• Students from the Davenport Community School District and North Scott Schools pooled their talents and hard work to complete a multi-level, $300,000-plus house to help celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Student Built Home Program.

• According to a new report released by the Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) lacks the authority and resources to properly regulate the state's livestock operations under the federal Clean Water Act.

Rock Island Economic Growth Corporation, which has long been a model of progressive development in the Quad Cities, is starting to ruffle a few feathers - with quite a few more likely to follow. That's because the not-for-profit organization has delved into the development of affordable housing, building 71 units for the Rock Island Housing Authority in the coming years, including six scattered-site homes this year in established - although still sensitive - neighborhoods.

Nick Clooney hit upon an interesting idea when he was approached about doing a book about film: that movies sometimes should be looked at outside the realm of entertainment. A persistent literary representative kept asking him to write a book, but he kept deferring because of his schedule as host of American Movie Classics.