The McCaughey septuplets turned 11 last week, and nobody in the media seemed to notice.
Steve Cohn, editor of Media Industry Newsletter, took note of the lack of notice with a headline Monday that said: "Ladies' Home Journal's Lee says that 11 years of seven McCaugheys is enough."
"The septuplets have been a (Ladies' Home Journal) fixture almost since their Nov. 19, 1997, births," Cohn wrote. "Each December since 1998, (Ladies' Home Journal) readers got a glimpse of the McCaugheys growing up."
But not this year.
Cohn noticed when the December issue hit newsstands recently.
He sent an e-mail to Sally Lee, the top editor at Meredith Corp.'s New York-based Ladies' Home Journal. She responded that interest in the family has lessened. She added that she's received no negative feedback on the decision.
Closer to home, The Des Moines Register and KCCI-TV (Channel 8), which have also done features on each of the McCaugheys' first 10 birthdays, both passed this year.
After last year, the newspaper decided that continued coverage would be based on milestones, such as 2010, when Alexis, Brandon, Joel, Kelsey, Kenneth, Natalie and Nathan become teen-agers, Register Editor Carolyn Washburn said.
KCCI news director Dave Busiek said the McCaugheys are "still a compelling story in my view, but at some point I think it's no longer necessary to do it annually."
Bankruptcy filing: An Idaho real estate company that purchased the mixed-use building at Seventh and Locust streets where the Greater Des Moines Partnership is located has filed for bankruptcy court protection.
DBSI Inc. of Boise, Idaho, has more than 200 properties in 30 states. Ownership of those properties, including the Partnership Building in Des Moines, involve tenants-in-common investors, individuals and companies that gave DBSI money to invest in various properties.
The Partnership Building has a food court in a basement level, offices on the first and second levels, retail space on the skywalk level and seven levels of parking. Polk County Assessor records list 22 tenant-in-common owners through DBSI.
A bit more than 25 percent of leasable space is vacant, said Kurt Mumm of Ruhl & Ruhl, which manages the building.
Downtown Community Alliance President Mary Lawyer said the bankruptcy should not affect the Greater Des Moines Partnership, which is a tenant in the building, not an owner.
"Our hope is there will be little or no impact on individual tenants who lease the property," Mumm said. The 22 tenant-in-common ownership groups, not the tenants, are affected by the bankruptcy, he said.
DBSI and 146 of its affiliates filed a Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy petition in Wilmington, Del., on Nov. 10. The company was started in 1980 by an accountant and now has about 12,000 investors, according to news reports.
U of I president questioned: New Hampton banker John Rigler sent a letter to University of Iowa President Sally Mason last week questioning her proclaimed commitment to energy conservation when he sees examples of "heating the outdoors."
He cited two examples: The 30 high-capacity space heaters placed near the west entrance to the University Hospital's Roy Carver Pavilion and the energy wasted by leaving the window open in the first floor men's room at Currier Hall.
Rigler told Buzz that the space heaters appear to have been installed to warm visitors as they walk from their cars to the hospital. "Although there is a canopy there, it is not enclosed and represents the burning of fossil fuels to heat the great outdoors. Nonsensical if you see it."
Honor: Des Moines lawyer Alfredo Parrish was given the 2008 John Adams Award by the Iowa Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. The award is given annually to an Iowa lawyer who dedicated his career to defending the indigent. The award was inspired by Adams' successful defense of a British officer at the event that became known as the "Boston Massacre."
Cheers: Locust Tap owner Kirk Blunck reports that as of Oct. 31 year-to-date sales were up 20 percent and October revenues were up 21 percent. The bar at 434 E. Locust St. celebrated its 71st anniversary last weekend. The corner building where the bar is located dates from the 1890s. Des Moines architect Blunck bought the 2,400-square-foot building on contract for $110,000 in 2005.
Birthdays: Cedar Rapids telecommunications entrepreneur Clark McLeod turns 62 on Saturday. Seed company founder Harry Stine will be 67 on Sunday. Des Moines Area Community College President Rob Denson turned 61 Monday.
