Casino Wars

On Monday, the Rock Island City Council passed a development agreement with Jumer's Casino Rock Island that paves the way for a $90-million project that would shift the casino's gambling operations from the city's riverfront to the intersection of Interstate 280 and Highway 92.
• Northwest Airlines has announced that beginning on May 1, it will be offering daily nonstop jet service between Moline and Memphis, Tennessee. Northwest will start with one flight daily and add a second daily flight on June 10.
With political discourse defined by (and often limited to) spin and sound bites, it seems a particularly appropriate time to celebrate the presence of C-SPAN, the not-for-profit corporation that provides America (and the world) with coverage of U.
• Iowa Senator Bryan Sievers, R-New Liberty, has two Democrats vying to face him in the general election this fall. Eldridge Mayor Frank Wood, who also serves as associate principal at North Scott High School, announced that he will be seeking the Democratic nomination and will face off against Dennis Starling, the Calamus man who nearly defeated Sievers in the 2002 District 42 race.
• Quad-LINC, the Davenport Public Library's online catalog and a shared database with other Quad Cities libraries, will have a dramatically new look this month. New software will provide enriched information that library users are accustomed to seeing on commercial Web sites.
Ask Quad Citians what red brick building sits at the foot of the Arsenal Bridge in downtown Davenport, with the slogan "Welcome to Iowa" crudely painted on its side, and most will tell you, "The Judy's Antiques building.
• Consumers would be limited to buying only two packages of certain over-the-counter cold medicine under a bill adopted by the Iowa House Public Safety Committee. House File 2259 prohibits a retailer from selling and a person from buying, in a single transaction, more than two packages of cold medicine (in tablet form) containing pseudoephedrine as the product's sole active ingredient.
In the hierarchy of county politics, the state's attorney's office is at the very top. The police can investigate a crime and make an arrest, but if the state's attorney chooses not to prosecute, the accused goes free.
• One of the best places to watch eagles in the Quad Cities is getting a new look. The 20th Street Overlook is located at 20th Street and Highway 92, just east of Casino Rock Island. The current facility was built in the early 1970s after the construction of the floodwall and includes a RiverWay kiosk, lots of stone riprap, and numerous concrete planters.
Welcome to the Best of the Quad Cities 2003! The River Cities' Reader received nearly 300 valid ballots for our poll this year - more than ever before - and we're proud to present the winners here.

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