13
May
2003
• The Courtland Apartments, a 36-unit apartment building at 321 East Seventh Street in Davenport, has been ordered vacated by city inspectors after a follow-up rental inspection. Residents of the building were given 30 days to vacate the premises. Inspectors found that several code violations they had previously ordered corrected still existed. According to the property manager, only 20 of the 36 apartment units are currently occupied. The City of Davenport will offer relocation assistance to qualified tenants. A maximum of $400 can be provided for a deposit on a unit to which they are moving and other moving expenses. The new apartment must comply with the rental codes. Separately, the City of Davenport is continuing discussions with the Iowa Finance Authority and a local not-for-profit organization to explore ways in which these affordable-housing units can remain in service. The owner, Boston Capital, has indicated that it cannot invest the amount of money required to keep the property open.
• This weekend will be a "For Sale by Owner" fundraiser for the Bettendorf Parks & Recreation Foundation. Motorized vehicles such as cars, trucks, vans, motorcycles, boats, and motor homes will be for sale, and potential buyers will have the opportunity to see dozens of vehicles. (Last year featured roughly 150 vehicles.) The event will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday in the old Eagle Foods parking lot at 2850 18th Street in Bettendorf.
• The Quad Cities Triathlon is just around the corner and is still seeking volunteers. The triathlon will be held on Saturday, June 14, at West Lake Park in Scott County. Approximately 400 people will participate in the event, swimming 600 yards, biking 15 miles, and running 3.1 miles to the finish line. Volunteers are needed for packet pick-up and race setup on Friday, June 13, and on race day. To sign up or to find out more about volunteer opportunities for the Quad Cities Triathlon, please contact Kara Bunte at (309)743-2170 extension 208 or (buntek@usa.redcross.org). For more information about the Triathlon, visit (http://www.qctriathlon.com).
• Black Hawk College has announced that the North Central Association of Colleges & Schools has recommended it for 10-year re-accreditation. Ten years is the maximum accreditation period possible. A four-member Higher Learning Commission team visited the college April 28 through 30. The team looked at every aspect of the college, from programming to facilities to finances. The North Central Association is one of six regional institutional accrediting associations in the United States. Through its commissions it accredits, and thereby grants membership to, educational institutions in the 19-state North Central region. Black Hawk College has had continuous accreditation since March 31, 1951.
• The United States Supreme Court announced last week that it will consider whether to release photos of Vincent Foster's body. Foster was the Clinton associate White House counsel who the government says committed suicide in 1993. The conservative Accuracy in Media organization had raised questions about the circumstances of Foster's death and sought, through the Freedom of Information Act, access to photographs of Foster's body to help resolve these questions. Siding with Kenneth Starr and the Office of Independent Counsel, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit turned away this effort, suggesting that the privacy rights of the Foster family trumped the public interest in ascertaining the circumstances of the Foster's death.
• Bettendorf Centennial Quilt Raffle tickets have gone on sale at the Bettendorf Public Library, 2950 Learning Campus Drive. The tickets, $2 each or three for $5, will be on sale until the winning ticket is drawn October 6. The centennial quilt project was made by Mary Pettigrew of Bettendorf, with all proceeds from the raffle benefiting the Bettendorf Public Library Fund. The quilt has a scrapbook theme and affixed to it are 10 winning poems from the library's Centennial Poem Project. Also affixed to the quilt are photos of old and new Bettendorf.
• Are you interested in genealogy and local history? Do you like to learn about Davenport and Scott County history? Do your children need to know a quick fact or two about Davenport history for a school assignment? Then the Davenport Public Library's newest Web page is for you. "Joined by a River: The Quad Cities Memory Project" can be found at (http://www.qcmemory.org). The site includes brief biographies and select photos of some of Davenport's most famous residents, such as Annie Wittenmyer and Bix Beiderbecke, a timeline of Scott County history, indices that will help you locate ancestors who lived in Scott County, and links to other important and interesting Web sites.
