In late November 2025, just a week after Project NOW CEO Rev. Dr. Dwight Ford stood before the Rock Island City Council and implored them to overturn a social service licensing ordinance that made it impossible to open a planned winter emergency shelter, a woman died of hypothermia in an abandoned building in Moline. The exact outcome of ill-advised policy Ford-shadowed. She was well known and loved in Rock Island. A mother figure. A friend. A kind smile to everyone she encou

Rock Island’s federally funded revolving loan program was designed to expand economic opportunity for low- and moderate-income residents. Instead, records show a program that is writing off more than $434,000 in unrecoverable loans, operated for years outside of its own governance structure, and approved a $147,000 loan to a sitting alderman’s family business weeks after he resigned from the commission overseeing his loan. Editor’s Note: This article is based on primary sourc

A little-known layer of the federal immigration system is likely operating in Rock Island—inside a building most residents would not associate with holding humans. Both rumors and direct knowledge of an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) footprint in Rock Island have existed for years, but new reporting on the "Rock Island Hold Room" paints a more specific picture of what exactly is happening at the Rock Island ICE office. Google Map image of 211 19th Street Rock Islan

Concerns about safety and student behavior at Rock Island High School are no longer isolated complaints—they’ve become a consistent theme in public meetings and community conversations. Teachers have described rising disruption and disrespect. Board members have used words like “chaos,” “dangerous,” and “crisis.” Students have argued their school environment is compromised, mainly in the hallways and bathrooms, by unpredictable consequences or lack of enforcement of basic cod