Tuesday night’s game between Rockridge and Morrison was dedicated to Drake DeKeyrel, a freshman student who died on Christmas Eve.

DeKeyrel, 14, was a three sport athlete, who played football, basketball, and planned to join the baseball team in the spring. Three weeks after his death, his family joined his team on the court to say thank you for their community’s prayers and support.

The crowd wore royal blue, Drake’s favorite color. They stood and cheered as school leaders presented the DeKeyrel family with a banner, honoring Drake as a teammate and friend.

The basketball team says their motto this year is, “Do it for Drake”.

A letter posted on the school website alerts parents about a possible case of mumps at United Township High School in East Moline, Illinois.

The letter is signed by Superintendent Jay Morrow. It reads that a person in the school may have contracted a case of mumps.

Click here to read the letter.

Mumps is caused by the mumps virus. It starts with a few days of fever, headache, muscle aches and fatigue. People are usually protected from it by getting the MMR vaccine.  The vaccine is typically given around a child’s first birthday and again between 4 and 6 years old.

Parents can bypass the vaccination requirement with a valid medical or religious reason.

A probable case of the mumps was also reported by the Rock Island County Health Department earlier this week, involving a student at John Deere Middle School in Moline, Illinois.

“A probable case means that clinically, with the symptoms and the lab work that was done, it meets the criteria that the Illinois Department of Public Health has setup for a case of mumps,” Terri Davies said, the assistant public information officer for the Rock Island County Health Department.

Rock Island County Health officials said approximately 98 percent of Moline students are vaccinated for mumps. The last confirmed case of mumps in Rock Island County was in December of 2014.

Chris Soules is the star of Season 19 of the Bachelor. From Arlington, Iowa, Chris is now looking for love in the Bachelor mansion. The show airs Monday nights at 7p.m. on WQAD.

From 11, down to 7. Mackenzie, Samantha, Kelsey and Ashley I. were all sent home in Monday night’s crazy episode of The Bachelor, set in South Dakota. After one more rose ceremony, the final six will head to Iowa for a great week of dates, starting at Chris’ alma mater, Starmont High School in Arlington, Iowa. That episode will air SUNDAY at 8pm on WQAD. (Note the date and time change!)

News 8 was invited to Des Moines to hang out behind the scenes during Chris’ group. We were promised an interview with Chris and some of the girls, and we didn’t leave disappointed.

Next week, we’ll talk about everything you didn’t see on the Iowa episode (no spoilers!) But for now, here’s a little preview of everything we got to experience in Des Moines!

Chris and the girls were on a group date at the Wells Fargo Arena. This was about one month into the Bachelor filming schedule, so even though it airs as “Week 7”, the girls have actually known Chris and been filming for 4 weeks. This date took place on Sunday, October 26^th. Because of a confidentiality agreement with ABC, we couldn’t report on or broadcast anything until now.

When we arrived at the arena, Chris was skating on the ice with the three women on the date- Kaitlyn, Carly and Britt. If you’re a fan of the show, you know both Britt and Kaitlyn have been front-runners from the start. Kaitlyn was especially charming during the Costco date with Chris, where they loaded up on ketchup to make dinner for Jimmy Kimmel. Britt not only got the first impression rose but also scored the first kiss on the very first night. She may have stumbled a bit a few episodes later when she seemed to “call Chris out” for his relationships with the other women, particularly Kaitlyn. Carly hasn’t had as much camera time as the other women. But that changed in Episode 5, when she went on one of the most awkward dates ever, a visit to a love guru. As uncomfortable as that date may have been, Chris and Carly seemed to have a genuine connection, so don’t count her out yet!

In order for us to have an interview with Chris, production staff members had to pull him off the ice, leaving the girls to just skate around the pass the time. We had about five minutes with him to talk, so I wanted to use the time wisely!

Now that all the episodes are airing, I can think of so many more questions I would have liked to ask Chris. But at the time, we knew nothing about any of the girls, the places they had been or any of the drama going on in the house! So we stuck to life as the Bachelor, his plans to propose (maybe?) and how he hopes to represent his home state.

