Author Archives: Jeff

Sep 23

Storm Lake selling old school building

Posted on Wednesday, September 23, 2015, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The Storm Lake school district wants to sell the old South Elementary building because it would cost too much to replace the boiler, KCAU and the AP report. (Of course, the new buyer would have to eat that $100,000 to … Continue reading →

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Sep 22

Did Phil Coulson drop someone off in Iowa?

Posted on Tuesday, September 22, 2015, at 10:07 AM by Jeff

I was rewatching the season finale of “Agents of SHIELD” when something near the end jumped out at me. In the second-to-last scene, SHIELD Director Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) and Agent Skye (Chloe Bennet) visit Cal Zabo (Kyle MacLachlan) after his … Continue reading →

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Sep 21

A short meditation on football season so far

Posted on Monday, September 21, 2015, at 10:04 AM by Jeff

Missing a game-winning field goal* as time expires MERE MINUTES after Iowa made a game-winning field goal as time expires, and then losing in double overtime, is one of the most Iowa State football things ever and challenges the UAB … Continue reading →

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Sep 18

US 6 “Retro Road Trip” this weekend

Posted on Friday, September 18, 2015, at 10:06 AM by Jeff

October 22, 2014: East of Atlantic, present-day US 6 goes north with US 71 to I-80, while old 6 between 71 and Anita is now IA 83. “Historic 6” was signed across the state not too long ago. Starting this … Continue reading →

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Sep 17

US 20 enthusiast inspires Cushing

Posted on Thursday, September 17, 2015, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

I have written about (and met) Bryan Farr of Massachusetts, who is tirelessly promoting US 20 as a tourism destination and vehicle for economic development. He’s back in Iowa this week to visit the town of Cushing. He was interviewed … Continue reading →

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Sep 16

DigitalTown appropriating Iowa schools’ names for profit

Posted on Wednesday, September 16, 2015, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

In retrospect, it’s an obvious strategy: Grab the domain names for every school district in Iowa, using the full name; follow that with the school nickname; make it a dot-com, since most official school district websites end in .k12.ia.us; and … Continue reading →

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Sep 15

Bloomington Road bridge near Marion to be demolished

Posted on Tuesday, September 15, 2015, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The 90-year-old truss bridge on a still-gravel Lincoln Highway loop in Linn County will be replaced, the Cedar Rapids Gazette reports. The bridge was not old enough to be an official part of Lincoln Highway (the Marion routing was changed … Continue reading →

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Sep 14

One vote matters

Posted on Monday, September 14, 2015, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Two stories about the power of one: A Riceville school board candidate failed to win election because he didn’t take time to vote for himself — and no one else did either. In Columbia, Missouri, businesses along Business Loop I-70 … Continue reading →

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Sep 13

Black and Gold 2, Red 0

Posted on Sunday, September 13, 2015, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Wapsie Valley 42, North Tama 0; Iowa 31, Iowa State 17. If ISU plays the rest of the season as listlessly as they did in the second half, Paul Rhoads will be out of a job.

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Sep 11

A football prediction, unmade

Posted on Friday, September 11, 2015, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Throughout the summer and until Saturday, I was predicting that the losing coach of this week’s Iowa-ISU game would be fired at the end of the season. This past week, I haven’t been so sure. Iowa State looked good (i.e. … Continue reading →

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