Posted October 31, 2018in Civic Skinny
How’s the new Hilton convention hotel doing in downtown Des Moines? Who knows? Somebody does — probably a lot of somebodies — but not you, even though as a taxpayer in Des Moines and in Polk County you, in effect, own the place. Hearing that the 330-room hotel might not
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Posted October 03, 2018in Civic Skinny
Teree Caldwell-Johnson is thinking of running for mayor next year. And Sheriff Bill McCarthy is thinking of retiring this year. Caldwell-Johnson, 62, is well-known in Des Moines. She was Polk County Manager from 1996 to 2003, is the very visible chief executive of the Oakridge Neighborhood Services, has been on
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Posted September 05, 2018in Civic Skinny
After six-and-a-half years of proceedings — and $987,849.80 in billings to taxpayers — George LaMarca is withdrawing as the state’s lawyer in the never-ending discrimination and defamation and retaliation lawsuit filed against former Governor Terry Branstad and five members of his administration by former Workers Compensation Commissioner Chris Godfrey. The
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Posted August 01, 2018in Civic Skinny
On April 16 of last year, 55-year-old Mark Evans was riding his bike on the side path of MLK Parkway when he crashed at the southeast corner of 16th Street. Two days later, 63-year-old Bob Foss did the same thing. Both bikers were badly injured. Both men were familiar with
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Posted July 04, 2018in Civic Skinny
The FBI is asking questions about Marty Tirrell. An agent has contacted several people and is asking about “anything and everything,” according to one person who was questioned. The FBI regional office in Omaha wouldn’t comment, but generally when the agency starts asking about someone it’s not good news for
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Posted June 06, 2018in Civic Skinny
The budget cuts and pay freezes at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University have some big exceptions: Athletic budgets aren’t touched, and coaches will continue to get very big raises. After a lot of back and forth, legislators in their wisdom cut $40.9 million from the general university
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Posted May 02, 2018in Civic Skinny
The estate of Kirk Blunck has paid off two long-delinquent loans the city provided to help Blunck rehabilitate two buildings in the East Village. That leaves just one claim remaining against the estate of the architect and developer who died under puzzling circumstances in one of his buildings on a
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Posted March 13, 2018in Civic Skinny
Two of his children and a colleague recall Register editorial writer, the “intellectual leader of state,” who died March 11 at age 93 Gil Cranberg may have been the smartest person ever to enter the Register and Tribune building. And — luckily for Iowans — he stayed for 33 years. In
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Posted February 28, 2018in Civic Skinny
Hy-Vee’s decision to quit putting weekly advertising inserts into newspapers is another blow to Iowa’s newspapers — and it’s a particular hit at the 75 or so small dailies and weekly papers where grocery-store ads are an economic lifeline. “It’s big money,” says the publisher of one small daily, but
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Posted January 31, 2018in Civic Skinny
Matt McCoy isn’t talking, but friends say he almost certainly will leave the Iowa Senate and run against John Mauro for Mauro’s seat on the Polk County Board of Supervisors. Both are popular Democrats with deep followings, especially on the south side of town. A McCoy-Mauro race could complicate South
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