FROM KCCI: Des Moines' Market District set for $700 million transformation. Des Moines is embarking on a $700 million transformation of the Market District, converting 10 blocks into a vibrant area for living, working and entertainment, promising to accommodate 3,000 people and generate nearly $2 billion in economic benefits. The Market District, located just south of the East Village, will feature housing, hotels, and retail and commercial buildings. ... READ MORE

FROM WHO-TV: Over 80 grams of fentanyl seized from West Des Moines man, DMPD says. A West Des Moines man has been charged after the Des Moines Police Department says a search warrant at his home turned up over 80 grams of fentanyl as well as other drugs. According to the DMPD, following a months-long investigation, a search warrant was executed at the home of 23-year-old Darrian Phillips, located in the 200 block of 52nd Street in West Des Moines, on Monday. The DMPD said that during the search investigators found 85 grams of fentanyl, 200 Alprazolam pills, marijuana, drug scales and packaging, and $7,000 in cash. ... READ MORE

FROM WOI: Republican Wendy Larson declares victory in Iowa House District 7 special election after taking 70% of vote. Republican Wendy Larson will keep Iowa House District 7 red following a special election on Tuesday, according to unofficial results from the Iowa Secretary of State's Office. The Iowa House seat was vacated earlier this year by former Rep. Mike Sexton, who resigned after President Trump appointed him to a position within the USDA. ... READ MORE

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: Zelenskyy reaffirms his refusal to cede land to Russia as he rallies European support. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has reaffirmed his strong refusal to cede any territory, resisting U.S. pressure for painful concessions to Russia as he moved ahead Tuesday to rally more European support for his country. ... READ MORE

FROM AROUND THE NATION: FDA opens safety review of injectable RSV drugs approved for babies and toddlers. Food and Drug Administration officials have opened a safety review of two injectable drugs used to protect babies and toddlers from RSV, the respiratory virus that sends thousands of American children to the hospital each year. ... READ MORE

FROM AROUND THE STATE: Cedar Rapids woman charged with child endangerment resulting in death. A Cedar Rapids woman was charged after police say her child died after being found unresponsive in a trash can. Jaley Bush, 28, of Cedar Rapids, is charged with child endangerment resulting in death. According to a criminal complaint, police responded to a report of an unresponsive child at a residence in Keokuk around 2:01 p.m. on Jan. 27. ... READ MORE

Clear Mortgage meteorology

Snow moves in for Thursday and Friday then temperatures drop for the weekend.

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

Woebegone Wednesday
The last time U.S. cattle inventories were as small as today was 1955, when the U.S. population was 151 million. Now, it's 344 million. The first credit card was issued that year and North Korea invaded South Korea, starting the Korean War. That means that 2.43 times as many mouths now eat from the same supply of beef as they did before they could buy beef on easy credit, even without large supplies going to feed warriors and MASH units. 

Supermarket burger cost between 15-25 cents a pound in U.S. newspaper ads of 1955. That explains how McDonald’s could profit on 15 cent burgers when they opened that year. If that math worked today, a classic burger at McD’s should cost $3.75-$4.25. The national average price today is $3.15. The second largest cost in a McD burger is labor. The federal minimum wage was 75 cents/hour in 1955 (though it was raised to $1 in 1956.) Now it's $7.25, but it takes about double that to find anyone to take a kitchen job in Des Moines. 

Deals today 
• This week's Wednesday night specials at Waterfront stores are fresh monkfish and fresh flounder.

• One Eleven Public House (111 Main St., Knoxville) hosts its first Gal Dinner tonight. Wine, cosmos and mules plus four superb courses $40. 

• Jack’s Place (6112 S.W. Ninth, Des Moines) has 10 wings for $10 Wednesdays.

• Mitzi's (125 Fifth, Valley Junction) offers $7 cheeseburger and fries deals on Wednesday. 

• Kids eat free on Wednesday at Short E's BBQ (8805 Chambray Blvd., Johnston).

• Fareway is offering $5 rotisserie chicken on Wednesdays. Other days they cost about $9.

• Whatcha Smokin? (Highway 17, Luther) has a brisket burnt ends special on Wednesdays.

• Kelly's Little Nipper (1701 E. Grand Ave., Des Moines) offers any burger with a side for $10 on Wednesdays. 

