Metro’s most wanted NAME: Trent Douglas Brown AGE: 31 HEIGHT: 5’ 10” WEIGHT: 230 HAIR: Black EYES: Brown DOB: 9/30/1962 CHARGES: Failure to pay child support; domestic assault Unsolved crimes This information was obtained from the Polk County Crime Stoppers website. All suspects are innocent until proven guilty in
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Posted May 14, 2014in Rap Sheet
Posted May 14, 2014in Book Review
‘Paper Lantern’ tells tales of love
Courtesy of Beaverdale Books “Paper Lantern Love Stories” By Stuart Dybek Farrar, Straus and Giroux June 3, 2014 $24 224 pp. Reading like the lyrics from a sad love song with a surreal twist, Stuart Dybek has built an exquisite set of short stories for anyone with a lovelorn heart.
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Posted May 14, 2014in Your Money
Paid for by taxpayers in… Des Moines.
Amount: $10,762.59 To: EnvisionWare Inc. (Georgia) For: Payment for annual system maintenance services for the Des Moines Public Library. Amount: $874.50 To: Active Network (California) For: Purchase of five metrologic barcode scanner USBs. Amount: $900 To: Singletrack Trails Inc. (Colorado) For: Lump sum payment to have a boardwalk
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Posted May 14, 2014in On the Move
New East Village hotel plans approved
The Des Moines City Council approved a preliminary agreement last week with Heart of America Group (HOA) to develop an $18.1 million boutique hotel on the southeast corner of East Fourth Street and East Grand Avenue, using only land sales proceeds and new project-generated tax increment. According city council documents,
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Posted May 14, 2014in Tech Talk
Learn a foreign language with Duolingo
Learning a foreign language can be tough — really tough. Just ask the thousands of graduating high-schoolers who only took two years of Spanish or French to meet the requirement of Iowa’s three public universities. For years technology has been trying to soften the education gap in the foreign language
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Posted May 13, 2014in Civic Skinny
How can ‘Girls’ sully U of Iowa’s reputation? No spoilers here, but you can fill in the blanks.
Before we get into this, it should be noted that the University of Iowa was voted this year as the top party school in the nation. Just to put things in perspective. Now, with that in mind, the story: the university this spring turned down the request of HBO’s “Girls”
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Posted May 09, 2014in Iowa Watchdog
Tax grab: Iowa county’s residents forced into funding city hall they won’t use
DES MOINES, Iowa — Taxpayers all across Scott County will help Walcott pay for a new city hall, whether they want to or not. Walcott intends to use up to $1.5 million raised through tax increment financing to build a new city hall. The final cost of the project hasn’t been
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Posted May 07, 2014in Rap Sheet
Metro’s Most Wanted NAME: Ron Alan Zurfluh AGE: 43 HEIGHT: 5’ 10” WEIGHT: 210 CHARGES: Parole violation NAME: Brian Scott Peterson AGE: 37 HEIGHT: 6’ 0” WEIGHT: 240 CHARGES: Theft; drug charges; forgery Unsolved crimes This information was obtained from the Polk County Crime Stoppers website. All suspects
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Posted May 07, 2014in Sound Check
Lily Allen “Sheezus” Regal/Parlophone This is a perfectly acceptable album. Really, that’s as close to the quick as you can cut. Nothing about “Sheezus” is particularly horrible — bland, maybe — but nothing here will re-invent your life, either. Lily Allen starts the album with the title track, which serves
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Posted May 07, 2014in Joe's Neighborhood
A typical conspiracy
Conspiracies are awesome. Who doesn’t love an intricate web of deceit and lies and blind alleys that ends with a broken bottle, three yellow tulips and five drops of blood? The obvious explanation? A conspiracy. Conspiracies are the province of mystery story writers and science fiction authors and the media.
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