Winners

Iowa State University and the University of Iowa may get the glory when it comes to football and basketball, but Drake University has made a name for itself in the world of track. Drake officials found out last week that their school will play host to the 2008 NCAA Track and Field Championships, to be held June 11-14 of that year. Apparently it didn't hurt that Drake decided to spend $15 million gussying up Drake Stadium; the renovation was finished just hours before the April 26 opening of the much-anticipated Drake Relays. And now this. The university issued a public statement that quotes president David Maxwell as gushing, "With the Drake Relays, the 2007 NCAA Midwest Regionals and now the National Championships, Drake and Des Moines have become the track and field capital of the Midwest. It is a tremendous infusion of energy, resources and visibility into the community. We are very, very grateful to everyone who helped make this happen."

Now that Al Gore has made it hip (who knew we'd see the day when "Al Gore" and "hip" would be used in the same sentence?), global warming is becoming a hot topic among everyone from scientists to longtime enviros to... Christians. That's right: A growing number of progressive Christian pastors are teaching their congregations that when the big guy in the sky told Adam and Eve to honor his creation, he meant it. And that means he's probably not a big fan of chlorofluorocarbons and carbon-dioxide emissions and power-plant pollution and the like. That's why the National Council of Churches has teamed with the Natural Resources Defense Council and other environmental organizations to form a new group called "Re-energize America," which seeks to promote the use of clean and renewable energy sources among a broad swath of the U.S. citizenry. Des Moines' Plymouth Congregational Church, 4126 Ingersoll Ave., along with Mayor Frank Cownie, will host Re-energize America for a town-hall meeting at 7 p.m. on Sept. 7. The meeting's sponsors range from the Iowa Farmers Union to Iowa Interfaith Power and Light. So, what would Jesus do? Attend this forum. (And probably recycle his soda cans and drive a hybrid car.)

It's about time. After months of much-deserved bad press surrounding the National Animal Disease Center, located in Ames, a USDA investigation of the lab is finally underway. When news surfaced that creepy stuff from the lab could be leaking into Ames' water supply, the outcry was immediate and immense. Specifically, a team of expert investigators will examine how the lab disposes of its waste, which could include prions that cause nasty diseases. Until the investigation is complete, mad-cow testing at the facility has been put on hold, and suspect cow carcasses and brains will be sent elsewhere for evaluation. In a time when the public is rightfully jittery about what goes into its water and food products, the lab shouldn't be let off the hook until it adopts stricter standards and better management policies.

Losers

Wouldn't you think our government could find something better to do than arresting peaceniks? Frank Cordaro of Des Moines just got out of jail again last week after finishing his latest sentence, this time for trespassing at Offutt Air Force Base in December. Cordaro, co-founder of Des Moines' Catholic Worker House, was arrested after stepping inside the Offutt gate on Dec. 28 to mark the Catholic Feast of the Holy Innocents, in memory of King Herod's massacre of innocent male children as part of an attempt to kill the newborn Jesus. There are those who find King George's Romanesque aggressions to be remarkably similar. Cordaro was protesting the Nuclear and Military Space Commands at Offutt, which he described as "a hybrid of nuclear weapons systems and space technology." Not everybody can afford to take time off work like Cordaro does. But that doesn't mean the rest of us aren't fed up, too.CV

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