UPDATED: Illinois will remain under tier 3 covid mitigations for at least two to three more weeks, and could elevate to a more restrictive level if numbers get worse, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said during his press conference today. Illinois covid numbers leapt back up after a few days of numbers getting better. After yesterday’s report of just 6,190 new cases, today’s report listed 12,542 new cases in Illinois and 125 new deaths over the past 24 hours. It should be noted that today marks six days from “Blackout Wednesday,” that traditional unofficial day of inebriation... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: Illinois High School sports will be put on hold effective immediately, and could be delayed through 2020 and into spring 2021 due to covid-19 mitigations, according to a statement released this evening by IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson. The statement was released following Illinois Governor JB Pritzker’s announcement of moving Illinois to Tier 3 mitigations for covid-19 starting Friday. There’s no set date for the return of sporting activities, however the statement says the IHSA remains “optimistic” for a return soon. The statement reads as follows: IHSA... Read More

UPDATED — The Illinois Quad-Cities could see another mandatory stay-at-home order as soon as next week if numbers in our region continue to soar. The Quad-Cities has exploded in its number of cases and is now inside the top ten most rapidly spiking hot spots nationwide, sitting at number 7 today, according to CDC numbers. In his media address today, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker said that the rapidly spiking numbers statewide — with numbers in some regions doubling daily — could lead to another statewide mandatory stay-at-home order similar to the one imposed in the spring,... Read More

EXCLUSIVE — Illinois Quad-Cities businesses have been notified by the state to begin preparing for a shutdown and covid mitigation procedures beginning Wednesday, multiple sources who asked not to be identified told QuadCities.com today. The sources are all local small business owners, and were notified last night so they could begin preparing. An official announcement from Illinois Governor JB Pritzker will be forthcoming Monday. According to the sources, there will be a number of mitigation actions put in place, including no indoor dining, limits to the number of people gathered in any... Read More

I’m sick of the politics. I’m sick of the politicians. With more people struggling than ever, with more businesses closing, with the covid numbers increasing yet again, just like the scientists predicted (amazing how you can listen to intelligent, learned people and get accurate predictions on what’s likely to happen, isn’t it?), IT’S TIME TO PASS ANOTHER STIMULUS BILL TO HELP PEOPLE STRUGGLING FROM COVID. I wrote another story today, one of probably over 100 this year, about a business closing down due to covid. This time it was Big Swing, in downtown Rock Island,... Read More

HEY LOCAL WRITERS!  QuadCities.com is starting up the QuadCities.com Virtual Writers Gallery, featuring local authors and their works! If you’re interested in being a part of it, email Sean@QuadCities.com with up to three .jpgs of your book covers and 1-2 paragraph descriptions of the books, a picture of you, a short 3-4 sentence bio of yourself and your website, facebook page or patreon link ASAP! Also, if you’re interested in doing a podcast reading of up to five minutes of your work, let us know, because we’re going to include those as well in a NEW podcast called As Read... Read More

MERCER COUNTY, Illinois—As school districts across the region consider how education will be delivered this fall due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the two largest school districts serving Mercer County students in Illinois will continue their pursuit to ensure every single student has access to technology. The Looser-Flake Foundation, a private foundation administered through the Quad Cities Community Foundation, is awarding $212,000 in grants to promote equity in access to learning through technology. This is not the first time that the Looser-Flake Foundation has provided technology support to... Read More

Ok, so about 50 percent of you hate Donald Trump. And, about 50 percent of you hate Joe Biden. But, probably about 90 percent of you, whether you like his music or not, think Kanye West is pretty freaking insane. This week, Ye, as the kids like to call him, was more crazy like a fox with the brilliant public relations stunt of announcing he’s going to run for president. Never mind that he hasn’t formally filed to run, and never mind that he’s way past the deadline to do so or be on the ballot in a vast majority of states, so technically, he has no chance. The fact that he announced it at... Read More

Like most entertainment around the world during coronavirus, the Levitt AMP Galva Music Series moved online this summer. All recipients of a 2020 national grant for a free summer music series will be part of a virtual free broadcast, all available on levittamp.org/virtual. Galva’s entry kicked off the series on June 20, with performances by Chicago Farmer and Edward David Anderson. “Each recipient of the Levitt AMP grant will be featured in one concert over the course of the summer as part of the national series — we just happened to be the first,” said John Taylor of Cambridge, president... Read More

Mark McGinn’s love of the theater is literally in his blood. His father Jack (who died in 2000) started performing at Quad City Music Guild in Moline within two years of its founding in 1949, and was in dozens of shows. Mark, a 67-year-old Bettendorf resident, started with Guild at Prospect Park in 1972, playing clarinet for “Fiddler on the Roof,” and his first stage role was in 1976’s “Jesus Christ Superstar” (as one of the apostles). McGinn has since been involved in more than 70 other shows (including last summer as John Wilkes Booth in Black Box’s “Assassins” in Moline), mostly... Read More