Posted September 03, 2025in Civic Skinny
The theme at the Iowa State Fair this year was Fair Sweet Fair, and the grandstand concert attendance was sweet, indeed. The 131,616 attendees for 2025 broke the previous record of 128,504 set in 2019. Megan Moroney’s performance on Saturday, Aug. 16, drew the largest crowd at 16,371. T-Pain was
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Posted August 06, 2025in Civic Skinny
University coaches are often the highest-paid state employees, which is true in Iowa. For example, the University of Iowa’s head football coach, Kirk Ferentz, is compensated $7 million a year before bonuses and incentives, making him the state’s highest-paid employee. Iowa State University’s head football coach, Matt Campbell, makes $4
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Posted July 02, 2025in Civic Skinny
Park place. Des Moines continues to be a solid destination for those looking to live within walking distance to a park. According to Trust for Public Land (TPL), a national nonprofit that helps create parks and protect public land, 75% of Des Moines residents live within a 10-minute walk to
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Posted June 04, 2025in Civic Skinny
Ever wonder how — or if — our elected officials are dealing with Artificial Intelligence and how they are juggling the risks and benefits for their constituents? The National Conference of State Legislatures recently released a tool showing Artificial Intelligence legislation by state. In 2025, 48 states and Puerto
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Posted April 30, 2025in Civic Skinny
In the aftermath of March Madness, the Wall Street Journal released a ranking of the most valuable NCAA college basketball teams. As you may expect, two of the sports’ most dominant, blue blood programs — the University of North Carolina and Duke University — grossly outrank the rest, each eclipsing
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Posted April 02, 2025in Civic Skinny
Iowa is the only state in the union that has not seen its population double since 1900. Don’t expect that to be part of our state’s economic development marketing campaign anytime soon, but it is true, according to the Iowa Chamber Alliance Talent Poll. In 1900, Iowa’s population was 2.2
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Posted March 05, 2025in Civic Skinny, Just Released
Starving artists? Maybe not. The Iowa Cultural Coalition (ICC) released a report on the state of Iowa’s creative sector, which includes nonprofit and for-profit participants ranging from museums, theaters and performing arts centers to independent artists, directors, live music venues, galleries, dance studios, filmmakers and design firms. Venues, event organizers,
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Posted February 05, 2025in Civic Skinny
For the average worker, a sabbatical may be joked about as taking a long weekend, or perhaps even a week off of work, to rest, relax and recharge. For university professors, however, they are more. Much more. Each year, we review the “professional development assignments,” AKA sabbaticals, requested by state
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Posted January 01, 2025in Civic Skinny
Des Moines Police Sergeant Paul Parizek tells CITYVIEW the speed camera story is “challenging,” “long” and “complex.” And he is right. A little background: In 2011, the Des Moines Police Department began its Automated Traffic Enforcement (ATE) program, which included speed cameras and red light cameras. The legislature passed
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Posted December 04, 2024in Civic Skinny
Political campaign money flowed into the Iowa’s U.S. House of Representatives campaigns this past election season. All four of the House seats were up for grabs in Iowa’s congressional districts. Republicans were aiming to retain their dominance in the state, while Democrats were hoping to flip two of the districts,
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