“I’m really excited to be in Des Moines,” Chris told us. “I can’t say enough about how supportive the city’s been on the dates. And I’m just a proud Iowan right now.”

Chris first got our attention on The Bachelorette, when he was let go after hometown dates. Andi wasn’t sold on a life in Iowa on the Soules family farm. After that episode aired, the hastag #BlameItOnIowa started trending on Twitter.

“I’m calling the shots this time,” said Chris. “I’m meeting some really great girls that I feel are willing to move here, and that’s really important.”

He said he can definitely see himself proposing with one of those gorgeous Neil Lane rings.

“This is going well,” he said.

The women claim they need no convincing when it comes to moving to Iowa and starting a life with Chris. Once our interview with Chris was over, we met Carly, a cruise ship singer from Texas.

“I actually love Iowa,” she said. “My dad was born here, and I’ve always wanted to come. I was hoping we would come here. It would be hard for me to know that I could live here if we didn’t.”

We also spent some time with Kaitlyn, a dance teacher from Vancouver. She said she’s learned a lot about Chris by spending time in Iowa.

“It all makes sense,” she said. “He’s really down to earth, and that’s what this feels like to me.”

Coming up on Sunday, February 15th on News 8 at 10, we’ll show you much more of our interview with Chris and the girls, including what secret nickname Kaitlyn gave Chris, the family connection that got Carly a spot on the show, and a very important question for Chris… Hawkeyes or Cyclones?

With a big bag of popcorn in his lap, 9 year old Trey Hartwell is watching his family’s story play out on HGTV on the Monday, February 9th episode of “House Hunters”. When the Hartwell’s episode premiered, they were watching it for the first time along with the rest of the country.

Rasheen and Erinn Hartwell decided to move their family of four from Houston, Texas to Bettendorf, Iowa when Rasheen was offered a new job. Realtor Teresa Rule got to work, finding them the perfect house.

“To find them a brand new construction, with the size and the amenities that they were used to and in the price point was the challenge,” she said.

Looking for a home is stressful enough, but this family did it with tv cameras in tow. Five days of filming were condensed into a half hour show. The Hartwell’s say they found the house that’s right for them, in a great location close to their son’s school. The house hunt now over, the family is all moved in, making friends and exploring the Quad Cities.

This is Season 19 of “The Bachelor,” but this show keeps finding ways to mix things up. This season stars Chris Soules, an Iowa farmer, as “The Bachelor.” He’s a low-key, down to earth guy who trying to find the right girl, willing to uproot her life and move to the small town of Arlington, Iowa.

SHOW PRODUCTION

Our day with “The Bachelor” started with a drive to Des Moines, where ABC producers invited News 8 cameras to follow along during a group date. We reported to the Wells Fargo Arena on that Sunday afternoon in October, where three ladies would be on a group date ice skating with Chris. Two other women had already had one-on-one dates in the days earlier, including Whitney’s mural date in Des Moines and Jade’s trip to Chris’ high school in Arlington for a Friday night football game. Six women remained when Sunday’s episode started and only four would go on to hometown dates.

What viewers at home don’t realize is the shooting schedule. The show makes it seem that there is one rose ceremony every week, with dates falling on random days leading up to it. According to blogger Reality Steve, the show started filming on September 25 . We were in Des Moines to film parts of Episode 7 on Sunday, October 26. That translates to seven episodes, seven rose ceremonies in four weeks time. By now the girls have known Chris basically one month.

Reality Steve also reports that the final rose ceremony was filmed on November 24. That means if Chris proposes he will have known the lucky lady for exactly 2 months. How’s that for a whirlwind?

MEETING CHRIS AND THE GIRLS

Back in Des Moines, two members of the production crew met us outside the arena and guided us to an upper box inside the area. Looking down on the ice, I could see Chris and the three ladies, Carly, Kaitlyn and Britt skating in circles. The place was entirely empty otherwise and dead silent, other than the sound of hockey sticks smacking the ice.

A producer was assigned to stay with us while we set up and waited for Chris. When he came around the corner to meet us, the first thing I noticed was how WHITE his teeth are. Blindingly, Bachelor white. He was also taller than I expected. As a 5’11” tall woman, I was surprised to see that even in heels, he was taller than me by a few inches.

