One afternoon 50 years or so ago, when I was president of The Des Moines Register and Tribune, Bill Knapp called me. “What are you doing?” he asked, and before I could answer, he said: “I’m on my way to pick you up. We need to raise $250,000 this afternoon
Read More →Bohemian waystation for 20 years — peace symbols, feminist aura, their decidedly granola menu. Smoothies and bars, quiches and cookies, oolong tea and Mayan mochas. Open-air ambience when its oversized, street-facing doors were raised on high. Incense and black candles. Protest posters, upping awareness, on every wall. Gold velveteen sofa
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Posted October 01, 2025in Guest Commentary
Ned Chiodo could be grouchy and grumpy. He could be quarrelsome and argumentative. And, on bad days, he could be irritable and irascible. And, always, he was stubborn. And he was a really good guy. He was a good guy because he cared about the city and the county and
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Posted July 03, 2024in Guest Commentary
We live in a cozy brick ranch on the west side of Des Moines that was built in 1954, the same year I was put together. From the street, you’d never suspect it’s big enough to include a ballroom. But it does. Some might call it a mancave, but I
Read More →My Iowa-coded genetic material struck like a squall when I wrote a letter to faraway family members. Before you could say “Chinook wind,” I’d flooded the page with a lengthy recap of Iowa weather. Details about light and variable winds, precipitation and upper-air disturbances poured out while my conscious brain
Read More →I’m starting to wonder if guns aren’t more prevalent nowadays in the city where I’ve lived all of my life than I imagined they were in places like Dodge City, Abilene and Deadwood. The centerpiece of my daily routine since I retired in 2020 is a long walk with my dog
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Posted December 06, 2023in Guest Commentary
Dear Caitlin, Where I was coming from was growing up a sports junkie in the pre-Title IX days. When I graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1972, there was no girls basketball team. And Dowling, your alma mater? Girls didn’t even attend classes there, let alone play sports. The women’s
Read More →Twelve drummers drumming… …for some folks who are stepping down — Frank Cownie, who served 20 years as mayor and now can go back to selling fur coats…and proud East-sider Randy Peterson, after 50-some years writing about sports…Jay Byers, who guided the Partnership and now is the perfect guy to
Read More →Sharon Malheiro died in her sleep the other day, apparently of a heart attack. She was 67 years old. She was a civil-rights lawyer who fought bravely and brilliantly against discrimination of all kinds. She was particularly vigilant and vigorous in her fight for gay rights. She was a co-founder
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Twelve drummers drumming…
…To the nation’s 14,000 air-traffic controllers — especially those who kept working without pay after the politicians closed down the government while continuing to get their own pay…and to the quarter-million or so of Iowans — including 50,000 in Polk County — whose SNAP benefits were cut off by those
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