June 19 Daily Umbrella: Body of missing fisherman recovered; Chinese fungus smuggle; another word for money?

Thursday, June 19, 2025

Good morning to you!

Welcome to another edition of the mailbag where you will find some of the comments, questions and ideas sent recently by readers of this newsletter or our publications. They are edited for space and clarity.

“Did I ever tell you about the time in college that I got beat in a foosball game by a one-armed guy (Foosball, June 4, 2025)? On another note, my 3-year-old grandson loves our table hockey game. So far, I can still usually outscore him.” - Mike

Well, Mike, as the saying goes, you win some and you lose some. - Shane

“Shane, thank you for your morning columns, which pair nicely with my Monday through Friday coffee and job. This morning's topic on foosball grabbed my attention because it reminded me of my own childhood (Foosball, June 4, 2025). My hometown rec center had a pool table, ping-pong and foosball. Most of my peers would gravitate toward the pool table, but I was always fascinated by the sounds, concentration and coordination of foosball. I was never any good, and my skills have only deteriorated with time, but I still enjoy challenging my kids to a game when the opportunity arises. If you still enjoy foosball, but find standing at a table with only one opponent boring, I may have a way for you to bring back that passion. My Altoona VFW Post is hosting a FREE Summer Games event Aug. 2, and one of the events is human foosball. Six-person teams, hands on bars, sliding left to right in a 15-foot by 30-foot arena. Just one of six events consisting of classic games with a ‘twist’ to honor the six branches of military (yes, we included the Space Force). Even if you don't want to participate, we'll still have music, food and entertainment for the whole family. Hope to see you there.” - Shawn

Sounds like a lot of fun… and more bruises. - Shane

“I enjoyed the June 10 column, both with the background of paper plates and especially the last two sentences (Paper plates, June 10, 2025)! Good smile!” - Victoria

I am glad you enjoyed the newspaper tie-in. - Shane

“Your column regarding paper plates reminded me of years ago when my parents and I, as a child, were visiting my brother, his wife and their children (Paper plates, June 10, 2025). We were all seated at the dining table and the ‘meat’ of the meal was hot dogs. My brother and his wife were not very domestic and used paper plates, even with company (sigh), and that night someone asked to have the hot dogs passed. My brother picked up the plate, and the big pile of hot dogs rolled like dominoes off the plate and all over the table. I thought it was hilarious, my brother was fuming, and everyone else sat there in stunned silence. I think of this episode every time I watch those TV commercials for paper plates.” - Margaret

As Tom Bosley said, “Don’t get mad. Get Glad!” - Shane

Have a thoughtful Thursday, and thanks for reading.

Shane Goodman
President and Publisher
Big Green Umbrella Media
shane@dmcityview.com
515-953-4822, ext. 305

See more of Shane Goodman's columns here.

News headlines

FROM KCCI: Des Moines Water Works CEO links nitrate issue to farm fertilizers. During a news conference on Tuesday, Des Moines Waterworks CEO Ted Corrigan highlighted the significant nitrate challenge in Iowa's water supply, attributing it primarily to farm fertilizers. "Actually, more than 90% of the nitrate that we see in our source waters is from fertilizer that is applied to row crop fields, and then ultimately finds its way into the surface water, rivers and streams here in central Iowa," Corrigan said. ... READ MORE

FROM WHO-TV: Body of missing fisherman recovered from Three Mile Lake in Union County. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources says the body of a missing fisherman was recovered from the Three Mile Lake in Union County on Wednesday afternoon. According to the DNR, officials were notified around 3 a.m. that a missing person had gone to Three Mile Lake on Monday night to fish and had not been heard from since. Officials arrived on scene and discovered a car in the north boat ramp parking lot and an overturned boat in the lake. ... READ MORE

FROM WOI: Supreme Court decision shields Iowa law banning gender-affirming care for minors. The U.S. Supreme Court’s 6–3 decision upholding Tennessee’s ban on gender-affirming care — including puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and surgery — for anyone under 18 instantly fortifies Iowa’s matching statute, Senate File 538, which took effect in March 2023. ... READ MORE

Clear Mortgage meteorology

Heat builds in through Monday in the forecast. Heat indices will exceed 100 degrees at times this weekend.

