Posted November 30, 2022in Christmas Skinny
Twelve drummers drumming… …for Randy Peterson, who has been writing sports at The Des Moines Register for 50 years…and Felipe Nogueira of Brazil, coach of the championship men’s volleyball team at Grand View University. (And how come Grand View (two words) University is on Grandview (one word) Avenue? Sounds like
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Posted November 02, 2022in Civic Skinny
Marty Tirrell, the sports broadcaster and conman, is back in Des Moines, wearing an ankle bracelet while on “home confinement status” until his release date from the federal prison system in August of next year. According to a federal official, Tirrell is working at Sports Byline, a talk-radio sports network.
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Posted October 05, 2022in Civic Skinny
“We are having a record year,” said CEO Gary Palmer at the September board meeting of Prairie Meadows Casino and Hotel. “When we did our budget, we thought the inflation factor would hit us much earlier in the year,” said CFO Elaine Castelline. “So far, our customers are still gambling
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Posted August 31, 2022in Civic Skinny
The Prairie Meadows Board of Directors recently voted to extend the contract of CEO Gary Palmer, who had formerly planned to retire at the end of 2023. “I had a group of Prairie Meadows board members ask if I’d stay a little bit longer, and I told them I’d think
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Posted August 03, 2022in Civic Skinny
It’s that time of year again: Several athletics coaches at Iowa’s state-funded universities have amended their employment contracts. Although most took pay cuts in 2020 during the pandemic, they are back in the game. Last July, University of Iowa (UI) wrestling coach Tom Brands received a contract extension through June
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Posted July 06, 2022in Civic Skinny
Ever wondered about surveillance at Prairie Meadows Casino? With the jaw-dropping amount of cash traveling through the establishment every day, it’s no wonder the casino needs an equally astonishing amount of surveillance to discourage criminal activities. Technology includes 1,264 cameras, five LPRs (license plate capture cameras), 12 servers and 47
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Posted June 01, 2022in Civic Skinny
As more employees return to the office and in-person events are scheduled, the City of Des Moines is nearing the completion of its transition away from traditional parking meters. The ParkDSM mobile app launched in December 2021, with all metered spaces expected to be fully converted by August this year,
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Posted May 04, 2022in Civic Skinny
A petition to rename George Flagg Parkway was posted on March 30 as a joint effort by the Des Moines Black Liberation Movement (DSM BLM) and Des Moines Peoples’ Town Hall. George Flagg, who died in 2006, served as an at-large Des Moines City Councilmember for 22 years. In a
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Posted April 06, 2022in Civic Skinny
One would correctly assume that the use of Des Moines Area Regional Transit Authority, better known as DART, dropped during the COVID-19 pandemic. But how much? In DART’s fiscal year 2019, the usage number was 4.5 million. In 2020, that number dropped to 3.75 million. In 2021, it sunk to
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Posted March 02, 2022in Civic Skinny
Five days after Apollo 14 launched in 1971, Alan Shepard and Edgar Mitchell walked on the moon. Stuart Roosa, a former U.S. Forest Service wildland firefighter, orbited above in a command module. Roosa’s personal kit had small containers with hundreds of tree seeds, part of a joint project with NASA
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