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

Friday, June 12th, 2026
	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.
	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 [...]
	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.
	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."
	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.
	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.
	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.
	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.
	Trump says Lahn is ‘much more Trump’ than Feenstra following GOP gubernatorial primary President Trump said he was misled into endorsing Randy Feenstra over Zach Lahn in the Iowa GOP governor primary, calling Lahn "much more Trump" .
	It's SpaceX's first day on the stock market The initial public offering from the rocket and AI company raised some $75 billion, making the company one of the biggest in the world — and likely making Elon Musk a trillionaire.
	Spielberg returns to familiar alien territory in 'Disclosure Day' Spielberg's new thriller centers on a massive U.S. conspiracy to hide the fact that aliens have been visiting Earth for decades. If anything, though, the movie's pleasures feel more retro than timely.
	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 [...]
	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.
	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' [...]
	'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…
	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.
	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.
	Want a better skin care routine? Sign up for our one-week guide Spending too much time and money on skin care? Find out what really works to improve skin health and appearance with our one-week newsletter guide. Sign up here.
	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 [...]
	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.
	Ousted South Korean President Yoon given prison term for drone flights over Pyongyang South Korea's ousted President Yoon Suk Yeol and his former defense minister were sentenced to 30 years in prison Friday in a case alleging Yoon ordered drone flights over Pyongyang in 2024 to heighten tensions with North Korea and justify declaring martial law at home.
	Coffeemakers sold at Walmart, Amazon recalled after user burns You should stop using the product immediately.
Thursday, June 11th, 2026
	Olivia Rodrigo, pop princess of vengeful angst, tries her hand at love songs Ditching the punchy pop punk of Guts to play with a soft '80s pop and New Wave-indebted sound, her new LP is about the life cycle of her first "real, big girl" relationship. The result is bittersweet.
	President Trump is taking aim at forest and wildfire research just as the West is poised to burn President Trump is trying to downsize the U.S Forest Service and eliminate wildfire and smoke research as the American West is facing a potentially epic summer fire season.
	Illinois State Police ask for help in 2018 death investigation The Illinois State Police is asking the community for information regarding the 2018 death of Tyler Smith.
	Pay It Forward: Galesburg instructor fights obstacles, motivates those with Parkinson's John Peterson was presented with the WQAD and Ascentra Credit Union Pay It Forward award for his unwavering sacrifice and care for others in the community.
	KENT WORLDWIDE dedicates World’s Best Cat Litter manufacturing plant KENT WORLDWIDE dedicated its new manufacturing plant in Muscatine to produce World’s Best Cat Litter. Muscatine city leaders joined KENT employees to unveil the 174,000-square-foot facility equipped with state-of-the-art manufacturing equipment to help with the growing demand for corn-based litter products. The project has been in the works for about five years. The plant will [...]
	QC adoptive parents arrested: Biological mom speaks out A Clinton woman wonders what she can do after a couple who adopted her biological children are accused of abusing one of them. The adoptive parents from Davenport are charged with child endangerment, among other charges. Police say one of the children wound up severely malnourished after being locked alone in a room. Now Katarina [...]
	The Heart of the Story: Not an everyday fish tale Our Quad Cities News is partnering with award-winning journalist Gary Metivier for The Heart of the Story. Each week, Gary showcases inspiring stories of everyday people doing cool stuff, enjoying their hobbies and living life to the fullest. Stories that feature the best of the human condition. He grew up fishing in creeks in Illinois, [...]
	Supreme Court prohibits Alabama from using nitrogen gas for execution Because of the ruling, Jeffrey Lee's execution will be delayed. He still faces the death penalty.
	Davenport mayor delivers first State of the City address Davenport Mayor Jason Gordon delivered his first State of the City address on Thursday.
	Planned Parenthood sues to overturn Alaska ban on telehealth abortion services Abortion pills and drinking water are seen in an undated photo. Alaska's constitutional privacy and equal protection guarantees give residents the right to get abortion medication prescriptions and related services through telehealth, argues a lawsuit filed Thrusday in state Superior Court. (Photo by Peter Dazeley/Getty Images)Abortion-rights advocates filed a lawsuit in Alaska Superior Court on Thursday to overturn a state ban on telehealth for abortion services. The lawsuit was filed in Anchorage by Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawaiʻi, Alaska, Indiana and Kentucky. It targets an element of state law that requires patients receiving abortion services to be treated on-site in hospitals or other facilities approved by the Alaska Department of Health or in federal government hospitals. That requirement bars the use of telehealth for the prescription of abortion-inducing medicine, which advocates say is a breach of the Alaska constitution’s guarantees of privacy and equal protection. Alaskans are allowed to use telehealth for numerous other medical services, so the ban on its use for abortion services violates patients’ rights to equal protection, the lawsuit argues. Past court rulings have confirmed that Alaskans have the right to abortion under the state constitution’s privacy provisions, but the telehealth ban compromises privacy rights by taking away the option for medical abortions at home, which many patients prefer, the lawsuit also argues. In Alaska, where a significant percentage of the residents live off any connected road system, the telehealth ban is particularly onerous, the lawsuit says. “Planned Parenthood’s patients often must travel significant distances to have an abortion in Anchorage or Fairbanks, sometimes at great expense and difficulty, including due to weather conditions,” the lawsuit says. Filed with the lawsuit was a motion for an injunction barring enforcement of the telehealth ban while the case is pending. “The restriction creates unnecessary barriers that fall hardest on people in rural and remote communities, survivors of violence, and those already facing economic hardship — sometimes barring patients from care entirely. Simply put, this telehealth ban is yet another unnecessary barrier to abortion access, and Alaskans deserve better,” Rebecca Gibron, president of Planned Parenthood Great Northwest, Hawaiʻi, Alaska, Indiana and Kentucky, said in a statement. The Alaska Department of Law was not prepared to comment Thursday on the new Planned Parenthood arguments, said Acting Attorney General Cori Mills. “We will have to review the complaint and have no comment on the specific allegations. As a general matter, the department will defend the law, which carries a presumption of constitutionality and represents state policy validly enacted by the legislature and the governor,” she said by email. The lawsuit comes at a time when a legal battle is being waged nationally over access to mifepristone, a medicine commonly used to induce abortions. Some states are seeking to outlaw use of mifepristone, though Alaska is not among them. Planned Parenthood has already won a related case at the Superior Court level with the same arguments about the state constitution’s privacy and equal protection guarantees. In that case, Superior Court Judge Josie Garton in 2024 struck down a portion of state law that allowed only licensed physicians to perform abortions. The ruling broadened the availability of abortion services, allowing advanced practice clinicians – such as nurse practitioners, physician assistants and certified nurse midwives – to provide the services. Garton had issued an injunction in 2021 that allowed advanced practice clinicians to perform abortions, temporarily blocking enforcement of the physician-only rule while the case played out. The state appealed Garton’s ruling, and the Alaska Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case in October. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Courtesy of Alaska Beacon
	Jo Daviess County revises disaster response plans Emergency managers in Jo Daviess County are revising disaster response plans. Managers are updating the county's hazard mitigation plan this year. The Jo Daviess County Emergency Management Agency oversees the county's readiness to respond to natural and manmade threats. The Jo Daviess County Hazard Mitigation Planning Committee is made up of representatives from the county's [...]