For help with pre-approvals or refinancing, get in touch with Originating Branch Manager Carrie Hansen at carrie.mortgage.

Pollen tracker

Tree pollen: None

Grass pollen: Very High

Ragweed pollen: None

The 2025 results: CITYVIEW's Best of Des Moines®

Best Local Skate Shop

1. Subsect Skateshop

2. Unkl Ruckus’s Smoking Emporium & Skate Shop

3. The Dark Slide

See all of the results

A Chinese national working at the University of Michigan was caught smuggling a fungus into America this month. Two other Chinese students at Michigan were implicated in a plot to destroy U.S. corn, wheat, barley and rice crops and to make those that ate those crops violently ill. The main suspect's runaway boyfriend told her that the smuggling was the easy part of their plan.

How big a deal is this crime? The FBI estimated it would cost $37 billion to eradicate "foot and mouth disease" in cattle back in 2005. This new fungus was exponentially more damaging because it would require a complete sterilization of the entire chain of supply from farm fields, silos, trucks, trains, mills and manufacturing plants to the herds of animals that eat them.

Deals today
• Ruth's Chris (Ashworth Road at Jordan Creek Parkway) has a Thursday special with their decadent RBAR burgers going for $16.

• Steaks: Sirloin steak dinners are featured specials today at Sully's Irish Pub (860 First St., West Des Moines); Front Row (9956 Swanson Blvd., Clive); Winn’s Pizza and Steakhouse (122 W. Ashland Ave., Indianola), and Hy-Vee Market Grilles. Gilroy's has both sirloin and NY strip specials. The Station on Ingersoll (3120 Ingersoll Ave.) has a ribeye special on Thursdays.

• Thursday nights, Moroccan couscous — lemon chicken, beef keftas, five vegetables, harissa — are $17 at Purveyor (505 E. Grand Ave., Des Moines).

• Sprockets (2314 University Ave., Des Moines) offers a breaded pork tenderloin special on Thursdays for $9.99

• Kids eat free at Scornovacca’s (1930 S.E. 14th St., Des Moines) on Thursdays

• Mariscos El Pirata (6050 S.E. 14th St., Des Moines) offers $2 off all sushi on Thursdays

• ShortE's BBQ (8505 Chambery Blvd., Johnston) has $1 smoked wings Thursdays.

• Jethro's Thursday special is a pound of boneless "wings" for $8. Because tonight is an Indiana WNBA game night, the West Des Moines Jethro's has a "Fever Reliever" special of any two appetizers on the Happy Hour menu and two pints of domestic beer for $22.

• Bevy’s Tavern (1300 50th St., West Des Moines) has a special of beef stew and cornbread Thursdays for $13.

• Amruth Indian Grill (9974 Swanson Blvd., Clive) offers an all-you-can-eat dosa (gram/rice flour crepes) buffet on Thursdays 5:30-9 p.m. $18.95.

• Destination Grille (2491 E. First St., Grimes) has a "Comfort Thursday" special chicken fried De Burgo, a gluten free spin on DSM's classic. $16

• The Dam Pub (2710 Beaver Ave., Des Moines) has a throwback Thursday special goulash with garlic toast.

• The Continental (407 E. Fifth St., Des Moines) has $7 loaded fries on Thursdays.

• Fareways have specials through Saturday on Michelina's frozen entrees at $1, 5-ounce pork ribeyes at $1 each and extra meaty pork ribs at $3.99/pound.

• Haiku (1350 31st St., Des Moines) offers free tom yum soup and edamames with lunch entrees today.

