Most of my friends don't know it, but I'm a news junkie. I've worked at home for the last three years and my afternoon indulgence wasn't Oprah or Ellen or some Soap Opera, but the WGN News at Noon. Since we've moved to Iowa, I've done my best to feed this habit, but I must admit that the front page of the Cedar Rapids Gazette is a far cry from the Chicago Tribune. I did manage to scarf down a Trib a couple weeks ago when we travelled thru the area and was amused to hear about the Governor's daughters' BIG FAT Birthday check (
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0609170006sep17,1,3406546.story). Nothing like that here on the front page, although I'll save my Iowa political observations for another day. . .
For now, I thought I'd share with you some of the more interesting stories that have been front page news at the Gazette since we moved here in August:
1. We spent a couple weeks, at least, reading front page stories about some guy named Niles Kinnick. They just named the new U of Iowa Stadium after him. After several articles, I can now tell you the Kinnick was a Heisman Trophy winner at UI in 1939 who died young - in the 40's, I believe. Anyway, his new stadium was the talk of the town as Iowa football season opened.
http://gazetteonline.com/2006/09/01/Home/sportssection/kinnickrenovation.htm2. There were a couple days where the option sales tax for Linn County was front page news. We get to vote on increasing the sales tax in the county to help fund schools - the debate was whether or not the issue should go to the ballot. Coming from Chicago, I always thought Mayors got the last word on sales tax increases - how exciting that I'll get to VOTE for it!
3. The front page also introduced us to the new City Manager for Cedar Rapids. This is the first time that CR has ever had a City Manager, having previously been managed by council members. Nothing in any of the articles have mentioned "political machine", "jobs for hire" or "millions of pounds of asphalt lost".
4. Then, of course, was the big Zach Johnson Golf Tournament. I believe outside of Iowa, you would have referred to it as "The Ryder Cup". Zach Johnson graduated from a Cedar Rapids area high school and then attended an Iowa College. From what I can gather, he also carried the US Ryder Cup team for a day in Ireland. Did he also bring the team down with him the next???
http://gazetteonline.com/2006/09/19/Home/sportssection/zachjohnson.htm5. UI made the front page news again druing the week leading up to the big cross-state rivalry - IU vs. ISU. My first glimpse of the madness was an article about the billboard in town that featured ISU:
http://gazetteonline.com/2006/09/15/Home/sportssection/iowaiowastatehlas.htm This was a big controversy since Iowa City is home to IU and the IC/CR area purportedly is home to more IU fans than ISU. (ISU is located all the way out in Ames!) But, I'm not picking sides - I'm sure that's open for debate! Anyway, we got a week's plus worth of headlines about the big game, including insights on IC/CR natives who end up attending ISU; Tips on avoiding game day traffic, which incidentally began at 5 AM on game day; and the usual player match-ups, tailgating ideas, etc. On the front page.
6. This week, of course, front page news was about ESPN Game Day coming to town. (
http://gazetteonline.com/2006/09/29/Home/sportssection/iowaespngameday.htm). Now, that's a pretty big deal and probably distracted some IU fans from realizing that Saturday's Prime Time game against OSU was going to be REALLY tough. Tailgating for this event began on the Friday before that game and ticket prices leading up to the game loomed large even compared to Chicago's prices. Today's Special Section in the Gazette noted that the Hawks were "Tatered" in last night's game. Has the Trib EVER effused such enthusiasm for the football power known as the Northwestern Wildcats??? Has Game Day ever shown up in Evanston??
Now, there have been a few other things on the Gazette's front page (
http://gazetteonline.com/home/index.aspx). Like, how to fight a traffic ticket; the fact that there is a Governor's race going on and that Iowa is ranked #1 in hog production, so it's not like I miss "real" news from Chicago. After all, you can only read about political scandals, Mayor Daley's untouchability and gang shoot-outs so many times. From where I sit today, I'll take hogs and football I guess! I wonder if the front section gets smaller when football and harvest are over?!
