The good
Be proud, Des Moines. The Des Moines Arts Festival was recently recognized as “Best Overall Festival and Event in the World” at the 55th annual IFEA/Haas and Wilkerson Pinnacle Awards competition in St. Louis, Mo. The festival won 21 awards, including the Gold Grand Pinnacle Award, the competition’s highest honor. Also, the Downtown Farmers’ Market won four awards, and the U.S. Cellular World Food Festival was honored with two awards.
Planned Parenthood of the Heartland proved that records are meant to be broken. The five-day fall book sale raised $219,808.68 for its education and outreach programs throughout Iowa and Nebraska. The education programs offer age-appropriate and research-based programs in reproductive health, human development and sexuality education for youth and adults. The record was nearly $9,000 more than last year’s book sale. Officials report that approximately 7,500 customers attended the sale at the Iowa State Fairgrounds that featured 400,000 items including new and used books, CDs, magazines and games.
The bad
Shame on you Denisa Babcock. The former Clinton school employee stole $1.2 million from the school district over the past five years. State Auditor David Vaudt identified 177 checks that were allegedly deposited into her own bank accounts. Authorities believe they may have uncovered more fraudulent practices had it not been for the district’s limited records. Reports indicate that the 36-year-old woman owned two homes, two vehicles — a Hummer H2 and a Cadillac Escalade — and a boat. Babcock faces up to 10 years in prison.
The hellish summer Iowans went through was ranked by The Weather Channel as the third worst in the nation. Non-stop rainfall during July and August caused numerous flash flooding disasters throughout the state. Most notably was the dam collapsing near Delhi and flash flooding in Ames, causing millions of dollars in damages. Flash flooding also wreaked havoc all across the state including Des Moines and Ottumwa. Despite all the trouble, we still think there’s no better place to live.
The ugly
This dude must really hate meat! FBI agents arrested Walter Bond, 34, last week due to his involvement in an arson at a Sheepskin Factory in Denver, Colo. Bond, known as a Animal Liberation Front (A.L.F.) “Lone Wolf,” admitted to an informant that along with the sheepskin factory fire, he also set two additional fires in Utah, one at Tandy Leather Factory, the other at Tiburon (a foie gras restaurant). The arrest follows three months of A.L.F. activity in which three businesses were targeted by arson. Bond is currently only being charged with the Sheepskin Factory arson, and the crime carries a mandatory minimum of five years in federal prison. Additional charges for the two Utah arsons are possible. Bond also served prison time in 1997 for arson at a meth lab in Iowa. We should be glad this granola eater moved to Colorado.
“What Would You Say” if we told you that thousands of Dave Matthews Band fans could have met their early demise at a recent sold-out show at Wrigley Field? It might have happened, but luckily the FBI was on its game. Sami Samir Hassoun, a U.S. resident, was charged with plotting to bomb a crowded area by Wrigley field just as fans were leaving the Dave Matthews Band concert two weeks ago. Hassoun, who’d been collaborating with a man working with the FBI, was given a fake bomb and details to take out the crowd. He was acting alone and ended up leaving the bomb in a trashcan close to the field. Officials stated, “His intent was to kill as many people as he could in an area of town that was highly populated, in an effort to cause as much destruction as possible.” We’re not sure what’s worse, being blown up by a U.S. citizen or having Dave Matthews Band be the last music you hear before you die? CV
