Roadway reconstruction related to the new Interstate 74 Bridge may be a puzzle now to motorists in downtown Bettendorf, but an even more significant street reconfiguration may be on the horizon – conversion of the Grant and State Street one-ways to two-way traffic.

The city council Tuesday (Aug. 2) approved hiring a traffic consultant for $100,000 to conduct an analysis of the two downtown one-ways with an eye toward making them into two-way streets.

Third quarter earnings at Lee Enterprises, Inc. have increased compared with the same period a year ago despite a nearly 5 percent drop in net revenues at the Davenport-based media company.

The company Thursday (8/4) reported earnings of $4.4 million, 8 cents per share, for the three-months ended June 26, compared with $2.14 million, 3 cents per share, for the same quarter in 2015.

The two remaining endangered animals kept at Cricket Hollow Zoo – African lionesses named Jonwah and Njjarra – have been relocated to a wildlife sanctuary in Colorado after settlement of a federal court lawsuit filed against the zoo by the Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) and five Iowa residents.

The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Colorado, with veterinary support from the Blank Park Zoo in Des Moines, took custody of the two lions after the settlement was reached with zoo owners Pam and Tom Sellner of Manchester, Iowa, according to a news release issued by the ALDF today (Aug. 3).

A federal judge today (July 21) ordered the examination of a Cricket Hollow Zoo lioness and set an expedited trial date for August 1 to determine if the two African lions should be permanently removed from the roadside zoo.

In an unusual telephone hearing, Chief Judge Linda Reade of the U.S. District Court in Cedar Rapids ordered the zoo allow a Colorado veterinarian with experience in the care of lions examine the lioness Njjarra.

Click on image above to view the video showing the two African lions at Cricket Hollow Zoo. The video was submitted as part of a court filing seeking immediate removal of the lions from the roadside zoo.

A special telephone hearing will be held Thursday (July 21) to determine if a lioness at Cricket Hollow Zoo should be removed immediately from the troubled roadside zoo, or if a "qualified veterinarian" should be allowed to examine, diagnosis and treat the animal.

The endangered African lion is one of two at the zoo, and a video taken June 24 shows the sick and emaciated lioness named Njjarra in her cage at Cricket Hollow.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund and the Iowa residents who won their federal court case in February against Cricket Hollow Zoo have now appealed the judge's decision to not award attorney fees, allowing the zoo owners to choose where the zoo tigers and lemurs were relocated, and for failing to address one of the lawsuit claims the zoo engaged in unlawful trafficking of endangered animals.

An Iowa man visiting the Cricket Hollow Zoo with his two children June 24 says in court documents one of the roadside zoo's two lions "was in such a terrible condition that both children and myself feared that she would die at any moment."

"We didn't need to get too close to her cage to know that there was something terribly wrong with her, because she just stood in one corner of her cage shivering even though she was in direct sunlight," Jeff Marlin, of Hiawatha, Iowa, testified in a court filing seeking immediate removal of the now-endangered animals from the troubled zoo near Manchester.

Bettendorf's gambling casino posted a slight increase in revenue in fiscal 2016, but the number of gamblers frequenting the Isle of Capri riverboat fell to 823,000, a 16-year low.

The slight uptick in revenues and decline in casino gamblers at the local casino reflected a similar pattern statewide.

Adjusted gross revenues at the state's 19 casinos were up 1.5 percent to $1.437 billion for the fiscal year ended June 30, while admissions fell by .04 percent to 21,538,433 during the 12-month period.

The owner of the vacant and dilapidated Jumer's Castle Lodge in Bettendorf would be given a full rebate of all property taxes for 10 years under a proposed development agreement scheduled for consideration at next week's (July 5) city council meeting.

The agreement and proposed Tax Incremental Financing (TIF) ordinance have been given aldermen for review and the council is expected to set a date for a required public hearing on the redevelopment plan.

The endangered tigers and lemurs ordered removed from Cricket Hollow Zoo will be sent to new facilities by July 17, but both locations face some of the same shortcomings cited by animal rights advocates in their federal lawsuit against the Manchester roadside zoo.

Chief Magistrate Judge Jon Stuart Scoles ordered the endangered animals be removed from Cricket Hollow Zoo while the case is on appeal with the tigers going to the Exotic Feline Rescue Center near Centerpoint, Indiana, and the lemurs relocated to the Special Memories Zoo, near Greenfield, Wisconsin.