The Waste Commission of Scott County, in cooperation with the City of Bettendorf, the City of Davenport, and Scott County, has produced the 2007 Garbage Guide, which will be delivered to residents' mailboxes over the next few weeks. The guide details solid-waste collection and processing for all 17 communities in Scott County. Solid waste includes garbage, recycling, bulky waste, electronic waste, yard waste, household hazardous materials, and home health waste. The guide also provides resources and information regarding storm-water, reuse, and beautification programs. For additional copies of the Garbage Guide, call the Waste Commission of Scott County at (563) 381-1300, or view it online at (http://www.wastecom.com).

There's not a lump of coal in this season's stocking of new Christmas music, with five CDs from indie record labels worth finding.

The executive committee of the Quad City Development Group on December 1 announced that it would begin a nationwide search for a new president and CEO. Once that position is filled, the organization's current president and CEO, Thom Hart, will assume the position of senior vice president for government relations and public policy. The new president will be a sales and marketing executive who will lead the development of a new marketing and branding plan for the Quad Cities region and will work closely with a planned Quad Cities Growth Steering Council. A priority for the Quad City Development Group will be a strategic initiative to form a regional, bipartisan, public-private policy council to work on issues of common concern to organizations such as the local chambers of commerce, the Bi-State Regional Commission, and the Quad City Convention & Visitors Bureau. Hart will lead that effort.

The cliché goes that a picture's worth a thousand words, but what happens when a picture is supposed to represent a single word?

"Allure." "Awkward." "Pattern." Those were the prompts for the Reader's fall photo contest, and they're admittedly challenging. Many things are attractive, or graceless, or feature the repetition of motifs, after all. But how do you capture those qualities in a photograph?