I had a few notes jotted down, questions that I didn’t want to forget to ask Chris, including a fun “lightning round” of all the Iowa questions I wanted him to answer. In short, he’s a Chicago Bears, Cubs and Iowa Hawkeyes fan (despite graduating from Iowa State!). He also prefers Luke Bryan over Lady Gaga, boots over tennis shoes, corn dogs and beer at the Iowa State Fair, and he’s open to the possibility of a TV wedding.

“I’ll be proud of that day,” he told me. Chris was kind and gracious and genuinely seemed to still be a bit bewildered by the fact that he’s now “The Bachelor.”

You may be wondering what was going on with the girls while Chris was talking with us. The date kept on going on the ice. The girls were still skating around without him during this time, but that’s not uncommon during Bachelor dates. Before, during and after the day’s activities, both Chris and the cast will step away for what are known as “ITM’s” or “In The Moments.” These become the interviews that you see throughout the show as the girls express how they’re feeling as the date goes along, what they’re expecting and sometimes a few snarky comments about what the other girls are doing or saying. They serve as pacers and narrators throughout the action. For that reason, something that appears to take a few minutes on the show may need hours of filming.

The production staff also let us interview Carly and Kaitlyn. Carly Waddell is a cruise ship singer from Arlington, Texas. It turns out she has a family connection to “The Bachelor.” Her brother, Zak Waddell was a finalist on “The Bachelorette,” Season 9, starring Des Hartsock. After watching her brother’s experience on the show, Carly said she wanted to try her luck at love on “The Bachelor.” She skipped Juan Pablo’s season simply because her brother had known Juan Pablo from “The Bachelorette” but jumped at the chance to meet Chris.

“I’ve never been so excited,” she told us. “I was calling everyone and freaking out, saying you have to let me meet this man. I know how much we would get along, I can see it.”

Kaitlyn Bristowe is a dance instructor from Vancouver, Canada. She told us about having a “thing” for farm boys, which is what attracted her to Chris. She also told us that she’s given him a secret nickname, Silent Thunder.

“He’s really funny, but he doesn’t show it very often,” she said. “So when I pull it out of him, I realize, oh, he’s funny too.”

Production staffers told us there wasn’t time left to interview Britt, a bummer because I really do want to know if she showers!

BACHELOR TOURISM

It’s clear that the goal of this season is to stay true to Chris and his true off-camera lifestyle. By Episode 7, the show has not traveled anywhere outside the U.S. After leaving Los Angeles and the Bachelor mansion, the women went to Santa Fe, New Mexico then Deadwood, South Dakota, and now Des Moines, Iowa. For comparison’s sake, consider that in the last season, Juan Pablo was with the women in Vietnam for episode 5, New Zealand in episode 6, and Miami, Florida in episode 7. When Chris appeared on The Bachelorette, he and Andi were in Marseille, France for episode 6 and Venice, Italy for episode 7.

Staying close to home offers a big opportunity for the city of Des Moines. Greg Edwards, President and CEO of the Des Moines Convention and Visitor’s Bureau (www.catchdesmoines.com) said the organization offered the show $70,000 to “offset the costs of production.” Essentially, it’s an investment in good faith that the show will highlight the beauty and culture of the city as the backdrop for this Bachelor story. The show’s production crew chose the Renaissance Des Moines Savery Hotel as its headquarters. Edwards said the show had asked the hotel to comp the entire cost of the stay, but the hotel compromised with a generous discount. You’ll see the hotel during several of the scenes during Episode 7. Edwards called the show a great marketing opportunity, given that they’re both after the same demographic women between the ages of 25-54.

“A two-hour episode showcasing a community on a national level is huge exposure,” Edwards said. “Trying to buy that kind of advertising time would be way more expensive.”

He admitted some concern about how Iowa might be portrayed on the show.

“Iowa is certainly proud of our agricultural history, but that’s not what Des Moines is all about. We are a hip city that’s very cultural,” he said.

The CVB’s ultimate goal is driving more visitors to Des Moines. In the days, weeks and months after the show airs, they can track web and social media activity, plus get feedback from hotels and businesses.

