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

As part of the national rollout to vaccinate Americans against Covid-19, many staff of the Davenport Community School District (DCSD) will receive the vaccine soon to help protect students and others with whom they interact. From Tuesday, Feb. 2, through this Thursday, and again Feb. 9 through Feb. 11, DCSD employees will receive the vaccine. The vaccination clinic will be held from 3-8 p.m. at the Achievement Service Center, 1702 N. Main Street, Davenport. This measure is necessary to accommodate the return of students to their classrooms in the coming weeks, with the state requirement for 100-percent... Read More

St. Ambrose University’s Galvin Fine Arts Center has received $27,300 from the state of Iowa from the program offering economic relief to the state’s arts and culture industry. The grant (announced late last month) is provided through the Iowa Arts & Culture Recovery Program, and will reimburse Galvin for some losses incurred in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Lance Sadlek, director of the Galvin Fine Arts Center, said the grant will cover some of the lost revenue and extra expenses for personal protective equipment (PPE) and labor that were needed to keep Galvin operating and safe... Read More

BREAKING: The Quad-Cities’ Region 2 is one of only two in Illinois which would be eligible at this point to leave Tier 3 covid-19 restrictions next week, according to statistics from the Illinois Department of Health. Nine of the 11 regions in Illinois fall short of the criteria to reduce Tier 3 restrictions, with only a few days to go to improve those numbers in order to be eligible for reduced mitigations. Nine of the regions have seen an increase in the percentage of positive covid numbers over the past week, as cases have begun to rise in the wake of the holidays. While the Quad-Cities... Read More

BREAKING NEWS: As Iowa covid numbers rise, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds issued new, modified mitigation efforts Thursday evening. Reynolds’ new measures will be in effect through at least Feb. 6 and requires people to wear masks inside public places when unable to social distance. The rules are predominantly geared towards bars and restaurants, which have been shown to have a higher likelihood of spreading the virus. However, Reynolds did somewhat ease restrictions surrounding sports and recreational events for youths and teens. Starting today, Reynolds said, “A social, community, business... Read More

And now… the time is here… and so we face… the last story of this series… Since Sunday, we’ve been running massive, gigantic, action-packed features for you running down the top stories of 2020! We hope you’ve enjoyed the ride! On Sunday we gave you a look at January and February; on Monday we hit March; Tuesday rolled out April; Wednesday morning we showed you May and June; and Wednesday night it was July and August’s turn. This morning we unveiled September and October. And now, here we are with the last story of the series, giving you the biggest stories... Read More

Two days left in 2020, and so, today and the past two days, it’s been time for our look back at the year that was in arts and entertainment, 2020. Every day between now and New Year’s Eve, Dec. 31, we’ll be posting stories painting the big picture on the year, a couple months each day. We hope you enjoy the look back, and let’s all hope for a happy new year and a much, much, much, much better 2021! Sunday we looked at January and February; Monday we hit March; Tuesday was April. Today, we have two installments. This morning, we showcase May and June, and later on this afternoon we’ll... Read More

Some call me a pessimist. Some call me a cynic. Some call me the space cowboy, some call me the gangster of love. I prefer to think of myself as, no, not Maurice, but, rather, a pragmatist. A realist. And realistically, I don’t see the next few months going well in terms of covid-19. Today, Kim Reynolds is going to talk about potentially pulling back restrictions she put in place a month ago in regard to the pandemic ripping its way through the Midwest, and especially Iowa. Many think she’s going to pull back the restrictions. I don’t think she should. I know everyone wants to get back to... Read More

BREAKING: As Iowa continues as a hot spot for covid-19 cases, Governor Kim Reynolds is extending mitigations for “at least another week” on the state. “We look at it on a daily basis, we review it on a daily basis, we review it on a weekly basis,” Reynolds said in a press conference today. “We still have a long ways to go on our hospitals, but they are seeing some relief. I’ve said all along, we’ll dial up and we’ll dial back as appropriate and so that’s the same thing that we’ve done from the beginning of the pandemic.” Iowa... Read More

UPDATED: Iowa covid-19 cases and deaths continued to have a massive surge after the Thanksgiving holiday week, tripling the number in Illinois, which continues to experience a rise in cases of its own. According to the Iowa Department of Public Health, there were 30,328 new confirmed and probable cases of covid-19 in Iowa on Dec. 3, with 258 deaths reported; and even more cases and deaths Dec. 4, with 30, 629 cases and 340 deaths. The numbers dwarf those in the larger neighboring state of Illinois. The Illinois Department of Public Health today reported 10,959 new confirmed and probable cases of... Read More