This year marks Steven Vail’s 20th anniversary in the gallery business. His exhibitions here, of internationally renowned artists, have usually received more media coverage from New York, Germany and even Hong Kong than they have in Des Moines. How did he manage to survive? “Luther Utterback (Des Moines artist) took
Read More →Play the “Name that Crime” Quiz! Published arrest charges are obtained from official law enforcement records, which are available to the public. All who are charged are innocent until proven guilty. ARMED AND THIRSTY Owners of Tequilas Liquor reported a burglary at their store at the 1400 block of Des
Read More →Gadgets and summer are two terms that generally do not go together. People are outside swimming, hiking, playing soccer and, despite what the tech giants would like us to believe, it’s hard to incorporate a smartphone or tablet into those activities. But there is one gadget that not only fits
Read More →“Under the Dome” seals off a town from the world CBS’s new series “Under the Dome” (Monday, 9 p.m.) is premised on a beautifully simple “what if” scenario: What if an invisible dome descended on a small town, cutting it off from the outside world? In this Stephen King adaptation,
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Posted June 19, 2013in The Sound
September’s been snake-bitten of late. Last fall the interpersonal strife within the band — most notably between vocalist Lucas Brighton and keyboardist Joey Vice — reached a breaking point, and September split. “I quit,” Brighton confessed. “We had six people in the band, all with their own personalities. It was
Read More →Amount: $1,070.91 To: Barco Municipal Products Inc. (Ottawa, Kan.) For: Purchase of 24 angle iron-leg barricades at about $40 each and $112.35 in shipping fees for the Highway Department. Amount: $671.50 To: Central Iowa Hospital Corp. For: Payment for services conducting 39 on-site hearing tests at $17 each, with
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Posted June 19, 2013in Civic Skinny
When last we left Christopher Godfrey, the only openly gay department head in the Branstad administration, he was toiling away as head of the state Workers’ Compensation office, though he had taken a pay cut of nearly $40,000. When last we left Terry Branstad, he was trying his damnedest to
Read More →Among all the accolades aimed at Jim Zabel, I have seen no mention of his WWII service. He was born in 1921, so he would have been 20 years old at the beginning of WWII. He then proceeded to the University of Iowa till 1944. I’m not aware of any
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Posted June 19, 2013in Food Dude
There is no cursed address in the restaurant business. People suspected that about a spot on Ingersoll when three cafés came and went around the beginning of the 1980s. Then Wellman’s Pub took up that challenge and has remained a strong presence for 31 years. The trick is to fit
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Saving Floppy: a real dog fight
Since the scandal broke, the story has been on TV, radio and all over social media. The decision was apparently made by someone high in rank within the bureaucracy. Within an hour after the leak, the news quickly spread via social media. Apparently those responsible actually thought they could bury
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