Posted December 10, 2014in Civic Skinny
Beleaguered property owner Kirk Blunck denies it, but developers say he is trying to sell some of his properties in the East Village. At least two downtown developers say they got calls from him last week asking if they might be interested in buying one or more of his holdings.
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Posted December 03, 2014in Civic Skinny
The city fathers got together. The population of Des Moines had nearly doubled in just 20 years, to about 120,000, and the city needed a great hotel, they said. Des Moines already had 30 hotels, with 4,000 rooms, but most were down near the Rock Island and Union depots around
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Posted November 25, 2014in Civic Skinny
Your tax dollars at work: Lauren Rabinovitz, a professor of American Studies at the University of Iowa, will be taking a sabbatical next fall. She will use her paid leave to work on a book, “Thrill Ride Cinema,” a book that “argues the amusement park novelty of motion simulation rides
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Posted November 19, 2014in Civic Skinny
Six weeks before Dahl’s filed for protection under the bankruptcy laws this month, it quit paying its former chief executive the severance negotiated when he left the grocery chain earlier this year. And three weeks before the bankruptcy was filed, he sued. According to the suit filed Oct. 20 in
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Posted November 12, 2014in Civic Skinny
The gleaming new downtown Wellmark YMCA suddenly has a $6 million construction shortfall. It didn’t get some special federal tax credits that it was planning on and that its construction financing was based on. As a result, the planned Prairie Meadows Pool — the casino is paying $1,000,001 for naming
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Posted November 05, 2014in Civic Skinny
Lawyer Jeff Stein withdrew his application to be executive director of the Iowa Public Information Board just in time. He was about to be booted off the list of four finalists after political aides from both parties alerted the board to the fact that Stein had twice had his law
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Posted October 29, 2014in Civic Skinny
Three years ago, John Pavone won a $10 million judgment against Gary Kirke. Now, Pavone is suing Kirke again, on the same issue. Pavone claimed — and the Iowa Supreme Court agreed — that in 2004 Kirke had agreed to negotiate a management agreement with Pavone for any casinos Kirke
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Posted October 22, 2014in Civic Skinny
The opening for police chief of Des Moines was posted on Friday, and since it’s a Civil Service job, it’s an elaborate process to choose a chief. There will be interviews and exams of a sort, and up to 40 names could be sent on to new city manager Scott
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Posted October 15, 2014in Civic Skinny
Some numbers: At the end of last week, there were 835 inmates in the Polk County jail. Of those, 128 had been in jail for less than a week — many for just one night as they awaited release following arrests for things like drunk driving or prostitution. But four
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Posted October 08, 2014in Civic Skinny
The United States Department of Labor is checking with some current and former Des Moines Register reporters to see if they were paid for all the hours they worked. The Department says it “can’t comment on ongoing investigations” — which sort of confirms there is an ongoing investigation. A former
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