1 Overrated indeed
A mere 24 hours after cracking the AP and ESPN/USA Today Top 25 men's basketball polls for the first time in school history, Northern Iowa was issued a bitch-slap courtesy of Creighton. Oddly, though, no one outside of Cedar Falls actually gave a damn.

2 Mr. Narcisse goes to Washington
The morning after the President's State of the Union Address, Sen. John Kerry, on NBC's "Today," wildly claimed to host Katie Couric that 53 percent of America's children do not graduate from high school - despite the U.S. Census Bureau's recent report entitled: "High School Graduation Rates Reach All-Time High," which showed 85.9 percent of Americans aged 20-24 as being high school graduates.

3 Pass the buck
The Environmental Protection Agency last week approved three Iowa farms to participate in a nationwide study assessing air emissions from livestock operations. Under the contentious amnesty plan, confinements like Bill Brenton's 6,600-head hog facility near Dallas Center will pay a measly $2,000 to be exempt from hefty EPA fines for pollution infractions for at least two years. Termed a "sweet-heart deal for factory farms" by environmentalists, the program is currently on appeal in federal court.

4 Junkies
Just one day before President Bush admitted to the nation that Americans are indeed "addicted to oil," petroleum giant Exxon reported a $36 billion profit in 2005 - the largest annual profit of any U.S. company in history. Of course, Mr. Bush failed to mention his energy policy was fueling the fix, with $14 billion in subsidies cut to the oil industry last year.

5 Shut out
Further fueling the frustration among residents contesting the consolidation of Adams and Garton elementary schools, more than four dozens parents passed a motion last week to get the potential firing of Des Moines Superintendent Eric Witherspoon on this week's school board agenda. But, despite the vote, board members Ako Abdul-Samad and Connie Boesen expressed shock at the very idea and, after declining to give parents' concerns the credence of an agenda item, "promised" only to bring the topic up for discussion.

6 Checking in
The case of Jon McGee, who stabbed a Nebraska man in the neck in a Clive hotel room in December 2004 just hours after they'd met on a gay Web site and agreed to rendezvous, came to an end last week with a Polk County jury convicting him of second-degree murder, a verdict that will assure him of at least 35 years behind bars.

7 Send in the canaries
Following two more deaths in West Virginia coalmines, Gov. Joe Manchin put the state in a mine safety stand-down. Already this year coal-mining accidents have killed 16 miners in West Virginia, including 12 miners who died at the Sago mine.

8 Out-of-date quarter
With poorly paid teachers, crowded classrooms, flunking students pining to play sports and sagging test scores, it is no wonder that a majority of Iowans feel that education in the state has gotten off track. Call the U.S. Mint.

9 Hurricane Rick
When asked if the City of Des Moines needs a local homeland security bureau such as the one proposed by police Chief William McCarthy, new City Manager Rick Clark answered, "Yes, I think it is needed... and it's not just in the matter of terrorist attacks. There are other events, like hurricanes... You've got to be in the position to react, and we're not there today." Said one of our readers to Clark's response: "You suppose Rick read about a hurricane arriving in Des Moines in his Farmer's Almanac?"

10 Bowled over
The Pittsburgh Steelers secured their first Super Bowl win in 25 years and fifth championship ring when they bowled over the Seattle Seahawks 21-10, during which many Des Moines residents' Super Bowl parties were interrupted by a cable outage. And during what is consistently regarded as the most-watched television broadcast of the year (for which many watch solely for the debut of its commercials), cartoonish violence ruled the competition among the Super Bowl's advertisers. CV

Comment on this story | Return to top