The Elbert Files

The book “Detour Iowa: Historic Destinations” was released in February as a guide to Iowa’s curious, quaint and occasionally bizarre roadside attractions; places like Burlington’s Snake Alley, a dizzily winding street that falls 60 feet …

A season of fear enveloped much of Iowa 50 years ago in 1970 after six homemade bombs exploded between April 27 and June 29 at locations from Iowa City to Omaha, including three in Des …

Mike Franken is a blunt-talking, common-sense candidate for U.S. Senate, the likes of which Iowa Democrats have not seen since Harold Hughes left public life in 1975. 

Hughes spent six years as Iowa’s governor and …

Exploring interactive maps of Des Moines is my new default diversion, along with playing Spider Solitaire, when I go online these days. 

I began looking at city maps after asking Al Setka, Des Moines’ public …

One thing is clear from the widespread disorganization associated with COVID-19. 

After three months of inconsistent, and at times totally confusing, policies involving medical and protective equipment, virus testing, vaccine creation and economic shutdowns, it …

George B. Hippee was one of Des Moines’ most enigmatic business leaders 100 years ago – a  successful banker, developer and railroad owner who was accused in 1906 of attempting to bribe a city official. …

Des Moines plays an interesting, if distortive, role in “The Plot Against America,” the current HBO miniseries based on Philip Roth’s 2004 novel of the same name.

The book and the miniseries tell an imagined …

Economist James Paulsen calls it “Recession by Proclamation.”

Rather than waiting for two consecutive quarters of economic retraction – the usual definition of a recession – experts jumped in last month and declared a COVID-19 …

Experience teaches that major developments tend to occur as sudden bursts of activity separated by much longer periods of relative dormancy. 

This is true in genetics, where archaeologists have learned that millenniums can pass without …