	Rhode Island lawmakers move at lightning speed on last night of session Rep. Brian Newberry, a North Smithfield Republican, takes a breather on the House floor during the final day of session on Thursday, June 11, 2026. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current)With controversial topics like charter schools and sex abuse claims against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Providence already decided — or preemptively killed in the case of a state Voting Rights Act — lawmakers whipped through the final day of the 2026 legislative session with unusual speed and agreement. The initial calendars concluded by 6:30 p.m., though there may be more action following Senate committee gatherings later Thursday night. The final session focused on the ceremonial approval by which one chamber rubber stamps the other’s identical bill, a process known as concurrence. The lack of fiery debate contrasted with the steamy temperatures in the airless State House, inspiring Senate Majority Leader Frank Ciccone to replace his usual business attire with a pair of shorts for a second year in a row. More in vogue than Ciccone’s fashion choices are measures that respond to and protect state residents from federal overreach, including restricting immigration authorities at state courts and polling places. No new charter schools for the next three years A three-year moratorium on new charter schools received final affirmation by a 30-6 vote from the Senate Thursday night, sending the legislation to Gov. Dan McKee’s desk. The teachers union-backed bill has two parts: blocking new charter school approvals for three years and reducing the statewide cap on charter schools from 35 to 28. Whether the embattled governor facing a tough reelection path will agree to both those provisions remains in question. McKee’s office said Thursday he was still reviewing the bill. During an unrelated event Wednesday, he told reporters he was fine with the moratorium, but uncertain about reducing the cap. Still, the moratorium — which proponents have called temporary, and which opponents have described as more permanent than it might appear on its surface — did not exit the General Assembly without one more attempt to corral the legislation. Senate Minority Leader Jessica de la Cruz, a North Smithfild Republican, rises to introduce an ultimately unsuccessful amendment that would allow the opening of De La Comunidad Bilingual Charter School. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) Senate Minority Leader Jessica de la Cruz introduced a floor amendment which attempted to tweak the bill to allow the opening of De La Comunidad Bilingual Charter School, a school that received preliminary approval from the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education in January. The planned K-12 dual-language charter school would serve students from Providence, Pawtucket and Cranston, but without final approval, it is ineligible for a Senate carveout added last week for charter school openings and expansions that have received the final OK. “This amendment is about fairness, it’s about good governing, it’s about honoring the process that existed when the application was submitted,” de la Cruz, a North Smithfield Republican, said. “The state told them, ‘Continue,’ the state encouraged them to invest, and then at the eleventh hour pulled the rug out from underneath 600 students and families without warning,” de la Cruz added. Sen. Melissa Murray, the Woonsocket Democrat who sponsored the Senate moratorium bill, told her colleagues to reject the amendment. “Preliminary approval is just that, it is preliminary,” Murray said, The amendment still garnered 15 votes of support from progressives and Republicans, who were outnumbered by the centrist Democratic majority. The Rhode Island House of Representatives on the last night of the legislative session on Thursday, June 11, 2026. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) Freezing out ICE U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers cannot enter Rhode Island’s courthouses without a judicial warrant, nor can they be within 200 feet of any polling place in the state. Lawmakers voted mostly along party lines Thursday to give final approval to “Protect Our Courts Act” filed in direct response to recent incidents where federal immigration officers tried to detain people from court buildings in Providence. Under the bill, law enforcement officers who enter a courthouse must identify themselves to security and promptly present any arrest warrant or judicial order for review. Violators of the law could be found in contempt of court and open to civil action. Another bill approved by lawmakers Thursday would let people sue federal immigration officials in state courts for violating the U.S. Constitution, recouping attorneys fees in addition to damages and injunctions if they win. The statute of limitations would be three years. A one-day change in the maximum sentence for a misdemeanor crime — from 365 to 364 days — also secured long-awaited approval after five years of stalling in the House. The “364 bill” protects immigrants from being detained or deported for minor offenses, serving as a workaround to federal law, which exposes undocumented residents and green card holders to detention and deportation if sentenced to one year or more. The House and Senate also voted along party lines to pass each others’ versions of legislation to prohibit federal immigration enforcement within 200 feet of polling places. Blue states across the country have started to beef up election security ahead of the November midterm elections. Protecting candidates for office As election season kicks into high gear, candidates will get an extra way to spend their campaign cash under bills given final approval Thursday. Personal security, including home and office alarm systems and surveillance cameras, are now among the list of authorized expenditures for candidates, effective as soon as Gov. Dan McKee lends his signature. The measure comes amid a wave of violence, and threats of violence, against state and federal lawmakers nationwide, including Rhode Island Senate leaders who received emailed bomb threats last fall, though the threats were later determined to be a hoax. At least 20 states, including Minnesota and Massachusetts, let candidates for office spend campaign funds on security, either via formal legislation or opinions via attorneys general, ethics panels or secretaries of state. The Federal Election Commission codified a 15-year practice, previously considered on a case-by-case basis, to let federal candidates spend money on security devices, personnel and software in September 2024. Rhode Island’s new policy does not include personnel or cybersecurity. Deputy Senate President Pro Tempore Matthew LaMountain checks his smartphone on the last night of the 2026 legislative session Thursday, Jun 11, 2026. