Blake Selby is changing the local fitness and diet scene one text at a time. The man behind the new Quad Cities Fitness, 325 16th St, Bettendorf, Iowa, isn’t just a man of words, or actions, he’s also a man of text, and his clients are reaping the benefits, one phone message per day. “I like to not only say we’re a full-service organization, I like to prove it to my clients, that’s important to me,” Selby says. “All the clients get that personal touch, and that includes texting them every night, to monitor their diets and their exercise programs.” “The clients will text me everything... Read More

Squirreled away amongst the depression-era architectural remains of downtown Rock Island, next to the shimmering strip clubs and sagging dive bars on 20th Street, scant slumping steps from the eternal river that announces the end of Illinois, is a sentinel of a bygone era that transcends time and trends. Walk within its doors and you enter a cramped kingdom, a taut narrow expanse of colorful cardboard towers soaring to the stucco ceiling, monolith over a workshop bursting with stitches and steel. A tall, thin man with ebon and silver bolts of hair and an impish grin greets you, hearty and hale,... Read More

There are few comfort foods as fulfilling and joyful as grilled cheese. So if you’re looking for a gouda time, trying to sandwich in a good meal, and want to pick up something that you’re not going to have to have to take a provolone out for that’s going to cost you a lot of cheddar, you’re going to want to check out the new food truck in the Quad-Cities – Static Melt. Static Melt, run by Dan Bush, 33, and Drake Deregules, 25, of Davenport, debuted Wednesday night to huge response, offering a mouth-watering menu of five grilled cheese sandwiches, and watching as dozens of people lined... Read More