Daily Umbrella Dec. 30: Avian flu confirmed; New Year's fireworks; what is a New Year’s resolution?

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Tuesday, Dec. 30, 2025

Good morning to you!

Good Monday morning to you!

I wrote a column on Dec. 22 about how challenges are what make life interesting and that overcoming them is what makes life meaningful. I shared how losing internet access at our email provider’s location resulted in us not having email for nearly two days. I also noted how a water line had ruptured in a wall in our Johnston office, causing water damage to part of our building.

Well, email is working and the office is dried up and awaiting construction repairs. All is good, and the challenges are making life meaningful… but they can stop any time now.

On Friday of last week, the day after Christmas, with family home, our hot water heater decided to call it quits. Imposing on others for a hot shower over the holidays seemed intruding, so we made it work by boiling water on the gas stove and washing up. We had plenty of cold water, but ice cold showers didn’t seem too enticing. This water issue reminded me of the flood of 1993 when Jolene and I were living in Des Moines in the last quadrant to have water restored. That was eight days with the only water being lugged upstairs into our apartment in 5-gallon pails from a water truck in the parking lot. A day or two without hot water would be a walk in the park compared to that, we thought.

The plumber was to be at our home Friday afternoon to fix the water heater. As 5 p.m. approached, we received a call stating that he would not be able to make it. We asked about Saturday, and the nice woman on the phone said that since this was not an emergency, they would not be able to make it till Monday. We put more water on the stove.

As Saturday afternoon rolled around, we noticed our home cooling down. At the time, it was still oddly warm outside, but the inside temp was dropping. After some online research, I discovered that the ignitor was not working. A sensor issue, it said. We put more water on the stove.

You Iowans know that on Sunday, the outside temperature dropped and the wind picked up. It was not a good time to be without a working furnace. Family members left on Sunday. (They went to friends’ homes to shower first.) We put more water on the stove.

Jolene and I spent the blustery Sunday afternoon at the laundromat, and we kept our home reasonably warm running the gas fireplace and a space heater. The repair guy showed up Monday morning and fixed the furnace. We are still waiting on the hot water heater repair. We put more water on the stove.

In the big scheme of things, these are not significant challenges, but they are making life meaningful, as we have relearned the importance of heat and water to our daily lives. And, thank goodness, the stove still works.

Have a terrific Tuesday, and thanks for reading.

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

Read more of Shane Goodman's columns here.

FROM KCCI: Avian flu confirmed in several wild flocks in central Iowa. Avian flu has been found in wild birds in several central Iowa locations, according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Maffitt Reservoir is closed to the public so that workers can dispose of dozens of dead birds found there. Officials emphasize this is not a public health risk. ... READ MORE

FROM WHO-TV: New Iowa law clears way for fireworks on New Years. A new state law that went into effect earlier this year loosened restrictions for setting off fireworks on New Years Eve. Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a law in May that prevents local governments from banning or restricting fireworks on July 3 and 4 and Dec. 31. The Des Moines City Council had previously banned the use of fireworks within city limits, but officials have since updated the city ordinance to comply with state regulations. ... READ MORE

FROM WOI: Interstate 35 northbound opened after both directions closed between Ames and Minnesota during storm. Northbound lanes of Interstate 35 from Ames (Exit 111) into Minnesota have reopened after being closed due to extreme winter weather and numerous crashes. Southbound lanes are still expected to reopen sometime early Monday afternoon, according to a release from the Iowa Department of Transportation. ... READ MORE

FROM AROUND THE WORLD: During Netanyahu visit, Trump warns Iran of further US strikes if it reconstitutes nuclear program. President Donald Trump warned Iran on Monday that the U.S. could carry out further military strikes if the country attempts to reconstitute its nuclear program as he held wide-ranging talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his home in Florida. ... READ MORE

