Category Archives: Iowa Miscellaneous

Feb 27

Boxed Out (or, Going Topless)

Reminder: Dig up all those Casey’s pizza box tops you can find, because this weekend they’re going away forever. (Story: KCCI.) Here’s my collection, which also shows a clip of the multiple changes in boxes over the past five years … Continue reading

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Feb 25

A coordinated effort?

Look at what WHO’s Erin Kiernan was wearing Monday. Now look at what KCRG’s Beth Malicki was wearing Monday. Unfortunately, I can’t embed this one. No criticism here at all, just noticing an amazing coincidence. (Yes, I routinely watch two different … Continue reading

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Feb 14

Iowa’s last Kmarts close Sunday

August 19, 2019: This is not a Kmart in Iowa; this is the one in International Falls, Minnesota, that was in the nationwide round of Kmart closures announced in September and closed Dec. 16. It will be the last Kmart … Continue reading

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Jan 30

Waukee bans Valentine’s Day

Waukee learned their staff was putting way too many resources into helping students decorate their Valentine’s Day trinkets. The school district also realized there was a growing number of families in their community that didn’t celebrate the holiday. I didn’t … Continue reading

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Jan 23

Utah keeps powering past Iowa, with Nevada on its tail

The depopulation of rural Iowa is now a problem for the National Guard. In the adjutant general’s “Condition of the Guard” message to the Iowa Legislature earlier this month, he said: “I can’t continue to have quality infrastructure where I’m pouring … Continue reading

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Jan 13

A historic note, slightly appended, or upended

After the 2018 midterms I wrote: So, barring surprises, in 2020 Iowa will have Republican women in three top positions — Reynolds, Ernst, and Speaker of the House Linda Upmeyer — and Democratic women in two more, Axne and Finkenauer. Well, … Continue reading

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Jan 08

Hardin County Courthouse closes the front door

April 4, 2006: This view of the stately Hardin County Courthouse in Eldora now needs a notice at the top of the steps: Please use side door. The Iowa Falls Times-Citizen (two paragraphs, anyway) and KLMJ/KQCR Radio report that starting last … Continue reading

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Jan 07

A Reinbeck lawyer writes about rural life

Or possibly the Reinbeck lawyer, Abby Wessel, wrote for the November 2019 issue of the Iowa Lawyer magazine: Reinbeck is a small but prosperous town situated upon what is arguably the best farmland in the state. Mike offered me a … Continue reading

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Jan 03

TV station coverage maps updated for the new decade

Let’s say you are a presidential candidate. (Odds are you might be.) And let’s say you want to run the same ad at least twice every half-hour*. Since you’re mostly likely in that group with a percentage smaller than the … Continue reading

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Dec 30

The decade in Iowa roads: Four-lane completions with a WTF cherry on top

November 4, 2019: From the Lincoln Highway in 2011 to the Jefferson Highway in 2019, Iowa’s scenic and historic byways received a more uniform, more visible signing scheme in the 2010s. Since the Second Great Decommissioning and completion of four-lane … Continue reading

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