Posted February 06, 2019in Civic Skinny
A federal grand jury has charged Marty Tirrell with mail fraud, wire fraud, two counts of bank fraud and fraudulent use of another person’s credit card. The charges follow years of scams by the one-time sports broadcaster and talk-show host, scams in which he defrauded friends and employers and advertisers
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Posted January 02, 2019in Civic Skinny
Iowa State University paid Drake University $300,000 to play that football game in Ames on Dec. 1. The figure apparently has not been reported. Drake also got 300 free tickets and free admission for the marching band, mascots and game workers. And parking passes for one truck, four buses and
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Posted December 05, 2018in Civic Skinny
Twelve drummers drumming… …for Gabriel Espinosa and the other 29 new citizens from 16 countries sworn in at a baseball game on July 3…and for Judge Robert Pratt, who swore them in… and the 40,000 or so (who knows?) undocumented immigrants who are changing the state for the better…and the
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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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