Category Archives: Iowa Miscellaneous

Jun 01

A slight extension of this website’s coverage

Blog post 2000! With all the Iowa highway information newly available online, there’s plenty of work I can do. I’ve been doing some of that by editing the pages with the most important changes (or obvious corrections). I announced a … Continue reading

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May 31

Walnut McDonald’s closed for good

The McDonald’s at I-80 exit 46 in western Iowa closed permanently April 17. I found out first-hand, but it slipped my mind for about a month. It didn’t have great reviews on TripAdvisor, for whatever that’s worth. The closure is … Continue reading

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May 30

WHAT Confederate monuments in Iowa?

October 4, 2015: In this view of the Civil War soldier at top of the monument at Keokuk National Cemetery, it doesn’t look like he has a specific insignia. But that’s likely intentional, at least in part because he represents unknown soldiers … Continue reading

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May 24

Goodbye, Gov. Branstad

November 21, 2012: Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad (second from left) helps cut the ribbon to open new US 20 between IA 4 and US 71. Also shown, center to right, are Lt. Gov. Kim Reynolds, U.S. Rep. Steve King and … Continue reading

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May 17

Statewide bridge database available online

September 1, 2009: Despite being less than 50 years old, the IA 136 bridge over the Mississippi River at Clinton is classified as poor condition and functionally obsolete. Without any fanfare, the state has put a valuable resource online: A … Continue reading

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May 09

Sinclair-Tribune deal affects all but one Iowa market

Sinclair Broadcasting Group, an owner of TV stations across the country that’s going to get more coverage about its visible political stances but is better known to consumers for repeatedly playing hardball on cable and satellite retransmission agreements, is about to … Continue reading

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Apr 21

Dispatches from the frontier

The Washington Post went to Kiron, Steve King’s hometown, and put its observations on the front page earlier this week. The article doesn’t set out for a particular point, more of a “day in the life” of pretty typical Iowans. … Continue reading

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Apr 20

The 1981 map and the tail end of the Great Decommissioning

The disclaimer on the 1981 Iowa highway map. From the start, I have limited the reach of Iowa Highway Ends to those state highways on the 1981 map and later. (For the US routes, since there are far fewer, any … Continue reading

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Apr 18

The new R&T lofts

June 11, 2013: View down the staircase that runs the height of the 1918 Register & Tribune Building. The historic Register & Tribune Building in Des Moines, where I worked for a decade, is almost ready to open as a … Continue reading

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Apr 03

Atlas Obscura finds the Sullivan Line

Another article about the Honey War? Sure! For a shorter story and more geographic nitty-gritty, there is my page on the Sullivan Line, but my photos were taken when the grass wasn’t green. Also, I visited the marker in “the … Continue reading

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