MACOMB, IL – As first generation students, Western Illinois University Sociology Professor Emeritus and WIU Board of Trustees Chair Polly Radosh and Jeff Radosh struggled financially as they completed their college education. To help other first generation students and those with financial need, the Radoshes have established the Radosh Sociology Endowed Scholarship at WIU. Polly, who is the retired chair of Western’s former Department of Women’s Studies, began her teaching career at WIU in 1984 in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. During her 24-year tenure, she taught... Read More

Join the German American Heritage Center on Sunday, July 26th at 2pm for Midwifery In Early Scott County, a virtual program presented by Kathryn Kuntz, Richardson-Sloane Special Collections Supervisor. Mid to late 19th century brought many families to eastern Iowa and Scott County. Growing families required expertise and skill of safely bringing infants into the world. In this presentation, we will explore how midwifery, one of many occupations, was brought with German immigrants to their new homeland. Midwifery was a commonplace occupation predominantly performed by women. We will learn about... Read More

Saturday in the Arts is a comprehensive, in-depth feature on a topic, trend or personality impacting the Quad-Cities, posted every Saturday morning on QuadCities.com.   The day before the state of Illinois entered Phase 4 of reopening, affecting his longtime acting home of Circa ’21 Dinner Playhouse, Moline’s Tom Walljasper was filming scenes as a farmer in small-town Iowa. A full-time actor, Walljasper had not acted since “Kinky Boots” closed at Circa in March, and both he and his wife Shelley were cast in small parts for a TV pilot, “Complete Bull,” filmed in June and July (with... Read More

Rein Razer participated as a guest performer at the last burlesque show at the Village Theatre – a March 14 gig from the new Crystal Crown Cabaret – and the Rock Islander is back organizing a special return, Friday, July 24 at 8 p.m. The theater is at 2113 E. 11th St., Village of East Davenport. Rein Razer’s Court of Royalty was originally intended to be an online-only show, to help out her community performers, as most shows and events have been canceled due to Covid. Now that things are beginning to open back up, Razer has teamed up with the Village Theatre to produce a showcase that can... Read More

Are you ready to rumblllllllllllllle????? Big Swing and SCWPro are! In conjunction with local wrestling academy Black and Brave, owned by Seth Rollins, Big Swing and SCW Pro are bringing the Rock Island In The Sun pro wrestling event to downtown Rock Island Aug. 22. The event rolls 8-11 p.m. Aug. 22 at Big Swing Brewing Company, 113 18th Street, Rock Island (in the old Blue Cat.) Tickets are $10. Click here for more info!    Read More

One of the largest, women-led providers of life insurance and annuities, Royal Neighbors of America, is doing its part to help out during the covid-19 pandemic. The organization is giving a $15,000 donation to Quad City area non-profit organizations struggling to meet increased demand due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The $15,000 donation comes on the heels of the nearly $100,000 Royal Neighbors has invested in its 170 local chapters nationwide so far this year. “During this challenging time, Royal Neighbors recognizes that many non‐profits, as well our community chapters, are experiencing significant... Read More

Are you ready to get stamp’d? Head down to downtown Rock Island’s Big Swing for karaoke night tonight (and every Friday night starting at 8) and you can line yourself up for some prizes, but getting a Get Stamp’d Passport at Big Swing, and then heading down 2nd Street a bit to get another stamp over at Billy Bob’s Q-C dance club. Both stamps win prizes and the more stamps you collect on karaoke nights wins you a bigger prize. For more info, check out Big Swing’s Facebook page.  Read More

I want to give kudos to Rein Razer. In our story earlier this week on QuadCities.com on her upcoming burlesque show, Rein Razer’s Court of Royalty, coming to Village Theater tonight, she said the following:   “I got the idea from how the Speakeasy was doing their booking for shows.”   Seems simple, right? Just actually acknowledging that you got the idea for something from someone else on the local arts scene. But you’d be surprised at how little this is done. More often, much more often, people have an incredible selective amnesia about things others in the scene... Read More

MACOMB, IL – The Western Illinois University Speech-Language and Hearing Clinic has openings for speech diagnostic evaluations from Tuesday Aug. 4-Friday, Aug. 21. There will be additional openings throughout the fall semester. The services are free to the WIU and Macomb communities and are used to determine whether or not a child or adult may be eligible for speech and/or language therapy services. The evaluations also play a significant role in educating WIU’s graduate students as they prepare to begin their careers as speech-language pathologists. For more information about the testing,... Read More

Lynne Stukart of LeClaire can’t sing the praises of a staggeringly huge virtual choir loudly enough. But that makes sense, since for Eric Whitacre’s Virtual Choir 6 – with 17,562 singers from 129 nations – they literally were told to “Sing Gently.” At a time when we could all use some peace, togetherness and harmony, Stukart, a veteran flute teacher, was thrilled to be part of the online musical project. She’s a big fan of Whitacre, the popular choral composer and his ambitious virtual choirs – a project that started in 2010 with individual videos from 185 singers from 12 countries,... Read More