Apr 01

Hills Elementary to close

Posted on Monday, April 1, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

It was pretty much guaranteed to happen as soon as it was announced: The Iowa City school district is shutting down Hills Elementary. Stories: Gazette, Daily Iowan, KCRG (autoplay), KWWL (video only),

Iowa Starting Line has a copy of the packet from the March 5 school board meeting, which directly and explicitly blames private school vouchers and insufficient state aid for the need to fill a multimillion-dollar budget deficit. The district has needed to cut $24.7 million over two school years, and Hills accounts for $1.66 million of the remaining $3.75 million needed.

On March 1, I mentioned that the Hills school was built the year before the town was attached to the Iowa City district. KCRG has a story saying that the town sold the building to the city for $1 then, and would buy it back for the same price, adjusted for inflation.

Enrollment in the Iowa City district dropped in 2020-21, but there was a notable drop in the overall statewide total then, and it’s pretty much back to where it was. If Iowa City and Linn-Mar, two growing and property-tax-rich school districts, are having to make cuts, what does that say about the rest of the state?

Posted in Schools | Comments Off on Hills Elementary to close
Mar 27

You’ve got to come back with me!

Posted on Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

In which I, a “Back to the Future” trilogy superfan, get to geek out in Gladbrook over the newest addition to Matchstick Marvels.

Posted in Tama County | Comments Off on You’ve got to come back with me!
Mar 25

Eating from the what now?

Posted on Monday, March 25, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Deep in the March 19 Associated Press story “Pedal coast-to-coast without using a road? New program helps connect trails across the US,” we find this:

“Without the infrastructure bill, we wouldn’t be having these conversations,” Paprocki said. “We’d be fighting tooth and nail to get money and would probably be left off the food troth.”

Really? REALLY? Does the AP need a farm kid turned copy editor to teach the big city editors about ag-related metaphors? Perhaps they need their heads stuck in a trough.

In completely unrelated news, and I mean that in this case, newspapers owned by Gannett and McClatchy are dropping AP as a service. This is pretty big for the news industry. It means that in Iowa, the Des Moines Register, Ames Tribune, and Iowa City Press-Citizen will not run AP stories, and the AP cannot take stories from them and rewrite for syndication to other news outlets. Retired KCCI news director Dave Busiek wrote on his Substack about the potential implications.

UPDATE: In extremely related news, there but for the grace of God go I, but this is not the Coach K you are looking for. Headline typos are nightmares.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Eating from the what now?
Mar 23

Rodney Dangerfield, call your office (again) (again)

Posted on Saturday, March 23, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The Dish Network listing for Thursday’s ISU men’s NCAA tournament game forgot that Caitlin Clark isn’t playing in it. Maybe we can’t blame them, given the complete saturation.

Notice it never happens the other way around.

(h/t my parents)

PS: How ’bout that Audi Crooks!

Posted in Sports | Comments Off on Rodney Dangerfield, call your office (again) (again)
Mar 21

Southern Iowa US 63 corridor study online

Posted on Thursday, March 21, 2024, at 10:05 AM by Jeff

A “Draft Vision Document” for US 63 from Ottumwa to the Missouri state line is open for comment at the DOT website. It summarizes findings from meetings last year.

Much like the study of US 63 in Tama and Poweshiek counties, this study looks at turning the road into a Super-2 configuration. That includes adding passing/climbing lanes, something that southern Iowa needs on its roads more than northern Iowa does given the hilly nature of the area. US 63 already has some on the segment in question, but the distribution of them is part of the study.

The Amish community in the area is something else that makes this study a little different from others. Heavy buggy traffic affects planning for the shoulders and rumble strips.

The appendix says the study will be complete this winter but there is no timeline for improvements.

Posted in Construction | Comments Off on Southern Iowa US 63 corridor study online
Mar 19

Boomers, Boomers, Boomers

Posted on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

In my latest column, I look with dismay at yet another presidential election matchup between candidates born in the 1940s. The only one since 1992 that didn’t include at least one was 2008 (McCain, a Silent, vs. Obama, a young Boomer).

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Boomers, Boomers, Boomers
Mar 14

Hamburg intersection to become 4-way stop

Posted on Thursday, March 14, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff


October 2, 2015: On southbound US 275 at IA 333 in Hamburg, you can see “Traffic from left does not stop” in yellow under the stop sign.

Hamburg’s key highway intersection is getting a change.

The intersection of US 275 and IA 333, which since 2003 has been IA 333’s east end, is being changed from a three-way stop to a four-way stop. The Iowa DOT says the change will take place Friday.

Until this change, northbound 275 traffic coming from the west could turn north and follow 275 or go straight ahead or turn without stopping. The fact that it’s a three-way stop at a four-way intersection could lead to confusion, understandably.

Posted in Highway Miscellaneous | Comments Off on Hamburg intersection to become 4-way stop
Mar 12

Iowa schools timeline: Clay and Buena Vista

Posted on Tuesday, March 12, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Because I was out of ideas and had to blow one of my “evergreens” wanted to give Substack readers a taste of my school research, my most recent post is a compilation of dates for schools in Buena Vista and Clay counties.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Iowa schools timeline: Clay and Buena Vista
Mar 07

License Plate Letters — OBE

Posted on Thursday, March 7, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

There is confirmation via reader e-mail and personal observation that license plates have entered the O’s. This did not happen with the 1997 series, which skipped from N to P.

It did, however, happen with the 1986 series, which began to be issued in January 1985. On Nov. 17, 1984, the Cedar Rapids Gazette had a front-page story with a photo of plates the Linn County Treasurer’s Office had already received. First up was OQA 000. This series was exclusively the second half of the alphabet, and the fact that Linn got O’s indicates that the largest population counties may have gotten them out of order before an alphabetical-by-county issuance.

I don’t think that many Linn County residents are members of the Order of the British Empire, though.

Posted in License Plates | Comments Off on License Plate Letters — OBE
Mar 05

More about College Township

Posted on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

In early 2021 I wrote about “Western College” in southern Linn County and how that connected to the short-lived Leander Clark College in Toledo.

Now the Gazette’s “Curious Iowa” series has a feature on College Township with more history about the hamlet of Western itself.

(Yes, the article misstates the name of the merged Tama-Toledo paper.

Posted in Iowa Miscellaneous | Comments Off on More about College Township