The Elbert Files

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The Elbert Files: Riverfront Plans?

Author’s note: This is my final column for the Des Moines Business Record, which has carried my musings since 2012. Beginning next month, the Elbert Files will have a new home at a sister publication,  …

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The Elbert Files: Famous Iowa writers and fictional characters

Recent columns about famous Iowans generated several additional names, including John Wayne, born in Winterset; Gary Cooper, who attended Grinnell College; and the Everly Brothers, who launched their singing careers from Shenandoah.

Other suggestions led …

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The Elbert Files: Left-brain success stories

Editor’s note: This is the second in a two-part series about famous Iowans. Read part one on businessrecord.com. 

I wrote last week that most “famous Iowans” had to leave the state to get noticed. This …

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The Elbert Files: Famous former Iowans

Editor’s note: This is the first in a two-part series about famous Iowans. Read part two in the Jan. 24 edition of the of the Business Record.

More Iowans have found fame by leaving than …

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The Elbert Files: Assisted dying

This may not be the best time to bring up the subject of assisted dying, given the recent success of the anti-abortion movement in Iowa and other parts of the country. But the concept is …

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The Elbert Files: Iowa’s new No. 2


Deborah Butterfield’s sculptures “Ancient Forest” in the foreground and “Juno” in the background. Photo by Dave Elbert

My friend K.C. was admiring Deborah Butterfield’s two spectral horses in the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park.…

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The Elbert Files: Santa and the Iowa Poll

Santa Claus will miss the Iowa Poll.

While it may be premature to write off the 81-year-old Iowa Poll, its future is clearly in doubt.

Poll director Ann Selzer announced she is stepping back from …

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The Elbert Files: Some contrary wisdom about federal deficits

The headlines on two recent investment articles caught my attention.

One said: “The Federal Government Deficit is Huge, So Buy Stocks!”

The second was: “Is the Stock Market Doomed? Yes, But Maybe Not in 2025.”…

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The Elbert Files: Walking billboards

Many people assume the Nike Swoosh, created in 1971 for $35, was responsible for turning consumers into walking billboards by placing corporate logos on popular fashion choices. 

The real credit goes to an Iowan. And …

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The Elbert Files: Is health care a joke?

My friend Jo Kline, who writes and speaks about the difficulties of health care in Iowa, sent an email recently titled: “Every Iowan recognizes the odor of fertilizer.”

The subject was Gov. Kim Reynolds’ proclamation …