness and efficiency — making your appliance work harder and shortening its lifespan. But you can lend your dishwasher a hand by regularly cleaning and unclogging its spray arms.Here’s how:1. Remove the bottom rack.2. Remove the upper and lower spray arms, typically by unscrewing them, pulling, or disconnecting them from a center fastener.3. For heavy buildup, soak the arms in equal parts distilled white vinegar and warm water for at least a half-hour, but for as long as two hours.4. Scrub on and around the holes with a toothbrush to clear away buildup.5. Use a toothpick to gently dislodge stubborn, stuck-on stuff from the holes.7. Rinse the arms off.8. Wipe them down.9. Put them back in place.Do this three to four times a year to keep your arms in good shape.3. Sanitize Your Dishwasher’s InteriorNext, clean and sanitize the interior of your dishwasher. Dish soap residue, food particles, and other gunk build up over time in your dishwasher compartment, causing clogs, foul odors, and spotty, cloudy, yucky dishes.Follow these steps for a comprehensive clean:1. Empty the dishwasher.2. Remove the bottom rack and utensil holder.3. Clear out larger debris with your hands.4. Wipe down the entire interior with a sponge.5. Use a toothbrush or toothpick to dislodge clogs from your dishwasher spray arm.6. Pour 1 cup of vinegar into a dishwasher-safe dish.7. Place it on the top rack.8. Run a full cycle with the dishwasher empty.9. When that’s done, sprinkle 1 cup of baking soda into the bottom of the dishwasher.10. Run a second cycle.11. Let the dishwasher air out.No need to overdo this one — every couple of months should be sufficient in terms of frequency.4. Prevent Mold, Mildew, and Moisture DamageAnd finally, homeowners, here’s the easiest DIY you’ve ever done. Wanna prevent mold, mildew, must, and moisture damage in your dishwasher?Here’s how:Step 1: Open your dishwasher door. That’s it. One step. Well, you need to leave it like this for a few hours, and preferably overnight — but that’s passive. It’s not really a step.Your dishwasher uses a tight seal to keep the water in when it’s running. That same seal will keep soap-scummy water residue trapped when it’s not running, leading to unpleasant odors and hard-to-eliminate mold if left unchecked. Opening the door to let the inside of your appliance air dry after each use will help prevent the dreaded dank dishwasher.Worried about causing a tripping hazard for your kids or your other half? Cracking the door open an inch or so should do the trick.These steps will make this one of the easiest DIYs you’ve ever done.This story was produced by HomeServe Editorial and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
	Multiple tornadoes strike Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin Tornadoes ripped through Illinois, destroying a Streator neighborhood and triggering evacuations at Midway Airport as severe storms battered the region.
	Davenport names new Chief of Police Greg Behning will be sworn in as police chief June 17.
	4 hands on the keys: The continuing piano adventures of the fearless Labèque sisters The French pianists celebrate more than a half century of recording together with a triple-disc set containing many brand new recordings.
	15 dogs, 2 cats, 2 ducks and all occupants safe after Burlington house fire The Burlington Fire Department responded to the 500 block of Gunnison Street Thursday evening.
	Maj. Greg Behning named next Davenport Chief of Police The City of Davenport has a new Chief of Police. A news release from the city says Major Greg Behning has been chosen as the next Chief of Police, effective June 14. Behning has served as Interim Chief since Chief Jeffery Bladel retired in March. He will oversee the department with an authorized strength of [...]
	Want to stay ahead of AI? Start with the skills it can't replicate. Want to stay ahead of AI? Start with the skills it can't replicate.In a world where, thanks to generative AI, anyone can churn out brand content at scale, it may be tempting to assume that writing-heavy jobs will soon be few and far between.But it turns out that many employers are actively looking for brand journalists and content marketers who have the storytelling skills that AI can’t replace — and, somewhat ironically, they’re willing to pay a premium if those storytellers can also use AI to do their job even better, content distribution platform Stacker reports.New data from marketing career site SalaryGuide.com found that content and editorial jobs that mentioned AI in the job description paid roughly 26% more than those that didn’t ($119,250 vs. $95,000 at the median). These high-paying jobs were primarily content jobs, meaning they didn’t have “AI” in the job title but did include AI fluency as part of the job description. They specifically called out AI tools like ChatGPT, CapCut AI, Claude, Gemini, and Copilot.The data covered 1,380 job listings that included salaries and were posted between October 2025 and early May 2026. The analysis included content leaders, content managers, editors, writers, storytellers and data journalists, but contract, part-time, volunteer and intern roles were left out.SalaryGuide’s findings suggest it’s well worth investing time in learning how best to use AI to do your job more efficiently.For brand journalists, that likely means finding ways to automate the more repetitive or time-consuming parts of the job so that you can focus on the authentic storytelling and strategic thinking that will help your brand cut through the noise.Why Storytelling Skills Matter in the Age of AILearning the basics of using an AI tool is easy. When brands are looking to hire someone to tell their story — and pay them well to do so — it’s the soft skills that stand out, Josh Peacock, CEO and founder at SalaryGuide, said in an email interview. Peacock is also the CEO and founder of Search For Hire, an SEO and marketing headhunting agency.“The three skills that separate the marketers commanding that premium are storytelling, judgment, and taste curation,” Peacock said. “AI gives you the keys to the Ferrari, and you can drive a long way down the wrong road, fast.”Robert Rose, chief strategy advisor at Content Marketing Institute (CMI), echoed that sentiment in a separate interview.He pointed to Notion’s decision to merge its internal communications, external communications, social and influencer teams into one “storytelling” team, and to OpenAI and Anthropic hiring their own content strategists (and paying salaries as high as $300,000).“It has actually raised the profile of great storytelling and great content creators because of the commoditization of everybody getting ‘good’ at the tool,” Rose said. “The bar has risen, and those that are talented with content are actually finding greater opportunities.”Creating Strong Brand Content Now Requires Balancing Good Judgment With AIIn a survey of 655 full-time global marketers conducted in February, CMI found that 65% believed it was their strategic and critical thinking skills that would be most critical for staying relevant in the field in the future. AI skills came in second place, with 59% of marketers saying they were the most critical tool for future relevance.There’s a tension between AI efficiency and authentic storytelling. The marketers earning premium salaries are those that can maintain voice and good judgment while letting the technology do the more tedious work.“Companies aren't hiring â€˜AI content people,’” Peacock said. “They're expecting every content marketer to be AI-fluent inside the role, and the market is paying for it.”Plus, for a profession where brand is everything, relying too heavily on AI for content creation could be a red flag.“An army of tool pilots who know how to prompt their way through a content calendar add little value,” the CMI analysts wrote in their report on the survey. “As one marketer put it, the risk of following the AI herd is real: ‘When everyone adopts the same techniques, marketing starts to look superfluous.’”So what does this mean for brand journalists looking to stand out?How to Position Yourself as a Premium HireTake stock of what AI can do for your role. Focus on the repetitive parts of your job so that you can spend your time on tasks that require judgment and strategic thinking.Get comfortable with the tools. Job descriptions are now mentioning tools by name, making it clear what to familiarize yourself with. SalaryGuide’s analysis found that the most commonly mentioned tools were ChatGPT (132 mentions), CapCut AI (131), GenAI (113), LLM (108), Claude (62), Agentic (57), Gemini (35), Copilot (29), Perplexity (26), Jasper (21), Descript (21) and Midjourney (12).Keep a creative outlet, like a freelance gig. The CMI survey found that many marketers are freelancing to stay relevant and to keep their creative and strategic skills sharp. Those at the director level and above are freelancing at the highest rate, with 12% making $30,000 or more each year from side work.Counterintuitively, the rise of AI means it’s a good time for marketing and communications professionals to sharpen the storytelling skills that got them into the field. In a sea of AI slop, taste and human judgment stand out.This story was produced, reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
	Friends of MLK selects artist for mural at MLK Interpretive Canter, Davenport Friends of MLK has selected nationally recognized artist and muralist Cbabi Bayoc to create a new public mural adjacent to the Martin Luther King Jr. Interpretive Center, 501 N. Brady St., downtown Davenport, a news release says. Work was scheduled to begin soon, with installation taking place on the north-facing train bridge wall adjacent to [...]
	Illinois State Police investigating man's 2018 death Illinois State Police (ISP) Division of Criminal Investigation Zone 2 are continuing the investigation into the 2018 death of a man in Galesburg and are asking for the public’s help. A news release from ISP says Galesburg Police responded to a report of a body in the Cedar Fork Creek in Galesburg on September 15, [...]
	Davenport names new police chief Interim Chief Greg Behning has been selected as the next Davenport Chief of Police, effective June 14.
	Raygun settles DC lawsuit over accused deceptive pricing of T-shirts Raygun faced legal action over extended sale periods, potentially violating DC laws, raising concerns about the impact of local laws on national retailers.
	When no medical treatment existed for their children, these fathers built one When no medical treatment existed for their children, these fathers built oneEvery year on Father's Day, the internet fills up with tributes to dads who showed up at recitals, practices, and bedsides during long nights. But there is another kind of showing up that rarely makes the greeting cards: the kind where a father receives the worst news of his life, is told there is nothing medicine can do, and decides that is simply not an acceptable answer.These are the dads who became founders to try to save their child’s life. They are not scientists, not investors, not pharmaceutical executives, or at least they weren't before the diagnosis. They are fathers who looked at a gap in human knowledge and decided to close it themselves. Like Terry Pirovolakis, who launched a new gene therapy company to save his son's life.In this story, Kivo, a GxP-compliant document & process management platform, looks at the extraordinary stories of Pirovolakis and two other founder dads, John Crowley and Matt Might.The Scale of the Problem They're SolvingTo understand why these men do what they do, you first have to understand the landscape they are operating in.Rare diseases, defined in the U.S. as any condition affecting fewer than 200,000 people, are collectively not rare at all. According to the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD), 1 in 10 Americans lives with a rare disease, totaling more than 30 million people.Half of these are children.The numbers get bleaker from there. Of more than 10,000 known rare diseases, fewer than 5% have an FDA-approved treatment, according to a 2024 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office. The average time for a family to receive an accurate diagnosis is 4.8 years, per a 2024 analysis published in The Lancet Global Health, years during which a child may be deteriorating and families are searching for answers that often don't come. That same analysis found that approximately 30% of children with a rare disease die before the age of five.For conditions affecting only dozens or hundreds of people worldwide, the traditional pharmaceutical calculus simply doesn't work. There are no blockbuster revenues to justify a billion-dollar development program. There aren’t large patient pools to power randomized controlled trials. There's no marketing department calculating whether the R&D spend is worth it.Which is why, remarkably, there are situations where the people developing treatments for rare diseases are not pharmaceutical companies at all. They are parents. Moms. Dads.Terry Pirovolakis and the Race to Save MichaelOn April 2, 2019, Terry Pirovolakis got the call that changed everything.After 18 months of searching for an explanation for his youngest son Michael's symptoms, he finally had a diagnosis: Spastic Paraplegia Type 50, or SPG50, a rare neurodegenerative disorder characterized by developmental delays, seizures, small head size, and a progressive stiffening of muscles that, left untreated, would eventually lead to full paralysis. Michael was one of only 80 known children in the world with the condition.The doctors told Terry and his wife Georgia to go home, love their son, and give him the best life possible. There was nothing available to prevent what was coming.Pirovolakis is not the kind of person who accepts that answer.Within weeks, he and Georgia had launched CureSPG50, a nonprofit aimed at funding gene therapy research for SPG50. They raised money any way they could: crowdfunding campaigns, car washes, community events. They cold-called researchers. They read everything they could find on gene therapy. Terry, who had no background in pharmaceutical development, taught himself enough molecular biology to have credible conversations with scientists who did.Less than three years after the diagnosis, a clinical trial developed specifically for Michael took place. He became one of the first children with SPG50 to receive a gene therapy intervention.Out of that journey, Terry founded Elpida Therapeutics, a name that means hope in Greek, a socially responsible biotech corporation with a single animating principle: develop gene therapies as fast as possible, for as many children as possible. As of 2025, Elpida is pursuing five active gene therapy programs, with plans to dose 8 to 12 children in each over the next two to three years.John Crowley and the Blueprint That Started It AllIf Terry Pirovolakis is the current generation of dad founders, John Crowley is one of the original dads who proved it was possible.On March 13, 1998, Crowley learned that his daughter Megan had Pompe disease, a severe neuromuscular disorder that destroys muscle tissue, enlarges the heart, and in infantile-onset cases is often fatal within the first year of life. Weeks later, his infant son Patrick was diagnosed with the same condition. The Crowley family was told both children would likely not survive to adulthood.Crowley, who held a law degree from