FROM AROUND THE NATION: Court releases transcript from closed hearing for man accused of killing Charlie Kirk. A Utah judge on Monday ordered the release of a transcript from a closed-door hearing in October over whether the man charged with killing Charlie Kirk must be shackled during court proceedings. ... READ MORE

FROM AROUND THE STATE: Why did Iowa turn pink during Sunday's winter storm? Do not adjust your settings — parts of Iowa really did turn pink on Sunday. After a day of cloudy skies, snow and strong winds that led to snow squall warnings and blizzard conditions that forced officials to close Interstate 35 north of Ames, clouds thinned just enough in some areas to let the last rays of daylight reflect off the snowflakes, creating the pink glow. ... READ MORE

Clear Mortgage meteorology

Milder temperatures today and Wednesday. Twenties greet us Thursday in the new year.

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

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

Best Radio Personality

1. Marty Enslow, KFMG 98.9 FM

2. Danger, NASH FM 97.3

3. Simon Conway, WHO 1040 AM

See all of the results

2025's best gifts to Des Moines' food scene, part IV
In 2025, Susan Stapleton became probably the Des Moines food and restaurant scene’s most effective advocate. We think it is much more than coincidence that after Rachel E. Stassen-Berger took over executive editorship of The Des Moines Register in June, Stapleton was freed to push Des Moines’ uniqueness like no one before her, filing a food story a day for awhile. She covered not just excellence but also the frightful junk foods of the Iowa State Fair.

More importantly, Stapleton pushed Des Moines' better qualities everywhere her aegis gave her authority to do so — particularly with USA Today's “best places” lists. Those carry far more weight than the almost daily "best" lists turned out by Chowhound, Yelp, Google Searches, Delish and others. In fact, they rank just behind Michelin stars and James Beard Awards in prestige. No one in Iowa ever won anything from either of those other authorities. Our city suffers from a lack of pride in its food scene. Stapleton could help change that, deservingly.

Tuesday touts
Iowa Culinary Institute's winter-spring schedule of gourmet dinners is out. These are fabulous opportunities, prepared by ICI students: French Chefs' Dinners - Thursday, Jan. 29; Friday, Jan. 30; Saturday, Jan. 31; Brazilian dinners, Feb. 12, 19 and 26; Turkish dinners, March 5, 12 and 26; Kenyan dinners, April 2 and 16; ICI Fleur de Lys Gala, Saturday, April 11. $200 (half is deductible), reservations required.

Deals today
• Guesthouse Tavern and Oyster (9500 University, West Des Moines) offers fried chicken dinner special on Tuesdays, $17-23, plus half-priced whiskey pours.

• Curbin' Cuisine (1325 S.W. Oralabor Road, Suite 200, Ankeny) offers a cheeseburger and fries for $7.99 today.

• Mullet’s Norwalk offers a free kids meal per adult meal on Tuesdays, 4 p.m. to close.

• Mickey's Irish Pub (50 S.E. Laurel St., Waukee) has a special $7 half-pound burger with a side all day Tuesday.

• Kelly's Little Nipper (1701 E. Grand Ave., Des Moines) offers a "Tendy's Tuesday" pork tenderloin basket with a drink for $11.50.

• Eastside Eddie's (3517 E. 26th St., Des Moines) has a Tuesday special cheeseburger with fries, tots or salad and a drink for $10.

• Beaver Tap (4050 Urbandale Ave., Des Moines) offers $7 breakfasts and $8 burgers Tuesdays.

• Pelican Post (265 50th St., West Des Moines) offers a special smashburger with cheese, fries and a draft beer for $10 on Tuesdays.

• Johnny's Italian Steakhouses have a beef stroganoff special on Tuesdays, $14 including beverage.

• Smoking Goat Pub (3015 Merle Hay Road, Des Moines) hosts 222 BBQ today from 5-9 p.m.

• Baklava is half priced Tuesdays at Istanbul Cafe and Bakery (3281 100th, Urbandale).

