Moline • Mayor Stan Leach has formed a task force to explore the future of professional baseball in the Quad Cities. The impending sale (and subsequent relocation) of the River Bandits has given the issue some urgency, with a battle looming over the best site if a new team is found.

At Thursday's meeting of the Davenport Community & Economic Development Committee, developer THF Realty of St. Louis provided the city council with documents that should allow the construction of a Super Wal-Mart at Elmore Avenue and 53rd Street to proceed.

The opinions of the Quad City Times editorial board are often a source of amusement for those of us who bother to educate ourselves on the issues that concern Davenport taxpayers. This entity's blanket support of Self-Supporting Municipal Improvement Districts (SSMIDs) for THF Realty to pay for infrastructure improvements that provide access to their own development of a Super Wal-Mart and Home Depot is but one more confirmation of the QC Times' editor's philosophy, that ads are news too.

"Good morning, Mr. General Secretary. We are glad you could attend our meeting." "Nyet! A modern Russia demands new titles for its post-revolutionary leaders. We must trust capitalism to lead us. Please address me the way authority figures are spoken to on successful American television programs.