Winners

Like a phoenix rising from the ashes, the Iowa Environmental Education Project (now Earthpark) not only narrowed its possible location to two cities - both of which can come up with millions in cash and services - but it also signed on German international technology firm, Siemen, as its partner. The $155 million project, which should draw more than one million visitors a year, will break ground in 2007 on its indoor rainforest, half-million gallon aquarium and other features - and, so it seems now, leave Des Moines area residents kicking themselves for denouncing it. Remember, at one point, according to the daily and a large number of residents, the new downtown Science Center was a bad idea, too.

Despite the fact that 72 percent of Americans support stem-cell research, Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist refuses to let the issue come up for debate on the Senate floor. Iowa's own Sen. Tom Harkin has been key in pushing Frist to allow discussion on the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act - a bill that would reverse President Bush's restrictions on important stem cell studies that could improve or save the lives of millions with Parkinson's, ALS, Alzheimer's and other chronic illnesses. More than a year has lapsed since the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed the bill with bipartisan support. Frist, you will recall, was the self-appointed feeding-tube expert who deployed himself to Terri Schiavo's bedside (and in front of TV cameras) during the Schiavo circus. Said Harkin in a recent statement, "It's no secret that the reason for the nearly one-year delay in bringing up this bill is because of political divisions within the Republican Party. And that's a shame, because stem-cell research shouldn't be a partisan issue."

Losers

There's sticking your foot in your mouth, and then there's sticking your head up your ass. Former Dowling Catholic athletic director Steve Shanks - with an emphasis on "former" - seems to have suffered from a bit of both. In what Shanks deemed to be "family banter" between him and his brother after having been caught dead to "last" rites, Shanks took pot shots at everyone from the church itself ("Long-ass singing, long-ass homily") to popular priest Fr. Frank Chiodo ("Mafioso") to the girls' basketball team ("Idiots") in an e-mail that school officials received copies of a few weeks back from then just-canned, yet highly successful, boys basketball coach Joe Katich. And while to err is human, to put it all down in an e-mail in a world where God only knows (especially at Dowling) who could be watching is career suicide - just ask Shanks, who got the boot last week for his indiscretion. To make matters even more ridiculous, a Dowling insider told us that the e-mail was, in fact, accidentally sent to Katich from Shanks almost immediately after Katich had been fired by Shanks. If that's the case, then Shanks is even more inept than most believe. Wrote Shanks in one of the e-mails turned over to Dowling officials: "I'm done with religion." At least he was right about something.

Just when you thought the Central Iowa news outlets couldn't become any more incestuous (or any more manipulated by the corporate dollar): Last week, The Des Moines Register permanently put to bed 12 of the 13 papers in the Press Citizen/Shopper network, which Gannett bought not so very long ago in its ongoing quest to own the free world. The only edition surviving the axe was the Ankeny Press Citizen. To be fair, the Press Citizen's previous parent company wasn't exactly known for its corporate commitment to producing quality news products, but the papers were the closest thing that some metro areas had to real community newspapers. Press Citizen ad rates had been dirt cheap, and circulation had grown to more than 150,000 - two factors making the papers a mosquito that the McNews chain was destined to swat. Simply put, the Register bought its ankle-biting competitor and then squashed it between its thumb and forefinger, to the dismay of thousands who counted on it. CV

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