• Red Robin stores are featuring a $10 cheeseburger with an "endless side" on Tuesdays.

• Jethro's Tuesday special is 2 pounds of bone-in smoked wings for the price of one.

• Paula's (524 Elm St., Valley Junction) runs a Tuesday special hot beef sandwich for $13.50.

• Kids meals are half price till 2 p.m. today at Machine Shed (11151 Hickman Road, Urbandale).

• Taco Tuesday brings serious discounts to La Familia, all Taco John's, all Abelardo's, all Fernando’s, Malo (900 Mulberry St., Des Moines), Beaver Tap (4050 Urbandale Ave., Des Moines), Club 2000 (422 Indianola Road, Des Moines), The Continental (407 E. Fifth St., Des Moines), Gilroy's (1238 Eighth St., West Des Moines), Jack's Place Grill & Bar, (6112 S.W. Ninth St., Des Moines) and both Faustino's.

• Today is beef and noodles day at Maxie's Supper Club (1311 Grand Ave., West Des Moines).

• Django (1420 Locust St., Des Moines) has happy hour all night Tuesdays. That means super deals on oysters, shrimp, duck frites, poutine, charcuterie, cheese boards, beers, wine and classic martinis.

• Sully's (806 First St., West Des Moines) has a burger basket special for $12 today.

• Destination Grille (2491 E. First St., Grimes) hosts a Tuesday burger and beer special, half-pound burger, chips and dip, with a tap beer of choice $15.

• The Station on Ingersoll (3124 Ingersoll Ave., Des Moines) has a tenderloin Tuesday special with BPT and fries for $10.

• Curbin Cuisine (1325 S.W. Oralabor Drive, Ankeny) offers cheeseburgers and fries for $7.99 on Tuesdays.

• G Mig’s (128 Fifth St., Valley Junction) offers a Tuesday special 8-ounce prime sirloin, baked potato, mixed vegetables and garlic bread for 19.95.

• Angry Goldfish (2301 S.W. Ninth, Des Moines) has $10 burger and a side plus a pint on Tuesdays.

• Ruby Tuesdays offers $5.95 burgers with fries on Tuesdays.

• Hy-Vees offer a "two for Tuesday" deal on Chinese dinners: two entrees, rice or noodles, an appetizer and cookies for just $5 in December.

— Jim Duncan, jd91446@aol.com

Featured in the current issue of CITYVIEW

POLITICAL MERCURY
How ‘Better Not Bitter’ Iowa author coped with the death of husband

By Douglas Burns

12/3/2025

I’ve covered a lot of traffic-crash deaths.

“Walking down the track, picking up body parts gives you an appreciation for the power of a train,” an Ames police sergeant told me in the early 1990s in the hours after a collision, just along the Union Pacific Railroad line, in the central Iowa city that is home to Iowa State University. ...

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Carlisle, IA 50047

Most properties that come to market can be replicated or replaced—this is one that cannot. Presenting 15018 Scotch Ridge Road, a historic acreage boasting quite possibly the best view in Warren County, Iowa. This timeless 1860’s two-story farmhouse sits on 18.68 acres featuring a pristine pond, multiple outbuildings, century-old hardwood trees, tillable acres, and more. ...

See the listing here.

See more homes for sale

SOLD: Featured commercial real estate transaction

1419 CAPITOL AVE., DES MOINES
SALE DATE: 2025-07-29
SALE PRICE: $2,399,000
SELLER: DSM37 LLC
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More transactions

Featured in the current
issue of West Des Moines/Jordan Creek Living magazine

Meet Sierra Coleman
Stilwell’s drama director receives PAWSitive Impact award.

By Jackie Wilson

When Sierra Coleman was just 2 years old, she was onstage at her mom’s Showtime Dance Studio in Perry — and she quit performing.
Coleman is currently the director of drama and communications teacher at Stilwell Junior High. Her passion in theater led to a teaching degree and a master’s degree in theater education.