— Jim Duncan, jd91446@aol.com

Featured in the current issue of CITYVIEW

LUNCH WITH...
Brenda Tran at Vietnam Café Express

By Jim Duncan

Brenda Tran is an indomitable spirit. She survived as a child battling hunger amidst the bombings of the Vietnam War. Her Vietnam Café Express has survived COVID shutdowns and ever-dwindling traffic at the Merle Hay Mall food court. In our mind, she has endured multiple upheavals with the patience of Job — and considerably more ingenuity.

We asked her to lunch, and she suggested meeting at her mall café at 9 a.m. Before then, she is serving coffee and breakfast to elderly mall walkers. After 10 a.m., she is cooking, serving and running between tables and her kitchen. ...

Broadway Cabaret – Miscast Duos. Saturday, June 21 at 1 p.m. at Java Joes in Ankeny, 127 N. Ankeny Blvd.

Music Under the Stars
June 22, EMC Plaza Stage at Hoyt Sherman Place: Andy Classen, Trumpet; Tina Haase-Findlay, Guest Vocalist.

Hoyt Sherman Place Theatre
Friday, June 20. Boney James, a masterful saxophonist, brings his Slow Burn Tour to Des Moines for an unforgettable evening of musical magic.
James says, “I wake up each day and try to play a little better. To quote the cellist Pablo Casals, ‘I think I’m making progress.’ I am really proud of my playing on this new record. And I absolutely love the songs and the sound I achieved.”

Beaverdale Books author events
Enjoy the cool confines of this destination indie bookstore in the heart of Beaverdale. June 20 – Laura Julier, “Off Izaak Walton Road”; June 24 – Rahim Thawer, “The Mental Health Guide for Cis & Trans Queer Guys.”

Polk County Heritage Gallery – Iowa Exhibited
One of this dedicated group’s signature exhibitions runs through June 26 in the Beaux Art magnificence of the former Des Moines Post Office lobby in the Polk County Building.

— John Busbee, The Culture Buzz

Featured home for sale

Post listings here for $50. Contact jolene@iowalivingmagazines.com for details.

$380,000

807 Linden St.
Dallas Center, IA 50063

Step inside this inviting home and you'll be greeted by a stunning living room with vaulted ceilings, creating a warm and open atmosphere. The updated kitchen features sleek concrete countertops and flows effortlessly into an eat-in area with bar seating overlooking the living room, then opens to a spacious dining area, large enough to accommodate a 10-person table, perfect for entertaining. Just off the kitchen and breezeway is a convenient half bathroom and main floor laundry. ...

See the listing here.

See more homes for sale

SOLD: Featured commercial real estate transaction

1525 VERMONT ST., DES MOINES
SALE DATE: 2025-02-04
SALE PRICE: $340,000
SELLER: DES MOINES HEALTH CENTER INC
BUYER: WINGSPAN REALTY PARTNERS LLC
ACRES: 0.298
SQUARE FEET: 2,800

More transactions

Featured in the current
issue of Adel Living magazine

The bell tolls for victory
New Victory Bell revives tradition and memories.

By Rachel Harrington

In 1871, a Victory Bell was commissioned by the Adel School Board through Meneely Bell Foundry in West Troy, New York. The bell itself was cast in the Netherlands. It was installed at the school and remained in the original school bell tower from 1871 to 1914 when the second school was opened and it was moved to the belfry of the new building. The class of 1946 set the bell permanently outside on the north side of the school building and dedicated it to four students who dropped out of school to join the war effort.

The class of 1952 saw the bell was getting abused and used leftover class funds to place a fence around it. The Victory Bell remained on school grounds until the new school building was built in 1986 — a total of 115 years. It was decided the bell would not be moved to the new school, and it was either sold or given away. Over the years, it was largely forgotten. ...

