The Quad City International Airport is getting a $2.8 million boost from the Federal Aviation Administration’s Airport Coronavirus Response Grant Program. The program, funded under the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2020 (CRRSA), awarded $2 billion total to U.S. airports. This funding will continue to offset lost revenue and provide operational and payroll support. The Q-C airport previously received $8 million from the CARES Act. “As a facility that supports nearly 500 jobs, nearly 100 of which are employed directly by the Metropolitan Airport Authority,... Read More

Western Illinois University Economics Professor Tom Sadler is the author of the upcoming book “Pandemic Economics,” which analyzes the pandemic from an economics perspective, addressing economic shutdown, recession and recovery. The book, which will be published by Routledge in early 2021, analyzes specific outcomes, including health care, inequality, energy, the environment and the international economy. “The topic piqued my interest because economists have not published widely on pandemics, until now,” said Sadler. “Because the shock to economic activity was so severe,... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: A Rock Island person is the first to be infected with the new, more deadly strain of the South African COVID-19 variant Thursday, Illinois Department of Public Health officials announced tonight. The variant B.1.351, was found in a Rock Island resident, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. It’s not yet known how the person contracted the disease. “We expected to see more cases of variants detected in Illinois, including the B.1.351 strain,” said IDPH Director Dr. Ngozi Ezike in a release. “These variants seem to spread more rapidly, which can lead... Read More

Imagine someone you love. Someone who truly has impacted your life. Someone you can’t imagine life without. Now imagine life without them. Imagine how devastated you would be, how drowned in sadness you would feel. I see people expressing this feeling every day on social media. People who have lost loved ones to covid. Their posts are heartbreaking. They exude sorrow and helplessness, as they struggle against the fact that someone who meant so much to them, who was so much a part of their world, is now gone. Many of these people are older. Many are parents, who were the foundation to their... Read More

Yesterday, I wrote about the moronic decision by Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds to do away with her already minimal efforts to mitigate covid-19 — just as statistics were showing that Iowa is one of the worst, and least safe, states in the country in regard to keeping its citizens covid-free. I’d say her actions were ill-advised, but apparently, Reynolds took no advice in regard to making them. She ignored scientists, healthcare professionals (you know, those people she loves to pose for photo ops with, and hollowly praise as “heroes” while undercutting them with her actions)... Read More

When you allow people with less intelligence and common sense to think for you and inform your decisions, the results are seldom good. And that’s why Iowans — and those traveling through Iowa in the Quad-Cities and throughout the state — need to ignore the abysmal advice of short-sighted Governor Kim Reynolds and trust scientists and their own common sense and good judgement in regard to covid. Over 5,000 people have died in Iowa since the pandemic began, 60 percent of those in the last three months, according to the Iowa Department of Health. Sixty percent. Over the last three... Read More

In a shocking new report, the Associated Press reported on Monday that Reynolds lifted the state’s mask mandate without consulting the health officials in her administration. State lawmakers participating in a conference call with Iowa Department of Public Health officials told the AP that Reynolds did not talk with health experts before lifting the restrictions. “We asked the Iowa Department of Public Health if they had input into the governor’s decision to lift the mask mandate on Friday and they said they had not,” said Sen. Liz Mathis, who participated in the meeting, according to the... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: In the wake of Governor Kim Reynolds’ decision on Friday to eliminate any state requirements to wear masks and limit public gatherings to stop the deadly spread of covid-19, new numbers were released today showing Iowa as one of the least safe states in the U.S. in regard to covid-19. The website WalletHub, aggregating data from across all 50 states, showed Iowa as last in the country in vaccination rate, next-to-last in terms of death rate, and with an overall rank of the seventh worst state in the U.S. in regard to covid safety for visitors and residents. Given we live in... Read More

On Friday, Feb. 5, the Geneseo-based Richmond Hill Players announced it will temporarily suspend the 2021 season due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. “We will continue to monitor the situation, and when it is safe to return to our theater, we will make a final determination on the 2021 season,” RHP president Jonathan Grafft posted on the theater’s Facebook page and website,  www.rhplayers.com. The theater – which began in 1968 in the top level of an old dairy barn – had scheduled “Becky’s New Car” for the first 2020 show that April, and canceled its entire 2020 season due to the... Read More

Because of predicted cold temperatures, the weekly Covid vaccine clinic run by Rock Island County Health Department for Tuesday, Feb. 9, will be inside the TaxSlayer Center, 1201 River Drive, Moline. Vaccine distribution priority groups are Phase 1A and Phase 1B in Illinois, and the health department typically has a Tuesday drive-through clinic at Greater Quad City Auto Auction, 4015 78th Ave., Milan. Those seeking their first dose may visit the RICHD Facebook page or website at 10 a.m. each Friday for a link to reserve an appointment. Those seeking their second dose may visit the same sites... Read More