“People will travel here to see the city the way “The Bachelor” did it,” Edwards said.

The Des Moines CVB posted a full rundown of all the locations featured on the show on its website.

The mural of Chris and Whitney is on the side of a bar/restaurant on Court Ave. in Des Moines.  I asked Todd Millang, Senior Vice President of Hubbell Commercial about the future of that mural.

“I can say that we plan on keeping the mural for the foreseeable future on the wall. We also plan on adding additional murals starting in the spring,” he said. “When we bought the building, we wanted to use that big canvas of a wall for some local art, and this happened to be a great way to kick that off.”

THE DATES

For people not on a television show, a date consists of you meeting someone, going out to dinner or drinks or a movie. You have some conversation, get to know each other and call it a night. Not on “The Bachelor.” After watching the women ice skate and try to be playful with Chris for more than two hours, I left with the impression that even deep into the show’s “process,” it all felt very impersonal. When you consider that over the course of two months, these women have such limited time with Chris, skating around casually is hardly quality time with a man you are hoping will propose to you in a matter of weeks.

Three women were on this date, with at least as many cameras following their every move. There were a few producers on the ice along with the cameras, along with guys holding sound equipment. Off the ice, a row of producers sat watching what each of the cameras was shooting on small television monitors. Chris disappeared and reappeared, likely off shooting ITM’s. Each time he would come back, producers would help him lace up his skates before getting back on the ice to skate around with his dates

BACHELOR SUCCESS STORIES

It’s anyone’s guess who Chris will choose at the end of this journey, but not to be a downer, the odds are stacked against them. In 19 seasons of “The Bachelor” only ONE man has gone on to marry the woman he chose. That’s Sean Lowe from Season 17, who married Catherine Guidice in 2014. Jason Mesnick also married a woman from his season of the show, Molly Melaney. But you may recall that he actually chose Melissa Rycroft first before asking Molly for a second chance during the “After the Final Rose.” Jason and Molly have been married since 2010. Stats are better for women on the Bachelorette after 10 seasons. Trista married Ryan Sutter after the first season back in 2003. Ashley Hebert married J.P. Rosenbaum in 2012 and Des Hartsock recently married Chris Siegfried in January.

WHY I WATCH “THE BACHELOR”

I’ve been watching “The Bachelor” since Jake Pavelka’s season- the pilot who chose the villain, Vienna, leading to an explosive break-up on “After the Final Rose.” Bachelor after Bachelorette, what really gets me coming back for a new season of extreme dates and over-the-top emotions are the human elements: why people sign up to begin with, how they come to fall in love with someone they have only known for a few weeks, and what happens to them when they leave the show. Therefore, a behind the scenes look at “The Bachelor” during filming in Iowa was a great assignment for me.

People in Iowa have been following Chris Soules on “The Bachelor” for weeks now, and we are just a few days away from finding out who gets his final rose. Recently, Scott County District Court Judge Mary Howes got to meet Soules and tell him who he should pick, Whitney or Becca.

Judge Howes was at a viewing party watching the show with her niece in Dubuque, Iowa recently. Chris crashed the viewing party, and a clip of it was shown during the end of the episode that aired Monday, March 2nd.

“Everyone at the Scott County Courthouse watches you,” she tells Chris in the clip. “You live in Scott County?” Chris asked her. “I’m a judge at the courthouse,” she responded.

Back on the bench, Judge Howes tells News 8 that Chris came to the party with a crew of about 5 to 7 people. The group included another familiar face, Cody Sattler. He and Chris met on “The Bachelorette”. Cody, a personal trainer, helped Chris get in shape ahead of his turn as “The Bachelor”.

Howes says Chris is even more handsome in person and very polite. She says he asked her who she should pick. Her answer? Becca. “Because that’s who my niece liked. She’s more of a fan than I am,” she explained.

Testimony started Wednesday, March 25th in the murder trial of Aaron Henderson in Rock Island. He’s accused of robbing and killing Derek Jackson, a local tattoo artist. Jackson’s mother, Susan Poe, was in the courtroom as prosecutor started their case against Henderson.

