This school year marks the fifth consecutive year the district has offered free breakfast and lunch to students regardless of income. Des Moines Public Schools will continue providing free breakfast and lunch to every student during the 2026-27 school year, ensuring all students have access to nutritious meals that support
Read More →There is something uniquely entertaining about an Iowa State Fair concert. You can buy a deep-fried pickle. Pet a champion bull. Admire a butter sculpture. And then spend the evening singing along with thousands of strangers who somehow all know every word to a song released years before many of
Read More →
Posted August 05, 2026in Feature 1
At the 2026 Iowa State Fair, the Grandstand is once again being treated to national- and world-renowned performers. Some of the biggest names in country, rock and hip hop are taking the stage in Des Moines to give fairgoers shows they won’t forgot. On Tuesday, Aug. 18, fairgoers will be
Read More →
Posted August 05, 2026in Feature 2
Each August, CITYVIEW asks its readers to find the ultimate food of a specific category. This year, we are seeking the supreme Italian dish of greater Des Moines. Since we have searched several times for the ultimate pizza, we are not including those amongst this year’s choices. Italian cuisine is
Read More →
Posted August 05, 2026in Business Feature
When it’s time for small businesses in the Des Moines area to upgrade their technology, what should they do with their old electronics? The answer is not to throw them away. Electronics do not belong in landfills, and the sensitive data stored on the hardware should never end up in
Read More →
Posted August 05, 2026in Civic Skinny
Each year, we publish several of the coaching contracts at our state’s publicly funded universities: Iowa State University, University of Iowa, and University of Northern Iowa. There is widespread reporting on some of the larger contracts like those of T.J. Otzelberger at Iowa State and Kirk Ferentz at Iowa, receive
Read More →
Posted August 05, 2026in Political Mercury
In an inviting and richly reported new book populated with larger-than-life figures cut from the fabric of everyday life in early 1900s central Iowa, the city of Des Moines emerges as the most riveting character. David and Rose Donovan’s “The Nastiest Saloon in Iowa: Murder, Prostitution, and Corruption in the Heartland” reveals
Read More →
Posted August 05, 2026in Film Review
Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey” places audiences alongside Odysseus and his exhausted crew from its opening moments. You do not simply watch their voyage — you feel it. Every hard-earned victory comes with another loss. Every clever escape demands another sacrifice. When Odysseus begins questioning the cost of every decision he
Read More →
Posted August 05, 2026in Food Dude
Des Moines is a brutal place for its icons. Claes Oldenburg’s brilliant “Crusoe Umbrella” should be our proudest civic monument. Instead, we have abused it with everything from satellite antennas to graffiti and disrepair. Closed, century-old schools sit without purpose. Anderson Erickson’s 2,700-pound cows, Annie and Eric, have been vandalized
Read More →
Posted August 05, 2026in Des Moines Forgotten
Iowa State Fair time is here once again. Over the years, I have written about strange stories from Iowa’s celebrated event. In 2017, I became completely obsessed with the infamous neighborhood parking lots of the Iowa State Fair — the front lawns of the residents who live in the Fairgrounds
Read More →
