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The Elbert Files

33259

The Elbert Files: No more downtown movies

The era of downtown movie theaters is over.


Problems associated with the stalled high-rise project at Fifth Avenue and Walnut Street mark the end of long-standing efforts to return movie theaters to downtown Des Moines. …

33232

The Elbert Files: Creating wealth

Iowa needs more wealth.


Few would argue with that statement. 


But when it comes to achieving it, many refuse to consider one obvious solution, raising the minimum wage.  


That’s too bad because failing to act …

33216

The Elbert Files: The pandemic, politics and Iowa’s urban-rural divide

The gap between urban and rural Iowa has widened markedly in recent years.

 

Iowa State University economist David Swenson explored one aspect of the divide last year when he compared employment growth in urban …

33191

The Elbert Files: Ethanol and socialism

“Who would have thought?” 


The question came from deep inside the furry hood of an oddly yellow parka. The long canary-colored coat sat atop a pair of five-buckle galoshes and was approaching from the east …

33171

The Elbert Files: Are farmers missing the future?

In a recent column about the future of food, I noted the lack of imagination in Iowa’s two-crop rotation of corn and soybeans, much of which is grown for fuel. 


The column prompted Thomas Dorr …

33159

The Elbert Files: A brief history of ethanol

Forty years ago, Archer Daniels Midland Co. announced plans to build the world’s largest ethanol plant in Des Moines. Ground was never broken and ADM’s elaborate plans soon faded, but four decades later that announcement …

33138

The Elbert Files: D.M.’s role in climate history

Historian Jill Lapore traces the origin of climate-change science to two events during the 1960s. One was the discovery that above-ground testing of nuclear weapons was depleting the earth’s protective ozone layer; the other was …

33131

The Elbert Files: Running out of money

“Boy, were you wrong,” said a muffled voice that approached from the east as I neared Terrace Hill on my daily walk. Beneath the furry hood and orange scarf, I could barely make out the …

33103

Elbert: Health care’s tangled past

Our health care system is tied up in knots to the point where it has not been able to respond effectively to the pandemic. 

We are the only major country in the world that does …

33099

Elbert: Taxes: The big picture

State government released a bunch of tax reports recently, as it does at the end of every year before a new session of the Iowa General Assembly. 
There is a tendency to view such reports …