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Posted April 16, 2014in Civic Skinny

Who are top docs getting Medicare money? Fees in the Godfrey case now top $500,000.

First of all, the disclaimer. Just because a doctor gets oodles of money from Medicare doesn’t mean he takes it all to the bank. Doctors have to buy medicines, pay staffs, buy equipment and pay the rent, among other things. Doctors would really, really want Cityview to tell you that

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Posted April 08, 2014in Civic Skinny

How indicted Bauder pharmacist spent his money. And how lawyer Brooke Timmer talked too much.

Let’s say, just to make conversation, that you’re a pharmacist and that over four-and-a-half years you sold more than 700,000 highly addictive pills out the back door of your pharmacy. Let’s say you made a small fortune doing that — a minimum of nearly $1 million — and you added

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Posted April 02, 2014in Civic Skinny

Little-known PER Board about to be in news. Another suit for Wahlert. IRS files on Tirrell.

Gov. Terry Branstad gave the labor people one more reason to be pissed at him the other day. He nominated former Fort Dodge Republican legislator Mike Cormack for the three-person Public Employment Relations Board, and he didn’t reappoint Jim Riordan, the Democrat who has chaired the board for 12 years.

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Posted March 19, 2014in Civic Skinny

Kum & Go eyes downtown, Microsoft Willow Creek. U.S. Judges Gritzner and Bennett to step down

Don’t be surprised if the undisclosed site of that data project being proposed for West Des Moines turns out to be the south part of Willow Creek Golf Course along Highway 5. And don’t be surprised if the company is Microsoft. … No one will confirm anything, but the Kum

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Posted March 12, 2014in Civic Skinny

They’re back! Marty Tirrell, Jackson Pollock, LaMarca & Landry — and a jaw-dropper!

Updates: But first, the news. It was just a couple of weeks ago, it seems, when we explained how Indianola sports broadcaster Marty Tirrell gets those tickets for big sports events that he then gives or sells to listeners and advertisers. He has a simple procedure: He stiffs the sellers.

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Posted March 05, 2014in Civic Skinny

Who owns the furniture at Terrace Hill? Agency and mansion’s friends squabble.

The state commission that oversees Terrace Hill and the nonprofit group that raises money for the governor’s mansion have parted ways. It’s unclear who now owns and controls the valuable collection — art and furniture and artifacts — that the nonprofit group has collected, maintained and insured over the decades

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Posted February 26, 2014in Civic Skinny

Tirrell’s secret to buying sports tickets: Don’t pay. Steve Deace doesn’t think much of Doug Gross.

How does the voluble Marty Tirrell pay for all those sports tickets that he gives to advertisers and listeners on his radio show? He doesn’t. He stiffs the sellers. That’s clear from reading documents in two federal court cases decided in Chicago in recent weeks. In each case, a ticket

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Posted February 19, 2014in Civic Skinny

Sheriff Wants GOP’s Linder to pay for her jail time. Plus: ‘Not real terrible crime’ and ‘good fun torture!’

Troy Bishop, the executive director of the Polk County Republicans, quit unexpectedly the other day, and in the story about it The Des Moines Register wrote: “The capable April Linder is filling in for now on organizing the March 8 county convention, party insiders told The Register.” Apart from the

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Posted February 12, 2014in Civic Skinny

Are days numbered for the Bob Feller Museum? College president blasts colleague. More on Bubu.

The Bob Feller Museum in Van Meter is in danger of folding. It is closed for the winter and it hopes to reopen by Opening Day this spring, but the future is unclear. “Since Bob passed away in 2010, it’s no secret that the museum lost its heart and passion,”

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Posted February 05, 2014in Civic Skinny

Knapp, Cownie and Rastetter gave big in 2013. Zaun, once a deadbeat, says U.S. should pay bills.

How much money do big hitters give to state candidates in a year? Last year — not an election year for statewide candidates — Jim Cownie gave $89,850, Bill Knapp gave $78,900 and Bruce Rastetter gave $71,150.32, according to newly released figures from the Iowa Campaign and Ethics Commission. This

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