August 09, 2021 by Beckham Miller
in Stray Thoughts
Here is one of the persistent questions rattling around in my head: Why are some well-educated people seemingly so lacking in common sense and good judgment? I’m thinking about Andrew Cuomo, New York’s governor for the past 10 years. Cuomo is hanging on to his job by a thread. His
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August 04, 2021 by Beckham Miller
in Feature 1
Our annual Ultimate Food Challenge returns with a quest for central Iowa’s chicken wing champ. No other edible food has undergone as drastic a change of fortune in the last half century as the once humble chicken wing. Before the 1980s, it was the cheapest part of the bird not
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August 04, 2021 by Beckham Miller
in Feature 2
Lineup is loaded with world-class live music The Iowa State Fair offers funnel cakes, butter cows, real cows, carnies, and 1-million-plus people who are watching people who are watching animals who are watching people. But the best place to put your eyeballs this August, and your ears, too, is squarely
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August 04, 2021 by Beckham Miller
in Business Feature, Business Journal
COVID-19, rising costs speed up changes in the funeral industry. One would be hard pressed to find an industry that isn’t changing with the times, and the funeral industry is no different. Cremation continues to rise in popularity. Technology, spurred by COVID-19, is increasingly integral to funerals. Services are becoming
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August 04, 2021 by Beckham Miller
in Civic Skinny
What did it take for the University of Oklahoma to lure basketball coach Jennie Lillis Baranczyk away from Drake University? Here’s what, based on a freedom-of-information request made by CITYVIEW to the Big 12 school: A base salary of $300,000 a year. Plus $175,000 a year from “unrestricted private funds.”
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August 04, 2021 by Beckham Miller
in Political Mercury
The 49-year-old South Dakota governor is supremely telegenic and wonderfully folksy, smart and unapologetic. The recent Family Leader Summit in Des Moines served as a one-two punch, and something of a conservative strategy preview of the next two election cycles: hit Democrats on national issues, notably critical race theory on which speaker
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August 04, 2021 by Beckham Miller
in Film Review
“No Sudden Move,” a crime thriller about the mobs that ran the Motor City, proves once again that the crooked path to a quick payday never goes smoothly. Set in the wild American Midwest of Detroit, Michigan, “No Sudden Move” is, on the surface, a crime thriller about the mobs that
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August 04, 2021 by Beckham Miller
in Food Dude
The slow-roasted prime rib at AJ’s was as marvelous as it gets. Some of the disappearing classics of the last century have been coming back, at least in a few places. Hot beef sandwiches, hot pork sandwiches, meatloaf and even the Herbert Hoover-driven chicken and noodles of the Great Depression
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August 04, 2021 by Beckham Miller
in Des Moines Forgotten
World’s largest man, Bobo the clown, Siamese twins and chameleons To think that it has been two years since the last Iowa State Fair is bonkers to me. I did attend the food truck deal they had last August, which was fun but obviously not the same. I am also
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August 04, 2021 by Beckham Miller
in Joe's Neighborhood
It’s time for a visit between two women with 192 years lived between them. “When I was in Indianapolis during World War II, I lived in a large house that only boarded girls. I was 17 years old.” My 94-year-old mom sits low in the front passenger seat as we
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