Notre Dame and an MBA from Harvard Business School, had been building a career in pharmaceutical marketing at Bristol-Myers Squibb. He walked away from it.He and his wife Aileen poured their life savings into a new biotech startup called Novazyme Pharmaceuticals, taking a second mortgage on their home to fund early research. Crowley had no scientific background. He didn't care. He had two children running out of time.Novazyme went from a $1 million angel round to $27 million in venture capital and was ultimately acquired by Genzyme Corporation for nearly $200 million. The enzyme replacement therapy that came out of that work, Myozyme, later redeveloped as Lumizyme, saved Megan and Patrick's lives. Today, more than 3,000 people worldwide with Pompe disease receive those treatments.Crowley went on to found Amicus Therapeutics, a global biopharmaceutical company that grew from five employees to more than 600, operating across 27 countries, with a focus on rare genetic diseases. He now serves as CEO of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), the largest biotech trade association in the world.His family's story became a Pulitzer Prize-shortlisted book, “The Cure: How a Father Raised $100 Million and Bucked the Medical Establishment in a Quest to Save His Children,” and a 2010 Hollywood film, “Extraordinary Measures,” starring Harrison Ford and Brendan Fraser."I think I did my job," Crowley has said of his role as a father. "As a dad, I did what I had to do."He did not do it alone. But he was one of the earliest and most visible examples of a dad taking his child's wellbeing into his own hands by launching a pharma company.Matt Might and the Blog Post That Found Nine More PatientsIn 2012, Matt Might's son Bertrand became the first known person in the world to be diagnosed with NGLY1 deficiency, a condition so newly identified that it didn't yet have a name, a research community, or any treatment pathway whatsoever.Might was a tenured computer science professor. He did what computer scientists do: He tried to solve the problem with data.He wrote a detailed blog post, "Hunting Down My Son's Killer," describing Bertrand's symptoms, genetic findings, and the biological mechanism of NGLY1 deficiency. His goal was to create what he called a "Google dragnet," a piece of content indexed well enough to surface in the searches of any other family whose child had the same undiagnosed condition.Within 24 hours, the post had gone viral. Within 13 months, it had helped identify nine more children with NGLY1 deficiency. A patient community formed. Researchers volunteered their time. Funding materialized.Applying what he knew about computational modeling, Might began identifying FDA-approved compounds that could theoretically help Bertrand. He found a candidate, a common supplement called N-acetylglucosamine available on Amazon, and after testing it himself with no ill effects, began giving it to his son. Three days later, he walked into Bertrand's room to find him crying. Not yelling: crying, with actual tears. It was the first time a child with NGLY1 deficiency had ever produced tears."They may have just been tears," Might said, "but they were an ocean of science for the disease. They unlocked so much about this disorder."Might co-founded Pairnomix, a startup focused on identifying personalized therapeutic options for patients with rare genetic disorders. The company was acquired by Q State Biosciences in 2018. He went on to become Director of Precision Medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and a researcher at Harvard Medical School, and he remains chief scientific officer of NGLY1.org.Bertrand Might died in 2020 at the age of 12. But the research his father sparked has since helped dozens of other children, and the patient community that blog post built continues to grow.What These Dads Have in CommonJohn Crowley had an MBA from Harvard. Matt Might had a PhD in computer science. Terry Pirovolakis had a drive so powerful that his company's name is the Greek word for hope.None of them had a pharmaceutical background when their child was diagnosed. None of them were supposed to end up here. But the alternative, doing nothing, was the one option they could not live with."What we realized was that if we didn't continue to do this ourselves, nobody was going to do it," said Allyson Berent, a fellow parent-founder who spoke alongside Terry Pirovolakis at the 2024 STAT Summit, "because the priorities of parents and patients will never change."According to IQVIA's Global R&D Trends report via Remington-Davis, 45% of all global clinical trial starts in 2024 were focused on rare diseases, a staggering figure that reflects just how much the field has shifted away from blockbuster drugs and toward the edges of human medicine, where the patients are fewest and the need is most acute.The dad founders didn't create that shift by themselves. But they are, without question, one of its most powerful engines.This Father's Day, the men worth celebrating aren't just the ones who showed up to the game. Some of them are showing up to the FDA.This story was produced by Kivo and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
	A key U.S. spy tool is set to lapse on Friday — now what? The government says more than 60% of the president's daily intelligence briefing relies on information collected under a tool known as FISA Section 702. But Congress has struggled to renew it.
	The beloved restaurant rewriting the rules of seafood The beloved restaurant rewriting the rules of seafoodWhile most of the state’s coastal eateries import seafood from as far as India, one has gone all-in on the boats docked right outside, Reasons to be Cheerful reports. When foodies head to Newport, Oregon, one place is always at the top of their list: Local Ocean. Repeat diners rave about the roasted garlic and crab soup, studded with fat lumps of local Dungeness; the lightly battered fried rockfish tacos served with citrus slaw, Huichol mayo and pickled veggies; and the saffron-infused Fishwives Stew, teeming with Oregon pink shrimp, wild prawns, scallops, clams and rockfish — served with a side of garlic bread. Even the niçoise salad, elevated with seared Oregon-caught tuna, is a standout. Rachelle Hacmac An added bonus to the delicious seafood menu is that the overwhelming majority of it — including what’s sold at the downstairs fish market — is caught in the ocean just off Newport. That’s a rarity these days in Oregon, where a whopping 90% of the seafood purchased and consumed on the coast is not locally caught, according to a recent study by the Oregon Coast Visitors Association (OCVA). Roughly 90% of Oregon’s seafood imports typically come from three countries: India, Canada and China. Ironically, Oregon exports its seafood to some of these same countries. Shipping seafood halfway across the world costs thousands of food miles — that is, the total distance food travels from where it’s caught or produced to where it’s consumed — creating an enormous carbon footprint. But also, OCVA estimates that Oregon’s coastal communities lose roughly $178 million a year because restaurants and food stores import seafood and other ingredients from far away. (In other words, when restaurants and groceries on the Oregon Coast order prawns from Indonesia, Atlantic salmon from the East Coast and salad greens from California, money that could be staying in Oregon’s coastal communities leaves the state.) That’s not even including the economic multipliers of processing facilities, packaging and storage jobs that would be added if seafood stayed on the Coast. That nearly all of the seafood served at Local Ocean is caught off the coast of Oregon and other West Coast fisheries is not by chance. Founder and former owner Laura Anderson started the company 21 years ago because she wanted to buy seafood directly from the boats that dock right outside the restaurant in Newport’s marina. Her father was a commercial fisherman, and she sought to support the local community of fishers while creating a restaurant that went above and beyond when it came to sourcing sustainable seafood. Rachelle Hacmac When she opened it in 2005, Local Ocean was more of a fish market with a few tables for lunch. But the restaurant was so instantly popular — with lines out the door — that it quickly became more profitable than the market. Today, the market does just 10% of the business, while the restaurant steals the show. Some eaters may have a romantic notion when they think of restaurants serving local fish. Perhaps they imagine a chef wandering down to the dock, chatting with a fisher and buying a handful of fish directly from the boat. But actually, sourcing local fish takes a lot more work — and money. For one thing, Local Ocean has to buy a special wholesale license from the state each year. Rachelle Hacmac “We have to be a wholesale fish buyer like Pacific Seafoods or any of the other entities that are legally authorized to purchase fish,” Anderson says, referring to the massive vertically integrated seafood processor and distributor based outside of Portland. Not only is it a “considerable expense” to have the licensing, says Anderson, the restaurant has to have bonding, and its staff has to do extensive reporting as a so-called “first purchaser.” The restaurant also pays landing fees and commission taxes, to, for example, the Dungeness Crab Commission. And there are state-level taxes for every pound landed.“It’s not for the faint of heart,” Anderson says. On the restaurant side of things, there is a separate “Fillet Team” that breaks down and fillets all manner of fish, crustacean and other seafood. Since whole fish are a rarity at restaurants these days, finding employees who are skilled at fish butchery is a necessity. “It’s a specialized skill,” says Local Ocean President Tony Bixler. “Our chefs always know how to cut whole fish, but our average line cooks may not be trained in that.” The restaurant’s Fillet Team alone has as many as six people during the busy summer months. Anderson, who has a master’s degree in marine resource management from Oregon State University, keeps an eye on the two best-known seafood sustainability standards, published by Marine Stewardship Council and Seafood Watch. That said, she doesn’t see them as prescriptive. Rachelle Hacmac Her abiding value — and part of the company’s mission — is to buy local. “For six years, I sat on the Fish and Wildlife Commission, which sets fisheries policy for the state,” she says. She also has a lot of faith in federal fisheries management — and particularly in how Oregon manages its fisheries. “We have some of the best-managed fisheries in the world,” Anderson says, referring to the U.S. And West Coast fisheries exceed the already-high standards of other U.S. fisheries, according to Anderson. “Where I really draw the line is importing seafood from other countries,” Anderson says. Local Ocean doesn’t sell any foreign-caught fish. Nor does it sell any farmed fish. (Though oysters, clams and mussels do come from local aquaculture farms.) The diminutive pink shrimp you can find on various salads and sandwiches at Local Ocean are a good example of Oregon’s high bar. The state’s pink shrimp fishery used to have a lot of bycatch. (That is: other fish or marine species that aren’t the intended catch.) But now, nets equipped with bycatch reduction devices and LED lights have reduced the bycatch to under 1%. For this reason, Oregon’s shrimp fishery is considered one of the most sustainable shrimp fisheries in the world. Rachelle Hacmac From the fisher’s point of view, working with Local Ocean has many benefits. For one thing, you’re selling to a company that employs and feeds locals — and you’re keeping your delicious, freshly caught fish on the Oregon Coast. (As it turns out, this is a value many Oregon fishers share.) For another, in almost all cases, Local Ocean pays more. Fisherman Brett Montague has been selling to Local Ocean since 2018. He says selling directly to the company both aligns with his values and is good for his bottom line. He and another fisherman catch albacore, salmon, incidental halibut and rockfish from a 40-foot boat called the Jo El. The Jo El is a troller, meaning they use hook-and-line to catch fish — which results in very little bycatch. Rachelle Hacmac “I like keeping all my seafood here in Oregon or on the West Coast,” Montague says. (He also fishes off Washington and California.) “Each year, I’ll meet with Local Ocean’s president, Tony [Bixler], and we’ll discuss how many pounds — are we going to do more than last year or less? And it’s this unspoken contract that I can rely on every year.” There’s a neighborly feeling to the relationship, too: Sometimes folks from Local Ocean will help Montague and his deckhand bring the fish up from the boat. “It’s kind of like a family affair,” he says. Typically, Local Ocean will buy 30,000 pounds of albacore a year from Montague. If Montague catches more than he’s promised to Local Ocean, he can sell his fish elsewhere. (Other buyers often insist on exclusive rights.) But he prefers working with Local Ocean because of their long-term relationship and because Local Ocean tends to pay fishers a little bit better. Rachelle Hacmac The tuna market fluctuates wildly depending on global supply, and often no one knows the “dock prices” until the fish is landing on the dock. This can create stress for fishers. Bixler likes to offer longtime partners like Montague a price before the season begins, ensuring they can make a living wage. “He’s still doing the same work, and the fish is the same,” Bixler says. “If the tuna market globally is really depressed because the market is flooded with foreign fish, I don’t want that to affect his business or our future business, as well. If I don’t pay him what the fish is worth, he may not be around for the next season.” Montague, for his part, makes extra sure that the fish is in great shape. “Because we know it’s going right to the plate, we tend to take care of our product a little better,” he says. He also flash-freezes the fish at sea — the Jo El has a blast freezer on board that keeps it at negative 30 degrees Fahrenheit — and the tuna goes straight into Local Ocean’s freezers when the boat returns to shore. This ensures a year-round supply of sashimi-grade tuna for Local Ocean to butcher as it needs. Inspired by the Iceland Ocean Cluster, which led the country’s innovative push to use every last part of the fish, Anderson launched a “100% Fish” program at Local Ocean last year. In conventional seafood processing, a fish might yield between 35-65% of its total body weight into a fillet. Local Ocean aims to upcycle seafood byproducts to use up the rest of the fish. After receiving a grant last year, Local Ocean hired Darlene Khalafi to be the 100% Fish business innovation program manager. Khalafi is positively evangelical about the possibilities. Rachelle Hacmac Already, she and her team have made fish-skin dog treats and seafood bone broth. She is also working with the restaurant’s new executive chef, Jacob Harth, to incorporate alternative seafood cuts into the new spring menu. “Local Ocean purchases 100,000 pounds of local fish per year,” she says. All that fish is hand-filleted in-house, so saving the bones, fish skin and imperfect bits of meat is possible. Processing typically neglected parts of the fish will yield another potential product. “For each product we make