While awaiting a U.S. District Court ruling seeking removal of endangered animals from Cricket Hollow Zoo near Manchester, animal rights advocates have filed a motion to add more evidence in support of their case.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund (ALDF) and plaintiffs Tracey and Lisa Kuehl filed the motion Dec. 18 asking U.S. District Court Chief Magistrate Judge Jon Stuart Scoles to admit U.S. Agricultural Department inspection reports on the zoo from last July and September.

The motion to allow the two USDA inspections reports from July and September into evidence was approved by Judge Scoles in an order filed Wednesday (12/30).

Lee Enterprises reported higher fourth quarter earnings today (12/10) compared with a year ago thanks primarily to lower operating expenses that offset a 4.3 percent decline in revenue for the three-month period.

For the fourth quarter ended Sept. 27, Lee reported earnings of 18 cents ($10.13 million) compared with 6 cents per share ($3.38 million) for the same quarter last year. For the fiscal year, earnings totaled 44 cents per share ($24.3 million) compared with 13 cents per share ($7.67 million) a year ago.

Isle of Capri Casino, Inc. officials reported second quarter earnings of $11.45 million (28 cents per share) Wednesday (12/2), but its stock got hammered as investors apparently were concerned with weak casino revenues, particularly at the company's St. Charles, Louisiana operation.

The Isle's stock lost more than 19 percent of its value, more than $3.70 per share, in morning trading after the company reported its second quarter numbers. The stock had more than doubled in value since the first of the year, from $8.45 per share January 1 to $21.43 per share November 5.

The tax dispute between the city of Bettendorf and the Isle of Capri Casinos, Inc. would be resolved under a development agreement deal expected to be approved tonight (11/17) by the city council.

The Isle has been seeking to lower the assessed value of its riverfront property to $45 million from the current $85 million. An appraiser hired by the city valued the Isle's two hotels and riverboat casino at $55 million. The county review board in June rejected the Isle's tax appeal, but the casino operator then filed suit in Scott County District Court.

The so-called Town Square block along State Street in downtown Bettendorf should be used as originally envisioned – as an open plaza for civic events and activities – a team of urban planners from the Iowa Downtown Resource Center told city officials in early October.

The planning experts' recommendation is in stark contrast to two development proposals currently being considered by the city council. Both call for creation of mixed use commercial/residential development with parking on the block between 20th and 21st Streets between State and Grant Streets.

An appraiser hired by the city of Bettendorf pegs the value of the Isle of Capri Casino and its two hotels at $55.15 million. The Isle contends the property is worth just $44 million.

Unfortunately for the city, both estimates are far below the current assessed value – $85 million – agreed to by the Isle under terms of the casino/city development agreement signed when the QC Waterfront Convention Center was built.

For more than a year, Bettendorf Mayor Bob Gallagher and City Administrator Decker Ploehn have been telling their economic development staff and developers they would support use of city tax incentives for projects involving downtown apartments.

In emails obtained by bettendorf.com through a Freedom of Information request, both Gallagher and Ploehn were focused on redevelopment of eight apartment buildings in the downtown known collectively as the Carling Apartments.

Lee Enterprises executives touted their 39 percent reduction in costs since 2007 at an Arizona lenders' conference last month, a decline which tracks the steady decline in employment at the Davenport-based firm from more than 8,100 to just over 4,500 full-time employees.

The presentation at Deutsche Bank's Leveraged Finance Conference September 29 may have helped contribute to recent gains in the price of its stock, which has climbed nearly a dollar per share since hitting a 52-week low of $1.36 per share Sept. 10.

The one-block Town Square idea kicked around by Bettendorf aldermen this spring has now mushroomed into a three-block downtown makeover with city taxpayers expected to contribute from $8 million to $15 million in land donations, interest rate buy-downs and developer tax rebates.

The two competing Town Square project proposals – from Russell Companies, Davenport, and Newbury Living, Des Moines – also call for obtaining state housing tax credits to help pay for either senior- or workforce-housing that would be built as part of the redevelopment.