Results tagged “minneapolis” from DesMoinesIst

Jeanette Trompeter was a popular anchor during her tenure with KCCI, the CBS affiliate in Des Moines, until she took a job a few years ago to work at WCCO in Minneapolis. The WCCO job, by all measures, was a big step up -- Des Moines is the nation's #71 television market, and the Twin Cities are market #15. And the job change probably came with a hefty pay raise, even though she spent most of her time anchoring the less-watched 5:00 newscast. But due to a downturn in advertising revenues, WCCO is making some big budget cuts, and Trompeter has become one of the jobless as a result. She'll land on her feet somewhere, of course, but people tend to feel a strange sort of closeness with their favorite TV anchors, and Trompeter undoubtedly was a Des Moines favorite while she was here -- which accounts for the attention her departure from WCCO has already garnered from KCCI, WHO, and the Des Moines Register.

The success of the I-235 reconstruction project has attracted some attention in Minneapolis, with one of the Twin Cities' TV stations offering a 5-minute video report lauding the improvements on the MacVicar Freeway. The reconstruction cost a whole lot of money -- about $430 million in all -- but it's also pretty apparent that the old road simply wasn't going to be safe to drive for much longer. The quick Des Moines commute -- under 20 minutes, on average -- saves the average commuter two hours a week in traffic versus what they'd spend on the roads in Chicago. That difference accumulates to 100 hours a year that a Des Moines resident can spend on recreation that a Chicagoan can't. Quality of life is a big factor in choosing where to live.