On Friday morning, journalist Jeff Zaslow died at the age of 53, after losing control of his car on a snowy northern Michigan road and striking a semi. Zaslow wrote the 2009 New York Times bestseller The Girls from Ames, which chronicles the lives of 10 women in their forties who grew up together in [...]

[Read more →]

UPDATE III, Thursday, February 9, 8:00 p.m. Out of respect for his privacy, the name of the individual mentioned in Update II below, who has informed me that he is a minor, has been removed at his request. The image he posted of the apparently fake Facebook message (its font does not match Facebook’s typical [...]

[Read more →]

Last week, deconstructing some of the arguments of the conspiracy group Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth reminded me of one particular video trying to prove 7 World Trade Center was felled by a controlled demolition. “Compare the collapse of World Trade Center Building 7 with stock footage of controlled demolitions,” the video’s description reads. [...]

[Read more →]

The British polemicist Christopher Hitchens, perhaps best known in later years for his unwavering opposition to organized religion and for butting heads with his comrades on the Left over the Iraq war, died last night of pneumonia after a yearlong struggle with esophageal cancer. In his 62 years, Hitchens wrote more than a dozen books [...]

[Read more →]

From Politico, quoting Herman Cain’s campaign-suspension speech: “I believe these words came from the Pokemon movie,” Cain said. “Life can be a challenge. Life can seem impossible. It’s never easy when there’s so much on the line. But you and I can make a difference. There’s a mission just for you and me.” Cain finally [...]

[Read more →]

On Tuesday, Under the Golden Dome unearthed a gem about Terry Branstad. Last week, our protest-bashing governor told Iowa Public Radio, responding to questions about the Occupy Des Moines demonstrators, that he had never participated in a protest himself because he was “too busy working on the farm” and “didn’t have time for that.” Not [...]

[Read more →]

Courtesy of City Councilman Matthew Goodman’s Facebook wall, I present you with this survey to weigh in on the future of Campustown. Relatedly, check out all our great coverage/criticism of the stalled Lane4 development plans for Campustown here.

[Read more →]

What began, oddly enough, as a call to action from an anti-consumerist Canadian magazine to set up camp to protest financial corruption on Wall Street has spread from Manhattan across the United States and world. Occupations, as they’re being called, started in Iowa last week and quickly spread to Des Moines, where demonstrators faced arrest [...]

[Read more →]

I’m a few days late to the game on this one, but I think this is good vindication of my previous criticism of the city’s decision to blow $78,500 on a California marketing firm to rebrand Ames: The city of Ames has been advised to discard its newly adopted tagline, “The Heartland’s Leading Edge,” because [...]

[Read more →]

Last week, when I was back in Ames covering the straw poll, a friend introduced me to the uninspired proposal for the new city logo: Not surprisingly, the design failed to impress Ames residents. As the Tribune reported, the city council “tabled discussion of the new logo at its meeting Aug. 9, after concerns were [...]

[Read more →]