Winners

Music industry magazine Pollstar released its list of the top 100 theater venues for 2007, and the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines moved up one position to No. 14 on the worldwide list by selling 208,250 tickets last year, outpacing the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis (No. 16) and the Fabulous Fox Theater in St. Louis (No. 25). The Auditorio Nacional in Mexico City, Mexico, topped the list, which ranked venues based on ticket sales. Radio City Music Hall in New York City finished second. No doubt, the Civic Center’s successful Broadway theater series helped keep them in the Top 20, but their market penetration impresses. The 208,250 tickets sold at the Civic Center for theater, concerts, comedy and other events equates roughly to about 39 percent of the Des Moines metro’s population of about 534,000.

In an effort to stave off an impending recession, last week President Bush and the feds approved tax rebates for individuals ($600), married couples ($1,200) and $300 rebates per child. Proponents and critics agree the move is merely a Band-Aid on a larger wound, but they hope those who receive rebates will spend the money to help revive the economy. Whether people use the money to buy goods, pay bills or squirrel it away in savings remains to be seen. News of the rebates arrived after headlines told how stocks fell sharply worldwide Jan. 21, and that home sales at the end of 2007 fell.

Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino today recognized 194 community betterment projects it gave more than $1.98 million to last year to promote education, economic development, agriculture, jobs and tourism. It marked the 11th year in which the racetrack and casino has donated money to non-profit groups, totaling more than $362 million. The deadline for Prairie Meadows’ 2008 Community Betterment Grant funding is Aug. 15.

Last week, the Drake Bulldogs cracked the men’s Top 25 basketball rankings for the first time 1975, reaching No. 22. Just as impressive, they went on to win in overtime at Creighton, welcomed the return of injured starting point guard Josh Young and defended their home court against the University of Northern Iowa, which also gave the Bulldogs their second consecutive mythical state basketball championship. With an overall record of 18-1, a Missouri Valley Conference leading record of 9-0 and a new No.16 ranking in the polls, it seems the Drake bandwagon is gaining momentum.

Losers

Melting polar ice caps? Cacophony. Flooding of coastal regions that could displace millions of people? Bull. The possible extinction of animals? Horse hockey according to a handful of Republican Iowa lawmakers who must think global warming is a conspiracy by Al Gore and the Democrats. Last week, five Iowa Republican legislators handed every Iowa lawmaker the book “Unstoppable Global Warming — Every 1,500 Years,” which suggests that global warming is a natural occurrence. Written by S. Fred Singer and Dennis T. Avery, its authors contend their research is science-based — though most scientists agree global warming is caused by human pollution. “We shouldn’t be as concerned, actually, about warming, especially now that we have modern refrigeration and air conditioning,” Rep. Dwayne Alons, a Republican from Hull, told The Des Moines Register. Oh, really, Dwayne? Well, I guess we might as well shut down the $100 million Power Fund created to increase renewable fuels, and reverse legislation to cut greenhouse gas emissions, too. If that isn’t enough, maybe we can use the money to drain Gray’s Lake and drill it for oil or strip mine it for coal.

Iowa has become an absolute magnetic field attracting non-natives. According to Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship statistics, nearly 18 million outsiders moved into Iowa in 2005, the most recently surveyed year. The largest number — 2,768,928 — migrated from Canada, but almost 2 million came from warm weather North Carolina. They didn’t come for the quality of life though, all these new residents were recruited to fill up our hog confinements, where they lived a few months in quarters so cramped they could barely move.

The United States Army failed to meet its 90 percent benchmark for new recruits having at least a regular high school diploma by nearly 20 percentage points, with a rate of 70.7 percent in 2007, according to a county and state-level report on 2007 military recruits released by the National Priorities Project. The non-profit research group based their report on data obtained from the Department of Defense through the Freedom of Information Act. Since 2005, the percentage of recruits with at least a high school diploma dropped almost 12 percentage points in two years. In case you’re wondering, studies show that a diploma is an indicator of a recruits’ success in the Army, with about 80 percent of those who have one finishing their first term of enlistment compared to only half who don’t have a diploma. Now, if only one of those recruits with a diploma could tell military leaders the reason why they’re struggling to recruit quality soldiers… hmmm, what could it be? CV

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