The Elbert Files

Mount Rainier is going bald.

I was 14 when I first saw the western Washington volcano’s snow-covered peak on a family vacation in 1961. The 14,417-foot mountain is visible in clear air from more …

This year marks the 100th anniversary of

Better Homes and Gardens magazine, which makes it a good time to look back on the eclectic accomplishments of its founder, as well as relearn some interesting facts …

I think we can all agree the economy in recent months has been confusing.

Few of us expected another recession so soon after the COVID downturn in early 2020. But depending on who is …

The $200 million “CyTown” entertainment district Iowa State University athletic director Jamie Pollard wants to build between the school’s football stadium and basketball arena is a gobsmacking concept saddled with questions.

Pollard said CyTown will …

Top: The entrance to Ingersoll Park, which was located east of Polk Boulevard between Grand and Ingersoll avenues.

Bottom: The Ingersoll Park Theater in 1907.

“Coney Island of the West” is what Des Moines’ Ingersoll …

Assistant Des Moines City Manager Matt Anderson was right when he described the city’s decision to acquire the five-story Nationwide Insurance building at 1200 Locust Street as “a once in a generation opportunity.”

Moving city …

Michael V. Reagen asked recently if I would write about the “rights of nature” movement.

You may remember Reagen, who spent two decades in Des Moines, first as head of the Iowa Department of Social …

Ronald Reagan famously said in 1981: “Government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem.”

It’s a great quote, and on rare occasions it is true.

But most of the time today, …

I was disheartened to learn Ames will provide no money for a new passenger terminal at Des Moines International Airport.

Ames is where I was born and received all of my formal education. My parents …

I was at the drinking fountain in the John and Mary Pappajohn Sculpture Park when I saw my old friend K.C. admiring Keith Haring’s colorful sculpture of three dancing figures.

Haring was a 1980s graffiti …