Winners

The holidays might be over for another year, but The Salvation Army continues to reap the benefits of generous Iowans. A recent tally by officials showed contributions to its Red Kettle campaign in Des Moines exceeded $646,000, well above the goal of $550,000. The group stopped ringing its bells Dec. 24, and was hurt by bad weather. But mail-in contributions put the group ahead of its goal. “We are grateful for every gift we receive,” said Major Keith Petrie in a statement, “and we are especially thankful for this late surge of gifts that has made this year’s Red Kettle campaign a real success.”

Maybe he had a moment of clarity, or someone told him it was the right thing to do in an election year, but President Bush signed a law aimed at giving the public and media greater access to information about what the government is doing. The new law strengthens the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by creating a system where the media and public can track the status of their FOIA requests. It establishes a hotline service for all federal agencies to deal with problems and an ombudsman to provide an alternative to litigation in disclosure disputes. Agencies are now required to meet a 20-day deadline for the millions of requests they receive. The legislation is aimed at reversing an order by former Attorney General John Ashcroft following the terrorist attacks of 2001, in which Ashcroft instructed agencies to lean against releasing information when there was uncertainty about how it might affect national security. Dozens of media outlets, including The Associated Press, supported the legislation.

In the topsy-turvy world of the presidential campaign, Republican candidate John McCain and Democrat candidate Hillary Clinton won the New Hampshire primary, contradicting Iowa voters who elected Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee less than a week earlier. Polls continue to show no clear frontrunner for either party as candidates campaign for a number of primaries to be held in the next three weeks. The road to the White House, meanwhile, claimed another candidacy when New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson ended his long-shot bid for the Democratic presidential nomination last Thursday. Richardson praised his fellow candidates, but endorsed no one.

Everyone is talking about the Drake Bulldogs men’s basketball team, and they deserve to be ranked. Last weekend, the Bulldogs reeled off their 13th consecutive victory, breaking a school record for consecutive wins set in 1968-69 by the Bulldogs team that advanced to the Final Four. Could this be the year Drake makes the NCAA Tournament and wins the Missouri Valley? There’s a lot of basketball to be played, but enjoy the ride.

Losers

Sixteen of the nation’s largest retailers reported a drop in holiday sales compared to last year. Major chains like J.C. Penney Co., Target Corp., Kohl’s, Dillard’s and Younkers’ parent company, Bon-Ton, all reported a decline in sales for December. Wal-Mart, on the other hand, reported an increase of 2.6 percent, higher than analysts predicted.

There’s a general misconception that everything is hunky-dory in West Des Moines, but you wouldn’t know it by the trio of losers who made headlines there last week. First, Saqueliah Cowell, a 15-year-old West Des Moines girl pleads guilty to voluntary manslaughter, willful injury and going armed with intent after fatally stabbing 16-year-old William H. Thompson four times with an 8-inch knife at a West Des Moines apartment Sept. 29. Cowell told police last fall that Thompson had tried to rape her, and then admitted she lied to investigators and said she stabbed him because he called her names. Another 15-year-old West Des Moines student made headlines by bringing a handgun to Valley Southwoods Freshman High School. The unnamed student reportedly showed the gun to classmates, who then alerted school officials. No one was injured. Finally, veteran West Des Moines police officer Todd Cline resigned from his job after being charged in November in Marion County and being arrested two more times for felony burglary, domestic assault causing injury, violating a no-contact order with his wife and tampering with a witness.

Tough-talking Des Moines Police Sgt. David Murillo failed to walk the walk a few weeks ago when he blabbed to the media about an incident in which he said the driver of a vehicle he shot at twice, and missed, allegedly tried to run him down after he saw that Murillo was a uniformed police officer. Murillo told The Des Moines Register Jan. 1 that the incident took place near 18th and Gillette streets. Murillo was in an unmarked car and followed the suspect after noticing it was driving erratically. Murillo said the suspect pulled the car into a driveway, then tried to run him over after he approached car. “They slammed it into drive and came right at me,” Murillo told The Register, before adding that he fired his 9 mm gun at the car, but “began to slip on the icy street as he pulled the trigger.” Police later found the vehicle, a 1994 Buick Regal “that has been through several hands” officials said, abandoned nearby at 18th Street and Carpenter Avenue. Police are still looking for the suspects and Murillo’s aim. CV

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