The YMCA advisory board and friends held a farewell reception Thursday afternoon for North Scott YMCA director Chance Berger at Iron Tee, a fancy new arcade and golf driving venue at the Bett Plex just east of Middle Road in northern Bettendorf. more

June 20, 1984: Scott County Secondary Roads officials were awaiting the results of a feasibility study for a new Central Maintenance Facility in Eldridge. Workers said the current building was cramped and poorly insulated and ventilated. The total estimated cost of a new facility was $1.25 million. more

The people of Jackson County are lucky that Lowell Carlson chose a career in journalism, even if he didn't own the paper. The archives of the Bellevue Herald-Leader and to a lesser degree the Maquoketa Sentinel-Press are chock full of well-told stories, under Lowell's byline, of everyone from presidents to ordinary citizens doing extraordinary things. more

June 12, 1974: In the race for Scott County Board of Supervisors, Republicans Robert Duax, Bob Meyer and Les Schick, and Democrats Monica Walton, Wes Elliott and Pete Mathews emerged victorious in a primary that had 16 candidates between the two parties. more

Pity poor Donald Trump. No spring chicken himself, he's lived 77 years and never learned the time-honored value of "Win without bragging and lose without squealing" that shaped the character of generations of 4-H club members in this county and all across the USA. more

June 5, 1974: The North Scott School Board once again took up the issue of constructing a school building in Park View, asking voters to consider a $1.4 million bond issue in the fall. The bond would include a full, three-section building in Park View, as well as additions to Alan Shepard and Ed White. The board had recently been dealing with complaints from parents about space issues in the current elementary schools, with the district set to rent four classroom spaces outside of school property for the upcoming school year. more

Recently, I wrote about the US Postal Service's plan to shut down mail sorting at the modern Business Mail Entry Unit (BMEU) located south of the Quad-City International Airport, and transport mail from the greater Quad Cities to be sorted in Des Moines, then back-hauled to the local area. In one of the biggest jokes of the year, USPS said this would save money without slowing delivery. more

May 29, 1974: Approximately 50 Eldridge parents showed up to the school board meeting to ask that their first graders not be bused to Donahue in the fall. The board had decided two sections of first grade would be held in an old bank building in Donahue, and the parents said this would put their children at a disadvantage. more

As Shane Knoche and I sat in his office chatting about his 16 years at North Scott a few weeks ago, the conversation came around to the changes the building has undergone. Not just since I graduated in 2001, but since Shane came in 2008. He decided to give me the grand tour, the one he gives to new and prospective families. more

In 1932, during the heights of the Great Depression, a businessman named Herbert Taylor was urged by the creditors of the Club Aluminum Company in Chicago to take over the management of the company and save it from bankruptcy. Despite holding a secure job with the Jewel Tea Company, and being in line to be its president, Taylor took an 80-percent cut in pay and loaned his own money $6,100, to give the aluminum company some operating capital. more

May 22, 2019: Eldridge police were hoping drivers got the message after issuing 49 traffic tickets in a week on Pinehurst Drive. After receiving complaints from residents about speeders along the street, the department stepped up patrol in the area. more

With adult children in Seattle, Des Moines and Madison, we observed a quiet Mother's Day compared with years past when the kids were at home and our parents were alive and well just 30 minutes away at Maquoketa. Those were the days. more

May 16, 1984: A new soccer team in Eldridge was playing in its first season with the Quad-Cities League. North Scott United was organized by Leon Labovitch of Long Grove, a native of Leeds, England. Other members of the team included Tod Konrad, Shane Cline, John Hall, Mike Kurylo, Kevin Riley, Jim Hamann, Farzin Varziri, Craig Kindl, Bill Freund, Nick Rizzo, Jack Keppy, Eric O’Shaughnessy and Tom Tank. more

Friday afternoon we were at Fillmore Elementary School in the Ridgeview section of Davenport, just south of Interstate 80 off of Division Street, for the sixth and last of Rotary club president Tracy Lindaman's "Pay It Forward" days. more

May 12, 1999: Rumors of violence caused more than 100 students to leave North Scott High School early. Principal Nick Hobbs stressed that the administration had no reason to believe there were any actual threat. “We have nothing concrete, in terms of what the rumor was, or who started it. We have nothing concrete as to whether or not a threat was actually made against somebody.” Hobbs said many schools had been dealing with unspecified threats in the wake of the shootings at Columbine High School in Colorado, which was causing national tension. more

A group of good-hearted volunteers in the Quad Cities is welcoming refugees and putting into practice the Biblical injunctions, "Am I my brother's keeper?" (Gen. 4: 9) and "I was a stranger and you invited me in." (Mt. 25:35). more

May 1, 1974: A 21-year-old Bettendorf man was seriously injured after he stopped to help another driver change a flat tire along Highway 61 near Interstate 80. A southbound vehicle veered off the roadway, pinning the man between it and the disabled vehicle. The man was taken to Mercy Hospital, where one of his legs had to be amputated. more

Thank you to readers who said they appreciated last week's "Impressions" which explained the difficult choices in the Israeli-Hamas War – thanks largely to the teaching pastor, the Rev. Peter Pettit, of St. Paul Lutheran. One reader wrote, "Thanks for your explanation of the Israel/Hamas war. I didn't understand what was going on, but your article helped me to grasp the problem." more

April 24, 1974: North Scott teachers were preparing to enter contract negotiations with the district and asked for a $1,000 pay increase, to $8,400 for the 1974-75 school year. Jack Dudley of the North Scott Education Association said the district had not kept pace with the cost of living. Dudley said the average teacher was paid $10,290 in the last school year, which worked out to about $4.82 per hour, assuming a teacher only worked eight hours per day during the nine-month contract period. Starting sweepers at Caterpillar earned $4.95 per hour. more