there will be a tertiary byproduct,” she notes. “Before we air-dry the fish skins, we scrape off all the meat. So now I have a bunch of frozen scraped meat that has scales in it — but maybe we can do something with it!” Because Local Ocean’s strength is in food, Khalafi is starting with food products. In addition to the dog treats and bone broth, she is exploring doing a line of tinned fish products with underutilized parts like bellies and cheeks.But she also has ideas about turning the fish waste into protein hydrolysate for a high-quality fertilizer, and eventually, there may be a fish leather product. For now, 100% Fish is supported by grants, but the hope is that once these products take off, the revenue will sustain and even grow the program. Eventually, the value-added products may have a spinoff brand. “But because Local Ocean already has a 20-year legacy as one of the most iconic seafood restaurants in the Northwest, we decided to lean on that,” Khalafi says. In 2022, Local Ocean became what is known as a Perpetual Purpose Trust. Also called a Trust Stewardship model, a Perpetual Purpose Trust (PPT) is a type of employee ownership that, unlike an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) or a traditional co-op model, is mission-based. Other companies that have recently become PPTs include Patagonia; Organically Grown Company in Eugene; and Zingerman’s Deli in Ann Arbor, Michigan. For this type of employee ownership, the business has to first form a trust, and the trust owns the company. Trustees, who are voted on by their peers, make sure that the company is being operated according to its mission. In Local Ocean’s case, that means they have to review an annual report and ensure that the company is buying local, from sustainable fisheries, and that it’s buying direct. Trustees are also eligible for profit-sharing. Anderson is still on the Local Ocean Board and will help the company fully transition to the employee ownership model. That said, the trustees have taken the reins. While most trustees are employees, the Trust also allows for community members and fishers to be trustees. “The company exists not just for its employees,” Anderson notes. “It exists to serve fishers and it exists for the community as well. We want Local Ocean to be for the employees, but we wouldn’t be here if not for the fishers.” This story is part of Waterline, an ongoing series that explores the solutions making rivers, waterways and ocean food chains healthier. It is funded by a grant from the Walton Family Foundation.This story was produced by Reasons to be Cheerful and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
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	More than a quarter of private colleges are at risk of closing, new projection shows More than a quarter of private colleges are at risk of closing, new projection showsMore than a dozen newborn lambs cavorted around a fenced-in yard beneath the scrutiny of their mothers and a few watchful students taking turns attending to them.The lambs’ successful births have been a needed bright spot at tiny Sterling College, which uses a 130-acre farm to teach agriculture and other disciplines in a part of northeastern Vermont so isolated it’s rare to see a passing car, and there’s no cell service.LillyAnne Keeley, a senior, likes that remoteness. “We have a beautiful view,” said Keeley, in the barn where she’s come for her turn checking on the lambs. “There are beautiful sunsets here. I kind of take it for granted every day.”She and her classmates have started taking such experiences less for granted now, since Sterling has announced that it will close at the end of this semester.They’re not the last students who will suffer such disruption, notes The Hechinger Report. A new estimate projects that 442 of the nation’s 1,700 private, nonprofit four-year colleges and universities, with a combined 670,000 students, are at risk of closing or merging within the next 10 years.More than 120 institutions are at the very highest risk, according to the forecast by Huron Consulting Group, which analyzed enrollment trends, tuition revenue, assets, debt, cash on hand and other measures. Many are, like Sterling, small and rural.“Now that this might be gone, I just really worry about some students out there that are going to have less and less choices,” Keeley said.It’s a crisis whose magnitude has been shrouded by political and culture-war attacks on higher education and is propelled by the simple law of supply and demand after a long decline in the number of Americans who are going to college.“We have too many seats. We have too many classrooms,” said Peter Stokes, a managing director at Huron. “So over the coming five to 10 years, this shakeout is going to take place.”Sterling — the seventh private college in Vermont to close since 2016 — offers a rare glimpse into the human impact of this trend. That’s because it gave students a final semester to stay and complete their degrees or transfer, rather than locking the doors with hardly any notice, as many other colleges have done.Fewer than half of students at colleges that close continue their educations, according to the most comprehensive study of the issue, produced by the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association, or SHEEO. Of those who do, many lose credits they’ve already earned and paid for, and fewer than half eventually earn degrees.Twenty-year-old Izzy Johnson has already been buffeted by this. The college he originally wanted to attend closed the month before he graduated from high school. So he enrolled in the fall at Sterling — only to learn that it would also close.“Having to pick up everything and find a new place to settle down is really miserable,” said Johnson, who is weighing where to go next.Started in 1958 as a prep school for boys, the remote rural college was never very large. Its enrollment peaked at 120 and fell to about 40 students this year, spread around a few white clapboard buildings indistinguishable from the houses of the surrounding farm town of about 1,300 people.Those numbers weren’t sustainable, even at a work college whose students pitch in on the farm and in the dorms and kitchen, said the president, Scott Thomas. Though financial documents show Sterling had been breaking even, margins were thin. Sarah Butrymowicz // The Hechinger Report In its last semester, the campus appeared surprisingly upbeat. At a weekly community meeting, students, faculty and staff in farm boots and hiking shoes lugged tables to the edge of the dining hall and formed a circle to talk about routine business, including warnings of bears coming out of hibernation and a reminder to provide contact information so everyone could stay in touch after commencement in May.Students have decided “that we’re just going to have a really good last semester and go out on a really positive note,” said Keeley, who, like several classmates, is cramming to earn the credits she needs to graduate this spring. “And I feel like we’ve been really able to do that so far, but it’s still really sad.”Most said they were drawn here precisely because of the college’s small size and far-flung location.“I don’t think I would have done well at a big, traditional college,” said Jack Beatson, a first-year student from California. “I just sort of get freaked out in a big space like that.”Added Samuel Stover, a senior from Connecticut whose mother also went to Sterling: “I have really amazing role models and instructors and teachers who I feel like I really connect with on a deeper level than just ‘I’m a student and I hand in papers.’ ” Oliver Parini for The Hechinger Report As more small colleges close, said Keeley, it’s getting harder for students to find this kind of an alternative to what she called “the larger, monotonous type of education.”People around town are equally concerned about the local impact of the closing — not only the loss of jobs and spending by the few remaining students at the two local cafes and two general stores, but an end to the pipeline through which many graduates have stayed to work or start businesses of their own in a state whose population is the third-oldest in the nation.“We always joke that Sterling kids stick around. But it’s true, they do, and they contribute to the community,” said Liz Chadwick, who moved from New Jersey in 2013 to finish her bachelor’s degree at the college, where she now teaches food systems, the study of the process by which food is produced and consumed. “They build families here.”Losing colleges like Sterling “leaves craters in the small rural communities that they have been a part of for, in some instances, decades or a century,” said Thomas.Paul Lisai, another Sterling grad, stayed and started his own milking herd and creamery in nearby West Glover: Sweet Rowen Farmstead, named for a particularly sweet kind of hay.“The impact is far beyond the local economic impact,” said Lisai, whose milk, yogurt and 17 types of cheeses are sold around New England and in upstate New York. “For me as a business owner, what I’m scared about most is not having access to that group of like-minded people.” With a state unemployment rate of 2.6%, he said, “Try running a business here. We really struggle to find good folks.”Many converging reasons explain why colleges and universities are under existential strain.There are already 2.3 million fewer students than there were in 2010. Now, a drop in the birthrate that began around the same time means there is about to be a further downward slide in the number of 18-year-olds through at least 2041.The proportion of high school graduates who go on to college is also down, from 70% in 2016 to 61%in 2023, the most recent year for which the figure is available. The number of visas issued for new full-tuition-paying international students coming to the United States plummeted by nearly 100,000 this year, or 36%. And looming caps on federal loans for graduate study, which take effect in July, threaten to reduce demand for yet another crucial source of revenue for universities and colleges.While higher education institutions previously weathered short-lived declines in enrollment and increases in costs, today “every major revenue stream and expense category is under pressure at the same time,” the higher education consulting firm EAB warns in a new analysis.Eighty-six percent of college and university leaders are worried about their schools’ long-term financial viability, according to a survey by the American Council on Education, the principal industry association. A fifth of college and university presidents say they’ve had serious discussions about merging with another university or college, a separate survey by Hanover Research and the industry news site Inside Higher Ed found.Signs of strain are spreading.Nearly a third of private, nonprofit colleges and universities nationwide posted deficits in 2024, according to research by Robert Kelchen, director of the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. More than a third of 44 comparatively small colleges in New England analyzed separately by education consultant Steven Shulman are running out of operating money, Shulman found.And it’s not just small schools that are affected.The University of Southern California has sent pink slips to more than 900 employees. Stanford laid off at least 363. Northwestern University eliminated 425 positions. DePaul University laid off 114 employees and closed its art museum, citing a big drop in international graduate enrollment, spiking benefit costs and growing demand for financial aid.As part of what its president called a “broader strategy to strengthen GW’s long-term financial health,” George Washington University announced in March that it had sold a satellite science and technology campus in Virginia for what the student newspaper reported was $427 million.The New School in New York said it would cut its workforce by 20%. Rider University in New Jersey reached an agreement in February to sell a fifth of its campus and lease some of its facilities, which will raise the roughly $10 million it needs to avert a financial crisis.Even public universities and colleges are facing deepening financial problems, reports the Fitch bond-rating agency, citing slowing economic growth and federal policy changes. These include cuts to Medicaid and SNAP that will have to be made up by states, according to SHEEO, which projects a dim outlook for state funding for public universities and colleges.“We are seeing state funding pressure now in a way that we wouldn’t have expected perhaps five or 10 years ago,” said Emily Wadhwani, senior director and sector lead for education and nonprofits at Fitch. “We are seeing federal funding pressure now in a way that we would not have expected a few years ago.”Community colleges, too — which enroll nearly 5.6 million students — are suffering financial squeezes that leave them less able to adapt or respond to change, according to Daniel Greenstein, former chancellor of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, who now tracks financial exposure in the industry.In this case, wrote Greenstein, “The risk is not a sudden collapse of the sector. The risk is a slow erosion of capacity in precisely the institutions on which communities rely most.”Still, after two and a half decades in which the price of tuition has increased more than 40% faster than inflation, for a payoff consumers no longer think is worth the money, higher education gets limited sympathy for its predicament — and even less after years of political and culture war attacks on the ideological leanings of faculty and leadership.“Free market wins!” quipped one commenter on social media, in response to Sterling College’s announcement that it would close. “They woked themselves right out of business,” wrote another. Added a third: “Now where will they teach all the 20 year olds to protest and whine?”Among its students, however, Sterling elicits something increasingly rare among higher education institutions: gratitude.“I’m so glad I got to spend at least a year here,” said first-year student Jack Beatson. “Just feeling like you’re really part of something, and other people depend on you — that’s very important to young people especially, and today especially.”Beatson is transferring to another small college in upstate New York. But even after Sterling closes, he said, “We’ll all take this place with us, wherever we end up.”This story was produced by The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education, and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
	QC Chamber hosts annual meeting, seeks nominations for business awards The Quad Cities Chamber will host its 2026 annual meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 5, at Rhythm City Casino Resort, 7077 Elmore Ave., Davenport, a news release says. The event will begin with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres at 3:30 p.m., followed by the program at 4 p.m. Register here. “This year, we’re putting a fresh spin [...]
	YWCA QC, Rock Island, kicks off season with Summer Block Jam The YWCA Quad Cities, 513 17th St., Rock Island, invites the community to kick off summer at its Summer Block Jam, a free, family-friendly event designed to celebrate connection, community, and the start of the summer season. The event will take place from 1-4 p.m. Sunday, June 14, when 17th Street will be closed between 5th and [...]
