People who feed wildlife in Des Moines could be fined up to $850 under a proposal that goes before the City Council Monday.

• Deer and geese are the city's primary concern, but the proposed ban also includes squirrels, feral cats, raccoons, coyotes and fox.
• If the proposal gets approved, violators could be found guilty of a simple misdemeanor.

Why it matters: Friendly feeders are inadvertently killing wildlife and enticing them to congregate in unnatural, crowded urban settings.

• Feeding deer makes them more vulnerable to disease, and giving waterfowl bread can cause fatal lung infections. It can also make birds poop more, which can spread bacteria and increase the likelihood of illnesses.

The big picture: Cities like Cedar Rapids and Iowa City have banned feeding geese or deer on public property for years.

State of play: We’ve got urban wildlife population problems and some of it is attributed to Iowans being nice, Des Moines Parks director Ben Page told us.

• Large populations of geese have become problematic around local trails and waterways.
• And just this week, DSM Water Works voted to restart park bow hunts to help reduce the deer population.

The bottom line: We may very well have a goose problem. But relocation or lethal removal of Canadian geese other than through regulated hunting requires a special federal permit, which the Iowa Department of Natural Resources possesses.

• Local governments must ban feeding the birds and take other measures in order to qualify for the DNR's assistance in managing overpopulation.

Did you know: Canadian geese had disappeared from Iowa by 1900 because of overhunting and egg collecting. More than 60 years later, a reintroduction program helped reestablish them in the state.

• Roughly 75,000 geese now live in Iowa.

CelebrAsian is back and this year's two-day festival highlights Des Moines' vibrant Asian American and Pacific Islander community.

Here are just a few of the highlights:

🍜 Learn how to make a poke bowl, chocolate chip taiyaki or lemongrass garlic soup. Check out the culinary tent schedule here.

🏓 Dance the night away, sing some karaoke or watch a fierce table tennis match on the main stage.

🥳 Meet people from Des Moines' diverse AAPI communities and learn their unique histories by visiting their "villages."

Details: 11am-9pm Fri.-Sat.; Western Gateway Park in downtown Des Moines.

• Admission is free.
• Free parking is available at the Nationwide ramp at 1100 Walnut.

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More than $30 million has been distributed to metro-area entertainment venues through a pandemic grant, according to data released this week by the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Why it matters: It’s “helicopter money,” and it has rescued multiple Iowa venues from almost certain downsizing or closures, Loyd Ogle, an entertainment advocate who cofounded the 80/35 Music Festival, told us yesterday.

Catch up quick: Congress approved $16 billion in grants through the Shuttered Venue Operators (SVOG) program last year.

• The aid can be used to pay rent, utilities, mortgage obligations and other operating or administrative costs.
• No new applications are being accepted at this time, but award distributions are ongoing.

By the numbers: Almost $11 billion had been distributed to more than 12,000 venues, as of Monday.

• More than 100 Iowa venues have received almost $60 million.

💉 Des Moines Public Schools students will have priority access to two new drive-thru COVID-19 testing sites, starting next week. (Iowa Capital Dispatch)

🏒 A new $60 million sports complex and event space in West Des Moines is opening. The open house for the MidAmerican Energy Company RecPlex is Sunday. (Business Record)

🍽 Dobre Tasting Room closed last week, about two months after its East Village debut. The restaurant will be rebranded.

• Expect something new this year, co-owner Loyd Ogle told Jason yesterday.

A farmer discovered human remains in a field just a few miles outside Montezuma on Thursday. Investigators say the clothing found matches what ten-year-old Xavior Harrelson was wearing before he went missing. (AP)

City crews recently installed a cement-rock mixture known as matrix riprap underneath two Des Moines bridges damaged by fires.

Why it matters: Homeless advocates criticized the rough surfaces on social media this week, saying it deters people from sleeping or loitering under the bridges.

• But city leaders say bridge stabilization was the driving factor behind the projects.

How it works: The rocky material is placed along bridge foundations, and glued together — often with a cement-based grout.

• Riprap prevents people from removing bridge support materials and helps secure infrastructure during floods, according to research by Minnesota's Department of Transportation.

Flashback: Fires under the Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway and University Avenue bridges damaged their structural support systems in recent years and caused about $170,000 in damages.

What they're saying: The city determined the best solution to repair the damage was to embed the rocks in concrete, city engineer Steven Naber told us yesterday.

• Melissa O'Neil, CEO of Central Iowa Shelter & Services, told Jason in March that riprap is necessary to protect the infrastructure and the public's safety.
• City leaders aren't out to make the lives of homeless people more miserable, she said after a public meeting where the bridge problems were discussed.

Of note: DSM is launching new homeless assistance programs, including a pop-up care village that we told you about in July.

Des Moines' most prominent tagger is back at it again and the question remains: Who is it?

• We spotted this "Stoker" tag by the Wakonsa Bridge along the Inter-Urban Trail.

Flashback: We explored the mystery of "Stoker" back in March after a giant tag was found on the East University Ave. bridge.

• Some of you shared with us that you found the tag as far as Marshalltown.

📣 Shoutout: Have you seen "Stoker" around? Take a pic and send it our way.