Posted August 05, 2020in Civic Skinny
Four well-known Des Moines men — all in their 80s or beyond — died within days of one another last month. All were interesting men who led interesting lives. Owen Newlin and Tom Urban were sons of men who built Pioneer Hi-Bred into one of the great agricultural companies of
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Posted July 01, 2020in Civic Skinny
Companies owned by Harry Stine, the richest man in Iowa, are among the 60,000 or so Iowa companies that have received around $5.1 billion in forgivable loans from the federal government under the coronavirus bailout program. Stine Seed Co. of Adel and Stine Seed Farm Inc. of Adel each got
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Posted April 01, 2020in Civic Skinny
Updated: June 12, 2020 A Drake University student accidentally shot in the head by a Drake basketball player at a party two years ago now has sued the university, the basketball player and the owners of the off-campus apartment where the player and several other Drake athletes lived. The injured
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Posted March 24, 2020in Civic Skinny
CITYVIEW is taking a break with its printed edition — until we’re all hale and hearty again — so here’s an update on news Civic Skinny has been following. Marty Tirrell is out of jail in Massachusetts. While awaiting sentencing in federal court in Des Moines for mail fraud, the
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Posted March 04, 2020in Civic Skinny
Marty Tirrell, the smooth-talking scammer and loud-talking sports-radio host, has been kicked out of the Door of Faith residential treatment center where he was awaiting his April 7 sentencing in federal court. And now he’s in jail in Greenfield, Massachusetts. At the Door of Faith, Tirrell was deemed to be
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Posted February 05, 2020in Civic Skinny
No one seems to have noticed — there’s not even a press release on the website — but Matt McCoy was elected chair of the Polk County Board of Supervisors last month. Ordinarily, that would hardly be worth more than half a paragraph, for the Democrats won control of the
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Posted January 01, 2020in Civic Skinny
The Des Moines City Council on Dec. 16 gave the go-ahead for the plan by developer Jeff Young to turn the old Franklin Junior High School into an entertainment center, gathering place, office building and hotel. There were a few questions about signage and sidewalks before the unanimous vote, but
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Posted December 04, 2019in Civic Skinny
Marty Tirrell, the sports-talk guy who shouted on the radio but smooth-talked friends, wives, relatives, acquaintances, advertisers and strangers as he bilked them out of millions of dollars, has made a plea deal with federal prosecutors. On Dec. 6, he pleaded guilty to one count of mail fraud, and
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Posted November 06, 2019in Civic Skinny
UPDATE: On Nov. 13, Drake and the Des Moines School District announced plans to build a $19.5 million stadium just east of the Knapp Center. The 4,000-seat stadium would be used for high-school football and soccer games and soccer games by the Drake’s women’s and men’s teams. Under the agreement,
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Posted October 02, 2019in Civic Skinny
An Iowa businessman is poking around to see if he can drum up support from some colleagues to make an offer to buy The Des Moines Register. “Iowans have looked on as the newspaper’s owners and managers have attempted to stop the bleeding [in circulation and news coverage] by
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