“I feel like he doesn’t even have the right to even look at me,” she said, about Henderson.

The prosecution’s star witness is Allyson Schippers, Derek Jackson’s girlfriend. She testified that she was home when Jackson was murdered and heard the gunshot.

“I went downstairs to see what was going on,” Schippers testified. “That’s when I saw Derek on the ground.”

Schippers described Jackson and Henderson as very good friends. She told the jury she saw Henderson standing over Jackson’s body, even going through his pockets. She said she ran back upstairs with Jackson’s young son, hid, and called 911.

“Salem” is back for season 2, premiering Sunday, April 5th on WGN America.

From creators Brannon Braga and Adam Simon, the drama re-imagines the 17th century witch trials in Colonial Massachusetts. The show is shot entirely on location in Shreveport, Louisiana. News 8 was invited back to the set to get a preview of who lives, who dies and what becomes of Salem.

The season opens with an all-out witch war, pitting one against another in an epic battle for control of Salem.

“We are upping the stakes for everyone,” co-creator Adam Simon explained. “For all the characters. And the viewers. Showing them things they have never seen before or thought they never would see.”

Simon said the inspiration came from his own nightmares.

“You can’t scare other people if you can’t scare yourself,” he said.

The storyline is guaranteed to keep fans of the show guessing, but the actors are just as much in the dark about what happens next. John Alden, played by Shane West, was left for dead, and Mary Sibley, played by Janet Montgomery, has completed the Grand Rite, unleashing a deadly plague on the town.

“We know it’s a witch war,” explained actor Seth Gabel, who plays Cotton Mather. “And everyone has the plague. The pox has hit the fan.”

Mather is haunted by guilt, trying to right the wrongs of last season. He along with everyone else is fighting for survival, especially as a new villain arrives in town, Countess Marburg, played by Lucy Lawless, best known for her role as Xena: Warrior Princess.

“The Countess is less afraid of people seeing who she is, where Mary has this whole double life as Puritan and witch,” Montgomery explained.

Mary fights off new challenges and faces new distractions, with a new love interest.

“It’s very sexy,” said Lawless. “Mary gets busy.”

The Witch War, Season 2, begins April 5th on WGNA. Catch up with Season 1 now on Netflix.

Web exclusive interview clips with the cast of “Salem”

Janet Montgomery gets candid about her new love interest

Seth Gabel on his “high maintenance” beard

“Salem” co-creators on the show’s Netflix debut

Joan Lunden made an appearance in Davenport Friday, April 10th for a luncheon fundraiser benefiting Gilda’s Club in the Quad Cities.

She told the crowd about the strategies for success that helped her as the co-host of Good Morning America from 1980-1997, as the mother of seven children, and her battle with breast cancer.

Lunden has a new book coming out in the fall about her cancer journey called “Had I Known”.

Helen Bolton’s whole career is about communication. Her students at Muscatine Community College come from all over the work to take her ESL class, learning English as a second language.

Outside of her work in the classroom, she’s pushing another form of communication, encouraging women to talk about their health. It all started with the talk she had with her doctor back in 1994, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

She’s still fighting today, more than 20 years later. A three-time cancer survivor, her last surgery was in March, a preventative procedure to remove her ovaries and fallopian tubes.

“I’m still here,” Bolton said. “God’s not through with me yet, and that’s what I tell people.”

She’s part of an even bigger conversation now about women’s health in Muscatine, Iowa, after a community profile done by Susan G. Komen Quad Cities singled out the entire county.

“Particularly we noticed that more women in Muscatine seem to be diagnosed with breast cancer later, when the disease is more advanced,” explained Linda Wastyn. “It’s harder to cure, and the survival rate goes down.”

“(W)e noticed that more women in Muscatine seem to be diagnosed with breast cancer later, when the disease is more advanced.” -Linda Wastyn, Komen Quad CitiesThe research pointed to a higher population of Hispanics in Muscatine County, who are often considered medically under-served, leading to those late diagnoses.

“It’s a trend we have been watching for a number of years,” said Wastyn. “It rose to the top because the numbers in Rock Island and Scott Counties are getting better.”

