Posted February 03, 2016in Civic Skinny
Kirk Blunck, who died last week under what the medical examiner called “suspicious” circumstances at the bottom of some stairs in the Teachout Building that he had restored in the East Village, was a good architect and a bad businessman. Like many of the best local architects of the past
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Posted January 27, 2016in Civic Skinny
At least some of the 30 or so men picked up in those prostitution stings in August at the Ramada Inn on Army Post Road and the Econo Lodge Inn and Suites on Merle Hay pleaded guilty last month. They have been fined $625 and received deferred judgments — meaning
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Posted January 20, 2016in Civic Skinny
Bad news for Des Moines: Federal Judge Mark Bennett’s decision last week to ask the Iowa Supreme Court to rule on some legal issues before he hears the lawsuit the Des Moines Water Works filed against three drainage districts in northern Iowa probably will mean the actual lawsuit won’t be
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Posted January 13, 2016in Civic Skinny
Five years ago, when Gov. Terry Branstad resumed office after a 12-year pause, he said the budget practices of the past — presumably he meant under Govs. Tom Vilsack and Chet Culver — amounted to “a mountain of broken promises.” He said that, in contrast, the Branstad administration would not
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Posted January 06, 2016in Civic Skinny
Two days before Christmas, The Des Moines Register reported that almost a week earlier — it takes a while for news to get from Washington to Des Moines — Congress had approved and President Barack Obama had signed a bill that includes plans to build a new federal courthouse in
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Posted December 23, 2015in Civic Skinny
Twelve drummers drumming… …for Sara Boese at Polk County and Sarai Rice at the Des Moines Area Religious Council, who want to feed the hungry…and John Mauro and the Board of Supervisors, who will get that done…and shame on those who look the other way…and for the volunteers at Bidwell
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Posted December 16, 2015in Civic Skinny
If a city council person thought she might have a conflict of interests on a coming vote on a controversial issue, and if she asked the city lawyer for an opinion, and if he gave her an opinion that said she could vote on the issue, and if she did
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Posted December 09, 2015in Civic Skinny
Circulation of The Des Moines Register continues to fall in both the metro area and the state at large. An increase in the numbers of people buying the digital edition doesn’t come close to offsetting the precipitous drop in subscribers to the print edition. Statewide, circulation of the print and
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Posted December 02, 2015in Civic Skinny
The most successful labor union dealing with the state of Iowa has but 13 members. They get big annual raises, are covered by one rather simple document, are rewarded with hefty performance-based bonuses and don’t pay a penny in dues. And there’s no rule against nepotism. All 13 make more
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Posted November 25, 2015in Civic Skinny
Your tax dollars at work: Meriam Belli, an associate professor of history at the University of Iowa, will take off the spring semester of 2017 to study “the international funerary industry and…the politics of burial.” She “will explore funerary industries and burial societies, conduct interviews, and gather data in France,
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