	Firearms drive majority of veteran suicides, federal data shows A Glock 19X handgun rests on top of an American flag. Guns were used in about three-quarters of veteran suicides, up from about two-thirds in 2001, according to a new analysis of federal data. (Photo by Amanda Watford/Stateline)Veterans in the United States die by suicide at higher rates than the general population, and firearms are involved in most of those deaths, according to a new analysis of federal data. The report, released by Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun violence prevention advocacy group, analyzed data from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and found that on average, approximately 18 veterans die by suicide each day, and about 13 of those deaths involve firearms. By 2023, firearms were used in about three-quarters of veteran suicides, up from about two-thirds in 2001, according to the analysis. Although veterans make up a relatively small share of the U.S. population, they account for nearly one in five firearm suicide deaths nationwide. The analysis found that the veteran firearm suicide rate increased by about 67% between 2001 and 2023, compared with a 35% increase among nonveteran adults. The report points to differences in firearm ownership as one factor that may contribute to the disparity. About half of veterans report owning firearms, compared with roughly 20% of nonveteran adults, according to the report. Some research suggests that access to firearms is associated with increased suicide risk. Studies cited in the report found that gun ownership is linked to roughly a threefold increase in suicide risk and that about 90% of suicide attempts involving a firearm are fatal. “It could not be more clear that easy access to firearms is the primary cause of veterans’ high suicide mortality rates,” Chris Marvin, veteran lead at Everytown for Gun Safety and a combat-wounded military veteran, said in an email. Gun dealers are major source of trafficked firearms The analysis found that veterans ages 18 to 34 now have the highest suicide rate among veterans, a shift from earlier years when the highest rates were among middle-aged and older veterans. Although men account for most veteran suicide deaths, firearm suicide rates among female veterans have increased more rapidly in recent years, according to the report. Women make up about 11% of the veteran population. Other contributors to suicide risk among veterans include mental health conditions, substance use, chronic pain, financial strain and challenges related to the transition from military to civilian life. Access to mental health care, housing stability and employment may also contribute to the risk, according to the report. Stateline reporter Amanda Watford can be reached at awatford@stateline.org. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Courtesy of Stateline
	America’s best value small colleges and universities in 2026 America’s best value small colleges and universities in 2026As the Class of 2026 prepares to begin the next chapter of its educational journey, many graduating seniors will opt for a small college experience. Some students are drawn to small colleges and universities for the personalized attention and sense of community they can offer compared to larger schools. Although attending such institutions could come with a higher price tag than larger colleges and universities, many affordable, high-quality options are available.SmartAsset evaluated more than 1,000 U.S. colleges and universities with undergraduate enrollments of fewer than 5,000 students to identify the best values among small schools. The 527 institutions with an average cost of attendance — including tuition, books, fees and living expenses — below the median for similarly sized schools were assigned composite scores based on their graduation rate and the median earnings of students 10 years after first enrollment. The 75 highest-scoring schools were named our best-value small colleges.Key FindingsImmaculata University ranks No. 1. Founded in 1920, this private university in southeastern Pennsylvania reports an undergraduate enrollment of 1,320 and an average annual cost of attendance of less than $45,000. Its 68% graduation rate and median alumni earnings of $75,701 help place it at the top of the rankings.Rutgers University-Camden is the top-ranked public institution. The regional campus of Rutgers University enrolls fewer than 4,000 undergraduates and reports an average annual cost of attendance of $35,178. It ranks No. 2 overall, supported by a 67% graduation rate and median alumni earnings of $74,479.New York is home to more ranked colleges than any other state. Eleven institutions in the Empire State appeared among the 75 schools in the rankings.Public and private schools are both well represented. While the small college experience is often associated with private institutions, 26 of the 75 schools in the rankings are state-affiliated.Average enrollment is less than 2,200. Institutions named to the list were limited to those enrolling 5,000 or fewer undergraduates; the schools that made the final ranking have an average enrollment of 2,152. Courtesy of SmartAsset Best Value Small Colleges and UniversitiesImmaculata University (Immaculata, PA)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 1,320• Cost of Attendance: $43,979• Graduation Rate: 68%• Median Earnings: $75,701Rutgers University-Camden (Camden, NJ)• Type: Public• Enrollment: 3,753• Cost of Attendance: $35,178• Graduation Rate: 67%• Median Earnings: $74,479University of Detroit Mercy (Detroit, MI)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 2,438• Cost of Attendance: $42,211• Graduation Rate: 68%• Median Earnings: $71,030SUNY College at Geneseo (Geneseo, NY)• Type: Public• Enrollment: 3,869• Cost of Attendance: $27,709• Graduation Rate: 72%• Median Earnings: $67,316Washington & Jefferson College (Washington, PA)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 1,295• Cost of Attendance: $42,972• Graduation Rate: 70%• Median Earnings: $67,918Ramapo College of New Jersey (Mahwah, NJ)• Type: Public• Enrollment: 4,898• Cost of Attendance: $29,483• Graduation Rate: 71%• Median Earnings: $67,541New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (Socorro, NM)• Type: Public• Enrollment: 995• Cost of Attendance: $24,967• Graduation Rate: 57%• Median Earnings: $76,489Thomas Aquinas College (Santa Paula, CA)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 566• Cost of Attendance: $43,426• Graduation Rate: 83%• Median Earnings: $55,619Capitol Technology University (Laurel, MD)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 315• Cost of Attendance: $42,471• Graduation Rate: 44%• Median Earnings: $85,035Christopher Newport University (Newport News, VA)• Type: Public• Enrollment: 4,365• Cost of Attendance: $33,766• Graduation Rate: 73%• Median Earnings: $60,509Oregon Institute of Technology (Klamath Falls, OR)• Type: Public• Enrollment: 2,892• Cost of Attendance: $27,524• Graduation Rate: 56%• Median Earnings: $72,273St. Joseph’s University-New York (Brooklyn, NY)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 3,144• Cost of Attendance: $41,897• Graduation Rate: 67%• Median Earnings: $63,905South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (Rapid City, SD)• Type: Public• Enrollment: 2,071• Cost of Attendance: $25,385• Graduation Rate: 56%• Median Earnings: $72,257SUNY Oneonta (Oneonta, NY)• Type: Public• Enrollment: 4,643• Cost of Attendance: $28,821• Graduation Rate: 70%• Median Earnings: $60,386Canisius University (Buffalo, NY)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 1,685• Cost of Attendance: $44,322• Graduation Rate: 69%• Median Earnings: $60,681St. Mary’s College of Maryland (St. Mary’s City, MD)• Type: Public• Enrollment: 1,603• Cost of Attendance: $31,865• Graduation Rate: 69%• Median Earnings: $60,110University of Mary (Bismarck, ND)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 2,416• Cost of Attendance: $33,672• Graduation Rate: 67%• Median Earnings: $60,909University of Mary Washington (Fredericksburg, VA)• Type: Public• Enrollment: 3,566• Cost of Attendance: $31,137• Graduation Rate: 67%• Median Earnings: $60,613University of St Thomas (Houston, TX)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 3,220• Cost of Attendance: $45,672• Graduation Rate: 69%• Median Earnings: $59,224Indiana Wesleyan University-Marion (Marion, IN)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 1,974• Cost of Attendance: $44,776• Graduation Rate: 67%• Median Earnings: $59,986Truman State University (Kirksville, MO)• Type: Public• Enrollment: 2,513• Cost of Attendance: $25,115• Graduation Rate: 69%• Median Earnings: $56,280Holy Family University (Philadelphia, PA)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 2,464• Cost of Attendance: $40,539• Graduation Rate: 61%• Median Earnings: $62,235William Jewell College (Liberty, MO)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 924• Cost of Attendance: $35,785• Graduation Rate: 64%• Median Earnings: $59,268Franciscan University of Steubenville (Steubenville, OH)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 2,901• Cost of Attendance: $44,580• Graduation Rate: 76%• Median Earnings: $50,030York College of Pennsylvania (York, PA)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 3,265• Cost of Attendance: $37,319• Graduation Rate: 62%• Median Earnings: $61,012SUNY Polytechnic Institute (Utica, NY)• Type: Public• Enrollment: 1,849• Cost of Attendance: $23,741• Graduation Rate: 57%• Median Earnings: $64,355SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (Syracuse, NY)• Type: Public• Enrollment: 1,839• Cost of Attendance: $28,133• Graduation Rate: 68%• Median Earnings: $55,763John Brown University (Siloam Springs, AR)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 1,471• Cost of Attendance: $44,710• Graduation Rate: 69%• Median Earnings: $53,907Viterbo University (La Crosse, WI)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 1,249• Cost of Attendance: $45,558• Graduation Rate: 67%• Median Earnings: $55,660Daemen University (Amherst, NY)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 1,643• Cost of Attendance: $45,192• Graduation Rate: 59%• Median Earnings: $61,808Waynesburg University (Waynesburg, PA)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 1,009• Cost of Attendance: $44,397• Graduation Rate: 63%• Median Earnings: $58,537Harding University (Searcy, AR)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 3,382• Cost of Attendance: $39,534• Graduation Rate: 70%• Median Earnings: $52,876Central College (Pella, IA)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 1,070• Cost of Attendance: $37,773• Graduation Rate: 68%• Median Earnings: $54,317Warner Pacific University (Portland, OR)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 375• Cost of Attendance: $38,948• Graduation Rate: 66%• Median Earnings: $55,204Utica University (Utica, NY)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 2,278• Cost of Attendance: $37,205• Graduation Rate: 56%• Median Earnings: $63,277Andrews University (Berrien Springs, MI)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 1,224• Cost of Attendance: $45,218• Graduation Rate: 69%• Median Earnings: $53,187Worcester State University (Worcester, MA)• Type: Public• Enrollment: 3,930• Cost of Attendance: $22,874• Graduation Rate: 59%• Median Earnings: $60,624Dominican University (River Forest, IL)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 2,561• Cost of Attendance: $43,891• Graduation Rate: 59%• Median Earnings: $60,327Goldey-Beacom College (Wilmington, DE)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 691• Cost of Attendance: $26,502• Graduation Rate: 58%• Median Earnings: $59,892Gordon College (Wenham, MA)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 1,278• Cost of Attendance: $42,446• Graduation Rate: 68%• Median Earnings: $52,119Madonna University (Livonia, MI)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 1,632• Cost of Attendance: $41,038• Graduation Rate: 59%• Median Earnings: $59,058Aurora University (Aurora, IL)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 3,974• Cost of Attendance: $40,625• Graduation Rate: 59%• Median Earnings: $58,709North Park University (Chicago, IL)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 1,818• Cost of Attendance: $44,172• Graduation Rate: 57%• Median Earnings: $59,572Saint Xavier University (Chicago, IL)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 3,096• Cost of Attendance: $43,244• Graduation Rate: 58%• Median Earnings: $58,656Trinity Christian College (Palos Heights, IL)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 820• Cost of Attendance: $35,012• Graduation Rate: 61%• Median Earnings: $55,700University of Sioux Falls (Sioux Falls, SD)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 1,218• Cost of Attendance: $34,274• Graduation Rate: 62%• Median Earnings: $54,521State University of New York at Plattsburgh (Plattsburgh, NY)• Type: Public• Enrollment: 3,769• Cost of Attendance: $28,244• Graduation Rate: 59%• Median Earnings: $56,403Thomas More College of Liberal Arts (Merrimack, NH)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 97• Cost of Attendance: $42,082• Graduation Rate: 62%• Median Earnings: $53,565Freed-Hardeman University (Henderson, TN)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 1,212• Cost of Attendance: $38,315• Graduation Rate: 70%• Median Earnings: $47,485University of Illinois Springfield (Springfield, IL)• Type: Public• Enrollment: 2,263• Cost of Attendance: $25,521• Graduation Rate: 57%• Median Earnings: $57,103Eastern Connecticut State University (Willimantic, CT)• Type: Public• Enrollment: 3,418• Cost of Attendance: $31,983• Graduation Rate: 58%• Median Earnings: $56,469College of Saint Mary (Omaha, NE)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 445• Cost of Attendance: $35,971• Graduation Rate: 60%• Median Earnings: $54,338Concordia University-Saint Paul (Saint Paul, MN)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 3,018• Cost of Attendance: $37,239• Graduation Rate: 52%• Median Earnings: $59,871Keene State College (Keene, NH)• Type: Public• Enrollment: 2,699• Cost of Attendance: $29,993• Graduation Rate: 59%• Median Earnings: $54,368University of Wisconsin-River Falls (River Falls, WI)• Type: Public• Enrollment: 4,205• Cost of Attendance: $19,781• Graduation Rate: 59%• Median Earnings: $54,458Judson University (Elgin, IL)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 708• Cost of Attendance: $43,137• Graduation Rate: 56%• Median Earnings: $56,313Longwood University (Farmville, VA)• Type: Public• Enrollment: 3,015• Cost of Attendance: $34,588• Graduation Rate: 61%• Median Earnings: $52,347Ashland University (Ashland, OH)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 2,199• Cost of Attendance: $43,434• Graduation Rate: 61%• Median Earnings: $52,928Fresno Pacific University (Fresno, CA)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 1,544• Cost of Attendance: $44,249• Graduation Rate: 53%• Median Earnings: $58,896Westfield State University (Westfield, MA)• Type: Public• Enrollment: 3,615• Cost of Attendance: $27,649• Graduation Rate: 55%• Median Earnings: $57,346St. Francis College (Brooklyn, NY)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 1,684• Cost of Attendance: $38,098• Graduation Rate: 54%• Median Earnings: $58,099Montana Technological University (Butte, MT)• Type: Public• Enrollment: 1,480• Cost of Attendance: $22,786• Graduation Rate: 58%• Median Earnings: $54,329Spring Arbor University (Spring Arbor, MI)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 1,010• Cost of Attendance: $44,703• Graduation Rate: 61%• Median Earnings: $51,732University of Minnesota-Morris (Morris, MN)• Type: Public• Enrollment: 936• Cost of Attendance: $27,039• Graduation Rate: 62%• Median Earnings: $50,919Western Connecticut State University (Danbury, CT)• Type: Public• Enrollment: 3,511• Cost of Attendance: $24,877• Graduation Rate: 51%• Median Earnings: $59,115Hiram College (Hiram, OH)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 777• Cost of Attendance: $40,572• Graduation Rate: 57%• Median Earnings: $54,311Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania (Shippensburg, PA)• Type: Public• Enrollment: 4,086• Cost of Attendance: $30,785• Graduation Rate: 54%• Median Earnings: $56,351New College of Florida (Sarasota, FL)• Type: Public• Enrollment: 843• Cost of Attendance: $24,449• Graduation Rate: 64%• Median Earnings: $48,082Huntington University (Huntington, IN)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 1,082• Cost of Attendance: $42,157• Graduation Rate: 66%• Median Earnings: $46,672Geneva College (Beaver Falls, PA)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 1,096• Cost of Attendance: $45,407• Graduation Rate: 61%• Median Earnings: $50,004Salem State University (Salem, MA)• Type: Public• Enrollment: 4,291• Cost of Attendance: $28,291• Graduation Rate: 52%• Median Earnings: $56,662Houghton University (Houghton, NY)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 753• Cost of Attendance: $31,143• Graduation Rate: 65%• Median Earnings: $46,721Evangel University (Springfield, MO)• Type: Private• Enrollment: 1,229• Cost of Attendance: $39,956• Graduation Rate: 65%• Median Earnings: $46,573University of Minnesota-Crookston (Crookston, MN)• Type: Public• Enrollment: 1,729• Cost of Attendance: $26,068• Graduation Rate: 50%• Median Earnings: $58,056Plymouth State University (Plymouth, NH)• Type: Public• Enrollment: 3,153• Cost of Attendance: $29,644• Graduation Rate: 50%• Median Earnings: $57,304Methodology Bachelor’s degree-granting institutions listed in the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard were filtered to include regionally accredited schools with undergraduate enrollments of 5,000 or fewer students. For-profit institutions and some specialized schools, such as seminaries, maritime academies, conservatories and nursing schools, were omitted. The median cost of attendance for all qualifying institutions was calculated, and those with a cost of attendance for full-time, first-time, degree-seeking undergraduates who receive Title IV aid — including tuition, books, fees, and living expenses — below that median were included in the rankings. Institutions were ranked using a composite score based on graduation rate (pooled) six years after first enrollment and the median earnings of students who received federal financial aid 10 years after first enrollment. All metrics are based on data published in March 2026 and may not reflect current conditions.This story was produced by SmartAsset and reviewed and distributed by Stacker.
