Rock Island • At a study session on March 26, the Rock Island City Council received a report from the Sylvan Slough Task Force, which is charged with updating a 1989 plan for the area. The new report recommends, among other things, expansion of the Quad City Botanical Center to the area just east of Government Bridge for a children's garden; development of the Sylvan Slough as a "naturalized exhibit (river and woods) and an extension of the Botanical Center"; creation of a "railroad museum" along the Iowa Interstate and Burlington Northern railroad yards; development of a "public access site to the river" in the industrial area behind and to the east of the QCIC plant; and creation of a baseball stadium for Augustana College between 5th and 6th avenues and 39th and 40th streets.

In the last decade, arguments have come forward in support of living wages versus minimum wages. In unprecedented economic growth, wage earners are not realizing personal economic growth as they should. Many things contribute to this, including government subsidies, global competition, and foreign-trade policies, to name only a few of the things that cause the equation to become unbalanced.

At a public hearing on February 5, three people pleaded with the members of the Davenport City Council to grant funding to the Youth Alternative Program. "We keep young people off the streets, out of trouble," said Ida Johnson of Family Services' Youth Alternative Program.

A $25 million class-action civil-rights lawsuit filed by three African Americans against the City of Rock Island faces an uphill battle in court, according to people familiar with similar challenges. On January 18, three men filed a class-action lawsuit seeking $25 million in damages and asking the federal district court to overturn a Rock Island city ordinance forbidding drivers from playing their car stereos loudly.