Thursdays Music in the Junction season lineup was announced, featuring the usuals, plus some newcomers: May will have Comfort Zone, Bella Soul, Gimikk, Get Off My Lawn and SP3; June includes Decoy, Abby Normal, Brother Trucker and All Things King; in July there is Fahrenheit, Final Mix, The Blue Band
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Posted April 02, 2014in Sound Notes
Posted April 02, 2014in On the Move
Get your hair done while watching ‘Bridesmaids’
Clive is home to the new Penelopie Beauty Bar, which opened on March 24, designed to be that one-stop shop destination for all beauty needs and for any event or lifestyle in a fun, upbeat, feminine atmosphere where upbeat music is always playing or a customer’s favorite chick flick is
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Posted April 02, 2014in Rap Sheet
On the clock
Play the “Name that Crime” Quiz! SHOTS FIRED On March 22 at about 3 a.m. police were called to the 1100 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway for reports of a shooting. Upon arrival, they observed a green van leaving the scene. Police stopped the vehicle was at
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Posted April 02, 2014in News of the Weird
SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY Kevin Walters, 21, staged an emotional, though unsuccessful, one-man, chained-to-the-door protest in March to prevent the closing of a commercial rest stop along the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway near Des Plaines, Ill. Ultimately, the Des Plaines Oasis, housing shops and fast-food restaurants, will be demolished as part of
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Posted April 02, 2014in Sound Check
Twins “Tomboys on Parade” Maximum Ames I am nakedly, unabashedly, undoubtedly a fan of Twins. The music has a happy-go-lucky, early ’60s throwback feel to it that is undeniable fun. But Twins is not simply a kitschy nostalgia act. These guys — Sires brothers Luke, Harper and Joel, along with
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Posted April 02, 2014in Center Stage
‘Porgy and Bess,’ the legacy and the controversy
Did some heavenly theater professor set up Des Moines as a seminar on opera and musical theater lately? Over at the Playhouse we’ve got “Les Misèrables,” as close to opera as Broadway gets, and now comes a weeklong run of “The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess,” a folk opera, as George
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Posted April 01, 2014in Rap Sheet
Posted April 01, 2014in Iowa Watchdog
Iowa goes retro to keep millions from tax that doesn’t exist
DES MOINES, Iowa— For six years, the state has collected more than $20 million for a tax that didn’t exist. When questioned about it, the Legislature adopted the solution preferred by small children who’ve done something wrong — they pretended it never happened. In 2008, the Legislature passed a bill
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Posted April 01, 2014in Iowa Watchdog
In Iowa, your taxes help corporations not pay theirs
DES MOINES, Iowa — As the deadline to pay income taxes approaches, it’s important to remember that government does more than just take your money — it also uses your money to let others skip paying taxes. The Iowa Economic Development Authority announced Friday it had approved almost $1.7 million in
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Posted April 01, 2014in Iowa Watchdog
Federal law can’t make school kids eat their vegetables
DES MOINES, Iowa— A federal law designed to help Iowa kids slim down is making lunchroom garbage cans heavier with government-mandated fruits and vegetables. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 set new nutrition standards for school meals, including requiring each student be served half a cup of fruit or
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