Nov 12

Bedrock impedes Bettendorf I-74 construction

Posted on Thursday, November 12, 2015, at 3:00 PM by Jeff

The Quad-City Times has a construction update on I-74, which is a little behind schedule from unexpectedly tough bedrock. Linked at the end of the story is a 6½-minute video from the Iowa DOT from January with a visual flyover of the project.

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Nov 12

Quad Cities radio station broke the Christmas seal

Posted on Thursday, November 12, 2015, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

KMXG-FM in Davenport started its merry-making a week ago.

There oughta be a law against this sort of thing.

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Nov 11

Gladbrook-Reinbeck dissolution petition advances; meeting tonight

Posted on Wednesday, November 11, 2015, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

GladReinMap

The potential unprecedented self-immolation of an Iowa school district has taken a step forward. A petition to dissolve Gladbrook-Reinbeck has the necessary number of signatures for a referendum, most of which came from the Gladbrook area, the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports. The dissolution committee will meet tonight at 6:30 at the elementary school in Reinbeck.

The map above shows the least-complicated vision of a dissolution, split along pre-consolidation lines, with the former Gladbrook district going to GMG and the former Reinbeck district going to Grundy Center. Obviously, though, some parts would be better off parceled out to others — the Black Hawk County portion could go to Hudson and North Tama could get the rest of what used to be Dinsdale (all of which is closer to Traer than Grundy Center). That’s for the dissolution committee to map out.

As I said in July, this is a really really really horrifically bad idea. The chance of the Gladbrook school being reopened is next to nothing. A dissolution would not benefit current GR students. This matter shows the lengths a community will go to have its students at a school in town, and only time will tell if this is a one-off case or a sign of things to come.

(What a way to mark the football team’s second consecutive appearance in the state semifinals.)

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Nov 10

Tour of abandoned Burlington high school

Posted on Tuesday, November 10, 2015, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Story on KWQC.

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Nov 09

Gladbrook-Reinbeck, Denver back in semifinals

Posted on Monday, November 9, 2015, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Just like last year, Class A District 4 has proven to be the toughest district in small-school football, with two teams in the semifinals. Gladbrook-Reinbeck and Denver will face each other Friday morning at 10 AM (which, if you have to have teams in the UNI-Dome at 10 AM, is not bad at all). Denver beat GR 21-7 in the regular season.

Defending Class A champion Logan-Magnolia is not returning, after an earlier loss to Akron-Westfield. It is not a short jaunt for the Westerners, who will be on the road for four hours to get to the UNI-Dome, while the Dakota Dome is half an hour away.

In eight-man play, MMC is still alive, and it would be uplifting to win a state championship in its last year before whole-grade sharing with Remsen-Union. (Unfortunately, this probably won’t happen, because on the other side of the bracket is Don Bosco, which has never lost a regular-season 8-man game and scored EIGHTY POINTS in its quarterfinal game.)

In other football news, South Tama was eliminated Friday, and for those in central Iowa, it’s another week of VALLEYDOWLING VALLEYDOWLING VALLEYDOWLING.

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Nov 07

Another ISU-Oklahoma number to remember

Posted on Saturday, November 7, 2015, at 10:20 AM by Jeff

Two hundred and ninety.

It was 290 days after Iowa State’s last win over Oklahoma in football that Tim Berners-Lee published the first website. That is to say, the last time ISU beat OU, the World Wide Web did not exist.

(And the second-to-last time ISU beat OU, television was barely leaving infancy.)

The 80th incarnation of this series is tonight.

Other statistic of dubious significance, if I’ve done this right: The Kansas-Texas game today is the first between two teams previously defeated by Iowa State in that season since Baylor-Nebraska on Halloween 2009.

UPDATE: University of Iowa graduate and former Hayden Fry assistant Bob Stoops quite enjoys beating Iowa State like a rented mule, doesn’t he?

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Nov 06

Story County opposes closing US 30 intersections

Posted on Friday, November 6, 2015, at 10:10 AM by Jeff

Ames Tribune:

After more than two hours of what was at times contentious public comment and debate, the Story County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted to draft an official letter opposing the closing of several intersections along U.S. Highway 30 between Ames and Nevada. … 

This intersection would cut off U.S. 30 access to Vetter Equipment Company, which invested $8 million into its new facility in 2013 for the specific reason that it offered access to the highway and increased visibility to potential customers.

I am very surprised that Vetter Equipment did not consider the possibility that access to 30 would be restricted at some point in the future. While closing intersections to turn an expressway into a freeway isn’t that common in Iowa, it’s happened before. In fact, it’s exactly what happened at US 30 and Dayton Road on the other side of I-35.

The opposition from the county supervisors will be something the DOT takes into consideration, but the question is if this stretch of US 30 rises to the same level of the US 65/IA 330 intersection where all sorts of half-measures other than an interchange are not getting the job done.

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Nov 05

Central Clinton officially renamed Central DeWitt

Posted on Thursday, November 5, 2015, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The school district in the central part of Clinton County has made good on its intention to disassociate itself with the county.

The “Central DeWitt” name change passed overwhelmingly in the district, reports WQAD. It can’t be simply “Central” because the state of Iowa already has a district with that name — which, naturally, is near the northeast corner of the state. So now the “Central” doesn’t mean anything, because DeWitt doesn’t have multiple high schools (and even then, as I’ve said before, the city name would come first).

Alphabetically, the name moves below Central Decatur in a full list, but the code on tax forms and such things won’t change.

The whole thing is an unnecessary overreaction — I can’t tell you how many times you say “North Tama” and people think about the town of Tama — but at least people know where DeWitt is.

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Nov 04

The Crimson Monkey: Silver Anniversary

Posted on Wednesday, November 4, 2015, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

What better way to come off an awesome, fun victory than to go against an opponent not interested in taking any prisoners? Just like in 2011, the Cyclones are going from a winning high into the meat grinder at Norman. What’s more, the Sooners just saw their season’s single loss get devalued substantially. (They lost to a team that was shut out by Iowa State! We can’t let them into the playoff! Put in the team that lost to a team that lost to Memphis!)

That means it’s time for the annual update to my long piece about Iowa State’s historical futility against Oklahoma. It has been 25 years, and 16 games, since the last win.

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Nov 03

Roads abandoned amid budget difficulties

Posted on Tuesday, November 3, 2015, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

AP via Des Moines Register:

[S]omething surprising is happening to Iowa’s transportation system. It’s actually getting smaller as state and county agencies quietly give up on maintaining many rural roads and bridges to spend on bigger, more essential projects in busier areas. …

Rural communities complain that they are being shortchanged in favor of cities.

During the last five years, Warren County has permanently closed 20 bridges over small streams, with more likely to come. Current budgets can’t possibly pay to maintain every road or bridge built over the last six decades, according to transportation officials.

What’s happening is exactly what I said the DOT director meant in his statement about a shrinking road system.

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