In a really, really cool move and some great positive news, kids won’t have to worry about getting rides to and from school and activities this fall! Metro is offering free bus rides to K-12 students on their bus routes. Students need to show their ID for the ride, and as per existing rules, all passengers need to wear a mask on the buses. For more info, see www.MetroQC.com.    Read More

MACOMB/MOLINE, IL — Kirk Hare, Western Illinois University Facilities Management supervisor, has been named the deputy director of maintenance and operations. Hare has served as a supervisor for WIU Facilities Maintenance moving crew since August 2011. He joined the Facilities Maintenance staff as a building service worker in December 2008, serving in that role until his promotion to supervisor in 2011. Hare also owned and operated Pro-Clean in Macomb from 2004-2013. Before joining WIU, he worked as a salesperson for Western Distributing Company in Macomb from 1996-2008, and as the building... Read More

The Illinois Council of Convention & Visitor Bureaus (ICCVB) has named Dave Herrell, President and CEO, Visit Quad Cities, as their new chairman. This industry-led group works together with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, Office of Tourism to enable its members to be more effective and efficient in attracting visitors to their communities. “I am humbled to join alongside my peers and serve this extremely valuable organization, said Herrell in a Tuesday news release. “ICCVB and its 38 member destinations throughout the State of Illinois are critically important... Read More

The 2nd Annual Golf for Futbol outing for East Moline Silvis Soccer Club will take place at Fyre Lake Golf Club on Saturday, August 7th!  Registration starts at 11:30am, with a shotgun start at 1:30pm. Tournament fee is $75 and includes greens fees, golf cart, dinner, and prizes!  We will have raffles and a 50/50 drawing as well! Also available for purchase are pink tees and mulligans! Get your groups together and register today! For more info and to register, visit: http://www.emssc.org/Registration/Default.asp?n=22882&org=EMSSC  Read More

Thousands of runners who braved the scorching heat early Saturday, July 24 for the Bix 7 race got a glimpse of the heart of the Hilltop Campus Village (HCV) in Davenport. Though they likely did not stop then for a stirring jolt of coffee or admire some of the area’s striking architecture, Scott Tunnicliff and Molly Otting Carlson certainly hope they’ll be back soon to take in all the area has to offer. Tunnicliff – an avuncular, dedicated 66-year-old economic development leader – recently retired as the first HCV director in its 12-year history. Carlson, a 52-year-old Davenport native,... Read More

Paul Rumler, President & CEO of the Quad Cities Chamber, has been designated as a Certified Chamber Executive (CCE) by the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives (ACCE). Based in Alexandria, Va., ACCE is a professional society with more than 1,600 chambers of commerce and related business and economic development organizations as members. Rumler is one of 16 chamber professionals to earn the CCE designation in 2021. This year’s class represents chambers in 11 states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia,... Read More

MACOMB, IL – Heather Norman, underwriting and outreach coordinator for the Tri States Public Radio (TSPR) at Western Illinois University, has been named the general manager. Norman replaces Julie Murphy, who has served as acting general manager since 2019, who stepped down June 30. Norman joined the TSPR staff in 2014 as the underwriting and outreach coordinator, and in 2019, assumed the responsibilities of the TSPR development director. Previously, she was the director of the Galesburg Civic Art Center from 2001-2014. Norman has also served as a bookkeeper for Cornucopia in Galesburg from 2008-2009. “Heather’s... Read More

We live in a divided world, in a community parceled by city borders and intersected by a river, but there’s one thing I think we can all agree upon. We all pretty much hate Mediacom. The absurdly high rates, the service outages, and the fact that most of us have little to no choice but to pay for them churns up a particularly virulent disgust towards the company. But, again, we have no choice, because they’re basically a monopoly, and until another viable alternative arrives, we’re pretty much screwed in dealing with them. That’s especially annoying because they’re... Read More

MUSCATINE, IA – The Friends of Fairport Fish Hatchery has been awarded $47,368 REAP-CEP grant from the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to fund educational signage to preserve and interpret the rich history of the Fairport Fish Hatchery. A major objective of the signage project is to convey the important interdependent relationship between the Fairport Fish Hatchery, Mississippi River mussels, and the pearl button industry, which dominated Muscatine from the 1890s to the early 1930s. The hatchery was originally established by Congress in 1908 as the Fairport Federal Biologic Station to investigate... Read More

To know Tacobar is to know Chef Toby. To know Chef Toby is to know the deranged, angry, passionate, frustrated, loving man. Who refuses to give up, give in, or go “mainstream.” He pushes the boundaries of what most Chef’s will do, then he breaks those boundaries, and smashes through the walls of your expectations like a drunken Kool-Aid man high fiving everyone in the room screaming “Ohhhh Yeah” while pelvic thrusting inappropriately to 90s alt rock. Our dinner tonight felt like a celebration of not only us, but a celebration of knowing and befriending Toby... Read More