October 09, 2013 by justin
in Political Mercury
U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin’s days in the great American food-stamp fight go back to the 1970s, his first years in Congress representing Iowa. “I remember going through all these things about, ‘Oh, people are gonna cheat, people are gonna cheat, people are gonna cheat,’” said Harkin, a Democrat. “And at
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October 09, 2013 by justin
in Belly Up To...
If America is the melting pot of the world, then it might be safe to say that Mickey Finn’s is the melting pot of the Des Moines metro. The obvious first impression is that it’s an Irish bar — if the name above the door doesn’t give it away, perhaps
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October 09, 2013 by justin
in Food Dude
The great story of Iowa in the 20th century was that of people migrating from the state’s small towns and rural areas to a few cities and suburbs. Small towns lost their schools to the cult of consolidation, their farm hands to the industrialization of agriculture, their post offices to
Read More →Two quotes by Des Moines traffic facilities administrator Michael Berry, in the cover article “Towed” (Oct. 3) interested me: “Parking is an enterprise system similar to a non-profit,” and “Parking is not a way to generate revenue.” I usually get a little nervous when a government official tells me that
Read More →Holy White Hounds ‘Oh Mama’ Independent It’s been almost two years since I reviewed Holy White Hounds’ last EP. At the time, the band was loud, fun and rough. Fast forward 20 months, and only one of those things is still universally true. Thankfully, it’s the important one. “Oh Mama,”
Read More →The Synergy Jazz Foundation has announced its lineup for this season, which begins on Friday, Oct. 18 with the season kick-off party featuring the Synergy Jazz Youth and drummer Matt Wilson. Then the series commences on Saturday, Oct. 19 with Wilson performing with saxophonist Chris Merz and bassist Karl McComas-Reichl.
Read More →A companion to “Once Upon a Time,” “Once Upon a Time in Wonderland” (Thursday, 7 p.m., ABC) reinterprets Lewis Carroll’s “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.” Alice (Sophie Lowe) faces a panel of doctors in Victorian England who don’t believe her stories of an invisible cat and a hookah-smoking caterpillar. They consider
Read More →FIRST DOWN For his (deserved) fury, Paul Rhoads came away with a public slap on the shins from Bob Bowlsby. Which isn’t the same as a memo from the Big 12 offices in Dallas saying “Um, geez, ya got us, sorry about that.” But it’s close. The milk is spilled,
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October 09, 2013 by justin
in Cover Story
When the puck drops to the ice at 7:05 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 12 at Wells Fargo Arena, as the Iowa Wild faces off with the Oklahoma City Barons to open its 2013-14 season, it will mark the return of professional hockey to Des Moines following a four-year absence and
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Oh where, oh where has my watchdog gone?
Jubilation and consternation went hand-in-hand with the news of the settlement of Michael Gartner’s lawsuits against the Iowa Public Radio Board. He successfully sued the Board for two blatant violations of the state open meetings law when it fired the IPR executive director. While the case ended without a trial,
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