Posted September 01, 2021in Your Neighbors
What goes up must come… to Iowa? Big mountain adventures while helicopter skiing Alaska? If you find yourself asking what that is, just keep reading. Mike Thompson knows a thing or two about the aforementioned mouthful. He helped pioneer the sport. Born in Minnesota, Thompson moved to Colorado as
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Posted August 04, 2021in Your Neighbors
Jon Greising is a volunteer fencing instructor. In most athletic endeavors, the bigger and stronger competitor possesses an advantage, but that’s not so in fencing, according to Jon Greising, one of four volunteer coaches for the Des Moines Fencing Club (DMFC). “You can’t bully your way,” he explains. “It’s all
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Posted June 30, 2021in Your Neighbors
4 educational walking tours of downtown “I’m an architect, but I don’t usually spend my day talking about architecture,” explains Ryan Ellsworth. Creatively designing spaces to efficiently utilize resources… That’s his preference, and it’s usually on his agenda somewhere. But like everyone else, a lot of his job is sitting
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Posted June 02, 2021in Your Neighbors
Lack of oxygen impels Ankeny man into the CCU for 40 days and sparks several brushes with death. Mark it down. It’s official. Paul Carpenter, 51, is a “post-COVID” patient. But earning this outcome was NOT easy. Not for him, not for his family and not for the team of
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Posted May 05, 2021in Your Neighbors
Why does Tina Powell own two houseboats? This is a reasonable question, according to Powell, who readily admits that possessing a pair of floating homes wasn’t the original idea. Instead, refurbishing a fixer-upper was her plan, but the best-laid plans usually require super-human patience. After hours of hard labor in
Read More →Aquarium supervisor at Blank Park Zoo helps to combat Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease. “Big Momma” was a 330-year-old underwater giant coral mound. It thrived for centuries near Fort Lauderdale, and the record-setting giant was legendary for its longevity. But the mass of coral suddenly succumbed — in less than
Read More →“I’m a dedicated and fun-loving mom,” beams Jennifer Glissman, 32. But then she pauses and steadies herself as her smile fades. Life hasn’t always allowed her to like who she is. “I was abused as a child,” she explains. “I was fed alcohol and drugs starting as an 8-year-old.” At
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Posted February 03, 2021in Your Neighbors
“There was an old lady who swallowed a fly….” How did Emily Tinsman get to be singing these lyrics while kicking off a summer reading series for kids? The same way she came to be opening Iowa’s senate session last January at the capitol by singing the national anthem. “One
Read More →Brett Hopper joined the Navy for two simple reasons: “to serve his country and see the world.” Originally from Altoona, the 2016 graduate of Southeast Polk High School went on to earn his degree from Iowa State in political science. After finishing in Ames in December of 2019, Hopper was
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Posted December 02, 2020in Your Neighbors
No one named Duncan has lived there in nearly three decades, but neighbors still refer to Jenifer Owenson’s 83-year-old Waterbury abode as “The Duncan House.” The home was built by the family of arguably the best football player in Iowa history, Randy Duncan. It has seen its share of changes
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