Sports headlines

FROM SPORTS ILLUSTRATED: Lakers sale price breaks record for sports franchise. The Los Angeles Lakers are being sold, and the price will be record-breaking.
Jeanie Buss and her family are selling the team to Mark Walter, the CEO and chairman of TWG Global. According to ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania, Walter will be buying a majority stake in the franchise with the total valuation of the team coming in at $10 billion. That is the largest sale of a professional sports franchise in history. ... READ MORE

FROM ESPN: Browns rookie Shedeur Sanders cited for driving 101 mph. Cleveland Browns rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders was cited by police early Tuesday morning for driving 101 mph, according to police records. An officer for the Strongsville (Ohio) Police Department stopped Sanders at 12:24 a.m. for driving 41 mph over the posted 60 mph speed limit in his black Dodge TRX truck, according to records. ... READ MORE

FROM YAHOO SPORTS: Yankees snap scoreless streak, but commit late error vs. Angels in sixth straight loss. The Yankees finally snapped their dreadful scoreless streak, but Anthony Volpe's costly error in the eighth inning proved to be the difference in a 3-2 loss to the Los Angeles Angels. New York had just three hits and extended their losing streak to six games. ... READ MORE

1856: First Republican national convention ends. In Music Fund Hall in Philadelphia, the first national convention of the Republican Party, founded two years before, comes to its conclusion. John Charles Fremont of California, the famous explorer of the West, was nominated for the presidency, and William Lewis Dayton of New Jersey was chosen as the candidate for the vice presidency. ... READ MORE

1865: Abolition of slavery announced in Texas on “Juneteenth.” In what is now known as Juneteenth, on June 19, 1865, Union soldiers arrive in Galveston, Texas with news that the Civil War is over and slavery in the United States is abolished.. ... READ MORE

2006: Construction on Global Seed Vault begins. On June 19, 2006, on the remote island of Spitsbergen halfway between mainland Norway and the North Pole, the prime ministers of Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland lay the ceremonial first stone of the Global Seed Vault. The vault, which now has the capacity to hold 2.25 billion seeds, is intended to “provide insurance against both incremental and catastrophic loss of crop diversity.” ... READ MORE

www.history.com

Weekly fuel report

The price of regular unleaded gasoline rose 14 cents this week, averaging $3.06 across Iowa according to AAA. Prices are down 7 cents from a year ago. The national average on Wednesday was $3.19, up 7 cents from last week’s price.

Retail diesel prices in Iowa rose 20 cents this week with a statewide average of $3.48. One year ago, diesel prices averaged $3.50 in Iowa. The current Iowa diesel price is 12 cents lower than the national average of $3.60.

Natural gas prices were up 45 cents at the Henry Hub reporting site and are currently priced at $3.96 MMbtu.

Cheapest gas in the metro. www.gasbuddy.com

Hy-Vee in Des Moines (3221 S.E. 14th St.) - $2.67

Sam's Club in Windsor Heights (1101 73rd St). - $2.72

Costco in West Des Moines (7205 Mills Civic Parkway) - $2.75

Birthdays and notables

Happy birthday, Tom Miller!

These celebrities were born on this date: Gena Rowlands, Aung San Suu Kyi, Phylicia Rashad, Ann Wilson, Robin Tunney, Bumper Robinson, Poppy Montgomery, Meryl Streep, Zoe Saldaña, Paula Abdul, Jordan Poole, Brandon Lake, Dirk Nowitzki

SUBMIT: Send your local birthday greetings and congratulatory notes to: tammy@iowalivingmagazines.com

Morning chuckle

The answer to the last riddle: Why are banks always cold? BECAUSE OF ITS COLD CASH AND FROZEN ASSETS! - Jim Becker, Rex Post, Gail Tomlinson, Kris Laurson.

Today's riddle: Why is dough another word for money?

Have a guess? Email tammy@iowalivingmagazines.com

To advertise in the Daily Umbrella or CITYVIEW magazine, contact:

Aaron Burns
Advertising Sales Manager
Office: 515-953-4822 ext. 330
Mobile: 712-310-3860
aaron@dmcityview.com

Did someone forward you this newsletter? Click here to get it delivered to your inbox for FREE!

This email was sent to: email@example.com

Big Green Umbrella Media, Inc.
8101 Birchwood Ct Suite D
Johnston, Iowa 50131

Edit Profile

Unsubscribe

Report as Spam