Author Archives: Jeff

Dec 08

License Plate Letters — CZR

The sighting of a CZ-series plate in early December is a good bookend for 2014, and also signifies that it took 32 months for the first three letters of the alphabet to be run through. Remember, the letter-number combinations replaced … Continue reading

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Dec 07

Iowa State ties Rutgers in all-time losses

Because getting so humiliated in front of a national, undivided, broadcast TV audience that the opponent kneeled inside the 10-yard line with 5 minutes to go wasn’t enough. Oh no. Now comes the statistical part. Paul Rhoads has become mired in … Continue reading

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Dec 06

Major design changes coming to Iowa highway signage

Nov. 27, 2006: The then-new Ansborough Avenue interchange in Waterloo shows two signage trends that have become and are becoming standard in Iowa in the 2010s: Larger initial letters and skinny, squat arrows. The first appearance of non-Iowa-style traffic arrows … Continue reading

Posted in Highway Miscellaneous, Iowa Miscellaneous | Comments Off on Major design changes coming to Iowa highway signage
Dec 04

Eagle Grove loses its stoplight

The Eagle Grove Eagle reported at the beginning of November that the stoplight at Broadway and Commercial (IA 17 and C54) no longer functions. The equipment is a quarter-century old and would need to be replaced. The intersection will be … Continue reading

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Dec 03

Seven votes

The combined vote total in Farragut and Hamburg to merge their school districts would have formed a supermajority in favor, but each district must vote separately. Hamburg opposed reorganization by seven votes. Not quite 1000 votes were cast overall, but it’s … Continue reading

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Dec 02

Farragut, Hamburg vote on merger today

In far southwest Iowa today, the Hamburg and Farragut school districts are voting on consolidation to become Nishnabotna. There have been plenty of meetings on the issue, with slightly higher stakes than a normal school merger because of the potential … Continue reading

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Dec 01

Belated recap of the US 34 opening ceremony

Six weeks late is better than never, right? My recent relocation made traveling to a highway opening in western Iowa a little more involved. But with an early morning ceremony Oct. 22, I likely would’ve been staying overnight in Council … Continue reading

Posted in Construction, Trip Reports | Comments Off on Belated recap of the US 34 opening ceremony
Nov 28

Ackley elementary moves mid-semester

It is very rare for an Iowa school building to close during the school year, but that’s what just happened at Ackley Elementary. Students packed up their things and left the old building for the last time Tuesday. The elementary, … Continue reading

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Nov 27

SBNation features Jack Trice story

Here’s your long Thanksgiving weekend read. New to me is this old, pre-Internet, pre-radio really, way of keeping up with the game: Back in Ames, Cora Mae took the streetcar into campus and headed to State Gym, where the Cyclone fans … Continue reading

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Nov 26

Crystal Lake and Corwith: Two buildings on divergent paths

July 6, 2011: Woden-Crystal Lake-Titonka High School in Crystal Lake. First, the good news: The old WCLT school building in Crystal Lake was sold to a private owner after WCL merged with Forest City, and the owners want to have … Continue reading

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