Posted August 07, 2013in Civic Skinny
The Des Moines Register is making more news than it is reporting — and it isn’t reporting the news it is making. The newspaper last week laid off five persons in the newsroom, including assistant sports editor Mark Emmert and city and county reporter Jeff Eckhoff. Both are what pass
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Posted July 31, 2013in Civic Skinny
The price of The Des Moines Register is going up. Again. Here’s the gobbledegook start of a memo sent to all Register employees late Friday: “We wanted to make you aware of an important corporate companywide initiative that will be affecting our subscribers’ subscription rates starting on September 1, 2013.
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Posted July 24, 2013in Civic Skinny
There’s an old joke among lawyers: “What does a plaintiff’s lawyer say when he loses a case?” “Next case!” But what Paige Fiedler does is rant and, in her own words, have a pity party. After losing — for the second time — that odd case of the pretty dental
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Posted July 17, 2013in Civic Skinny
The conductor of the Des Moines Symphony makes about $30,000 more a year than the Des Moines police chief. The president of Des Moines University makes about $75,000 less than the school’s dean. The head golf pro at Des Moines Golf and Country Club makes about $60,000 more than the
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Posted July 10, 2013in Civic Skinny
The board of Iowa Public Radio has named a three-person search committee to find a replacement for the ousted Mary Grace Herrington. Doug West chairs it, and Warren Madden and Steve Firman serve on it. Board chair Kay Runge appointed herself as an ex officio member, which, as she noted
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Posted July 03, 2013in Civic Skinny
April Gayle Linder is a member of the Polk County GOP leadership team. She is an executive committee member for the group. She serves on the planning committee for Polk County GOP fundraisers, which is kind of interesting. And, according to Will Rogers, Polk County GOP Chair, “Her political experience
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Posted June 26, 2013in Civic Skinny
Before Terry Branstad got to the real news on Iowa Press the other day — the sigh-of-relief-news that Floppy won’t be in the Historical Building’s doghouse for too long — he said: “We’ve created over 100,000 jobs” since retaking Terrace Hill in January of 2011. The Des Moines Register’s Kathy
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Posted June 19, 2013in Civic Skinny
When last we left Christopher Godfrey, the only openly gay department head in the Branstad administration, he was toiling away as head of the state Workers’ Compensation office, though he had taken a pay cut of nearly $40,000. When last we left Terry Branstad, he was trying his damnedest to
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Posted June 12, 2013in Civic Skinny
Circulation at The Des Moines Register is in a free-fall. Far fewer people are buying the print edition, where subscribers are also forced to pay for the electronic edition whether they want it or not. And — now that it costs money — far fewer people are browsing the electronic
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Posted June 05, 2013in Civic Skinny
Remember when Marty Tirrell brought Troy Aikman to town a year or so ago to do promotional appearances for Toyota of Des Moines? No? Neither does Toyota of Des Moines. So it would like it if Tirrell would return the $79,284 the company says in court papers that it gave
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