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) So much sludge, so few places to put it Solid sewage — and specifically, where to put it — remains a lingering question across the state amid the promised closure of Woonsocket’s regional wastewater treatment facility. To that end, lawmakers gave final approval Thursday to a resolution creating a 21-member joint legislative panel to study and recommend solutions to Rhode Island’s sewage problem. Among the options awaiting panel review: high-heat waste processing, or pyrolysis, which is how a North Kingstown energy company has proposed solving the sewage problem. Even though QSS Biosolids, a subsidiary of Green Development, already has a preliminary approval from the Quonset Development Corporation Board of Directors to open the $225 million project in Quonset Business Park, the project was paused amid community backlash over the lack of transparency in the review process. A separate set of companion bills also given final approval by both chambers Thursday cements the project pause, banning any thermal waste conversion facilities in the industrial park until June 1, 2027. That’s the same date that the study commission will expire, though its reported recommendations are due to the legislature on April 1. Expanding expungement, strengthening other penalties Rhode Islanders with nonviolent felony convictions could have up to four offenses expunged from their records, following overwhelming passage of legislation in the Senate Thursday, despite reluctance among progressives that the measure made beneficiaries wait too long for a clean slate. The House of Representatives already approved identical legislation on Tuesday. Existing law allows a person to expunge one nonviolent felony conviction 10 years after completing their sentence, provided they have no subsequent criminal convictions. Up to five misdemeanor convictions can be expunged five years after completion of the person’s most recent sentence. The updated measure approved Thursday extends the forgiveness options for criminal records 15 years after sentences are completed, providing people can prove “good character.” Crimes such as child endangerment, elder abuse and driving under the influence would be ineligible for expungement. What would be expungeable: attempting to disarm a police officer, which is poised to become a felony — rather than a misdemeanor — with approval by lawmakers Thursday. The legislation was introduced in the wake of a September 2023 brawl on Bowen’s Wharf in Newport that led to a half dozen arrests, including a woman shown on video attempting to disarm two officers who responded to the fight that broke out after a wedding. Penalties have also been strengthened for motor vehicle incidents involving road rage, with rare explicit backing from McKee. “Casey’s Law,”is named for Casey Bassignani, a 23-year-old Johnston woman killed last November after another driver forced her car off Route 295 in Cranston, witnesses said. Rep. Marie Hopkins, a Warwick Republican, explains her legislation that would change contract law to allow physicians to charge ‘reasonable’ fees for non-clinical services on the House floor. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) More flexibility for independent primary care One proposed legislative answer to the shortage of primary care physicians in the Ocean State: the Primary Care Preservation Act, which passed the House Thursday on a 64-8 vote after a 30-minute debate — one of few points of discussion among lawmakers on their final day. At issue was whether the measure would help keep independent primary care practices open, or expose patients to new kinds of fees. But, the Senate never took up the bill during its final hours of debate, effectively killing the measure. The bill would have modified contract language law and prevents insurers or other payers from barring physician practices from charging “reasonable” fees related to “non-clinical services…and other administrative functions,” such as reception, scheduling, care coordination, referral management, communications systems and record handling, per the bill text. It would allow “only the independent providers to charge back to the house reasonable fees, so that they can stay in business,” bill sponsor Rep. Marie Hopkins, a Warwick Republican, said on the House floor. She said the bill was intended to help keep small practices afloat and prevent them from being pushed toward concierge models or closure. Opponents of the bill raised concerns about a lack of caps on fees. Defenders noted the bill stops insurers from using contract language to block providers from charging fees that are otherwise legal at the federal level. “Everyone agrees if we don’t provide some lifeline, some tiny lifeline, access is done to shut down altogether,” Hopkins, a nurse, said of independent providers. Rep. Megan Cotter, an Exeter Democrat, stands on the House floor as other representatives debate the ‘Primary Care Preservation Act.’ (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) Disclosure of use of AI tools during medical visits Health care providers who use AI tools to document medical visits would need to divulge the tools’ use to patients under legislation given final passage Thursday. House sponsor Teresa Tanzi, a South Kingstown Democrat, said in a press statement that the measure responds to an increase in AI-driven documentation of patient visits. These tools might decrease provider burden and the tedious tasks of documenting visits, but that benefit is compounded with some risk, “particularly in a sensitive field like health care,” Tanzi said. Every drink needs a lid Grabbing a drink at any of Rhode Island’s bars? You could soon ask for a protective lid to prevent spiking under legislation approved Thursday. The bill mandates that bars and nightclubs offer tamper-proof lids with a seal upon a customer’s request starting Jan. 1, 2027. A previous version would have required businesses to put signs in a “prominent and conspicuous location” to let people know, but the provision was stricken amid opposition from the hospitality industry. Rep. Brian Newberry, a North Smithfield Republican, takes a breather on the House floor during the final day of session on Thursday, June 11, 2026. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) House Speaker Christopher Blazejewski looks over the chamber floor on June 11, 2026, the final day of the legislative session. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) House Majority Leader Katherine Kazarian. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) Senate Majority Leader Franck Ciccone, in jacket and tie and shorts, talks with Kristen Silvia, deputy chief of staff and legislative director, on Thursday, June 11, 2026, the last night of the 2026 session. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) Deputy Senate President Pro Tempore Matthew LaMountain checks his smartphone on the last night of the 2026 legislative session Thursday, Jun 11, 2026. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) Senate Majority Leader Franck Ciccone, left, talks with Senate Majority Whip David Tikoian, a Smithfield Democrat, right, on Thursday, June 11, 2026, the last night of the 2026 session. