Paul, you are correct that carbon monoxide is odorless. Gas companies often add the rotten egg odor so leaks are more easily detected.

Nathan, I’ve refrained from responding to most of your comments to date because, frankly, I can’t make sense of most of them. That said, as somebody who attended the Cowtown to Boomtown events, and who listened to Tom Chapman speak about the experiences there, I found it highly educational. No, we’re not Omaha. But I [...]

Was just going to say the Texas-USC national championship game in 2006 as well — best college football game I’ve ever seen.

I don’t think that’s a fair response, Nathan. Saying there are benefits to locating the school downtown is not the same as saying this is more about location that education. One of the benefits of locating the school downtown, for example, would be that it represents a central location and would, in theory, give more [...]

I think the city council sees your point pretty clearly, “Butter Fly.” Mayor Corbett addressed this specifically in our editorial board meeting yesterday. He went over several initiatives (mainly via incentives) they’ve put in place to encourage to infill rather than build outwards. He stopped short of saying those initiatives had been as successful as [...]

Good feedback, Will, and something we’ve been discussing. Part of the current state has to do with workflow complexities as stories route through to multiple distribution points (the paper, multiple online sites, etc.), and some is software based, but that doesn’t change your point, which is that it should be more transparent when a story [...]

There are times when releasing partial or incomplete information could be misleading, Martin, which I think is your point. We can probably agree on that. I’d like to think in cases like that our writers and editors would use proper judgment. In cases like this, where the known information is pretty straightforward, that doesn’t apply. [...]

Jeff, that’s because we’re updating the story as we learn more information. Fair observation that the initial story was thin. We’re trying to post what we learn as we learn it, and if what we initially learn is a bare bones version of events, that’s what we’ll post. The alternative would be holding the story [...]

Liza, you’re going to have to provide some factual basis for your implied claim that the Cedar Rapids bond rating is “phonied up.” It’s been at that level for 38 years.

That’s an awfully long stretch you’re making to try and make this sound negative, Liza. It’s good news. It’s OK to accept good news as good news.

Will, one of our reporters could probably give a more thorough response, but two limitations of the Corps plan I’ve heard are: * It doesn’t protect the west side. * It’s so bare bones that it could potentially turn the river area into an eye sore instead of an asset. (I probably fair to say [...]

Joseph, the most recent update to the Signs of Progress website has the amphitheater at $7.55 million, and a more recent story by us had it at $8.2 million. Both figures are considerably less than $75 million. Also, significant portions of the funding for this project are coming from private donors and other sources outside [...]

Equating agencies that support the causes they work on with volunteer time beyond what they’re paid for to dog fighting is trolling in my opinion, Kevin. The former is honorable (it shows the agency isn’t taking money to do work it doesn’t believe in) and the latter is repulsive. Any decision to participate or not [...]

Sundall, not Sundvall. Apologies for my bad typing.

One more point, comment, Don. Valet parking is NOT part of the current PCI plan. I just asked Mike Sundvall about this to verify, and he said that it was a possibility they seriously considered early on, since some of the health care facilities they visited did offer it. Because of the downtown site plan [...]

Lonnie, if you’re aware of such a poll, please share. To the best of our knowledge, there is no recent polling on this issue, or at least no polling that has been available for us to review.

John, what is wrong from with an agency getting paid to work on a cause they believe in, and believing in it enough that they volunteer beyond the scope of what they’re paid to to? Seems like evidence of the sincerity of their beliefs. (Regardless of whether you personally agree with those beliefs.) There’s no [...]

Don, I think it’s unfair to say the city is “ignoring” the recommendation from the Army Corps of Engineers. They disagree with the Corps’ recommendation to protect only the east side of the river, a sentiment that seems consistent with both the “yes” and “no” camps.

Kevin, I believe you’re being too black and white here.

It should be fairly easy to envision an agency getting paid for services AND volunteering time beyond those services for a cause they believe in.

This is a fairly common occurrence, in fact.

Nice add, Seth. Thanks.