“I couldn’t just do theater,” she says. “By teaching, I can share what I love with students who also love it.” ...

FROM SPORTS ILLUSTRATED: Sam Darnold joins Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and two other star QBs with 13-win season. Sam Darnold's first season with the Seahawks has gone incredibly well as after Sunday's win over the Panthers he has his new team sitting at 13-3 heading into a showdown with the 49ers on Saturday night that will determine the winner of the NFC West and the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs. Darnold signed with the Seahawks as a free agent last March via a three-year, $100.5 million deal. The No. 3 pick in the 2018 NFL draft had a career year with the Vikings last season but Minnesota opted to go with J.J. McCarthy at quarterback, allowing Darnold to find a new home. ... READ MORE

FROM ESPN: USC's Lincoln Riley blames Notre Dame for ending rivalry series. USC coach Lincoln Riley said Notre Dame failed to follow through on its pledge to play the Trojans "anytime, anywhere," in rapidly rejecting his school's proposal to continue the historic series in 2026 and 2027. ... READ MORE

FROM YAHOO SPORTS: Luka Dončić, Giannis Antetokounmpo lead NBA All-Star Game fan voting in first reveal. It should come as no surprise that NBA fans want to see the game's biggest talent play in the All-Star Game. Basketball fans made their voice heard Monday, as the NBA revealed the results of its first round of fan voting for the 2025-26 NBA All-Star Game. ... READ MORE

1853: Gadsden Purchase helps establish southern U.S. border. James Gadsden, the U.S. minister to Mexico, and General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the president of Mexico, sign the Gadsden Purchase in Mexico City. The treaty settled the dispute over the location of the Mexican border west of El Paso, Texas, and established the final boundaries of the southern United States. For the price of $15 million, later reduced to $10 million, the United States acquired approximately 30,000 square miles of land in what is now southern New Mexico and Arizona. ... READ MORE

1922: USSR established. On Dec. 30, 1922, in post-revolutionary Russia, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) is established, comprising a confederation of Russia, Belorussia, Ukraine and the Transcaucasian Federation (divided in 1936 into the Georgian, Azerbaijan and Armenian republics). Also known as the Soviet Union, the new communist state was the successor to the Russian Empire and the first country in the world to be based on Marxist socialism. ... READ MORE

1936: Sit-down strike begins in Flint. At 8 p.m. on Dec. 30, 1936, in one of the first sit-down strikes in the United States, autoworkers occupy the General Motors Fisher Body Plant Number One in Flint, Michigan. The autoworkers were striking to win recognition of the United Auto Workers (UAW) as the only bargaining agent for GM’s workers; they also wanted to make the company stop sending work to non-union plants and to establish a fair minimum wage scale, a grievance system and a set of procedures that would help protect assembly-line workers from injury. In all, the strike lasted 44 days. ... READ MORE

www.history.com

Birthdays and notables

Happy birthday, Sarah Kramer and Nick Ruiz!

These celebrities were born on this date: LeBron James, Tiger Woods, Ellie Goulding, Eliza Dushku, Patti Smith, Caity Lotz, Jay Kay, Sandy Koufax, Andra Day, Carson Wentz, Jeff Lynne, Kristin Kreuk, Laila Ali, Tracey Ullman, Tyrese Gibson, Dominic Fike, Michael Nesmith, Bennett Miller

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

The answer to the last riddle: What’s a digital camera’s New Year’s resolution? 1080p! - Carolyn Rogers, Gail Tomlinson. Or, FOR 2026 TO BE PICTURE PERFECT! - Scott Holmgren. Or, TO CHANGE THE SETTINGS ON NEW YEAR'S EVE! - Rex Post

Today's riddle: What is a New Year’s resolution?

Have a guess? Email tammy@iowalivingmagazines.com

To advertise in the Daily Umbrella or CITYVIEW, contact:

Mary Fowler
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c: 641-485-0555
mary@dmcityview.com

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