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) Senate Minority Leader Jessica De la Cruz, a North Smithfild Republican, rises to introduce an ultimately unsuccessful amendment that would allow the opening of De La Comunidad Bilingual Charter School. (Photo by Alexander Castro/Rhode Island Current) Rep. Jason Knight, left, a Barrington Democrat, and Rep. Arthur Corvese, right, a North Providence Democrat, confer in the House chamber. Re. Megan Cotter, an Exeter Democrat, is seen in the background . (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) Rep. Megan Cotter, an Exeter Democrat, stands on the House floor as other representatives debate the 'Primary Care Preservation Act.' (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) Rep. Marie Hopkins, a Warwick Republican, explains her legislation that would change contract law to allow physicians to charge 'reasonable' fees for non-clinical services on the House floor. (Photo by Christopher Shea/Rhode Island Current) { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type" : "ImageGallery", "id" : "https://rhodeislandcurrent.com/2026/06/11/rhode-island-lawmakers-move-at-lightning-speed-on-last-night-of-session/#modula-gallery-31216", "url" : "https://rhodeislandcurrent.com/2026/06/11/rhode-island-lawmakers-move-at-lightning-speed-on-last-night-of-session/" } SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX. 10:22 pmUpdated to clarify that the Primary Care Preservation Act was never approved by the Rhode Island Senate, and therefore did not advance out the legislature. Courtesy of Rhode Island Current
	Merger oversight out, but whistleblower protections and CEO pay caps remain in NC hospital bill The North Carolina Legislative Building (Photo: Galen Bacharier/NC Newsline)The NC Senate Healthcare Committee endorsed a hospital regulations bill on Thursday after removing a section that could have affected the Atrium Health/WakeMed merger. Sen. Jim Burgin (R-Harnett), the bill’s sponsor, told reporters that he didn’t want legislation to interfere with the Atrium/WakeMed merger, which is already in progress. “I don’t want us to put a finger on it one way or another,” Burgin said. But there would have been more discussion and public information about the hospitals’ agreement if a law requiring pre-merger review was already in place, he said. The public learned of the merger just a few days before Wake County Commissioners were scheduled to vote last month to change WakeMed’s articles of incorporation, which would have essentially approved the merger. WakeMed sought the merger, which hospital leaders said would strengthen WakeMed’s finances. But commissioners delayed the vote following an outcry from state officials, who warned the merger would drive up healthcare costs. WakeMed touts benefits of Atrium deal after weekend backlash Higher costs remain a concern for Burgin. “When large systems acquire smaller providers, it often results in higher prices without necessarily improving access or outcomes,” Burgin told the committee. What’s left in the bill are whistleblower protections for hospital healthcare staff, restrictions on non-compete contract clauses, and caps on nonprofit hospital CEO pay. Sen. Julie Mayfield (R-Buncombe) said the whistleblower protections and the non-compete restrictions stem from problems at Mission Hospital in Asheville after for-profit HCA Healthcare bought it in 2019. Mayfield called the purchase a “disaster,” evidenced by the “immediate jeopardy” health and safety citations imposed by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The hospital has received this most serious citation four times in the last five years, and twice in the last eight months after patient deaths, she said. Employees at Mission were fired, Mayfield said, after speaking openly with state and federal surveyors, or after indicating they would share recommendations for improving care with the public. “It is unconscionable that providers are not free to raise quality of care concerns internally and externally, and these provisions can address that,” she said. Non-compete contract clauses forced healthcare providers to leave western North Carolina to continue to work in their fields, Mayfield said. In an email, Mission Hospital spokesperson Nancy Lindell said,” We respectfully disagree with that characterization. Mission Hospital is committed to providing high-quality care for the patients and communities we serve, and that commitment is reflected in both our investments and our outcomes.” She included a list of accomplishments that included opening a $5 million clinical simulation and training center to support nurses and caregivers, expanding nursing education partnerships and cancer care capacity, investing in advanced technology, and continuing improvements to facilities and patient care services across the region. “Mission Hospital offers numerous avenues for employees to identify issues and share feedback, including anonymous reporting options, employee engagement groups, patient care councils, and established processes for submitting and tracking operational and patient care concerns,” Lindell’s email said. “We not only encourage team members to raise concerns, we expect it. Our focus remains on supporting our workforce and delivering safe, high-quality care to the communities we serve.” Senate Bill 987 would also cap not-for-profit hospital CEO annual salaries, bonuses and other compensation at 400% of the wage of the lowest-paid full-time employee. “I have a problem with the CEOs making as much as some of the CEOs make,” Burgin told reporters. Burgin said he hoped to move the bill through the Senate as quickly as possible, and then start working to have the state House consider it before the end of session. Courtesy of NC Newsline
	Supporters of reproductive, transgender healthcare bill rally in Trenton People fan themselves during a rally outside the Statehouse in support of A2218, a bill meant to protect reproductive and transgender healthcare, on June 11, 2026. (Photo by Anne-Marie Caruso/New Jersey Monitor)Supporters of a bill that aims to protect reproductive and transgender healthcare in New Jersey rallied outside the Statehouse on Thursday. The bill was initially scheduled for a final vote in the Assembly on Thursday — its last step before heading to Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s desk for her signature or veto — but a last-minute move to amend the bill caused a delay. The bill is now expected to get a final vote later in June. Seen in the photos from the top: Pastor Erin Kinahan, Josephine Oliveri, Melissa Firstenberg, Sen. Teresa Ruiz, Josephine Oliveri with CWA local 1040, Assemblywoman Katie Brennan, Martha Madrigal, and Assemblywoman Luanne Peterpaul. Courtesy of New Jersey Monitor
	East Moline works to reduce lead in drinking water East Moline hosted an open house to go over the city's plan to keep lead from getting into drinking water. The City of East Moline is working to replace all lead and galvanized pipes while upgrading the water treatment process to reduce the risk of lead in drinking water. Residents could notice a change in [...]
	One dead following officer-involved shooting in Ottumwa, investigation ongoing A man dies in officer-involved shooting in Ottumwa Iowa
	Another chance for some severe weather After some severe weather from yesterday, with heavy rain and thunderstorms we are watching another one for today. We already saw a lot of the heavy rain and storms from earlier this morning with severe thunderstorms and tornadoes and are looking to see more tonight.
	LIVE BLOG: Severe weather continues into Thursday The First Alert Weather team is tracking unseasonable warmth, humidity and strong to severe thunderstorms Thursday.