• In a surprise move that has shocked many conservatives - and outraged gun-rights activists - the Bush administration has announced support for keeping the Clinton-Feinstein-Schumer gun ban on the books. The law, which bans common household firearms, is set to expire in September 2004. Most gun-rights advocates assumed Bush would let the law die. Though Bush said during the 2000 campaign that he supported the current law, it was unclear whether he favored extending the ban. Furthermore, he ran on a strong pro-gun-rights platform. But on April 12, White House Deputy Press Secretary Scott McClellan was quoted in the Washington Post: "The president supports the current law, and he supports reauthorization of the current law." For more information, see the Gun Owners of America Web site at (http://www.gunowners.org) and Libertarian Party press releases at (http://www.lp.org/press/archive.php).
• This weekend will be a "For Sale by Owner" fundraiser for the Bettendorf Parks & Recreation Foundation. Motorized vehicles such as cars, trucks, vans, motorcycles, boats, and motor homes will be for sale, and potential buyers will have the opportunity to see dozens of vehicles. (Last year featured roughly 150 vehicles.) The event will be held from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday in the old Eagle Foods parking lot at 2850 18th Street in Bettendorf.
• The Quad Cities Triathlon is just around the corner and is still seeking volunteers. The triathlon will be held on Saturday, June 14, at West Lake Park in Scott County. Approximately 400 people will participate in the event, swimming 600 yards, biking 15 miles, and running 3.1 miles to the finish line. Volunteers are needed for packet pick-up and race setup on Friday, June 13, and on race day. To sign up or to find out more about volunteer opportunities for the Quad Cities Triathlon, please contact Kara Bunte at (309)743-2170 extension 208 or (buntek@usa.redcross.org). For more information about the Triathlon, visit (http://www.qctriathlon.com).
• Black Hawk College has announced that the North Central Association of Colleges & Schools has recommended it for 10-year re-accreditation. Ten years is the maximum accreditation period possible. A four-member Higher Learning Commission team visited the college April 28 through 30. The team looked at every aspect of the college, from programming to facilities to finances. The North Central Association is one of six regional institutional accrediting associations in the United States. Through its commissions it accredits, and thereby grants membership to, educational institutions in the 19-state North Central region. Black Hawk College has had continuous accreditation since March 31, 1951.
• The United States Supreme Court announced last week that it will consider whether to release photos of Vincent Foster's body. Foster was the Clinton associate White House counsel who the government says committed suicide in 1993. The conservative Accuracy in Media organization had raised questions about the circumstances of Foster's death and sought, through the Freedom of Information Act, access to photographs of Foster's body to help resolve these questions. Siding with Kenneth Starr and the Office of Independent Counsel, the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit turned away this effort, suggesting that the privacy rights of the Foster family trumped the public interest in ascertaining the circumstances of the Foster's death.
• Bettendorf Centennial Quilt Raffle tickets have gone on sale at the Bettendorf Public Library, 2950 Learning Campus Drive. The tickets, $2 each or three for $5, will be on sale until the winning ticket is drawn October 6. The centennial quilt project was made by Mary Pettigrew of Bettendorf, with all proceeds from the raffle benefiting the Bettendorf Public Library Fund. The quilt has a scrapbook theme and affixed to it are 10 winning poems from the library's Centennial Poem Project. Also affixed to the quilt are photos of old and new Bettendorf.
• Are you interested in genealogy and local history? Do you like to learn about Davenport and Scott County history? Do your children need to know a quick fact or two about Davenport history for a school assignment? Then the Davenport Public Library's newest Web page is for you. "Joined by a River: The Quad Cities Memory Project" can be found at (http://www.qcmemory.org). The site includes brief biographies and select photos of some of Davenport's most famous residents, such as Annie Wittenmyer and Bix Beiderbecke, a timeline of Scott County history, indices that will help you locate ancestors who lived in Scott County, and links to other important and interesting Web sites.
• In a surprise move that has shocked many conservatives - and outraged gun-rights activists - the Bush administration has announced support for keeping the Clinton-Feinstein-Schumer gun ban on the books. The law, which bans common household firearms, is set to expire in September 2004. Most gun-rights advocates assumed Bush would let the law die. Though Bush said during the 2000 campaign that he supported the current law, it was unclear whether he favored extending the ban. Furthermore, he ran on a strong pro-gun-rights platform. But on April 12, White House Deputy Press Secretary Scott McClellan was quoted in the Washington Post: "The president supports the current law, and he supports reauthorization of the current law." For more information, see the Gun Owners of America Web site at (http://www.gunowners.org) and Libertarian Party press releases at (http://www.lp.org/press/archive.php).
