In a rare public discussion among Bettendorf aldermen about downtown and riverfront redevelopment, the city council and staff this week conceded they have no consensus on where they're headed and agreed to work toward a unified vision for the area.

An animal rights group has taken its efforts to close the troubled Cricket Hollow Zoo near Manchester, Iowa to the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C.

The two Iowa agriculture department employees primarily responsible for inspecting the troubled Cricket Hollow Zoo have been critical – in emails to superiors and on social media sites – of citizens filing animal welfare complaints against the facility near Manchester.

Iowa air monitors recorded 91 exceedances of National Ambient Air Quality Standards during 2014, with the vast majority (71) occurring at three locations in Muscatine.

Of the 76 exceedances of sulfur dioxide standards in the state, 66 were recorded in Muscatine at the Musser Park, Greenwood Cemetery and Muscatine High School air monitoring stations. Of the 15 exceedances of fine particulate matter (less than 2.5 microns) statewide, five occurred at Muscatine monitors.

The recently unveiled Bettendorf comprehensive plan painted a rosy future image of the city's riverfront highlighting possible locations for high-rise condominiums on city land adjacent to Leach Park.

However, just weeks later, the city council is considering a decidedly different development opportunity for the old lime pile property: a road salt storage dome.