UPDATE! The Art Festival and Junkin’ in the Junction/Antique Jamboree, originally scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 13, has been canceled due to the increase in COVID-19 cases. You can view the virtual Art Festival at https://airtable.com/shraVrta5AnCOBt46/tblJ97a43wu0SAOKJ. The Music in the Junction series will not take place this year either, and the
Read More →The Covid-19 pandemic persists. Be safe. Be considerate. Be compassionate. – John Busbee for The Culture Buzz Quote of the Week “Good leadership requires you to surround yourself with people of diverse perspectives who can disagree with you without fear of retaliation.” – Richard Byrd (1888-1957) American naval officer and explorer
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Posted September 08, 2020in Stray Thoughts
There was a milestone of note recently, and it is a shame there was not a big public celebration. Twenty years ago, Gov. Tom Vilsack and the Iowa Legislature had the foresight to create a program that has brought important changes to communities large and small across Iowa. The program
Read More →NEWS RELEASE (Des Moines, IA) – Mid-Iowa Council, Boy Scouts of America recently partnered with Fareway and Dean Snyder Construction for two storm shelters to be built at Mitigwa Scout Reservation. Each company committed to fully fund the cost of one storm shelter, an approximate value of $40,000. “Our top
Read More →Jazz, Jewels & Jeans, An Evening at Noce, will feature cool jazz enjoyed virtually from the warmth of home Friday, Sept. 11. Featuring The Max Wellman Quartet, the event will be streamed live on YouTube @OakridgeNeighborhood and Facebook @OakridgeNeighborhoodServices Friday, Sept. 11, from 7 – 8:30 pm. Free will donations
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Posted September 02, 2020in Feature 1
Which Iowa high school sports powerhouse can lay claim to being called the most dominant dynasty of all time? What is the most feared program in Hawkeye-state history? Which team was the best, flat-out, of any sport when measured against every generation? Objective stats have a way of taking on
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Posted September 02, 2020in Feature 2
Humankind and its animal compatriots have maintained an adversarial dependency on each other for thousands of years, since long before planting and harvesting were discovered. Survival depended upon hunting and gathering for both sides. Prehistoric humans hunted in packs before the discovery of weapons that could put down a saber-toothed
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Posted September 02, 2020in Business Feature
Scott Smoldt was golfing with someone from his club when they started talking about their professions. The man, a business broker, asked Smoldt whether he’d ever considered selling his business, Smoldt Moving & Storage. Smoldt, who purchased the family-owned business in 2002 when his dad retired, told the man he
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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 does the police department need to spend $99,029.76 for 396,000 rounds of ammunition for the next 12 months? What does
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Posted September 02, 2020in Political Mercury
One of my great misfortunes is that I never got to know my grandfather, the late publisher of the Carroll Times Herald, James W. Wilson. Either he died too soon, or I was born too late. I was 7, and Grandpa Wilson was 77 when he passed in 1977. Nothing
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