	Michigan court strikes down parts of contested livestock waste permit USDA photoA judge has tossed out key portions of Michigan’s new permit governing large-scale livestock operations, ruling that state environmental regulators violated due process when they added stricter requirements for manure-management. In a June 8 order, Judge Richard Garcia of Ingham County’s 30th Circuit Court determined that the head of the Department of Environment, Great Lakes and Energy ran afoul of due process by adding additional provisions to its permit regulating concentrated animal feeding operations. Last Fall, EGLE Director Phil Roos issued his final opinion laying out the new terms for the permit, including several restrictions on how these large scale livestock farms make use of liquid animal waste. In his decision, Roos included multiple provisions that were previously stripped out of the permit by an administrative law judge, including a ban on applying animal waste to crop fields in the first two weeks of March. While environmental permits were previously reviewed by the Environmental Permit Review Commission, the board was eliminated in 2024 by an executive order from Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and its authority was transferred to the head of EGLE. However, Garcia said this procedure violates due process provisions of both the state and federal constitutions, determining that the multitude of factory farms and agricultural industry groups who challenged the permit had been denied an impartial decision. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX. While the executive branch has the authority to organize itself in accordance with executive orders, it cannot ignore statutory due process, Garcia wrote, pointing to a provision of the Natural Resources and Environmental Protections Act which requires final agency decisions to be made by either an unbiased administrative law judge, or an independent expert panel. Garcia also agreed with the agricultural groups’ arguments that EGLE violated due process by failing to provide proper public notice on the conditions Roos added to the permit. However, Garcia upheld provisions approved by the administrative law judge, including a wintertime ban on landowners applying, selling or giving away animal waste and stricter standards on phosphorus found in soil, as excess nutrients can enter surface waters as runoff, causing harmful algal blooms. A spokesperson for the Michigan Farm Bureau, one of the groups appealing the decision, did not reply to emailed requests for comment. A voicemail left with Zachary Larsen, who represented the Farm Bureau alongside the other agricultural appellants was also unanswered. In a statement to Michigan Advance, EGLE Communications Director Dale George said the department is reviewing the decision and evaluating its next steps. “This is a complex and important issue and protecting Michigan’s water resources remains central to our mission,” George said. “One thing is clear: Michigan’s expectations of our farmers have not kept up with our evolving practices. Too many examples exist where manure and its bacterial and nutrient components are getting into Michigan’s waters. We must do better.” According to the Environmental Law and Policy Center, an appellee in the case, concentrated animal feeding operations in Michigan produce 62.7 million pounds of animal waste daily. When applied to the land, this waste can degrade the quality of nearby waters by driving algal bloom growth and E. coli contamination. In a statement, Katie Garvey, one of the group’s senior attorneys who argued in support of Roos’s additional provisions, criticized factory farms for their “years-long, aggressive litigation strategy to avoid common-sense pollution reduction measures.” While EGLE is required to issue a new general permit every five years, the 2020 permit was delayed due to several legal challenges from agricultural industry groups, with Roos modifying its five-year expiration date when he approved it in 2025. Megan Tinsley, water policy director for the Michigan Environmental Council, another appellee, called on EGLE to implement the new permitting provisions quickly. “Water pollution is not improving in Michigan,” Tinsley said. “Waterbodies continue to fail to meet their designated uses, such as swimming, and more rivers and streams become impaired every year. Our waters inspired the motto ‘Pure Michigan’ and support a $13.9 billion outdoor recreation economy.” Courtesy of Michigan Advance
	Middle school students use data science to ‘Reinvent Muscatine’ Connecting classroom lessons to community impact was top of mind as teacher Pam Joslyn designed this project.
	5 things to know from the Davenport 2026 State of the City Davenport Mayor Jason Gordon gave his first State of the City address on Thursday, highlighting recent successes and laying out future priorities. Here are five takeaways from what he said.
	Longtime owners of beloved Fairport riverside bar and grill hanging up their hats The Lighthouse Grill and Bar is one of the very few commercial properties with direct access to the Mississippi River.
	Muscatine to offer vehicles, equipment in two‑week online auction Residents can browse and bid on surplus items beginning Monday, June 15, through Monday, June 29.
	Zach Lahn picks state Rep. Derek Wulf to be running mate Zach Lahn, the Republican candidate for governor, chose state Rep. Derek Wulf to be his running mate.
	Great day ahead for the Quad Cities A fantastic Friday is in the forecast today and even cooler weather is coming. We do have the chance for some strong to severe storms Saturday. Here's your full 7-day forecast.
	IA Supreme Court supports nonprofits that help low-income residents get legal aid The Iowa Supreme Court has approved $1,226,592 in grants to non-profit programs - including some in the Quad Cities area - that provide legal assistance to low-income Iowans with civil legal problems, a news release says. The court awarded grants to 14 different organizations throughout Iowa. The grants are funded by the Interest on Lawyers' [...]
	Proposed NJ law would extend longer involuntary holds for psychiatric patients Hospitals could continue to hold psychiatric patients for up to six days against their will under a bill that advanced in the Senate Thursday. (Photo by Anne-Marie Caruso/New Jersey Monitor)Hospitals in New Jersey could continue to hold emotionally unstable patients against their will for up to six days under a bill advancing in the Statehouse, a move even supporters called imperfect but necessary given the lack of appropriate inpatient options for people in a psychiatric crisis. The state used to limit involuntary civil commitments to 72 hours, but approved doubling it to six days by law three years ago. The Senate’s health committee voted unanimously Thursday to approve a bill to extend the six-day limit through mid-April 2027, a move opposed by mental health advocates. Sen. Joe Vitale (D-Middlesex), the committee chairman and bill sponsor, said he disliked passing a stop-gap measure, but he noted when hospitals are treating people who could harm themselves or others they sometimes have few choices. He said he is working with hospitals to expand inpatient treatment options, but funding to create additional psych beds is a challenge. “We have to find a more permanent solution. Certainly a fairer solution for some people who end up in the hospital,” he said. Former Gov. Phil Murphy signed a law in 2023 that doubled the 72-hour hold limit for three years, a move he said was needed to give the state time to increase inpatient mental health treatment capacity, which has been lacking for years. The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey was among the 50 groups that urged Murphy to veto the measure, saying it infringed on patients’ civil rights. Hospital leaders said Thursday they still struggle to find beds for some patients, particularly those that lack commercial insurance or are disabled, pregnant, or need hospital-level medical care. Sometimes the only option is in a different county, far from family and friends, and less conducive to recovery, the said. The Health Care Quality Institute of New Jersey also flagged the lack of inpatient psychiatric beds for children in a recent report, a problem advocates raised in testimony Thursday. Dr. Jay Case, behavioral health director at Virtua Hospital in South Jersey, said emergency staff does not want to commit patients, a complicated process that can be disruptive for others and does not guarantee the individual gets the best psychiatric treatment. “We only do it when we really, really have to. And when we have to is when patients are an imminent danger to themselves and others. And unfortunately, we see quite a lot of patients in that situation,” Case said. Hospital leaders testified that some 44,000 patients were involuntary committed over a two-and-a-half-year period following the law’s initial passage, data the state was required to collect, and less than 2% were held beyond the first 72 hours. While most patients are held for shorter periods, mental health advocates said any prolonged exposure to the emergency room — with its chaos, noise, and lights — can cause their condition to deteriorate and may lead them to distrust the medical system in the future. Little is done to address the underlying conditions when patients are stuck in this limbo, they said. Heather Simms, deputy director of the Collaborative Support Programs of New Jersey, a peer-led group that provides a range of mental health services, said patients have described hospital holds as “frightening, dehumanizing, and traumatizing.” Extending this experience just makes it worse, she said. “The answer to placement delays isn’t longer holds. The answer is creating a system that responds quickly, humanely, and effectively when people are in crisis,” she said. Mary Ciccone, policy director at Disability Rights New Jersey, said continuing the six-day maximum takes the pressure off hospitals and the state to find solutions. She and others said they are waiting for a report from the state Department of Health, required as part of the original law. “This law places the burden of the lack of appropriate treatment placements on the individuals who are suffering, rather than the hospitals and the Department of Health, who have much greater ability to provide solutions to the gaps in mental health,” Ciccone said. The Senate panel also passed a bill that aims to find solutions through a voluntary pilot program that would allow hospitals to be more flexible in how they can list psychiatric beds as available. The measure could be extended after two years. Nicole Moore, clinical director of social work at Inspira Health, also in South Jersey, said the bill would not solve the problem, but it would be a step forward. “This bill represents a practical and immediate tool to better utilize existing capacity while longer-term solutions continue to be developed,” she said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX. Courtesy of New Jersey Monitor
	'Stop! That! Train!' is Loud! Dumb! and Gay! It's camp. It's drag. A Stormaganza is coming and the Glamazonian Express is in trouble!
	David Hockney, one of the most influential artists of the 20th century, dies at 88 Hockney moved from London to Southern California in the 1960s and was an innovative painter, photographer, stage designer and printmaker.