Knowing that need, Komen can set it’s funding priority areas, raising money through events like Race for the Cure and distributing it to the outreach organizations that work in those priority areas. One of those will be Gilda’s Club Quad Cities.

Gilda’s Club expanded to Muscatine, offering its first support group there in January 2014.

Helen Bolton is now using her story to help other women in Muscatine, hosting a Hispanic women’s luncheon for Gilda’s Club in Spanish.

“When she’s helping others, there is a twinkle in her eye,” said Erin Williams from Gilda’s Club. “I know she doesn’t want this to happen to any other woman. We found the right person.”

Bolton also helped lead a focus group for Komen as part of their research, revealing cultural differences that make it more difficult for Hispanic women to see their doctors and talk to them about prevention and screenings.

“What came through loud and clear is that Hispanic women need information for them,” said Wastyn. “We can’t just take the brochures and put them in Spanish. We need to reach them in different places, and we need to bring in peers.”

That’s the role Helen is taking, building the trust needed to reach more women, getting them to the doctors, and potentially saving their lives.

The Komen community profile is still in the works. It will send the funding goals for 2016. So far it’s identified three priority areas.

Clinton County, Iowa: Quantitative data suggests that Clinton County has death rates from breast cancer higher than the Affiliate’s service area as a whole. Likely contributing factors include an increasing number of late-state diagnoses, high levels of poverty, and 32.2% of the county classified as rural with barriers to accessing quality healthcare.

Muscatine County, Iowa: Quantitative data suggests that Muscatine County has a rising level of late-stage diagnoses. Contributing to this undesirable trend are a large percentage of residents with less than a high school education (14.5%), high unemployment (8%), and substantially higher Hispanic/Latina population than the Affiliate as a whole (15.7%). Research shows that minority and medically underserved populations tend to receive a diagnosis at a later disease state, likely due to socioeconomic factors; certain biological and cultural factors also affect the diagnosis rate for Hispanic/Latino women.

Mercer County, Illinois: Late-stage diagnosis rates exceeds that for the Affiliate as a whole at 60.5% though with a positive downward trend. A large number of Mercer County residents have less than a high school education (11.9%), lives in a rural area (77.8%) and have no health insurance (11.1%), all of which put Mercer County residents at risk for not meeting HP2020 targets for late-stage diagnosis.

To see the entire report from Komen Quad Cities, click here.

Vicki Birdsell-Baker is retiring as a teacher at Willard Elementary in Moline this year. As part of a very special send-off, colleagues and students pulled off an awesome surprise. She’s always been fascinated by cement trucks, so she was shocked and delighted when one rolled up to the school on Friday, June 5. Watch her unforgettable reaction.

Work is underway at the old Ericsson School building in Moline. Heritage Church bought the building and is renovating it into a new church campus. Work will continue throughout the summer.

Wisconsin Governor is kicking off a tour around the state of Iowa Friday, July 17, 2015 by speaking with voters in Davenport.

The event at Modern Woodman Park drew supporters who want to hear more about his policies as Wisconsin Governor and goals if he was elected President. He will be making 11 Iowa stops over three days, including a visit to his childhood hometown of Plainfield, Iowa.

Walker became the first governor to win a recall election in 2012, after his battle with state workers over collective bargaining rights. He was then re-elected to a second term in 2014.

Illinois State Police say a pilot made an “unscheduled landing” around 7:30 p.m. Monday night, August 31, 2014, off Buell Rd. near Milledgeville in Whiteside County, Illinois.

Police say the teen pilot was lost and running out of fuel when he brought the plane down in a bean field. The incident was reported at about 8 p.m.

The pilot is okay, and there doesn’t appear to be any damage to the plane.

A preliminary report filed with the FAA indicated the aircraft is a Cessna 152, and that the pilot was the only person on board.

FAA records showed the plane is owned by Livingston Aviation in Waterloo, Iowa.

NTSB investigators were expected to be at the scene Tuesday morning.

It was a close call for the boys cross country team from Geneseo High School. The athletes are calling their beloved “Coach Freddy” a hero, after he prevented an accident on bus ride.