• Exile (1514 Walnut St., Des Moines) offers a $12 burger basket with fries and a beer on Wednesdays. 

• Beaver Tap (4050 Urbandale Ave.) offers $8 French toast or pancake breakfasts and $2 tacos, $9 wraps and $10 half pounds of wings on Wednesdays. 

• Johnny's Italian Steakhouses have a chicken Madeira special on Wednesdays before 4 p.m., $15 including beverage.

• Club 2000 (422 Indianola Road, Des Moines) offers 10 wings for $10 on Wednesdays. 

• Smoking Goat Pub (3015 Merle Hay Road) has a $10 classic burger and beer all day. 

• Paula's (524 Elm, Valley Junction) has a Wednesday special beef stew with biscuit, $13.50.

• Gilroy's (1238 Eighth St., West Des Moines) has all you can eat fried chicken dinners on Wednesdays $23.99 after 5 p.m. 

• Wednesdays bring steak night to Club 2000 (422 Indianola Road, Des Moines). Steaks are cooked to order with salad, potato and bread, $14.99.

• Angry Goldfish (2301 S.W. Ninth St., Des Moines) offers hot beef sandwiches with mashed potatoes and gravy for $11.50 on Wednesday. 

• Curbin' Cuisine (1325 S.W. Oralabor Road, Ankeny) offers traditional gyros for $7 Wednesdays. 

• Wine bottles are half price on Wednesdays at Trostel's Greenbriar (5910 Merle Hay Road, Johnston), Table 128 (220 SW Ninth, Des Moines) and The Continental (407 E. Fifth St., Des Moines). 

• G Mig's (128 Fifth St., Valley Junction) offers a Wednesday special lasagna dinner plus salad and garlic bread for $19.25.

• Barntown's (9500 S.E. University Ave., West Des Moines) Wednesday specials are a  pound of chicken tenders with fries and two sauces for $11.99, plus $13 core pitchers of beer.

• Wednesday is Biryani Festival at Chowrastha (5910 Ashworth Road, West Des Moines). Buy two and a third is free.

• Tacos Mariana's (1305 University Ave., Des Moines) and The Station (3124 Ingersoll, Des Moines) have specials on tacos today. 

• Village Inns offer free pie with entrees on Wednesdays. 

• It's lasagna day at Maxie's Supper Club (1311 Grand Ave., West Des Moines) and breaded pork tenderloin day at Eastside Eddie's (3517 E. 26th St., Des Moines).

• Panka Peruvian (2708 Ingersoll Ave., Des Moines) has live jazz Wednesday. 

• Chuck's (3610 Sixth Ave., Des Moines) offers $5 off pizza on Wednesdays.

• Kwik Stars' Wednesday special is eight pieces of fried chicken for $10. Their fried chicken is ridiculously good for a convenience store.  

• On Wednesdays, flatbreads are $10 at Tito's Lounge (3916 N.W. Urbandale Drive, Urbandale). 

• Jethro's have $9.95 BPT sandwiches, including a side of choice, on Wednesdays.  
 

• Hy-Vee Market Grilles are offering a buy one get one half priced on sushi rolls Wednesdays in December.

• Price Chopper stores have sales through Monday on russet potatoes at 99 cents/5-pound bag, Sugardale bone-in half hams at $1.99/pound, and Clementines or Cara Cara oranges at $2.99/3-pound bag. 

— Jim Duncan, jd91446@aol.com

1690: First paper currency is authorized in the Colonies. On Dec. 10, 1690, a failed attack on Quebec and subsequent near-mutiny force the Massachusetts Bay Colony to issue the first paper currency in the history of the Western Hemisphere. ... READ MORE

1901: First Nobel Prizes awarded. The first Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and peace on Dec. 10, 1901. The ceremony came on the fifth anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite and other high explosives. In his will, Nobel directed that the bulk of his vast fortune be placed in a fund in which the interest would be “annually distributed in the form of prizes to those who, during the preceding year, shall have conferred the greatest benefit on mankind.” Although Nobel offered no public reason for his creation of the prizes, it is widely believed that he did so out of moral regret over the increasingly lethal uses of his inventions in war. ... READ MORE

1869: Wyoming grants women the right to vote. Motivated more by interest in free publicity than a commitment to gender equality, Wyoming territorial legislators pass a bill that is signed into law granting women the right to vote. ... READ MORE

 www.history.com