	Alabama medical cannabis dispensary sees over 100 patients in first week Mock medical cannabis lozenges in a display case at Callie's Apothecary in Montgomery, Alabama, on May 14, 2026. The dispensary, Alabama's first, has seen over 100 patients since it opened on June 4. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector)Over 100 qualifying patients have purchased medical cannabis since Alabama’s first dispensary opened, the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission said Thursday. The state’s first legal medical cannabis provider, Callie’s Apothecary, opened its first location in Montgomery on June 4 following a “soft opening” the day before. Justin Aday, general counsel for the commission, said Thursday that 102 patients have purchased medical cannabis products in 111 transactions. Those transactions have generated about $14,600 in pre-tax sales with the average transaction being $131.56, Aday said. Vince Schilleci, owner of Callie’s, said in a phone interview Thursday afternoon that the last week of business has been rewarding. “I’m seeing a lot of happy patients,” he said. “Our store manager saw a patient walking out, and as silly as it sounds, they jumped and clicked their heels. Yeah, they were that happy about having that medicine.” SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX. According to the patient menu on Callie’s website, each product ranges from $42 to $52 each. Schilleci said that the dispensary got its second shipment of products on Thursday and expects another one on Friday, which will help meet the demand of patients. “We’ve had to – I hate to use this term ration – but we’ve limited how much patients could purchase, just because we knew how many patients were coming on board, and we at least wanted people to have a chance to have something,” Schilleci said. “We’ve lifted the rationing now, so patients can come down and buy their full 60-day allotment if they choose.” Aday said that as of Thursday morning, 481 patients have applied for a cannabis card and 446 of them have been issued one by the AMCC. The Alabama medical cannabis law, enacted in 2021, allows registered physicians to recommend cannabis for about 15 medical conditions, including cancer, depression, Parkinson’s Disease, PTSD, sickle-cell anemia, chronic pain, and terminal diseases. The approved product forms are restricted to tablets, tinctures, patches, oils, and gel cubes (only peach flavor), with raw plant material and smokable forms remaining prohibited. As of Thursday, there are 52 physicians certified to recommend medical cannabis to patients in Alabama, according to the Alabama Board of Medical Examiners. Aday said 39 are registered with the AMCC, with three pending, and 21 of the physicians have made medical cannabis recommendations to patients. Dispensary Locations: CCS of Alabama, LLC Montgomery, Bessemer and Talladega GP6 Wellness, LLC Birmingham, Athens and Attalla RJK Holdings, LLC Oxford, Daphne and Mobile Yellowhammer Medical Dispensary, LLC *pending license approval Birmingham, Owens Cross Roads and Demopolis “We’re certainly looking forward to more of these patients being able to get to that dispensary and seeing other dispensaries open that will provide more geographic coverage for them,” Aday said. “We’re working diligently with processors in the lab on new products that are being manufactured so that the dispensary can maintain an inventory of products and a variety of products in that inventory to serve the patients that are visiting them.” Litigation has also held up access to medical cannabis. Some firms sued the commission for not being awarded a license, citing a discriminatory process. Another case involved five parents that sued the commission over delays in access to cannabis, which was dismissed in August. Licenses for three of the four possible dispensary companies were not approved until December. Three of the companies, CCS of Alabama, LLC, GP6 Wellness, LLC, and RJK Holdings, LLC, have licenses and are expected to open their storefronts this summer, according to AMCC Director John McMillan. A fourth license is pending litigation, but is likely to go to Yellowhammer Medical Dispensaries, LLC. “I would do it again just to see the smile on these patients’ faces. Now, I would hope a little bit easier, but it’s been worth it,” Schilleci said. “It’s been worth it. There’s no doubt.” Courtesy of Alabama Reflector
	Parkander This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.It is hard to believe that this November, after forty-nine years of teaching English literature at Augustana College in…
	30,000 Idahoans had to drop health insurance from the state exchange this year. Why don’t we care? America is the richest country in the world right now. And we are pushing millions onto the healthcare cliff, writes guest columnist Dan Schmidt. (Photo by Getty Images)We’re making America “great” again, and I hope you are embracing these changes. I’ll skip over the deportations and go straight to healthcare, since that is, I believe, the weakness that will bring this nation to its knees. Most other countries have looked at this problem, had some hard discussions, and solved it. Most who have are just as “free,” “democratic,” and “first world” as us. America is the richest country in the world right now. And we are pushing millions onto the healthcare cliff. One false step, one bad disease, and you are bankrupt. How does this make us Great Again? After health insurance subsidies end, 30,000 Idahoans will be uninsured, government report says Let’s just look at Idaho; forget the national picture. About 30,000 Idahoans have decided to go bare. That’s the number of folks who have dropped out of the state health insurance exchange this year. They are willing to stand on the cliff without a rope. Let’s back up. The state exchange was created as part of the Affordable Care Act = ACA = Obamacare to get people affordable health insurance when they made more money than would allow them to qualify for Medicaid, which is health insurance for the REALLY poor. On the exchange, Idahoans could get federal income tax credits to help pay for their health insurance. But MAGA cut that. We’re not talking about Medicaid here. We’re talking about low-middle income folks — working, maybe self-employed, small business folks — who have decided they can’t afford health insurance. Is this making us GREAT? Again? The insurance companies understand the market. They know there will be billions of unpaid care given when the folks who chose to go bare fall off the cliff and are wheeled in. And the hospitals will shift the costs to those who do pay: the insured. So they have raised their rates. Can you see the connection? Most other countries see it. Why don’t we? If we have everybody in the pool, we all have to pay less. And we all receive the safety rope. And we aren’t out on the edge of the cliff. Medicaid is down there at the bottom, the very poor. Idaho is working as hard as it can to get as many of those “losers” kicked off coverage. Maybe you don’t think they are worthy. Then just go ahead and say it. The insurance companies, the small-town hospitals, they see this coming. Just one premature baby, one fall off a ladder and you lose your house — everything. Small aside here: Under the Medicaid “work requirements” bill passed by the Idaho Legislature, most legislators would not qualify for Medicaid, let alone the gold-plated health insurance us taxpayers pay for their benefit. Idaho Legislature passes bill for Medicaid expansion work requirements by 2027 The “good” old days, back when America was GREAT, people got sick. Maybe they got care, maybe they didn’t. According to our state attorney general, nobody died because they couldn’t access health care. Maybe you share his view. But I could tell you stories. How I cared for the uninsured. How I worked to make sure they got care. But then, did the hospital come after them? Did the medical claims attorneys file their claims? Did they lose their tools, their homes? Saving a life and destroying a livelihood. GREAT AGAIN? Does this make any sense to you? How can we be the richest country in the world and we aren’t willing to sit down and discuss this immense problem? Idahoans will suffer. Just a couple or a dozen or a hundred of those 30,000 without health insurance might slip off the precipice. They may die. That would be cheap. Shouldn’t we be all in this for them to live and recover to the best state of health that they can? Maybe you don’t think so. Maybe you think we should all be in this for ourselves. Our attorney general thinks so. Do you? I can tell you, our North Idaho Congressman Russ Fulcher would not be alive if he didn’t have good taxpayer funded health insurance. But he works diligently to make sure less of us have such access. The hypocrisy. Maybe that’s what we’ve come to. Just take what you can, and the rest of us be damned. Great Again. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX. Courtesy of Idaho Capital Sun
	Rocovich sues Gov. Spanberger after his ouster as Virginia Tech rector and more headlines The state Capitol. (Photo by Ned Oliver/Virginia Mercury) • “Rocovich sues Gov. Spanberger after his ouster as Virginia Tech rector.” — Cardinal News • “Virginia health officials ask for help slowing down measles spread.” — Charlottesville Tomorrow • “Warner warns of strain on Virginia families, federal workforce and power grid in wide-ranging update.” — The Alexandria Brief • “New policy limits Chromebook use for younger students in Virginia Beach.” — WTKR • “Virginia DMV celebrates 250,000 downloads for Mobile ID app near America’s 250th birthday commemoration.” — WAVY SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX. Courtesy of Virginia Mercury
	Which billionaire said they learned a 'significant lesson' this week? The quiz knows This week, Knicks fans had a big win after a big loss; fans of inflation were delighted and World Cup fans went broke. How will quiz fans fare?
	She waited decades for Scotland to make the World Cup. At 93, she'll be cheering in person Moira Brown, perhaps the oldest of Scotland's Tartan Army of soccer fans, will be in Boston when Scotland's team plays against Haiti on June 13. "I'm the luckiest person in this world," she says.
	How small-business loans got caught in Trump's immigration crackdown For decades, immigrants who are legal permanent residents in the U.S. could get loans through the Small Business Administration, a core pillar of small-business lending. Not anymore.
	Miss Wheelchair New Hampshire hopes her crown can help others the same way it helped her Nenia Ballard poses with her husband, Jeff, at a Boston Fleet game. She was attending the game as Miss Wheelchair New Hampshire, a title she won because of her social media advocacy. (Photo courtesy of Nenia Ballard)Today, Nenia Ballard is 2026’s Miss Wheelchair New Hampshire, but her early days using the chair were filled with shame. She stopped leaving the house. She didn’t want people to take her photo. She didn’t tell her own parents about the wheelchair for six months. “I had this thought in the back of my head that, like, maybe I’d get better before I had to tell people that I was using a wheelchair,” she said. “Maybe this was just a temporary thing, and if we could just get past it, nobody would have to know. It was this internalized shame and ableism that I had built up inside of me.” Ballard had been a police officer in Canaan for about a decade when she contracted COVID-19 in 2021. However, unlike most people infected by the virus, Ballard’s symptoms never seemed to go away. She has what doctors now understand to be long COVID, and her symptoms include intense brain fog, fatigue, and muscle weakness. In short, the condition leaves her feeling constantly drained. It got to the point where she quit her job because she didn’t have the energy to do it effectively or safely. She said leaving the house was a challenge and her husband was having to carry her upstairs. She spent years in various treatments, including occupational therapy. Long COVID is a newly discovered condition, and doctors around the world have struggled to understand and treat it. For Ballard, nothing worked and her symptoms worsened. Eventually, leaving the house became impossible because of how difficult it was to walk around, she said. One day her occupational therapist suggested she use a wheelchair. “And I was completely against it,” Ballard said. “I didn’t want anybody who knew me as the strong independent police officer to see me in a wheelchair because I thought that they would think less of me.” Ballard ultimately relented and began using the wheelchair, but for the first few months, she didn’t leave the house even though the wheelchair was giving her that ability for the first time in a long time. But eventually, she started to come to terms with it. She and her husband went to parks where she would only be around strangers to get comfortable in the chair. “I started having this slow acceptance of, like, this is actually helping,” she said. “I’m actually going places. And I was able to start going to my kids’ sporting events. I was able to start experiencing life again, and it finally clicked in my head: The whole reason I’m able to do these things is because of the wheelchair, not despite it.” And a big part of that acceptance came through advocacy she was able to do. “I didn’t actually set out to do advocacy,” she said. “I just saw a problem and saw something that I was dealing with, and didn’t see a lot of people talking about it, and I was just getting on and complaining.” Nenia Ballard, of Canaan, began using a wheelchair after being diagnosed with long COVID. She’s since been named Miss Wheelchair New Hampshire. (Photo courtesy of Nenia Ballard) One of the first things Ballard noticed when she started using a wheelchair was how different her clothes fit. Even her favorite outfits became difficult to wear. “The difference between those same exact outfits on someone who’s standing and someone who’s seated in a wheelchair was just night and day,” she said. “Things like the length of the clothes, because, especially with dresses and things like that, if it’s too long, it’ll get caught up in the front wheels. If it’s got too much volume, it can get caught up in the side wheels, both of those things can be dangerous. Also, the fit of the top. Someone like me, who is almost 6 feet tall when I was standing, I never really had to worry about if someone was looking down my shirt when I was standing. But when I’m seated and I’m in a conversation with someone who’s now towering over me, they can see directly down the top of my blouse or the top of my dress.” So Ballard started reviewing clothes on TikTok with a wheelchair user in mind, and through those reviews she found a community of wheelchair users to connect with. “I didn’t see it as advocacy,” she said. “Even though now looking back, and now that I’m doing it more regularly, I see that that’s what I am doing. But it’s not what I set out to do.” It was through those videos that she was discovered by Miss Wheelchair America, which was founded in 1972 to empower women “to lead as advocates for accessibility, inclusion, and disability rights.” “(They) reached out and said, ‘Hey, you’d make a really good candidate for this. Have you ever thought about it?’” Ballard said. So she applied and was crowned Miss Wheelchair New Hampshire. In August, Ballard will travel to Michigan for the national Miss Wheelchair America contest. There, she’ll attend workshops and training sessions on advocacy and participate in a contest to crown Miss Wheelchair America. Even if she doesn’t win the national contest, Ballard said having the title of Miss Wheelchair New Hampshire is “a crowning achievement for me.” “When I first was diagnosed and had to get to the point of using a wheelchair, I was in a low place,” she said. “I associated weakness with the chair and not the freedom that it gives me. It took probably a year and a half before I was really comfortable to just go out.” As Ballard sees it, becoming Miss Wheelchair New Hampshire and embracing the platform it gives her to encourage others, both those who use wheelchairs and those with long COVID, serves as a milestone in her journey. “And I have to give a lot of credit to that online community, the TikTok, the social medias, all of those things,” she said. “There’s a lot of other people who have gone through that and experienced that, and just through kind of connecting with some of those people and hearing some of those stories, I was able to overcome and see that it’s not the wheelchair that makes me a weak person, it’s my own mind that’s making me weak.” Still, Ballard acknowledges it was “not an overnight switch.” The Boston Fleet, a founding franchise in the Professional Women’s Hockey League, shared a photo of Nenia Ballard on their Instagram. (screenshot) “There were moments where I went out, and I felt like people were looking over my head, and people that knew me made eye contact and then didn’t approach me,” she said. “I definitely had some setbacks where I had made progress, and then that was the thing that sent me back home crying, but slowly I realized that if it wasn’t for the wheelchair, I would be spending all day, every day in bed, and I wouldn’t be experiencing anything.” Ballard is the first ever contestant in Miss Wheelchair America who uses a wheelchair because of long COVID, which presents a fresh opportunity to educate. “I feel like people still don’t really know what to think because their experience with COVID is not my experience with COVID, and they didn’t need a wheelchair. They can’t rectify it in their brain,” she said. “They can’t figure out why, for them, all it was was a cold, and for me I would need a wheelchair, so there must be some level of I’m faking it or I’m lying or I’m just a very dramatic hypochondriac person that is just like looking for attention. What they don’t realize is like nobody would go this far with the ruse.” As Miss Wheelchair New Hampshire, Ballard travels across New England through public events. She hopes she can build understanding through those events. She attended a Boston Fleet hockey game representing the organization and wearing her sash this past season. The team put her on the Jumbotron and spoke about her advocacy. She said a woman came up to her between periods to tell her about her own son who was just diagnosed with long COVID. The woman was encouraged to hear that Ballard was eventually able to get out of the house again. “She said she called him right away to tell him that I was there,” Ballard said. “To just hear that, and to hear that there are people that need that representation. I was like, ‘OK I did the right thing, like, I’m glad that I’m doing this.’” Courtesy of New Hampshire Bulletin
