Author Archives: Jeff

Aug 21

Hess Road-La Porte Road under construction

A construction project on Hess Road and La Porte Road on the south side of Waterloo started last week. The plan dates back to 2020 (large slideshow PDF here). It starts with a new roundabout at Hess and Shaulis roads and … Continue reading

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Aug 19

What’s the frequency, Jim and Beth?

In what appears to be a long-delayed follow-up from a request entered in 2021, KCRG is changing its antenna signal. However, the station is remaining branded as Channel 9 and this only affects antenna users. According to the station’s website, … Continue reading

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Aug 15

Lighthouse Inn supper club burns down

The Lighthouse Inn supper club on Mount Vernon Road east of Cedar Rapids, a Lincoln Highway landmark, burned to the ground on Wednesday. Stories: Gazette, KCRG.

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Aug 13

New signing for Vining

Tama County’s smallest incorporated place has new welcome signs. A recent transplant to the town offered to paint custom signs for all three entrances. The North Tama Telegraph has the story and photos. Yes, there are TWO tiny Tama County … Continue reading

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Aug 09

Winding Stairs Festival 2024 this weekend

Traer’s annual festival is back, and bigger than last year. The “Shine and Show” car show is part of Winding Stairs Festival this year, instead of being on a separate date in July. The cars might be part of the parade … Continue reading

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Aug 07

The last North Iowa Tractor Ride

Due to sleeping until noon a lot time constraints and events, I didn’t get this Substack story from August in here earlier.

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Aug 06

Lane additions on US 63 planned for 2026

Last month the Iowa DOT held a meeting in Tama about turning US 63 into a Super-2 highway. Two large PDFs are online. The project is scheduled for 2026. Traffic will be detoured onto IA 8 and IA 21 and … Continue reading

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Aug 02

Orient-Macksburg can’t dissolve next year

The below is what happens when you sit on a post too long and it gets overtaken by events. — Ed. The dissolution (not “dissolvement”) of the Orient-Macksburg school district is proceeding mostly as I expected, with a catch that … Continue reading

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Jul 31

Greenfield riding to recovery

I went to Greenfield last week to write about that town being on RAGBRAI so soon after a tornado hit the town. (I also may or may not have sprained my ankle in Orient, but that’s a different story.)

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Jul 29

Well, if you put it that way…

I, as they say, “nothing” the comic book character Deadpool. I’ve never had interest in the gratuitous, uh, everything about him. But movie reviewer Katie Walsh says this about “Deadpool and Wolverine” … It’s a unique script, composed almost exclusively … Continue reading

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