July 31, 2019 by Brent Antisdel
in Your Neighbors
A childhood dream comes true. “I’m a military wife,” explains Meghan Drane. “I’m a mom of four. I’m from Iowa. We’ve lived on the East Coast, West Coast and Europe.” That is her story, but it is not her whole story. “That is who I’m married to,” she continues. “That
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July 31, 2019 by Brent Antisdel
in Joe's Neighborhood
Tell that to Sister Agnes. Fifty kids were fed lunch on Monday in a little park in Urbandale — for free. Chew on that. The small parking lot at Murphy Park fills with a half dozen cars. The green totes and the blue coolers are unloaded from the trunks and
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July 31, 2019 by Brent Antisdel
in Center Stage
The evening will include musical theatre performances, fun and an energetic mix of central Iowa’s lovers of the stage. Late summer of 2014, right when the 2014-2015 local theatre season was starting, a small group of advocates for the local theatre scene gathered. The subject was a community recognition awards
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July 31, 2019 by Brent Antisdel
in Des Moines Forgotten
Betty Lou Varnum’s show was a safe place for many central Iowa kids. I wish I could have experienced television the way children and adults did back in the 1950s. I imagine it was similar to the first time many of us saw what the Internet had to offer in
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July 31, 2019 by Brent Antisdel
in At Home With
Drummer Ben Barndollar transformed his unfinished basement into a rehearsal area for his band. Inside Ben Barndollar’s basement, underneath his cozy two-story home, he has made a place for his indie rock band — the Foxholes — to get together each Tuesday and channel their creative energy. Since 2014, the
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July 31, 2019 by Brent Antisdel
in Art News
Gardening and art are intermingled in the mindset of Bill Luchsinger and Karen Strohbeen. Bill Luchsinger and Karen Strohbeen are Iowa’s original digital couple. They were transferring images to computer prints back when they had to drive to Omaha to use computers and printers big enough to work to their
Read More →An Iowa caucus delusion. Like the proverbial bad penny or unwanted guest, an Iowa caucus question pops up from the press and the public in search of sound bites instead of sound policies: “And if elected, what would you do your first 100 days in office?” Dutifully, the candidates for
Read More →Under the new tax law, it is difficult for many people to have enough medical costs to get a tax deduction on their income tax returns. Utilizing a medical flexible spending account gives employees the opportunity to get a tax deduction on medical costs that they wouldn’t otherwise normally get
Read More →If you’ve been successfully running your business for some time now, you may be exploring ways to expand. Here are three important signs your business is ready for growth: 1. A consistent increase in profits in the last three to five years, and steady, positive cash flow that can keep
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July 31, 2019 by Brent Antisdel
in The Sound
Foreigner performs at the Iowa State Fair on Aug. 15 with Night Ranger opening. Before Tom Gimble joined Foreigner in 1995, he built an impressive resume. He’d played two world tours with Aerosmith and appeared in “Wayne’s World 2.” The tour wasn’t the “crazy” Aerosmith of the 1980s; it was
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