	Toddler, mom living at Indiana Women’s Prison prepare for life on the outside Ashley Dumas holds her son Jensen inside the Indiana Women’s Prison maternal child health unit Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (Photo by Jack Forrest/Indiana Capital Chronicle)Inside a unit of the maximum-security Indiana Women’s Prison, not-quite-3-year-old Jensen has picked up the routine. Attached at his hip, literally, are a set of colorful, plastic keys. He’ll insert the toy into the crack of doors in an attempt to lock them. When they get stuck, he calls out for a sergeant — what officers do when real keys are jammed. He’ll try to snatch them out of the pockets of unsuspecting visitors. He also has a toy radio. Nobody is a stranger to Jensen; he knows one officer as “Grandma Williams.” When it’s count time — a sort of prison roll call — he helps shoo women out of the day room. “He’s a little bit institutionalized,” his mother, Ashley Dumas, said. Between watching Elmo and potty training, this is home for him. Dumas, 33, is in the final weeks of a three-year sentence. Her son is one of the facility’s youngest residents. But he’s also the oldest child to ever stay in the prison’s Breann Leath Maternal Child Health Unit, an area set aside for qualifying pregnant inmates that allows them to keep and live with their child while incarcerated. Jensen plays with keys at an entrance to the Breann Leath Maternal Child Health Unit on Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (Photo by Jack Forrest/Indiana Capital Chronicle) The unit, started in 2008, can house up to 26 mother-and-child pairs, its website states. It had 10 babies and moms in early June, according to the Department of Correction, plus some additional pregnant women. Soon, it’ll have its first set of twins. Not all mothers-to-be are eligible. Some violent or sex crimes can disqualify inmates. They must be pregnant when they come to the prison and typically have a projected release date 30 months or less after their due date. The program is meant to encourage bonds between mothers and children, who otherwise would have to be separated or given up. It also seeks to prevent participants from returning to prison, with IDOC reporting a low recidivism rate for the program. Dumas credits Jensen for keeping her out of trouble during her time there. The unit was renamed in 2020 after Breann Leath, a former officer there who was later shot and killed when responding to a domestic disturbance with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department. Leath has many of the hallmarks of a daycare. There’s a nursery. An on-site clinic. A giraffe-shaped height chart. A “Toddler Town.” Food and formula. Baby-proofed outlets. Jensen’s artwork hangs on the wall. The unit collectively goes through about 500 diapers a week, Dumas estimates. The unit runs on donations. Approved women incarcerated outside Leath serve as nannies. Maternal-child healthcare coordinator Devon Gregory said staff includes a case manager, nurse and, at all hours, an officer. Many of the women and children inside have gotten close. They often babysit by committee when others are out for work or dinner. Jensen has made several friends who’ll be at his next birthday party — this time, on the outside. Dumas thought she wouldn’t get to keep Jensen because of her criminal history dealing methamphetamine. She’s spent much of the past 11 years incarcerated, she said, with her current sentence coming after she “cut (her) bracelet and ran” during work release. Ashley Dumas stands inside the diaper room of the Breann Leath Maternal Child Health Unit on Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (Photo by Jack Forrest/Indiana Capital Chronicle) Dumas has three other children. Her oldest two live out of state, and she hasn’t seen them since first being incarcerated. After returning to prison, she had to give her third up for adoption. Even at the hospital, giving birth to Jensen, she worried she’d be made to give him up. She learned she would be behind bars slightly longer than 30 months after Jensen’s birth, but the prison made an exception to allow them to stay since she is set to be released in July. The boy has spent his life with her in the unit. They share a room where he has toys and a crib. He’s gone on field trips without her to the zoo and museum. He said his first word here — “banana” — and took his first steps. He celebrated birthdays and Christmases. Dumas has come to see her son as her best friend. “He’s kind of like my other half,” she said. She’s also learned things about being a mom she wouldn’t have outside the unit because of training through the program, she said. “There’s this misconception that if you’re in prison you shouldn’t be able to have a child,” Dumas said. “And we’re just like everybody else.” An astronaut drawing hangs above Jensen’s crib Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (Photo by Jack Forrest/Indiana Capital Chronicle) After they’re released, they’ll live with Jensen’s grandmother, she said. Dumas is preparing Jensen for life on the outside. He doesn’t know a stove is hot. He has no concept of stranger danger and isn’t familiar with large bath tubs. Dumas has tried to explain to him “there’s not going to be any officers, and no count times, no locked doors,” she said. She’s looking forward to showing him a real kitchen and living room or a Walmart: “normal places.” She also hopes looking back on this part of his life, and his mom’s time in prison, keeps him away from it. In the moments after he was born, Dumas told nurses one day he’d be an astronaut. He was an astronaut for Halloween one year, and Buzz Lightyear another. A drawing of an astronaut hangs above his crib. This year, Dumas said, he’ll probably be Elmo. Though when Jensen leaves, Gregory said, the unit plans to get him an officer’s uniform costume and keys. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX. Courtesy of Indiana Capital Chronicle
	Frozen pizza product sold in Iowa, other states recalled: FDA It is a Class II recall, meaning that consuming the product may temporarily cause adverse health consequences.
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	Cook review: 'Power Ballad' will make your heart sing "Power Ballad" is one of those movies that has the ability to touch your heart as much as your favorite song does. Director Jim Carney must love music as much as I do, and that's one reason I love his films so much. (If you haven't seen "Once" or "Sing Street," you really should.) Our [...]
	‘Holding our breath’: Uncertainty about World Cup crowd sizes trickles down to Kansas watch parties The Scheels Soccer Complex in Overland Park will host a World Cup watch party along with many other locations in the Kansas City metropolitan area — but the community appetite for such events remains uncertain. (Photo by Eric Thomas for Kansas Reflector)Like an elaborate wedding, a surprise birthday party or a Fourth of July barbecue, the World Cup has Kansas City and its Kansas suburbs wondering about crowd sizes. What if no one shows up? Like nervous hosts, municipal and private event planners aren’t quite sure what to expect, particularly for watch parties where locals will gather to watch the matches, often at free outdoor venues with hundreds of other fans. What if everyone shows up? Uncertainty about watch party crowd sizes is inevitable. Kansas City has never hosted World Cup matches, 32 years have elapsed since the United States last hosted the event and soccer culture here has changed drastically in the meantime. How many people will come? SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX. In a January study, the Visit KC tourism group estimated the number of World Cup visitors to the Kansas City metropolitan area at 650,000. That estimate was touted by KC2026, the local World Cup organizing committee. Since January, however, current events (along with press scrutiny of that 650,000 visitor figure) have created a roller coaster of crowd expectations. Globally, high fuel costs have driven up travel prices, making a World Cup trip from abroad much more expensive. From Washington, D.C., immigration policies have likely discouraged international visitors. From FIFA, inflated ticket prices and the cancellation of tens of thousands of room nights has wounded local hotel occupancy. In Kansas, we will soon see how many local folks are enthusiastic enough soccer fans to attend an outdoor summer watch party. On this shifting ground, how do you plan a watch party — or really any Kansas City World Cup event? According to four folks behind local watch parties, you overprepare. “I’d rather overplan,” said Krystal McFeders, director of strategic communications for the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kansas. She echoed the sentiment I heard from each event organizer: “It’s basically been all hands on deck for people (working for) the city.” The region will host dozens of watch parties over the tournament’s 104 matches. I spoke with four watch party organizers to see how they are handling the uncertainty: In Kansas City, Kansas, the unified government plans at least eight watch parties inside Memorial Hall, often paired with community festivals outside, and all of it branded as “Kick It In KCK.” At the stadium home of Sporting Kansas City, fans can watch up to four matches in one day. The club plans to host 10 days of watch parties. Admission is free, but parking requires payment. In Overland Park, watch party events will travel through the city during the tournament, including events in old downtown and the sprawling Scheels Soccer Complex further south. In Leawood, a shopping district will become a June 16 watch party with four screens televising the first game in Kansas City: Algeria v. Argentina. All of these are in addition to the flagship FIFA Fan Festival hosted on the Missouri side at Liberty Memorial in Kansas City — and scattered private events. The watch party organizers I interviewed described largely similar events. Residents and visitors will find giant screens, food and drink vendors and activities, such as soccer skills challenges, local artist collaborations and fun for children. Each of the four watch party events allow for free general admission. In short, imagine a summer community festival smooshed together with World Cup enthusiasm. Organizers are divided on whether to ask attendees to register for the watch parties. Sporting Kansas City and Overland Park requires registration, a process that they say helps them project attendance. Watch parties at Sporting Park for the early matches have drawn 3,000 registrations each, according to Alesia Lawson, the senior director for Argyle Events & Experience. For the first Overland Park event, the city has registered a few hundred people, although visitors can also register when they arrive on the day of the event. “We are erring on the side of planning a little more than we might actually get,” said Meg Ralph, director of strategic communication for Overland Park. “What’s the worst case scenario? You have a couple thousand people, and they don’t have to wait in line for the face painter or to play a game. That seems OK versus the alternative, which is where you don’t have enough people to control crowds or you have problems in terms of safety with too many people being there.” To help crowd estimates, Beth Breitenstein, strategic communications director for Leawood, said the city has been tracking airport metrics and other numbers since the announcement was made that Kansas City would be a host city. Doing so helps the city plan not just for the watch party, but for other city services. “We certainly haven’t been living under a rock,” Breitenstein said. “We keep our eye on what the numbers are saying. We have our eye on that for many reasons, beyond, ‘Can we fill our events?’ … Whether it’s 650K (visitors) in the region or it’s 300K in the region, I feel we’re very ready for all scenarios.” Breitenstein said the city doesn’t have a stated goal for attendance at the city’s watch party. “I think we just remain optimistic,” Breitenstein said. “Our focus is on really creating a great and safe experience for our attendees. At the end of the day, that’s how we’re measuring success.” McFeders of the Unified Government said that accurate crowd estimates help municipalities plan resources like emergency management surrounding an event. “It has been interesting,” McFeders said about the moving target of crowd metrics. “That’s the only adjective I can kind of give. We kind of went off of all of the information that we were given initially.” With those estimates in hand, McFeders said that overplanning seemed safer. “Now, as things are coming into play and we are one day out from that very first match, we see things have somewhat shifted,” McFeders said Wednesday. “We were kind of working off of a target. We were kind of going blind.” The watch parties at Sporting Park are the most elaborate, relying on a new permanent stage in a renovated plaza outside the soccer club’s stadium. The team’s events will feature live music, mural painting and mascot appearances. Lawson said that working for a sports team means routinely ramping up and down staffing for events. Even so, the World Cup presents challenges. “We’re all making our best guesses, but we’re also all kind of holding our breath to see what happens,” Lawson said. With so many local events seeking event staffing during the World Cup, she said, the club needs to staff as accurately as it can in advance. Employees “might have another gig that they need to go to,” Lawson said. “So we’ve really had to make some educated guesses. … We work with some really smart people who are able to use data to give us some good projections of what to expect and where to go, but it’s certainly tough.” As the first Kansas City match approaches Tuesday, it is clear that FIFA, VisitKC and KC2026 could have relayed more realistic visitor numbers. Nevertheless, uncertainty is baked into any ambitious event. Given the uncertainty, watch party organizers are overplanning, the default midwestern hospitality approach. “It’s always an exciting thing to bring new people in and show people regionally and potentially internationally who we are as a city — that we are a destination and not a flyover country,” Breitenstein said. If that means overdelivering — why not hire a few more face painters? — then they probably will. Eric Thomas teaches visual journalism and photojournalism at the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. Through its opinion section, Kansas Reflector works to amplify the voices of people who are affected by public policies or excluded from public debate. Find information, including how to submit your own commentary, here. Courtesy of Kansas Reflector
