Winners

David Chipperfield, architect of the Downtown Des Moines Public Library, has been nominated for a Royal Institute of British Architects award for his work on the library. The library recently won a silver award from Building Design & Construction magazine. The criteria included design, construction and community involvement in the planning.

Thumbs up to Jake Audsley for helping foil a burglary. Three dull witted Des Moines teenagers — Jordan Carmody, 16, James Evans, 19, and Lewis McCray, 18 — stole a few guns from Mister Money USA on Southeast 14th Street last Tuesday. But instead of making a clean getaway Audsley pursued the robbers in his car, avoiding their gunfire and injury until the police picked up the chase near Southeast First Street and Indianola Avenue. The robbers later crashed their getaway vehicle into a landscaping boulder and were charged with first-degree robbery, attempted murder and intimidation. Police didn’t say whether or not Audsley played an important role in their capture, but he was the first to put pressure on the criminals as they tried to escape.

Congratulations to the more than 450 Des Moines area residents who took the oath of allegiance last week to become U.S. citizens during a ceremony at Hoyt Sherman Place. More than 50 countries were represented at the event. Despite some of the problems we have, we’re reminded during the Fourth of July that America is still great. Welcome and thanks for legally joining the ranks.

The word “hero” is too often misused, but not when talking about Decorah Police Chief Tom Courtney, Capt. Warren Leeps, Officer Sara Stinson, volunteer firefighter Jeff Ode and Sgt. Marc Swingle of DeWitt, all of who received the Sullivan Brothers Award of Valor last week. The award was created in 1977 to recognize police officers and firefighters who perform acts of heroism on the job. Courtney, Leeps, Stinson and Ode rescued a woman from a burning car. Swingle grabbed a gun from a man trying to commit suicide.

Moral judgments against the Iraq war are commonplace, but three Congresswomen — Reps. Maxine Waters, Barbara Lee and Lynn Woolsey — visited Iowa last week to inform caucus-goers about the outrageous expense of the war. They say the war costs taxpayers $2 billion a week and jeopardizes our economic security. Instead of spending $60 billion on unneeded and outdated Cold War-era weapons and excessive nuclear weapons, they suggest using the money for healthcare, education and other social needs.

Losers

Whether or not steroids played a role in professional wrestler Chris Benoit’s decision to suffocate his 7-year-old son and strangle his wife, then place a Bible next to their bodies before hanging himself with a weight-machine pulley is moot. Experts say anabolic steroids like the ones found in Benoit’s Georgia home can cause paranoia, depression and explosive outbursts known as “roid rage.” But steroids were only part of the problem in the Benoit home. Benoit’s wife filed for divorce in 2003, alleging “cruel treatment.” She later dropped the complaint, as well as a restraining order against Benoit — who in WWE circles was known as a “wholesome, family guy.” Now we know many other things about Benoit were fake — not just his moves in the ring.

Talk about spin. We’re not sure who the Polk County Board of Supervisors thought they were fooling when they announced the “good news” given to them by Global Spectrum that taxpayers would only have to pay $26,529 to subsidize operating costs at the Iowa Events Center for the fiscal year ending 2007 instead of the projected $114,338. Yes, $26,529 is less than $114,338. But let’s hope the proposed budget for fiscal year 2008 takes into account the taxpayer.

It’s bad enough that Iowa State University doesn’t seem to understand the importance of separation of church and state — no matter who is paying the salary of a “life skills assistant” — but their decision to make a religious adviser available to only a select group of students wreaks of elitism. If the ISU faculty athletic panel, which recommended last week that the school’s football program should be allowed to have a volunteer religious adviser, was genuinely concerned about the spiritual well being of ISU’s student-athletes, they would make team chaplains available for athletes in all sports. Granted, ISU’s football team could use a prayer each time it takes the field but limiting God’s healing powers to one select group just seems… so unholy.

Des Moines lost one of its better, most original restaurants last week when Chris Jackson closed Cookry. The West African restaurant located in the Drake neighborhood not only added some unique flavor to the local dining landscape — one which our own Food Dude Jim Duncan raved about — but Cookry became a haven for many Iowa civil rights leaders. The good news is that Jackson has kept most of his cooking equipment and vows to reopen the eatery. CV

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