Wondering what to expect from the government in 2025? So far, it looks like it will be more of the same ill-advised, costly, greedy, taxpayer-funded, dunderheaded power grabs, saber-rattling, graft, corruption, and make-works programming that leaves us no better off than where we started.

Scott County Sheriff Tim Lane

The Scott County sheriff says although an Iowa Senate committee has rejected his ethics complaint against the state’s new lieutenant governor, he intends to pursue the matter.

Every now and then, you get a story that helps explain the Statehouse power dynamic. The saga of the “intoxicating hemp” regulation bill is one of those stories.

2024 was a tumultuous year for the country (myself included), and it’s a gift to be able to look back at arts and culture highlights I was able to witness, while looking forward to some 2025 events that are sure to be on my calendar.

We’re less than nine months from when candidates can begin circulating petitions for the 2026 election, so we’re rapidly approaching the time when major figures will need to decide whether to run or not. Because of that, a lot of people are polling.

The building that houses the Village Theatre (2113 East 11th Street, Village of East Davenport) has a long and colorful history. Recently sold, it faces an uncertain future, and likely will not be called a theatre in its next act.

The Democratic legislative leaders and the governor agreed to squirrel away $260 million in lump-sum appropriations to various state agencies last spring. But now some groups are figuring out that a big pile of state money is just sitting there and they are trying to stake their claims.

Whenever someone assures you that another person you’re both dealing with “understands” the “quid pro quo,” you’d be wise to run away as fast as you can and never look back. But that’s exactly how then-Alderman Daniel Solis assured then-House Speaker Michael Madigan in late June of 2017 that their mark – the developers of a West Loop apartment complex – would eventually be convinced to retain Madigan’s property tax appeals law firm.

In the wake of Donald Trump’s national victory and his losing margin dropping to 11 points in Illinois from 17 in two prior races, state legislative Democrats here have different views on how their party should proceed.

After seven years tucked nearly out of sight in downtown Davenport, the growing Bix Beiderbecke Museum & Archive is raising money for a move across the street.

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