Author Archives: Jeff

Aug 04

OABCIG consolidation vote planned

Posted on Thursday, August 4, 2016, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The Battle Creek-Ida Grove and Odebolt-Arthur school districts have a reorganization vote planned for September, the Sioux City Journal reported a while ago. Their current whole-grade sharing agreement dates back to 2009, making it one of the oldest active two-way plans. … Continue reading →

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Aug 03

Waterloo accepts transfer of University Avenue

Posted on Wednesday, August 3, 2016, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

July 15, 2007: East end of IA 934 approaching the complicated US 63/218 interchange. IA 934 is gone as soon as the Iowa Transportation Commission finalizes a $28 million agreement with the city of Waterloo. The Waterloo city council voted … Continue reading →

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Aug 02

Another GR dissolution committee meeting tonight

Posted on Tuesday, August 2, 2016, at 10:10 AM by Jeff

The Gladbrook-Reinbeck Dissolution Committee* has a meeting tonight at 7 in the Reinbeck auditorium. The agenda is pretty sparse, covering the steps taken so far, including the map, and the June and July minutes (which were not online when I wrote … Continue reading →

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Aug 01

Iowa’s seventh electoral vote

Posted on Monday, August 1, 2016, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Depending on what you think about Colorado and New Mexico this election cycle (or Utah??), there could be as few as two “tossup” states in November outside the Eastern Time Zone. Iowa is one of them, but there’s a not-quite-secret … Continue reading →

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Jul 29

Mediapolis bypass plans concern residents

Posted on Friday, July 29, 2016, at 10:13 AM by Jeff

The final segment of US 61 to be four-laned in Iowa is in Louisa and Des Moines counties, and with the segment north of IA 92 under construction, Mediapolis is the last town on the route to be bypassed. Unlike … Continue reading →

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Jul 28

Google mangles Maps, again

Posted on Thursday, July 28, 2016, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

In the current tech contest to make any website unusable for anyone with a real computer and worse than 20/15, 500-shades-of-gray vision, Google has taken a whack at Maps — and I mean whack in the East River sense. So … Continue reading →

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Jul 27

New Riverside school opens in August

Posted on Wednesday, July 27, 2016, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Two of my “beats” intersect with an Iowa DOT press release about turning the intersection of US 6 and US 59 south of Oakland into a four-way stop before the new Riverside school opens. It was supposed to open in the middle … Continue reading →

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Jul 25

Old cameras never die, they just come to an F-stop

Posted on Monday, July 25, 2016, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

It is with sadness and some puzzlement that I report a development on the road-trip front: My camera appears to be dead from unspecified and un-diagnose-able internal injuries. The Olympus D-580 Zoom is, with slight exaggeration, the BESTEST point-and-shoot digital … Continue reading →

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Jul 21

Ripon

Posted on Thursday, July 21, 2016, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

September 16, 2015: “In this school house on March 20, 1854, was held the first mass meeting in this country that definitively and positively cut loose from old parties, and advocated a new party under the name of Republican.” In … Continue reading →

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Jul 20

Halfway to something

Posted on Wednesday, July 20, 2016, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

December 30, 2005: Restored Apollo-era Mission Control at Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Today Bill Clinton’s first presidential inauguration — Jan. 20, 1993 — marks the halfway point between the moon landing and the present day. Starting now, events … Continue reading →

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