Author Archives: Jeff

Jan 06

Toledo getting a McDonald’s

Posted on Tuesday, January 6, 2026, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The Tama-Toledo News-Chronicle says the Toledo City Council approved a plat of land “contingent on Fareway’s signature” that “is planned to be used for a new McDonald’s.” That’s big news! The Toledo city website has a bad link to the … Continue reading →

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Dec 31

Fort Madison Toll Bridge cashless

Posted on Wednesday, December 31, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

October 4, 2015: The Fort Madison Toll Bridge is seen in the background of this image. Until the Fort Madison bypass opened, the bridge was the east end of IA 2. As of Dec. 1, you can’t pay cash to … Continue reading →

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Dec 29

The Cereal Bowl

Posted on Monday, December 29, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

If you buy three boxes of Chex (at once) by New Year’s Eve, you can get a Peanuts Holiday Tin! What can you do with all that Chex? Make Chex Mix for New Year’s Day! Or have many days’ worth … Continue reading →

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Dec 26

License Plate Letters — QLY

Posted on Friday, December 26, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Quickly? Quietly? Margaret Qualley? I think this will count as the end-of-year status for Iowa’s license plates, unless something pops up while driving this week.

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Dec 24

CPKC’s Holiday Train in Bellevue

Posted on Wednesday, December 24, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

For Christmas, here’s what I wrote after Thanksgiving about the Canadian Pacific Kansas City’s Holiday Train stop in Bellevue. Jackson County is the 14th county in Iowa I’ve written a Substack story from.

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Dec 22

Degner named Superintendent of the Year

Posted on Monday, December 22, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The website K-12 Dive has named Iowa City superintendent Matt Degner its Superintendent of the Year. Degner is a North Tama graduate, hence the link here, and because it’s that time of year.

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Dec 18

The very, very preliminary I-380 six-lane meeting

Posted on Thursday, December 18, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The biggest revelation of the DOT’s public meeting about six-laning the middle section of I-380 between Iowa City and Cedar Rapids is that project PDFs will not be made available online on a regular basis due to the Americans With … Continue reading →

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Dec 17

Lansing bridge demolition Friday

Posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2025, at 10:07 AM by Jeff

The Iowa DOT has a press release about the various warning zones around the Black Hawk Bridge in preparation for its demolition Friday morning. There will be a livestream. The car ferry will not operate over the weekend as debris … Continue reading →

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Dec 15

Meeting on I-35 in Ames today

Posted on Monday, December 15, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The Iowa DOT will have an open house and information meeting at the Ames Public Library tonight regarding the six-laning of I-35 from the end of the present project near IA 210 to the US 30 interchange. PDFs are available … Continue reading →

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Dec 10

Veterans Day at North Tama

Posted on Wednesday, December 10, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Obviously, this happened a month ago, but I’ve been busy.

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