I don’t fault the good folks at the Press-Citizen for covering the casino like a straight jacket on a prisoner - in fact, that may be a better analogy than I thought. This, of course, is because Iowa Code requires that all casinos be built on water. The spread, titled “ROLLING IN RIVERSIDE” - I only use all caps because they do, and because it’s that exciting! - tells us that the new casino is roughly the size of Kinnick Stadium and perhaps a bit larger than Carver-Hawkeye Arena, where a sell-out crowd is about 15,500.īut the most fascinating item, perhaps, is that the casino was actually built on 29 water bladders made of PVC material. That one’s got my name written all over it. Heck, there’s even a restaurant inside called Robert’s Buffet. I had managed to avoid learning about the Riverside Casino & Golf Resort until Monday morning of this week, when the Press-Citizen introduced an eight-page special section titled, “SHUFFLE up and PLAY.” Inside, there’s what we in the biz call a double-truck spread - two full-color pages devoted to giving us every juicy detail of the casino’s floor plan, from the location of the VIP room (with a bar) to the video games (embedded in two bars) to private dining areas, where presumably you can buy yourself a drink.

For some people, politics is one of these subjects. I see them and immediately flip the channel, turn the page, look away - my mind wants as little to do with them as possible. Nonetheless, there are a few subjects under the sun that hold zero interest for me. I’d happily say that I’m that kind of person to some extent, I always have been. Most curious people have a tendency to read everything they can find, whether it’s newspapers, magazines, cereal boxes or road signs.

That’s a big reason I got into the profession that I did - news. I like to believe I’m a curious fellow, in the sense that I like to know what’s happening in the world around me. Excavating to make room for water bladders, folks, is when the spirit of the law has officially drowned.

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