“I am not a hero,” Coach Don Fredericks explained. “I was the person in the seat closest to him, and I did what any person on that bus would have done. Come to his aid, come to the aid of all the children on the bus, and God was there for us.”

Fredericks and the team were headed to a meet in Peoria over the weekend when the coach, seated at the front of the bus, noticed some unfamiliar bumps in the road.

"I looked to my left, and I saw the driver slumped over the wheel, and we were headed into the median."

Coach Fredericks jumped from his seat and took control of the wheel just as the bus crossed over the median heading straight into oncoming traffic. Most of the runners on the bus didn't know anything was wrong until the bus came to a stop in the median.

Everyone was okay, and there was no damage to the bus. The shaken team decided to compete, dedicating their run to Al, the bus driver.

"The guys did one stride out together and then had a little team prayer," said the coach. "We thanked the Lord for saving our lives and we prayed that Al would be ok. And our prayers were answered."

A father and son, grieving a loss, have a chance to get away.

It's thanks to the kindness of others.

Jack Bellmyer lost his mother to cancer a few months ago.

"Jack, we heard you are a Cubs fan," said Linda Baserra of the "Ride with Kelly" organization.

"We heard they are in the playoffs. Would you like to go?"

"You got two tickets here."

Jack's dad Jeremy works for Matt Stern of Stern Beverage, Inc. who has season tickets for the Chicago Cubs.

Together, with the "Ride with Kelly" organization, they came up with a way to give Jeremy and Jack a weekend away, with tickets to the game, a place to stay,  and $500 to spend on souvenirs.

"It's worth anything to give them a day," says Baserra.   "Time to take their mind of everything else around them."

"It hasn't been easy," says Jeremy Bellmyer.

"But we put our head down and we do our thing day by day. This is perfect. This is exactly what we need."

This will be Jack's first time going to Wrigley Field.

His dad says Jack is exactly what the Cubs need to come back from their 0-2 start in the series with the New York Mets.

Whether it's credit cards, medical bills, or financial problems after a divorce, debt is a real problem for American households. The average U.S. household carries $16,000 in credit card debt.

Those ads from debt consolidation companies make it sound easy to eliminate your debt and get back in good financial health. But the reality is, without doing your homework, they could actually get you in even more money trouble.

Let's break down the claims with the help of Kim Sands from Greenpath. The non-profit, with offices in Moline and Davenport, counsels people on their money management, including debt.

Claim #1 : Your first call is free. There is no obligation.  "They are so high pressure. I have people who say, 'I called them with a few questions, and now I can't get them to quit calling me.'"

While that's true, Sands says that is where the high-pressure sales pitch starts.

"It's so easy to get confused," she said. "They are so high pressure. I have people who say, 'I called them with a few questions, and now I can't get them to quit calling me.'"

Claim #2: We can cut your bills by thousands, avoid high interest foreclosure, and settle your debt for up to 60 percent of what you owe.

With Greenpath's debt management program, you will repay 100% of what you owe.

"You're making on-time, monthly payments," she said. "The interest rate is in the lower single digits."

Greenpath charges a fee for its debt management service, but it's much different than the fees charged by a debt settlement company.

"Debt settlement companies often will charge - Let's say your payment is $500. They will keep the first three months' payment as their fee," she explained. "Then they take a percentage of what they pay out. So if they pay $2,000 on a $4,000 credit card, they may keep 20 percent of that too. So a lot of what you're sending them is a fee."

Claim #3: Banks and credit card companies have legal representation, and so should you.

No matter who is on their staff, an attorney for a debt consolidation company can't offer you any legal protection. The only thing that can protect you, legally, is filing bankruptcy. That may be the only choice for you, but the key is knowing your options and your long-term financial goals.

Most importantly, Sands says, you should never pay a company to do what you can do yourself. You won't get a better debt settlement just because you have hired one of these companies. Debt settlement is usually only appropriate for people who have access to a large sum of money, like a tax return or and inheritance, to make a one-time payment.

A disturbance at a home in Bettendorf, Iowa prompted a lockdown at the high school and a standoff at a nearby home.