	With giant IUD outside Capitol, Arizona Democrats call on GOP to protect contraception access Americans for Contraception, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for the passage of legislation across the country enshrining access to contraception as a fundamental right, set up a massive inflatable IUD at Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza across the street from the Arizona Capitol on June 11, 2026. (Photo by Gloria Rebecca Gomez/Arizona Mirror)Standing in front of a 20-foot tall, inflatable IUD across the street from the state Capitol, Democratic lawmakers lambasted Republicans for blocking efforts to ensure Arizonans have a right to contraception. In 2023, on the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court eliminating the constitutional right to abortion — a decision that prompted Justice Thomas Clarence, in his concurring opinion, to write that a reconsideration of the constitutional right to contraception should be next — Gov. Katie Hobbs and Democrats in Arizona unveiled an intent to pass statewide protections for contraception ahead of any federal challenges that might arise in response to Clarence’s proposal. The bills that would have done just that, both of which were entitled ‘The Right to Contraception Act’, were never put up for debate in the Republican-controlled legislature. And when Democrats tried to force floor votes on the bills, they were quickly shut down. That pattern has been repeated for the last three years. The most recent attempt to fasttrack the ignored legislation was in March, as part of the Arizona chapter of Reproductive Freedom for All’s fifth annual “Reproductive Freedom Day” at the legislature. That same day, Republicans held a news conference intended to overshadow the event during which they vowed to continue working to undermine the state’s abortion rights amendment. On Thursday, Americans for Contraception, a nonpartisan organization that advocates for the passage of legislation across the country enshrining access to contraception as a fundamental right, set up a massive inflatable IUD at Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza to commemorate the 61st anniversary of Griswold v. Connecticut, the landmark Supreme Court decision that made contraceptives a constitutional right at the federal level in 1965. Sen. Priya Sundareshan, a Tucson Democrat who heads the party’s members in the upper chamber, warned that, while the federal protection remains in place, it shouldn’t be taken for granted because the right-wing supermajority on the Supreme Court has shown an eagerness to overturn precedent. “We know that those threats are real, and something as basic as the right to contraception should not be in question,” she said. “That’s why we have put forward bills at the state legislature every single year in order to cement that right here in state law.” The Arizona proposal would guarantee the ability of Arizonans to obtain any form of birth control, including the pill, IUDs and emergency contraception like plan B, and it would protect the right of healthcare providers to prescribe them or inform their patients about them. Sundareshan lamented that Democratic efforts to advance the legislation have been repeatedly foiled by Republicans, a move that she criticized as out of step with what Arizonans actually want. “We’ve seen no action at the state legislature to show that Republicans are hearing the will of the voters in wanting to protect the right to contraception,” she said. A 2024 poll found that 91% of Americans believe birth control should be legal, including a majority of Republicans. And about 81% of people across the political spectrum at the time supported the idea of Congress codifying the right to obtain contraception, including plan B, which has been targeted by some anti-abortion activists and politicians. Kelley Dupps, the director of public affairs for Planned Parenthood Arizona, the state’s largest abortion provider which also offers a range of reproductive health care and family planning services at its clinics, emphasized that the majority of voters support the legalization of contraception. “It’s really a bipartisan issue,” he said. “So, the question really isn’t, ‘Where do voters stand on this? Where are Arizonans?’ It’s about why are Republican politicians standing in the way of access to basic healthcare rights?” Similar to the push to protect access in the Grand Canyon State, recent efforts to make contraception a right at the federal level through the legislative process have so far proven unsuccessful. But that hasn’t deterred Democrats in Congress, either. U.S Rep. Lizzie Fletcher, a Democrat from Houston, filed a discharge petition earlier this week that could force a vote on the Right to Contraception Act, which she sponsored but has not been given a hearing. The petition needs to win support from 218 members to override any opposition from Speaker Mike Johnson and be considered by the full chamber. On Thursday, Sundareshan called on Arizona’s congressional delegation to help Fletcher make that possible. “I especially challenge our representatives, Congressman (David) Schwiekert, Congressman (Andy) Biggs, Congressman (Juan) Ciscomani…to sign onto that petition,” she said, referring to three of the state’s GOP members of its congressional delegation. “Let’s protect this right that the vast majority of Arizonans demand.” In 2022, a Right to Contraception Act failed to move forward in Congress, with both Biggs and Schwiekert voting against it. And all three congressmen have previously supported legislation that could bestow personhood to fetuses at every stage of development, which critics say could result in outlawing some types of birth control, like plan B. Democrats also urged voters to keep Gov. Katie Hobbs in office in November, noting that her Republican opponents — Biggs and Schwiekert are squaring off in the July primary election — have shown little inclination to preserve access to contraception in their time in Congress. Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton, D-Tucson, said that the best way for voters to guarantee that Arizonans can keep using the birth control of their choice is at the ballot box. “We must hold elected officials accountable when they fail to protect fundamental freedoms and continue working to ensure contraception remains affordable, accessible and protected under Arizona law,” she said. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Courtesy of Arizona Mirror
	Illinois launches statewide digital library resource program Illinois is launching a statewide digital library resource program. Illinois residents now have free access to trusted online resources, including e-books, journals, magazines, newspapers and research databases. Secretary of State and State Librarian Alexi Giannoulias says the program helps ensure residents have access to high-quality information regardless of where they live or financial resources. For [...]
	Historic Walcott building gets new life A historic downtown building in Walcott is getting a new lease on life as a new café and event venue prepares to open its doors.
	Eight months after the fact, board discloses charges against Iowa nurse (Photo courtesy of the Iowa Board of Nursing)Eight months ago, a state licensing board charged an Iowa nurse with multiple regulatory violations, including soliciting or accepting money from a patient. This week, for the first time, the Iowa Board of Nursing publicly disclosed those charges. The records show the board has charged Abbriel Rae Mitchell, 44, of Roland with five separate regulatory violations: violating patient confidentiality or privacy rights; soliciting, borrowing, or misappropriating money or property from a patient; committing an act that causes physical, emotional or financial injury to a patient; participating in or attempting to initiate a sexual, social or business relationship with a patient; and engaging in behavior that is contradictory to professional decorum. As is customary with the Board of Nursing, it has publicly disclosed no information as to the alleged conduct that gave rise to the charges or indicated when or where that conduct is alleged to have taken place. State records indicate the board’s investigation of the matter was initiated in 2024. The charges were formally approved by the board on Oct. 8, 2025, but were made public only this week in the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals and Licensing’s official Notice of Board Action for the month of June 2026. It’s not clear why the charges were not publicly disclosed last year. In recent months, DIAL has indicated questions about the numerous licensing board errors and lengthy delays in public disclosure of disciplinary charges are best directed to the Iowa Attorney General’s Office. That office has, in turn, referred such questions back to DIAL. Board records indicate Mitchell was first authorized to work in Iowa as a licensed practical nurse in July 2005. A hearing on the charges against her is scheduled for Oct. 15, 2026. Courtesy of Iowa Capital Dispatch