	Detroit police look at expanding gunshot detection technology into downtown, southwest A Detroit Police Department employee in the Real Time Crime Center examines live monitoring, including a map of ShotSpotter alerts. Nov. 24, 2025. \| Photo by Katherine Dailey/Michigan Advance. In a May 18 meeting of the Detroit City Council’s Public Health and Safety Standing Committee, Detroit Police Chief Todd Bettison told council members that a proposed extension to the city’s current contract for the gunshot detection technology ShotSpotter would not include an expansion to the geographic scope of the technology. That is true for the proposal currently on the table — but that extension is limited to only nine months as the city explores other options for which company to contract with for similar technology, Bettison explained. A Request for Proposal, or RFP, was issued on Feb. 16 by the city’s Office of Contracting and Procurement. It closed on March 31 with three bids: SoundThinking, which owns ShotSpotter, as well as Eagle Protection Agency and Motorola Solutions. More notably in that RFP is the intention to expand ShotSpotter into two new police precincts, 3 and 7, as well as an increased portion of precinct 4 — which together cover neighborhoods including the city’s downtown and southwest. Bettison did not mention the planned geographic expansion of gunshot detection technology to the committee in his testimony, nor did any other representative from the police department in two separate hearings about the nine-month extension. “The expansion zones seem to correlate with Precinct zones 3, 4 & 7,” a question on the Office of Contracting and Procurement’s bid opportunities portal notes, though the specific maps referenced are not visible to the public. The Request for Proposal includes a required pilot from the chosen vendor in two scout car areas — one directly downtown, and another near Gratiot Woods. “The City mandates a live pilot deployment within the 3rd and 7th Precincts,” a response to public Q&A for the RFP states. “Vendors shall implement the pilot in the specified areas, identified as Area 312 and Area 705.” Specifics contained within the documents for the RFP are not publicly available, though the Michigan Advance has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to gain access to those documents, which include maps of the intended expansion. The Detroit Police Department did not respond to multiple requests for comment on the proposed expansion via email, web form and text. However, publicly available Q&A responses note, in response to a question about portions of the expansion zones that border the Detroit River, that “The defined boundaries are fixed and not subject to change. Vendors must develop and propose a solution that provides gunshot detection coverage for the specified areas as provided.” “When asked about geographic expansion under the current contract, DPD stated there would be none,” a spokesperson for the office of Council Member Gabriela Santiago-Romero, who chairs the Public Health and Safety committee and whose district includes part of the potential expansion, wrote in a statement. “Regarding the proposed new long-term contract extension, the Council Member plans to ask DPD how any changes, including geographic expansion, would help prevent crime and will evaluate any future proposals based on demonstrated effectiveness.” ShotSpotter coverage as shown in a 2025 presentation by Detroit Police The current ask — over $2 million to extend its contract with ShotSpotter for the gunshot detection technology for nine months while these proposals are evaluated — has stirred up questions from city council members and community organizers about privacy and surveillance concerns, as well as the steep price tag for the technology, though police leaders have continued to emphasize its importance as an investigative tool for the department. That extension remains in the Public Health and Safety committee for the city council, and as of the committee’s meeting on Monday morning, will continue to be discussed at the June 22 meeting. The current contract expires on June 30. It’s unclear from public documents what the price tag would be on a new contract, whether that be a continued contract with SoundThinking or a new company, but with an expanded geographic scope, the cost to the city — already a point of contention raised by council members and community advocates alike — may increase as well. Currently, according to Detroit Police Department information, ShotSpotter covers approximately 39 square miles across the city. Pilot locations would add 2.24 square miles to the coverage area across precincts 3 and 7, and four additional scout car areas directly referenced in the Q&A would add at least another 4.28 square miles. Courtesy of Michigan Advance
	Final rules for Medicaid work requirements are out. Here’s what you need to know. A man gets a checkup at the Saint Agnes Mobile Health Unit mobile clinic parked at the City Heritage Park in Parlier, California. (Photo by Larry Valenzuela, CalMatters/CatchLight Local)The Trump administration has issued final rules on how states should ensure that millions of Medicaid enrollees prove they’re working or completing other activities, such as job training, volunteering, or being enrolled in an educational program. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released the rules on June 1. That deadline was set last year in the GOP tax-and-spending law known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which established a work requirement for certain people enrolled in Medicaid, the state-federal health insurance program for people with low incomes or disabilities. Medicaid agencies are scrambling to rework IT systems and make sure they have staff to effectively enforce the rules, while also keeping enrollees from losing coverage for administrative reasons, such as difficulty navigating state eligibility portals. The newly announced regulations offer a clearer picture of what roughly 18.5 million Medicaid enrollees will have to do to prove they qualify for benefits. Jim Torres, who helps people enroll in health coverage at the Samuel U. Rodgers Health Center in Kansas City, Missouri, said a “very small percentage” of his clients have heard of the changes coming to Medicaid. “These folks have very busy lives. They’re doing the best they can to get by,” he said. “It’s just not a top-of-mind thing for most of them.” Health policy researchers and consumer advocates said enrollees should keep a few things in mind as the Jan. 1, 2027, rollout approaches in most states. 1. The Work Rules Won’t Apply to Everyone. The new rules will apply to people covered through what’s known as Medicaid expansion. Since 2014, more than 40 states and the District of Columbia have decided to allow more people into their Medicaid programs, generally low-income adults without dependents. Georgia and Wisconsin offer coverage to some people in this group, so they’ll be subject to the rules. Children and pregnant people, as well as individuals with disabilities who receive Social Security payments — all groups that already qualify for Medicaid — won’t be subject to the rules. Nor will people determined to be “medically frail,” or too sick to work. People subject to the work rules are “crowding out” people in the Medicaid program who are “truly in need,” CMS Director Mehmet Oz claimed during a June 1 press call. “Work requirements are going to turn this around, we hope.” The rules are set to take effect in most places in January. Nebraska started enforcing them in May. Montana plans to start in July but won’t kick people off until October. Arkansas will do a “soft” launch in July — it will start enforcing the rules but with no penalties until next year. 2. States Will Take Your Word That You’re Too Sick To Work. For Now. Federal officials have stressed that states should make the process of reporting hours and requesting exemptions as simple as possible for Medicaid enrollees by creating automated systems and using existing data sources, such as unemployment and education records. If states cannot determine you’re performing 80 hours of qualifying activities a month using those data sources, you may be allowed to “self-attest” to that in 2027, health policy researchers said. People will also be allowed to “self-attest” that they are too sick to work in 2027, and do so one time in 2028. Then states will start asking for proof, if they can’t find it through available data. But after the initial rollout, the burden of proof is likely to still fall on many enrollees, said researchers and consumer advocates. People may need to dig up pay stubs, medical records, and doctors’ notes and submit them for state review, said Morgan Henderson, who has studied Medicaid work programs in Georgia and Arkansas at The Hilltop Institute, a research center at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County. “The higher this manual reporting burden, the less people are going to do it,” he said. “That means that we’re going to see coverage drop-offs.” 3. The Rules Are Tougher Than Expected for People Too Sick To Work. One of CMS’ primary goals has been to “protect vulnerable populations” through “strong exemptions to make sure people who can’t reasonably be expected to work are not subject to the requirements,” Dan Brillman, a deputy administrator at the agency, said during the June 1 press call. Consumer and patient advocates, however, said the final rules’ exemptions are more restrictive than expected. Enrollees will eventually have to provide documentation, such as a statement from a medical professional, to prove that a health condition keeps them from working. And each individual state will have to determine the severity of beneficiaries’ medical conditions. “Someone could be medically frail in Nebraska but not medically frail in Delaware,” said Carolyn Sheridan, associate director of state policy for the National Organization for Rare Disorders, which lobbies for patients with rare diseases. She said her group had hoped the rules would offer a standardized definition of who counted as medically frail and not leave the decision up to states. Trump administration officials have publicly crusaded against fraud in government health programs, such as Medicaid, and states could face financial penalties for incorrectly granting people exemptions from the work rules, said Jennifer Tolbert, who researches Medicaid at KFF, a health information nonprofit that includes KFF Health News. “States may be more cautious,” she said. “That will likely lead to people losing coverage who may still be eligible.” 4. Only Certain Qualifying Activities Count. Enrollees can satisfy the rules by working 80 hours a month. They can also be enrolled in college courses, volunteer through a community organization, or do “in-kind” work that doesn’t result in pay. The rules set out, in detail, how many academic credit hours translate to 80 hours a month — students need to be enrolled in six credit hours per semester to meet the “half-time” requirement. An unpaid internship can count toward the 80 hours. People can also prove they’re volunteering with “a document from a community service organization.” Consumer advocates say it might be hard for people to obtain proof they’re performing these kinds of informal activities. But supporters of the rules say volunteerism can already be tracked. “If you run into trouble with the law and the judge says, ‘Hey, you need some volunteering and community service to serve your time,’ there are already ways that we verify that,” said Niklas Kleinworth, who works on state health policy for the conservative Paragon Institute. 5. You Have Time To Prepare. Make sure your state Medicaid agency has your current mailing address and keep your eye on your mailbox, said researchers and consumer advocates. State Medicaid agencies must inform you in two ways if you’ll be subject to the rules — by either regular mail or email, and by one other form of communication, such as a text or phone call or by posting a notice online. “The important stuff comes by mail,” Henderson said. And check in with your state Medicaid agency, said researchers and advocates. Some states, including Arkansas, California, and Wisconsin, have already posted information about the work rules on their websites. If you can’t find what you’re looking for there, visit or call a local office. A caseworker should be able to tell you whether you’ll be subject to the rules. “Get ahead of this,” said Joan Alker, who is executive director of the Georgetown University Center for Children and Families and studies Medicaid. “So that you don’t end up going to the pharmacy one day and they say ‘Oh, you’re not insured anymore’ when you’re trying to get your prescriptions refilled.” KFF Health News correspondent Samantha Liss and senior correspondent Rachana Pradhan contributed to this report. Have you tried to prove your eligibility for Medicaid under new rules that require people to show they are working, going to school, or participating in another qualifying activity? Click here to contact KFF Health News. KFF Health News is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF — the independent source for health policy research, polling, and journalism. Courtesy of Wisconsin Examiner
	Ohio doctors push back against 24-hour abortion waiting period proposal (Photo illustration by Natalie Behring/Getty Images)Ohio doctors asked lawmakers this week to back off of a bill that would require a 24-hour wait before abortion procedures. In a hearing before the Ohio Senate Health Committee, physicians emphasized the informed consent that’s already part of the standard of care under they were trained to use. They said Ohio House Bill 347 not only bars patients from getting timely care, but creates disparate treatment for those who treat individuals who can get pregnant. “Requiring physicians who perform abortions to do this, without similar requirements for all other procedures, is discriminatory and frankly, it is patronizing to people seeking abortion that they would need extra rules and time to decide about abortion,” said Dr. Elise Berlan, an Ohio physician who treats pediatric and adolescent patients. Berlan and other opponents of the bill spoke at the last expected hearing of the committee before legislators head for a break that may last until after the November election. The committee didn’t vote to advance the bill before the break, but heard from several Ohioans about their feelings on the bill. Ohio House Republican lawmakers passed H.B. 347 along party lines in March. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX. Abortions rights advocates who spoke in the most recent hearing gave similar arguments to those in previous hearings when the bill passed the House. They criticized the bill for not only being unnecessary, but also in conflict with a 2023 amendment to the Ohio Constitution that established rights to abortion and other reproductive health issues. H.B. 347 would establish a requirement in Ohio law that physicians meet with patients 24-hours before an abortion procedure, which sponsors and supporters of the bill said allows patients to receive and reflect on needed information about risks and methods of abortion procedures. A 24-hour abortion care waiting period has been in state law before, but a Franklin County court called off enforcement of the law until a lawsuit has been completed. In pausing enforcement, Judge David C. Young cited the constitutional amendment passed by voters as part of his ruling. Dr. Annalise Celano, a family medicine resident physician, said informed consent is already a “critical, and heavily mandated, piece of all medical care.” “Informed consent ensures that our patients know the benefits and risks of any procedure or medication indicated, enabling autonomy and empowerment for the patient to make the best healthcare decisions for their lives,” Celano told the committee. The doctor said the 24-hour waiting period could create more barriers to care, and having physicians provide state-mandated information, including information about abortion “reversal” that she and Berlan said has been debunked in multiple medical studies, would not help her empower her patients. “H.B. 347 would be legally forcing me to coerce my patients into doing what state legislators want them to do, not what is best for them and their family,” Celano said. Unlike decisions such as which antibiotic to use for an infection or a particular inhaler to be used for asthma, reproductive health decisions are “highly sensitive to patients’ priorities and values,” Berlan said. However, the same delays that are included in H.B. 347 aren’t being considered for other procedures, like vasectomies. “Having worked in urology for a number of years prior to medical school, I saw the consent process for (vasectomies) quite a few times,” Celano said. “I can assure you that nowhere in the process of consent was there counseling on anxiety, depression, or PTSD.” The bill has until the end of the year to come up for a vote before it would need to be reintroduced as new legislation in the next General Assembly. Committee chair state Sen. Steve Huffman, R-Tipp City, said “unless something extraordinary comes up,” he does not plan to hold another committee until after the legislature’s break, “most likely in November.” SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Courtesy of Ohio Capital Journal
	Our QC Cime Watch: Tragedy in Muscatine with murder-suicide incident: Episode 69 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: To view, click the video above or watch on-the-go on Spotify. The QC Crime Watch Podcast \| Pod
	Kennedy Center board seeks pause of ruling ordering removal of Trump's name President Trump's board at the Kennedy Center is mounting a last-minute effort to keep his name on the facade of the performing arts facility before a court-ordered deadline to remove it by Friday.

Friday, June 12th, 2026