Bettendorf Police responded to a disturbance call in the 2300 block of Southview Drive in Bettendorf, Iowa around 8:15 p.m., Friday, December 11, 2015.  A spokesperson from the City of Bettendorf said when they arrived, officers heard shots fired from inside a home.

Police responded both to the home and nearby Bettendorf High School where a basketball game was going on inside the gym.  While investigators were working on the situation, people were kept inside the building to wait for an all clear from police.

"For the safety of the people attending the game, the school was on lock down until approximately 9:20 p.m.," said the city's spokesperson in a statement.

Kevin J Flack, photo from City of Bettendorf

The statement said that police tried to make contact with the person inside the house on Southview Drive for about three hours. They were using a PA system and a phone.  Around 12:15 a.m. Saturday, December 12, a 29-year-old white man surrendered to police and was evaluated.

Days later, on Wednesday, December 16, 2015, the man, identified as Kevin J. Flack, was arrested on a warrant and was set to appear in Scott County Court on Thursday, December 17, according to a statement from the City of Bettendorf.  Flack was charged with intimidation with a dangerous weapon with intent and reckless use of firearm causing property damage.

There were no reported injuries.

Editor's note: original story said the man who was taken into custody was 30 years old, but a statement from the City of Bettendorf later corrected his age to be 29. 

Hundreds of WQAD News 8 viewers entered our “My Special Valentine” contest, telling us the sweet, funny, and sometimes random ways they met their spouses. They wrote us touching stories of the things that have kept them together for better or worse. We selected a Coal Valley, Illinois couple as our winners. Here is their story.

Ron Kulig climbs on a chair to reach the back of the coat closet, where dozens of photo albums are lined up. He is on the hunt for wedding photos, dating back to October 1984. It was a wedding that came after five long years of living an ocean apart.

Wendy was a nursing student in the British Royal Air Force. She met her American Airman Ron at a dance during his deployment in England.

"The girls forced me to go out that night," she remembers. "I wanted to stay in the barracks, and they said, no you're going to the dance."

"She appeared to be a good dancer out there," Ron says. "In my younger days, I could dance alright myself. So I thought, I'm going to ask that girl over there the dance the last song."

He figured the last song was safer, because he could get out of there if he was rejected. But it was just the opposite. She said yes, and that would be just the beginning.

Ron's deployment ended only a few months later. He went back to Wisconsin and the family dairy farm. Wendy would visit once a year, for a month. It was always every October.

It was on one of those visits that Ron proposed. Two years later they were married, also in October. They went on to have two daughters, Emma and Marlana.

The Kuligs won a prize package, including a night at a Davenport hotel, plus spa services.

Local self-defense experts say relying on a stun gun or pepper spray is not enough to truly keep yourself safe from a potential attacker.

It's dark. You're alone walking to your car at night. It can be an unsettling feeling for anyone, especially women.

There are all kinds of products on the market you can carry to make you feel safer; but for some women, their best defense is training. "If I'm attacked by someone who does not have a weapon, I'm going to fight him."

"If I'm attacked by someone who does not have a weapon, I'm going to fight him."

That may sound like a bold statement. But Julie Sandberg knows what she is saying. She got her start 20 years ago, after taking a self-defense seminar. She has never stopped training in martial arts.

Her skills,  and most of all her confidence, were put to the test the night a man tried to follow her out of a store. She says she put her hand on the door to leave, then gave the man a stern and serious look.

"He put his head down and went back in," she recalls. "I demonstrated I am not the person. Don't do it."

Julie didn't have to throw a single punch that night. But now she makes sure to spread the word that women do not have to be victims. 

In one exercise, Julie demonstrates how to disarm an attacker threatening you with a knife. She puts quick pressure on each side of his wrist, forcing the knife out of his hand. With each round she practices, John Morrow is preaching muscle memory.

"Repetition. Repetition. Repetition," he says with a laugh. "It takes time and work. Kung fu means time and work."  The practice trains the body to react before you realize anything is happening.

What he doesn't want is for women to rely on crutches, like pepper spray or stun guns.

He says it is all about readiness and reflexes.

"If you have to reach for something, it could already be too late," he says.