Reporter Jim Flansburg’s mind and notebooks were filled with the odd fact, the strong suspicion, the half-story that he never could develop into a piece that would stand alone in [...]
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Posted March 23, 2021in Civic Skinny
Jim Nahas has been fired as head of human resources for Polk County. It’s complicated, it’s messy, it’s unusual — it’s hard to get fired by the county — and, [...]
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Posted March 03, 2021in Civic Skinny
Print circulation of The Des Moines Register continues to plummet. Reported digital circulation is holding more or less steady, but at a low level, but internal numbers show it rising [...]
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Posted January 20, 2021in Civic Skinny
Looking fresh and healthy behind his University of Iowa facemask, Marty Tirrell, who led a complicated life as a boisterous sports-radio host and a glib conman and who was an [...]
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Posted January 06, 2021in Civic Skinny
Natalie Fixmer-Oraiz is an associate professor of communication studies at the University of Iowa, where she has taught for eight years. She makes $75,204 a year, according to state records. [...]
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Posted December 02, 2020in Civic Skinny
Twelve drummers drumming… …for Helen Eddy, the very busy Polk County health commissioner…and Karen Schunk and all the other women (and men) who make and give away masks to help [...]
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Posted November 02, 2020in Civic Skinny
The hiring of political veteran John Norris to be the new county manager — which was expected to be announced after CITYVIEW went to press — was not without its [...]
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Posted September 30, 2020in Civic Skinny
It pays to be a scofflaw. The proposed consent decree between the federal government and Dico — a decree in which the City of Des Moines would end up owning [...]
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Posted September 02, 2020in Civic Skinny
In 2019, Des Moines police officers responded to 202,000 calls. Twice, officers fired their guns in the line of duty. Each time, the officers were fired upon first. So why [...]
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Posted August 05, 2020in Civic Skinny
Four well-known Des Moines men — all in their 80s or beyond — died within days of one another last month. All were interesting men who led interesting lives. Owen [...]
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