Isabel Dawson, a 2020 Augustana College graduate, wears many hats – which each reflect her many skills in theater and business. The bright, enthusiastic 23-year-old, who did a lot of theater in high school in Normal, Ill., is the new assistant executive director for Genesius Guild and is helping assemble this summer’s abridged schedule of three productions outside in Rock Island’s Lincoln Park. Doug Tschopp has been executive director for about 15 years, involved in Genesius for 25 years, and worked closely with Dawson at Augie, where she majored in theater and business management. “I just... Read More

Because of some experiences that Western Illinois University graduate student Aleezah Washington had during her undergrad years at WIU – some very good and some not-so-good at all – she was thinking of ways to reach out to other marginalized students, both current WIU students and prospective students. She reached out to WIU Student Legal Advocate Torrey Smith to talk and brainstorm. And with that, Washington’s vision to give students a voice, became “Western Unedited: Our Voice, Our Story, Our Time.” Washington, an MBA graduate student from Naperville and a graduate assistant... Read More

Choir students at United Township High School in East Moline have orchestrated creative ways to make beautiful music together, despite the dissonant challenges of Covid-19. A few weeks after an unusual, invitation-only concert in the new commons area at the school March 4, four select UT female choir members took part in a unique statewide virtual choir with the Bradley University (Peoria) Honor Choir. As did about 40 other Illinois high schoolers (including eight from Orion), they individually recorded a video in late March of them singing their part to “Afternoon on a Hill” by Eric Barnum,... Read More

WQPT, PBS for the Quad Cities region is partnering with award-winning celebrity chef, author, and host of “Lidia’s Kitchen” Lidia Bastianich for its live virtual Taste of Fame culinary fundraising experience on May 21. More than 30 participating PBS stations will be part of the event, first launched by PBS station WCNY in Syracuse, N.Y. Taste of Fame and WQPT invites guests to be part of this live culinary journey from the comfort and safety of their homes. Participating PBS stations are happy to work with Sunbasket who will deliver meal kits to homes, so guests can cook along with Lidia,... Read More

In conjunction with the new Ken Burns PBS documentary on author Ernest Hemingway, WQPT will hold a special 30-minute virtual screening and discussion with Mary V. Dearborn, a Hemingway biographer featured in the film, on April 27. The free virtual event will take place that Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. and attendees will have the opportunity to ask Dearborn their Hemingway-related questions. Participants will also have the chance win copies of Dearborn’s 2017 Hemingway biography, a Google Home smart speaker, and other great prizes. “Hemingway has this public image of being this extraordinarily masculine,... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: Rock Island County covid-19 numbers have remained steady over the past week, but the numbers in and around Peoria continue to look ominous for Illinois Region 2, which includes the Illinois Quad-Cities. If Peoria’s numbers continue to drag the region down, it could lead to the entire region, including the Quad-Cities, going back into a shutdown or other mitigations for covid. Based on the latest numbers released over the weekend by the Illinois Department of Health, Rock Island County has held pretty constant around a 5 percent positivity rate for covid, safely below the 8... Read More

Three sessions of facilitated discussions on the root causes of racism will begin Monday at 7 p.m., hosted online by Metropolitan Community Church of the Quad Cities. Our goal is to guide groups to intertwine faith and justice for sustainable long-term collective action and accountability. We will be meeting at 7 pm. Each session is 90 minutes long. The first is focused on relationship building and identity exploration. We ask questions about the parts of our identity that are most salient to us, the experiences that inform how we think about the world and our relationship with privilege and... Read More

As award season continues, the Western Illinois University Department of Broadcasting and Journalism won five awards at the annual Illinois News Broadcasters Association (INBA) April 10. Leatherneck Insider won first place in Outstanding Sports Television Program, while NEWS3 won second place in Outstanding Television Newscast. Devin Brooks, a senior broadcasting and journalism major, from St. Louis, MO, won first place in Outstanding Television News Reporting and Outstanding Television Sports Reporting. RJ Larson, a senior sports broadcasting major, from Burlington, WI, won second place for Outstanding... Read More

One month after Quad-Cities environmentalist Chad Pregracke announced his ambitious Bison Bridge plans, the creative concept has earned over 27,000 supporters online, an endorsement from The Chicago Tribune editorial board, and a strong social-media shoutout from TV’s Mike Rowe. “This is VERY cool. My old friend Chad Pregracke – whom many of you will remember as the self-appointed garbageman of America’s rivers – is on a mission to create a brand new National Park on the Mississippi River,” Rowe (well-known for cable’s “Dirty Jobs”) posted on Facebook late last month... Read More

Taking a page from the college sports signing days, there will be a signing day Monday celebrating Quad-Cities academic and career excellence. The invitation-only event is the Quad-Cities-Wide High School Apprenticeship Day, 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. Monday, April 19, at the Waterfront Convention Center, 2021 State St., Bettendorf. Q-C schools and the companies that will host their apprentices will celebrate the efforts of their 50-plus 2021 apprentices, all energetic young people, excited about their futures. The apprentices are from schools all over the Q-C, including Davenport, Rock Island, Moline, North... Read More