Bettendorf city officials appear ready to sign a consent order with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR) calling for $32 million in sewer system upgrades over the next 20 years.

The agreement with the IDNR was outlined to the city council Monday (2/4) by engineering consultants Veenstra & Kimm and aldermen are expected to vote on the deal next month.

Emissions of greenhouse gases – primarily carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide – in Iowa fell nearly 4 percent in 2011, with most of the decline coming from lower amounts emitted by electric generating stations burning coal and natural gas.

The 2011 emission totals were released Tuesday (2/5) by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and online charts showing emission data from individual companies and locations in the state can be viewed by clicking on this link. Click on "Read More" below to view a listing of the top 50 emitters of greenhouse gases in Iowa and their total emissions in 2011.

Isle of Capri Casinos, Inc. – owner of both Iowa Quad Cities gambling boats – announced last week (2/2) it will put up $25 million to join Tower Investments LLC in a bid for the second gambling license in the city of Philadelphia.

In its filing with Security and Exchange Commission, the Isle said it is putting up the money in the form of a standby letter of credit, "issued for the purposed of securing the Pennsylvania gaming license fee related to the project." If the venture is successful in being selected by the state gaming authority, the $25 million would be converted into a minority investment in the resort and casino venture, called "The Provence."

After a three-year freeze on executive compensation because of "continuing difficult economic conditions affecting the company," Lee Enterprises' President and Chief Executive Officer Mary E. Junck received an 11 percent salary increase to $900,000 in 2012, plus stock awards and cash incentives of more than $1.1 million.

The comprehensive Bettendorf bike/trail plan to be opened up for public discussion Monday (1/28) calls for bike lanes and a shared use path along 18th Street between 53rd Avenue and Spruce Hills Drive.

It took six years, but the Sierra Club of Iowa Tuesday (1/22) settled a long-standing score with MidAmerican Energy over air emissions from the utility's coal-fired power plants.

Six years ago, the Sierra Club sued MidAmerican Energy in federal court alleging the utility violated air quality permit regulations at its newest 790-megawatt coal-fired generating unit in the Council Bluffs Energy Center.

Lee Enterprises – owner of the Quad City Times and 47 other daily newspapers – today (1/22) reported first quarter earnings of 28 cents per share, down from 32 cents per share for the same period a year ago.

Overall print and digital advertising revenue for the quarter – normally the newspaper industry's strongest advertising period because of the holiday shopping season – fell 6.3 percent compared with the company's first quarter last year.

Iowa finished the year 2012 with a total of 63 exceedances of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards, with monitors in Muscatine recording 39 of those exceedances, according to figures release by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (IDNR).

A total of 35 of the 39 exceedances in Muscatine involved high levels of sulfur dioxide (SO2) emissions, while the remaining four exceedances involved PM 2.5 (particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in diameter).

Pleasant Valley High School graduation ceremonies will move across the Mississippi River this year to the iWireless Center, providing additional seating and air-conditioned comfort for parents and family members.

The school board at its January 14 meeting gave the okay to use the larger venue for the high school graduation to be held at 1 p.m., Sunday, May 26.

A public meeting will be held Monday, January 28 to obtain citizen input into a citywide plan for future expansion of recreation trails in Bettendorf.

The meeting from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the QC Waterfront Convention Center is to obtain comments and feedback on a comprehensive trail study being developed by engineering firm Shive-Hattery, Inc. The plan involves 30 bicycle/recreation trail corridors in the community, and was prompted by a controversial project to add a 10-foot recreation trail along Middle Road last year.