Pleasant Valley school officials are raising a red flag over Riverdale's plan to include the ALCOA plant in its first-ever Urban Renewal Area, the initial step in making the multi-million-dollar manufacturing facility eligible for Tax Increment Financing (TIF) rebates on future expansion and renovation projects.

Granting TIF incentives for future plant renovations could cost the district millions in school taxes, funneling those monies instead to either city coffers, back to the plant or into contractor/developer pockets.

In LeClaire, more than $1 million in school taxes are kept by the city and rebated to developers each year under TIF projects. The school district has objected to LeClaire's continued long-term use of TIF for residential and commercial developments, but the city has ignored its objections.

"ALCOA has the second largest amount of property tax valuations in the Pleasant Valley Community School District," Supt. Jim Spelhaug wrote in the letter to Riverdale officials last week objecting to creation of the Urban Renewal Area. "Therefore, ALCOA’s property taxes comprise a significant portion of the school district’s property tax revenue and overall revenue.

Dick Tuck, the legendary political prankster and wit, once ran for local office in San Francisco and lost. His concession speech, in its entirety: “The people have spoken — the bastards.”

Now, you know me — I wouldn’t say anything like that about the recent elections. It’s vulgar and I’m couth.

However, if the shoe fits…

Perhaps it’s safer to quote the Sage of Baltimore, H.L. Mencken, who said: “Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.”

The 2014 midterms were a Mencken moment.

A new Shell gas station and 2,000-square-foot convenience store would be built on the site of a long-vacant gas station along Bettendorf's State Street if the new owner gets a setback variance from the city.

The downtown Bettendorf business owners that are part of the Bettendorf Business Network have submitted an 11-point list of improvements they hope the city will undertake to upgrade the area.

Bettendorf City Council members and city staff met recently to set goals for the coming year, but you won't find any information online about the sessions.

Even though the meetings with the city's Florida-based consultant were open to the public, no video or audio recording of the discussions were made. For that matter, there aren't any written minutes of the sessions. According to the city's attorney, the council just talked about its priorities, it didn't take any votes on its priorities. . . yet.

Consultant Lyle Sumek has billed the city more than $18,000 so far for this year's planning services, plus $345 for snacks and lunches for the council.

Kwik Trip, Inc. is seeking a special use permit to allow construction of a convenience store, gas station and car wash along 53rd Avenue, just east of the new McDonald's restaurant in Bettendorf.

The request is expected to go before the city's Board of Adjustment at its Thursday, Oct. 9 meeting, and appears likely to again draw protests from neighbors who have voiced concerns about noise and traffic when the McDonald's restaurant sought a special use permit for a drive-up window, and, more recently, when a proposed restaurant on Falcon Avenue sought a permit for an outdoor patio.

By Jill Richardson

California is on the verge of becoming the first state to ban plastic grocery bags. Governor Jerry Brown says he intends to sign the bag-banning law California lawmakers approved in early September. The ban will go into effect at grocery stores and pharmacies next year and extend to liquor stores and additional kinds of retailers in 2016.

In addition to making it against the law for stores to give shoppers single-use plastic bags when ringing up purchases, the new law will also require stores to charge customers 10 cents for each paper bag they get. The kinds of disposable plastic bags used for loose or perishable items like produce will still be allowed.

California’s not the first place in the world to ban plastic grocery bags. In fact, one out of three Californians live in cities and towns — including San Francisco, Santa Barbara, and Los Angeles — that are already plastic bag-free. So are Boulder, Chicago, Santa Fe, Seattle, Austin, and lots of other places across the country.

The number of Iowans exhibiting one or more "problem gambling" behaviors has increased to 16 percent, 369,000 people, according to a recently released survey by the Iowa Department of Public Health.

The survey – "Gambling Attitudes and Behaviors" conducted in 2013 by the University of Northern Iowa Center for Social and Behavioral Research – also found one in five adult Iowans (18 percent) had been "negatively affected by gambling behavior of a family member, friend, or someone else they know."

Nearly 30 percent of Iowans reported "knowing a person with gambling problems," and 7 percent of state residents have experienced someone in their family having a gambling problem when they were growing up, according to the study.

By Amanda Ufheil-Somers

Once again, a U.S. president vows to eliminate an extremist militia in the Middle East to make the region, and Americans, safe.

And that means it’s time again for a reality check. Having failed in its bid to destroy the Taliban and al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, the United States is still trying to dismantle both organizations. Over the course of 13 years of war, that mission has spread to Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Somalia, Libya, Mali, and West Africa, as militant groups on two continents have adopted the al-Qaeda brand.

Contrary to normal logic, the White House wants everyone to see this failure as a badge of expertise. As President Barack Obama vowed in an interview on Meet the Press, fighting the Islamic State forces “is something we know how to do,” mainly because we’ve been battling similar groups “for five, six, seven years.”