	Mail-order pharmacy faces charges from Iowa regulators The Iowa Board of Pharmacy oversees state-licensed pharmacies, pharmacists and pharmacy technicians in Iowa. (Photo by Getty Images; logo courtesy the State of Iowa)Iowa regulators have filed charges against a mail-order Florida pharmacy that has been accused of wrongdoing by at least three other states. The Iowa Board of Pharmacy has charged CRE8 Pharmacy Group of Coral Springs, Florida, with failing to ensure preparations compounded pursuant to federal legal requirements are prepared in accordance with the standards outlined in federal regulations for both sterile and nonsterile compounds. The company is also charged with failing to comply with the legal requirement that counseling be provided to every patient for a new or changed prescription prior to dispensing the prescription. The board has not disclosed the underlying circumstances that gave rise to the charges. State and federal records indicate CRE8 Pharmacy Group is headed by company CEO Nancy Dube of Parkland, Florida. Dube did not respond Thursday to calls and emails from the Iowa Capital Dispatch, and company officials said there are no media relations or marketing personnel who could comment on the licensing board’s charges. CRE8 Pharmacy Group is a mail-order compounding pharmacy, founded in 2016, that provides direct-to-patient medications as well as medications for licensed healthcare providers, in 42 states. In 2023, the Kansas Board of Pharmacy sanctioned CRE8 for allegedly shipping drugs into Kansas at a time when it had no valid registration to do so. The company was fined $1,320. In 2025, the Louisiana Board of Pharmacy fined CRE8 $5,640 for dispensing approximately 376 prescriptions of compounded products into Louisiana that failed to meet the minimal standards of acceptable pharmacy practice. Also in 2025, the Ohio Board of Pharmacy suspended CRE8’s license in that state over allegations it sold compounded drugs to clinics containing unapproved or non-FDA-approved components, including the experimental weight-loss drug Retatrutide. CRE8 later entered into a settlement agreement with the Ohio board in which it agreed to pay a civil penalty of $200,000. On the company’s website, CRE8 Pharmacy Group claims to be compliant with the specific regulations cited by the Iowa board, adding that it holds non-resident licenses, such as the one issued by Iowa, throughout the United States. Courtesy of Iowa Capital Dispatch
	RI Senate confirms new Cannabis Control Commission chair Robert Jacquard, left, and Michelle Reddish, right, were confirmed to seats on the Cannabis Control Commission during the Senate's final day of the 2026 legislative session on Thursday, June 11, 2026. (Photo by Nancy Lavin/Rhode Island Current)The independent state agency shaping the nascent cannabis industry is whole again, with a new chairperson confirmed by the Rhode Island Senate on its final day of the legislative session. The chamber’s unanimous vote Thursday confirms Michelle Reddish as chair of the Cannabis Control Commission, filling the seat left open since October when former leader Kim Ahern resigned to run for attorney general. Reddish, who has led the state’s Cannabis Office since 2024, now transitions from operational duties to policymaking as chair of the commission. The $204,069 post is the only full-time position on the panel charged with regulating the state’s medical and recreational marijuana and hemp industries. Also Thursday, the Senate reappointed commissioner Robert Jacquard for a second term on the cannabis panel. Both Jacquard and Reddish will serve until May 17, 2031. The upper chamber also confirmed one new member apiece to the Rhode Island Convention Center Authority and Energy Efficiency Council during its final session Thursday, and reappointed two members of the Rhode Island Commerce Corporation. On Wednesday, the Senate gave its blessing by a unanimous vote to a new president and CEO for the Rhode Island Life Science Hub. Bob Cormier, a medical technology and healthcare executive, takes the helm of the quasi-public life science agency after its inaugural president, Dr. Mark Turco, unexpectedly resigned in March, one year into a three-year contract. Cormier, who most recently served as CEO of Swiss-American medical device company Sentec, which has U.S. headquarters in Lincoln, was picked by the Hub’s 15-member volunteer board following a nationwide search. As president and CEO, with a $295,000 salary, Cormier will help the three-year-old agency establish Rhode Island as a center for medical research and innovation, including through a first-of-its-kind wet lab incubator in the new state public health laboratory in Providence. Not advancing on the Senate’s laundry list of last-minute confirmations: McKee’s pick for the Public Utilities Commission, and two other selections for the Energy Efficiency Council, all of whom drew concern from legislators. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX. Courtesy of Rhode Island Current
	Crime Stoppers: Man wanted by Iowa Department of Corrections for parole violation Robert Carson, 41, is wanted by the Iowa Department of Corrections High Risk Unit for a parole violation for domestic abuse.
	Crime Stoppers: Reward upped to $7K for arrest in fatal motorcycle crash Crime Stoppers says a $7,000 reward is being offered for the arrest of 41-year-old Alex Uthoff.
	1,000+ businesses commit to new Iowa anti-human trafficking coalition A new group announced efforts to combat human trafficking in Iowa.
	Davenport mayor delivers State of the City address The City of Davenport hosted its State of the City address at the Putnam Museum and Science Center. Gordon focused on a $9 million grant to help with flood mitigation efforts. He also talked about other grants improving the Eastern Ave. bridge and fire equipment. Additionally, Gordon’s speech focused on major projects and initiatives and [...]
	Want to vote early in SC’s primary runoffs? Here’s how. The South Carolina state seal is seen in a state office in Columbia, S.C. in March of 2026. (Photo by Travis Bell/STATEHOUSE CAROLINA/Special to the SC Daily Gazette)COLUMBIA — For South Carolinians who want to vote ahead of the June 23 primary runoffs, early voting is open for two days next week. Polling locations across the state will be open from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. next Wednesday and Thursday, according to the state elections office. To find a location in your county, go online to the state Election Commission’s website. While state law calls for “Wednesday through Friday” voting before a runoff, June 19 is the Juneteenth federal holiday. That’s not a state-recognized holiday. But the same law bans opening early voting centers “on legal holidays.” Republicans have three statewide races on runoff ballots: governor, attorney general and commissioner of agriculture. No crossovers Democrats have no statewide runoffs. But anyone who voted in the June 9 Democratic primary cannot vote in the Republican runoff. That’s because state law bans crossover voting between party primaries and runoffs. Voters don’t register by party in South Carolina, but they must stick with a party during the primary cycle. Registered voters who didn’t vote at all in the primary can vote in either party’s runoff. Only 25% of South Carolina’s 3.4 million registered voters cast a ballot in the primary. Absentee voters must return ballots by mail or in person to county elections offices before polls close at 7 p.m. June 23. Because of the short time frame between the primary and runoff, the state does not have time to reprint ballots. Instead, election officials mark out any candidates who did not make the runoff, as well as offices for which there is no runoff. Election officials will not count any votes cast for candidates that are marked through, according to the Election Commission. Overseas and military voters already turned in a second ballot, on which they ranked candidates in case of a runoff. Statewide and congressional runoffs In the race to replace Gov. Henry McMaster, Republicans will pick between Lt. Gov. Pam Evette and Attorney General Alan Wilson. The Republican attorney general’s race features state Sen. Stephen Goldfinch, of Murrells Inlet, and 8th Circuit Solicitor David Stumbo, of Greenwood. Vying for the GOP nomination to be the state’s next agriculture commissioner are Dany Ford II, an Upstate cattle rancher and son of legendary Clemson University football coach Danny Ford, and Cody Simpson, former agricultural adviser to Gov. Henry McMaster and Trump administration appointee to the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency. In the coastal 1st Congressional District, there are runoffs for both parties’ nominees. On the Republican ballot are Charleston County Councilwoman Jenny Costa Honeycutt, an attorney, and state Rep. Mark Smith, who owns a funeral home on Daniel Island. The two Democrats are retired-Vice Adm. Nancy Lacore and Mac Deford, a Coast Guard veteran and Charleston-area attorney. And Democrats in the 2nd Congressional District still need to pick their nominee to run against incumbent U.S. Rep. Joe Wilson. The district covers includes all of Lexington, Aiken and Barnwell counties, as well as parts of Richland and Orangeburg counties. They will choose between David Robinson II, a disabled Army veteran, and Zyon Khalifa, who recently graduated from law school after serving four years in the Air Force. Statehouse runoffs There are also three Republican Statehouse races still up for grabs. Incumbent state Rep. Don Chapman is up against Sherry Hodges, an active member of the Anderson County Republican party who led efforts against a proposed sales tax to pay for roads and bridges in the county, for the House district covering the county’s northwest corner. Hunter Hackett, a maintenance worker with Michelin Tire in Lexington County, and former Lexington County Councilman Scott Whetstone face off for the GOP nomination to represent the mostly rural Lexington County House seat held by state Rep. Ryan McCabe. The Lexington Republican decided not to seek a fourth term. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX. Republicans in the runoff to replace Smith, who is running for Congress, features Berkeley County Councilman Jarrod Brooks and Kristy Gore, a realtor and retired law enforcement officer living in Hanahan. The recount One Statehouse race, the GOP primary for the House district that covers the area of Spartanburg County between Greer and Spartanburg, is up for an automatic recount. With a margin of .98% — less than 1% — a recount is triggered under state law. The recount will take place Friday at 3 p.m., according to the state Election Commission. If the count holds, incumbent state Rep. Rob Harris will have narrowly beat out Lyman Town Council member and repeat primary challenger Adam Crisp for the nomination. The last time Harris and Crisp faced off, in 2024, Harris won by nearly 17 percentage points. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Courtesy of South Carolina Daily Gazette
	Celebrate Celtic culture in the QCA at Celtic Night Out The Scottish American Society of the Quad Cities is bring the sights and sounds of Celtic culture to the QCA! Mary Gloeckner-Bouljon and Henry Marquard joined Our Quad Cities News to talk about Celtic Night Out. For more information, click here.
	Federal court hears oral arguments in appeal of Arkansas’ library obscenity law The exterior of the Thomas F. Eagleton U.S. Courthouse in St. Louis, Missouri on Friday, June 5, 2026. The courthouse includes the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. (Photo by Andrew DeMillo/Arkansas Advocate)A federal appeals court heard arguments Thursday to uphold the injunction of a 2023 Arkansas law governing challenges to library content, while Arkansas’ solicitor general said the plaintiffs’ allegations were “too speculative.” The three-judge panel from the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in St. Louis will rule on whether two sections of Act 372 of 2023 can go into effect. A district judge blocked the provisions in 2024, and the state appealed the ruling in 2025. The two challenged sections would create criminal liability for librarians who distribute content that some consider “obscene” or “harmful to minors,” and give city and county governing bodies the final say over library content. The 18 plaintiffs in the case include libraries, bookstores, advocacy groups and individual library patrons. The defendants are Arkansas’ 28 prosecuting attorneys, Crawford County and its county judge, Chris Keith. Crawford County lost another federal lawsuit in 2024 after three parents claimed the county library violated the First Amendment by moving LGBTQ+ children’s books into separate “social sections” that only adults could access. Federal judge declares sections of Arkansas’ library obscenity law unconstitutional The library made this move after county residents complained at quorum court meetings about the availability of LGBTQ+ books. Crawford County officials cited Act 372 as a reason to keep the books segregated, even before the statute became law. This made Crawford County an example of how one of the challenged sections of Act 372 would have worked in practice, said John Adams, the plaintiffs’ lead counsel. He noted that libraries already had content challenge policies before Act 372, which would create a new avenue for books to be removed from children’s reach but not provide any way to challenge a book’s removal. “Act 372, Section 5 takes what was otherwise a fairly comprehensible due process…and turns it into a kind of one-way ratchet that gives censorious parts of the local population power that my clients don’t have,” Adams said. Crawford County residents compiled a list of LGBTQ+ books they wanted out of children’s reach, but Keith said in his deposition in the other lawsuit that he had not reviewed the books even though he would be partially responsible for enforcing Section 5 of Act 372, Adams told the judges. The potential harm of enforcing the law’s other blocked provision, Adams said, is the threat of jail time for librarians and booksellers for simply having books on their shelves that some consider “harmful to minors.” Section 1 of Act 372 would make “furnishing a harmful item to a minor” a Class A misdemeanor. The law leaves the definitions of “furnishing” and “harmful” up to overly broad interpretation that could lead to viewpoint discrimination, U.S. District Judge Timothy Brooks wrote in his injunction ruling. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX. The state’s argument Arkansas Solicitor General Autumn Hamit Patterson argued that public libraries’ curation processes inherently practice content-based discrimination “by deciding what books would be edifying or beneficial for their communities and serve their interests, and which would not.” Patterson also disputed Adams’ claim that the threat of jailing librarians was directly traceable to the Crawford County defendants’ enforcement of Section 5 because the county library’s “social sections” predated Act 372 and the library was ordered in the other lawsuit to return the LGBTQ+ books to their original sections. The plaintiffs have not identified specific books that would likely be challenged under Act 372, Patterson said. “Their testimony even states that they don’t believe the books in their collection were always in the obscenity provision’s definition,” she said. An unchallenged provision of Act 372 removes schools and public libraries from the part of Arkansas state code that previously exempted them from prosecution for disseminating obscene content. Another unchallenged provision made school and public library employees liable for a Class D felony if they “knowingly” distribute obscene material or inform others of how to obtain it. Crawford County appeals injunction of Arkansas library law, citing dispute over legal fees School boards have the final say over challenged materials in public school libraries, according to the final unchallenged section of Act 372, which has been in effect since August 2023. Additionally, attorney Forrest Stobaugh argued on behalf of the Crawford County defendants that they should not be liable for attorneys’ fees in the county’s other lawsuit. The county cited its ongoing debate over the legal fees as its reason for joining the state’s appeal of the Act 372 ruling last year. “The fee award must be reasonable, and I would submit it’s per se unreasonable to hold a defendant jointly and severally liable for fees from a plaintiff that never actually sued it,” Stobaugh said. Similar litigation Chief Judge Steven Colloton said the 8th Circuit panel “will file a decision in due course” but did not indicate a specific time. He and the other two judges, Ralph Erickson and L. Steven Grasz, offered little comment on Adams’ and Patterson’s arguments. President Donald Trump appointed Grasz and Erickson to the appeals court in 2017. Colloton was appointed in 2003 by then-President George W. Bush and has been the court’s chief judge since 2024. In April, another 8th Circuit panel allowed a 2023 Iowa law to go into effect, requiring the removal of books containing “descriptions or visual depictions of a sex act” from Iowa public school libraries. A district judge had previously blocked the law on First Amendment grounds. Appeals court permits enforcement of 2023 law on school programs, books Erickson was on the three-judge panel that ruled “the First Amendment does not guarantee students the right to access books of their choosing at taxpayer expense.” Patterson said Thursday that this conclusion supports the state’s defense of Act 372. The oral arguments came before the court while the Arkansas Department of Education is accepting public feedback on proposed rules requiring libraries to restrict children’s access to “sexually explicit materials” in order to receive state funding. A 2025 bill with similar restrictions failed in the Arkansas Legislature in 2025. The education department will accept feedback online until Monday and will hear in-person public comment on the rules at 10 a.m. Friday at its Little Rock headquarters. Courtesy of Arkansas Advocate
	John Deere bringing back 20 workers to Davenport Works John Deere will be hiring 20 workers back to Davenport Works
	ISBE zeroes in on improving math education in Illinois The Illinois State Board of Education formally adopted a plan Wednesday aimed at improving math instruction and boosting student math scores throughout the state.
