Author Archives: Jeff

May 12

Central Iowa channels off Mediacom in Tama County

This website has a long-running side project in the Annex, charting the coverage areas of TV stations in Iowa and how they change periodically. It goes back to before the digital era. Today, network channels can still be received via … Continue reading

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May 11

North Carolina wants two more 2-digit interstates

Two weeks from now, the semi-annual AASHTO conference will be held in Des Moines. (I thought about trying to go but the upper-three-digit cost of admission put a stop to that.) The agenda for the numbering committee has been released, … Continue reading

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May 10

The closest I’ve gotten to Alaska

September 14, 2015 Alaska, Wisconsin, is an unincorporated village consisting of a post office and a couple other buildings on WI 42 near Kewaunee. Since 2009, when I crossed Delaware and Nevada off my list, Alaska and Hawaii remain the … Continue reading

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May 09

The circus begins

May 8, 1986: Preschool circus at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church basement in Traer. Event #1 on family videotape #1. The church building has been expanded since then, but this is how I remember the basement, from preschool to Scout meetings. … Continue reading

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May 06

O is for Otranto

September 29, 2015: Iowa’s Prairie Castle of Otranto. The vines certainly add a gothic touch. The school in tiny Otranto, just south of the Minnesota border, was in use for 50 years and closed in 1966, according to a reprinted … Continue reading

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May 05

An IA 92 bypass of Oskaloosa?

There is a meeting next week to “discuss the conceptual alignments” of a bypass of IA 92 around Oskaloosa. The study area encompasses a wide space, since this is literally the first step in the process. Any construction likely wouldn’t … Continue reading

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May 04

What will happen to St. Ansgar Elementary?

August 4, 2015: Detailed view of the brickwork at the southeast corner of the St. Ansgar Elementary building, which started out as the town’s main school building. They don’t build them like this anymore. The St. Ansgar school district has … Continue reading

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May 03

Jefferson Highway book published

The Jefferson Highway, the much-less-known north-south counterpart to the Lincoln Highway in Iowa, is getting its time in the spotlight. There is now a book about the route, which went from Winnipeg to New Orleans (“Pine to Palm”). In Iowa, … Continue reading

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May 02

Draft Gladbrook-Reinbeck dissolution map released

At a meeting last week, the Gladbrook-Reinbeck Dissolution Committee unveiled a first draft of the way the school district would be divided up should a vote pass. The district’s PDF is here (Google Docs) and I have replicated it below. … Continue reading

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Apr 29

The ‘Oregon Trail’ Generation

With the news that millennials now outnumber baby boomers, I want to pass along this Huffington Post piece that points out not all millennials (and late X’ers) are created equal. I’ve thought for years that Generation Y should be broken … Continue reading

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