DES MOINES – The Des Moines Symphony today announced the details of its 27th annual Yankee Doodle Pops Concert, as well as its second summer of Water Works Pops Concerts. The Des Moines Symphony’s 27th annual Yankee Doodle Pops will be performed on Thursday, July 2 on the West Terrace
Read More →
Posted March 10, 2020in Stray Thoughts
Iowans take considerable pleasure in enumerating the various ways our state stands apart from the other 49 states — beyond our endangered first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses. For many years, we pointed with pride to the fact that Iowa’s high school graduation rate was tops in the United States. We like to
Read More →
Posted March 09, 2020in Joe's Extra
Dogs just aren’t my thing. Sorry all you dog lovers. It’s just the way it is. Sure, I’ve had more than my share of the mangy critters. Why? Because my wife and kids keep bringing them home — over my loud objections. And it’s always the same. I feed the newest
Read More →With all due respect, the article written by Graham Gillette regarding Dr. Ahart and the new stadium (CITYVIEW, January 2020) was rather harsh and misleading. Graham did not present all the facts regarding the stadium. … [Gillette stated]: “The Des Moines school district has placed its once lofty aspirations to
Read More →
Posted March 04, 2020in Feature 1
Iowans embrace the state’s quirks. We believe wiener schnitzel should be made with pork instead of veal and served on a bun, and that French dressing should be orange and very sweet. We drink more Black Velvet Canadian whisky than any kind of Bourbon or Scotch. We are still proud
Read More →
Posted March 04, 2020in Feature 2
Humans yearn for orderliness: Where do things stand?… How high are those things stacked?… How far away is this?… What’s the pecking order of that? After understanding where stuff is in relation to other stuff, then our minds are free to ponder: Why?… What can we do to improve?… Who
Read More →
Posted March 04, 2020in Business Feature
Walk into most any coffee shop in downtown Des Moines, and you’ll see laptops open, phones out and patrons typing away. Some will be using their own mobile hotspots, while others will have logged into the business’ public wireless network. Head to the service station, the car wash or even
Read More →
Posted March 04, 2020in Civic Skinny
Marty Tirrell, the smooth-talking scammer and loud-talking sports-radio host, has been kicked out of the Door of Faith residential treatment center where he was awaiting his April 7 sentencing in federal court. And now he’s in jail in Greenfield, Massachusetts. At the Door of Faith, Tirrell was deemed to be
Read More →
Posted March 04, 2020in Political Mercury
Win or lose, primary or general, Des Moines businesswoman Theresa Greenfield rolled off one of the better observations about small-town living I’ve heard, a comment that shows she understands the distinctions between our communities. We share values, to be sure, but life is different in Carroll than Creston, and residing
Read More →
Posted March 04, 2020in Film Review
After an animated backstory of Dr. Harleen Quinzel’s journey to becoming Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie), she breaks up with the Joker as only Harley can: BOOM! goes Ace Chemicals. Unaware of the impact of her unique announcement, Harley finds she has no shortage of scumbags gunning for her who were
Read More →
