Hump Day Must Reads

There's open smoking ban rebellion in the countryside, according to this morning's Des Moines Register. Jennifer Jacobs details how many local officials are blowing off enforcement of the ban. The Mitchell County attorney went so far as to tell the AG he won't enforce an unjust law. Put that in your pipe and, well you know.

Speaking of cigarette smoke,  Iowa's economy continues to stink. And we haven't bottomed out yet. Swell.  The Gazette reports that lawmakers, channeling FDR, are hoping that infrastructure spending can right the ship.

And in another sign of tough, changing times, the Mason City Globe-Gazette reports that the local Elks lodge is hanging by a thread. A club that opened in the 1950s with 1,200 members now has just 215 and faces financial difficulties. Lots of fraternal orders and service groups are facing the same trouble in a nation of mobile, harried non-joiners. 

Ding, dong, the coal plant's dead, says the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier and other sources. The $1.3 billion, 750-megawatt plant had shaken and stirred plenty of controversy among environmental activists who loathed it and local boosters who saw jobs, jobs, jobs.

Bleeding Heartland gives its sulfur-free take here.

Also out on the blogscape, all political geeks should check out Krusty Konservative's Tuesday postspeculating on what the next Iowa congressional map might look like. It's a beautiful piece of four-color speculation.

And in my absolute favorite story of the day,

the Omaha World-Herald tells of an Omaha man suing his ex-wife for bugging a child's favorite teddy bear to record the dad's conversations during a custody battle.  The judge in the custody case, however, refused to consider the recordings, and now the father wants damages.