"How could Scott County Attorney, Kelly Cunningham, who ran for election on a platform of being tough on crime, recommend no prison time and support deferred prosecution for a defendant who pled guilty to a Class C felony ..." more

"Carrie deserves to serve a full term on the North Scott School Board, and I can’t think of a better person to serve us ..." more

"Molly will do what’s right for the North Scott community, the schools, and the people and places we live ..." more

"Molly Bergfeld has gone the extra mile or the district ..." more

"I want to share some of the things I have learned during my 16 years of representing Eldridge citizens as a member of the city council ..." more

Nov. 2, 1983: Two-year-old Christopher Brekke was safe and sound after getting lost in a Princeton cornfield. He and his three-year-old brother Michael were playing outside, and Christopher wandered into the field. Nearly 50 emergency responders helped with the two-hour search, including Lt. Dennis Conard of the Scott County Sheriff’s Department, who found the boy. more

The first time I heard Linda Ellis’ poem, The Dash, was in 2004 at a Rotary institute at the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island – a quaint resort on the northern shores of Michigan. The man who read the poem was Carl Wilhelm Stenhammer, of Sweden, an erudite man who would serve as president of worldwide Rotary in 2005-06. more

"Giving back a hard-won $180,000 grant would be a tragedy. It would end the prospect of this valuable addition to our community, and would eliminate future grant considerations ..." more

It was years ago that I heard about a woman who spent 6 or 7 days a week driving around the Quad City area collecting soon-to-be expired food from grocery stores. Of course being a history buff, and a person who has spent a career trying to find and share inspirational stories, I had to know more. more

Nov. 9, 1983: Eldridge city officials were taking a hard look at making Eldridge Corners a four-way stop. “During the past six months, we have investigated eight serious accidents at that location, with 90 percent of them resulting in personal injuries,” said police chief Gil Hansen. City council member Carol Goetzke said the Iowa Department of Transportation’s prerogative was to put a four-way stop there, and so far, they had not chosen to act. However, in light of the deaths of two Davenport women in a crash there the previous week, officials hoped the DOT would “have more incentive to check it out.” more

The quote from the great Gandhi who brought independence from British rule to the people of India after World War II through peaceful protest comes to mind in these troubled times when innocents are dying every day in armed conflicts in the Mideast and Ukraine. more

Nov. 14, 1973: The North Scott community grieved as three teenagers were killed in a car accident a mile and a half east of Eldridge Corners. Jo Ann Lagoni, 16, Pamela Hinkle, 16, and Randal Kirby, 14, died when the car they were riding in struck a school bus. The bus was empty except for the driver. Witnesses said the car attempted to pass another vehicle just prior to the crash. Authorities said they did not know for certain who was driving the car. School was cancelled the day of the funerals, and many activities were also postponed. more

Politicians all the way up to Donald Trump and all the way down to certain candidates for local offices could learn from 4-H. The vast majority are gracious, which is what makes democracy work: the peaceful transition of power. more

I believe American families are strong, resilient and extraordinary. But that doesn’t mean they can’t use some help. After all, raising a family is not always easy. more

A consistent goal of mine in the Iowa Senate has been to increase Iowa’s competitiveness and make our state the best in the United States to live, work and raise a family. Recent surveys put Iowa at 40th for property taxes, making us one of the worst states in the country. more

Nov. 21, 1973: North Scott area voters gave the green light for the district to proceed with the construction of a new junior high building, passing a bond referendum with an 80.4 percent “yes” vote. The $1.2 million bond issue would pay for most of the estimated $1.7 million project, with the rest coming from the district’s schoolhouse fund. District officials hoped having a separate junior high building would also make additional courses available to junior high students, including industrial arts, typing, art, and home economics, that they were not able to participate in at the high school. more

Twice, I copped a ride with my friend, John Ockenfels, of Swisher, near Cedar Rapids, to Rotary events, first at Cleveland, Ohio, in 2016, and then Erie, Pa., in 2018. During those flights he told me of his dream to fly around the world in a single-engine airplane. Yeah, right, I thought – but John was serious. more

"If Sen. Cournoyer wants to micromanage local spending maybe she should run for a local office instead of tying local elected officials’ hands ..." more

ESG stands for environmental, social, governance. Large corporate directors and business investors, with indirect input from the federal government, designate these scores based on how well the person or small business or company adheres to a number of policies, such as green, climate change-inspired policies, opposition to the use of fossil fuels, opposition to production agriculture, opposition to gun manufacture, beliefs about racial equity informed by Critical Race Theory (CRT), including anti-racism, white privilege, etc., support for abortion on demand and/or adherence to LGBT ideology. more

Nov. 28, 1973: The Eldridge Businessmen’s Association cancelled an order for new lighted Christmas decorations. President Richard Nixon had called for a ban on decorative Christmas lighting in a speech on the energy crisis. more