Merry Christmas
Twelve drummers drumming… …for Gabriel Espinosa and the other 29 new citizens from 16 countries sworn in at a baseball game on July 3…and for Judge Robert Pratt, who swore [...]
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Posted December 05, 2018in Civic Skinny
Posted October 31, 2018in Civic Skinny
Finances of county-owned hotel? None of your business. Clark Kauffman leaves Register. Tirrell accused of abuse.
How’s the new Hilton convention hotel doing in downtown Des Moines? Who knows? Somebody does — probably a lot of somebodies — but not you, even though as a taxpayer [...]
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Posted October 03, 2018in Civic Skinny
Caldwell-Johnson for Mayor? Sheriff to retire? Botched judicial choice could have consequences.
Teree Caldwell-Johnson is thinking of running for mayor next year. And Sheriff Bill McCarthy is thinking of retiring this year. Caldwell-Johnson, 62, is well-known in Des Moines. She was Polk [...]
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Posted September 05, 2018in Civic Skinny
After $1 million in billings, LaMarca quits Godfrey case. Opponents for the mayor? Also: Sex. Real estate. Tirrell.
After six-and-a-half years of proceedings — and $987,849.80 in billings to taxpayers — George LaMarca is withdrawing as the state’s lawyer in the never-ending discrimination and defamation and retaliation lawsuit [...]
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Posted August 01, 2018in Civic Skinny
Your city at work: Putting a curb across a bike path. A look at some planks in Iowa’s party platforms.
On April 16 of last year, 55-year-old Mark Evans was riding his bike on the side path of MLK Parkway when he crashed at the southeast corner of 16th Street. [...]
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Posted July 04, 2018in Civic Skinny
The FBI is asking about Marty Tirrell as he keeps scamming. Reynolds likes some millionaires — if they’re Republicans.
The FBI is asking questions about Marty Tirrell. An agent has contacted several people and is asking about “anything and everything,” according to one person who was questioned. The FBI [...]
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Posted June 06, 2018in Civic Skinny
What budget cuts? What pay freeze? Coaches get raises, athletic budgets keep growing. Food fight in East Village.
The budget cuts and pay freezes at the University of Iowa and Iowa State University have some big exceptions: Athletic budgets aren’t touched, and coaches will continue to get very [...]
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Posted May 02, 2018in Civic Skinny
Kirk Blunck estate pays off defaulted debt to city. Ireland honors snubbed Cullen. A history lesson.
The estate of Kirk Blunck has paid off two long-delinquent loans the city provided to help Blunck rehabilitate two buildings in the East Village. That leaves just one claim remaining [...]
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Posted March 13, 2018in Civic Skinny
Remembering Gil Cranberg: Updated CIVIC SKINNY LITE
Two of his children and a colleague recall Register editorial writer, the “intellectual leader of state,” who died March 11 at age 93 Gil Cranberg may have been the smartest person [...]
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Posted February 28, 2018in Civic Skinny
Small papers hit hard by new Hy-Vee ad strategy. A weaving Maserati. Sex with a stranger, sort of.
Hy-Vee’s decision to quit putting weekly advertising inserts into newspapers is another blow to Iowa’s newspapers — and it’s a particular hit at the 75 or so small dailies and [...]
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