By CHUCK OFFENBURGER DES MOINES, Iowa, Aug. 1, 2023 — When Theresa Knight, a producer & director at Iowa PBS television, called me last fall and said she wanted to interview me for a new documentary on the Iowa State Fair, I asked her, “What part of it? What’s going to be your focus?” Her answer:…

By CHUCK OFFENBURGER DES MOINES, Iowa, July 29, 2023 – Jamie Buelt, owner of the public relations and marketing agency “en Q strategies” in Des Moines, has been involved in some of the biggest business, political and community campaigns around Iowa over recent decades.  But her husband Gary Buelt, their kids, and a few of…

By CHUCK OFFENBURGER DES MOINES, Iowa, July 22, 2023– In recent days, I finally have accepted reality and given up trying to make happen what would probably have been my last big reporting project – experiencing and writing about baseball in Cuba.  Yes, I’m pouting about it. As I told you early this year in…

By CHUCK OFFENBURGER JEFFERSON, Iowa, July 24, 2023  – There were a lot of younger people scrambling around the courthouse square here on Monday – lining up outdoor toilets, erecting traffic barriers, putting up large canvass shade canopies, hoisting huge promotional signs, helping local groups start setting up their food stands, and more. RAGBRAI L…

By CHUCK OFFENBURGER WILLIAMSBURG, Iowa, June 24, 2023 – Back in February, when Drake University in Des Moines announced that its business school was being re-named the “Larry and Kathleen Zimpleman College of Business,” DU President Marty Martin pegged the alumni couple well. “They’re both compassionate, kind people,” Martin told Des Moines Register business writer…