	Feds declare disaster for April freeze that killed NJ farms’ crops Hillsborough farmer Ed Clerico shows a hazelnut sapling that died in a four-day freeze in April 2026 that ravaged crops across the Northeast. (Photo by Dana DiFilippo/New Jersey Monitor)Federal agricultural officials have declared all 21 counties in New Jersey natural disaster areas after a mid-April freeze killed off early-blooming fruits and other crops, a designation that clears the way for farmers to apply for low-interest emergency loans to recover from losses. Gov. Mikie Sherrill had declared a state of emergency and wrote to federal authorities seeking the federal disaster declaration in May, a month after the four-day cold snap zapped budding crops and caused damages officials expect could top $300 million. The U.S. Department of Agriculture also approved the disaster declaration for 15 counties in Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New York. Tree fruits, strawberries, blueberries, and other early-budding perennial crops were especially hard hit, farmers have reported. Sherrill cheered the federal action, which makes farmers eligible for loans through the Farm Service Agency. The loans can be used to replace essential farm items like equipment or livestock, reorganize farming operations, or refinance certain debts, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. “For a family farm, the difference between a lost season and a fresh start often comes down to whether help arrives in time,” Sherrill said in a statement. She urged New Jersey residents to help farmers recover. “Visit a nearby farm. Buy local. Show up for your neighbors. Every dollar spent at a New Jersey farm stand is a vote of confidence in the people who feed us,” she said. Sherrill also issued an executive order, which remains in place, directing state agencies to work together to facilitate farm recovery and granting farms statewide temporary regulatory flexibility. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX. Courtesy of New Jersey Monitor
	Scott County road to close for utility work It's an Our Quad Cities News traffic alert. According to a release from the Scott County Road Department, 230th Ave. may be closed to through traffic to allow utility crews to repair power lines from recent storms. The work is expected to run through June 19, depending on weather, field conditions and repair progress. Drivers [...]
	Abandoned East Moline building collapses An abandoned building in the 1400 block of 9th Street in East Moline collapsed into the street. 14th Avenue is closed due to debris in the road. Crews are planning to bring in equipment to demolish what remains of the building on Friday --weather permitting.
	John Deere hiring 30 workers in Dubuque, bringing back 20 employees in Davenport The additions are expected to begin this month and are intended to support increased production needs at both facilities.
	Oregon health officials issue tougher air quality guidance for youth sports, outdoor activities The outside of Chiloquin Elementary School, which is part of the Klamath County School District in southern Oregon, is pictured. (Photo by Alex Baumhardt/Oregon Capital Chronicle)Oregon kids and teens participating in outdoor activities need to protect themselves from air pollution that is more harmful than scientists previously understood, according to new state guidance. The Oregon Health Authority released new guidelines this week to help families, schools and athletic leagues decide when and how to host outdoor activities during wildfire smoke and instances of poor air quality. The new recommendations come as Oregon’s wildfire season started early this year and is expected to last into October amid historic heat and drought. Oregon’s guide relies on the air quality index, which measures particulates, carbon monoxide and other pollutants and ranges from 0 to 500. Higher ratings mean less healthy air. The updated guidance for children and youth comes in response to what the health authority said was increasing scientific research concluding that smoke can harm children at lower levels of exposure than previously thought by researchers. Children breathe more air relative to body weight than adults, and kids with asthma, lung or heart disease or diabetes are particularly vulnerable to air quality, according to state health officials. Here’s a look at health officials’ recommendations: When the air quality index is between 0 and 50, or “good,” no restrictions on outdoor activity are necessary. In the ”moderate” status between 51 and 100, children and youth with underlying health conditions should be allowed to opt out of activities, stay inside or limit intensity. For activities like summer camp or outdoor school that last four or more hours, children with health conditions should move to an area with greater air quality, and all other youth should be allowed to opt out of activities or to stay indoors. The previous guide stated that “It’s a good day to be active outside” for short activities. When air quality levels are considered “unhealthy for sensitive groups,” with an index between 101 and 150, or orange status, the health authority recommends limiting the intensity of all youth outdoor activity regardless of the duration or whether individuals have underlying conditions. The guidelines encourage schools and institutions to consider canceling or moving the event to areas with better air quality if the intensity and length of an activity cannot be changed. If an event lasts longer than four hours, the intensity of the activity cannot be lowered and the event cannot be relocated, it should be canceled. Once air quality is considered “unhealthy,” “very unhealthy” or “hazardous” — anything higher than 150 on the air quality index — the guidance is the same: Cancel outdoor activities or move them to an area with safer air conditions. That previously only applied to very unhealthy or hazardous air quality conditions at any duration. The guidance also recommends light indoor activity if the level of fine and inhalable particulate matter indoors from emissions such as gas, oil and diesel is “high.” Oregonians seeking more information and resources for responding to smoke and wildfire can learn more at this state website. “We fully recognize the importance of outdoor time and exercise for the physical and mental health of children and youth,” Gabriela Goldfarb, manager of the Oregon Health Authority’s environmental public health section, said in a statement. “We offer this guide to support adults making decisions that balance those needs with the reality that children are more likely to be affected by health threats from smoke, because their airways are still developing and because they breathe more air per pound of body weight than adults.” SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE Courtesy of Oregon Capital Chronicle

Friday, June 12th, 2026

Thursday, June 11th, 2026