Apr 24

New York Times discovers evidence of Brewers fans in Iowa

Posted on Thursday, April 24, 2014, at 2:49 PM by Jeff

I thought they were a myth!

The New York Times has an interactive “Map of Baseball Nation” that uses Facebook (ugh) data to drill down into Major League Baseball fan preferences by ZIP Code.

Iowa is pretty much what you would expect. Most of the state puts the Cubs on top by a plurality, sometimes a heavy plurality. The bottom tier of counties has lots of Cardinals (east) and Royals (west) fans, and northwest of a Sioux City-Clarion-Decorah line there are a lot of Twins fans.

The northernmost tier of counties is the only place the Facebook data finds an outright majority in a county for one team, the Twins; in ZIPs along the Minnesota border the favorite cracks 60%. The Cubs are in the high 40s in far eastern Iowa. But in Allamakee County, we find an outlier: 41% root for the Brewers.

The Yankees are quite often the second- or third-most popular team in a given area, except around Council Bluffs and Glenwood, where they are #1. Western Iowa south of Sioux City is very fragmented between the Cubs, Yankees, and the other regional teams. As for all those counties in Nebraska where the Yankees are top dog…draw your own conclusions.

The Tama County breakdown is 33% Cubs, 12% Cardinals, 11% Twins.

While I have my doubts/suspicions about using Facebook data as a stand-in for statistical samples, it’s an interesting map, and I hope the NYT will do similar things for the NFL, NBA, and college teams.

Posted in Maps, Sports | Comments Off on New York Times discovers evidence of Brewers fans in Iowa
Apr 24

I-74 project almost close enough to touch

Posted on Thursday, April 24, 2014, at 11:00 AM by Jeff


May 22, 2012: This view of I-74 into Illinois will still be what drivers see until sometime in 2019-20.

The Quad-City Times breaks down the current construction timeline  in the five-year plan for the I-74 bridge in an article from Monday. The public meetings were yesterday and today. For the next couple years, projects will be concentrated on other streets, but construction of the bridge itself is close enough that we can have actual years set for it. The Times says traffic will be on the new bridge in 2019 and completely open by late 2020.

To put this in Internet-speak: After years of being at the Duke Nukem Forever level of vaporware, IT’S HAPPENING!

*Note: As I was writing this, the DOT’s public-information page was not available, so that’s why there’s no link to there.

Posted in Construction | Comments Off on I-74 project almost close enough to touch
Apr 23

Last weeks at Clearfield school (Hey, that picture looks familiar)

Posted on Wednesday, April 23, 2014, at 1:42 PM by Jeff

KMA Radio has a story about the end of the school year approaching for the small southern Iowa district of Clearfield, which will dissolve. The story includes a photo of the school — my photo of the school, which I took in 2010 and attached to this blog post. KMA used my photo for a story last September, too.

I don’t necessarily mind the use of the photo — I’m kind of flattered, actually — but I do wish there would be a credit added.

Posted in Schools | Comments Off on Last weeks at Clearfield school (Hey, that picture looks familiar)
Apr 22

Altoona’s Archer Motel torn down

Posted on Tuesday, April 22, 2014, at 6:28 PM by Jeff

If you’re familiar with Hubbell Avenue heading out of Des Moines, the old, non-chain motels there are a reminder of pre-interstate times, when it was a primary way in and out of town. Three motels were clustered at the intersection of Hubbell and Broadway, where US 6 used to turn east and US 65 continued northeast.

Last fall, one of those motels, the Archer, was torn down. The sports editor of the Monticello Express remembers the place fondly.

Posted in Iowa Miscellaneous | Comments Off on Altoona’s Archer Motel torn down
Apr 22

Ultimate list of Iowa movies

Posted on Tuesday, April 22, 2014, at 11:25 AM by Jeff

On this website I have a list of all the times I know about Iowa mentions or settings in various forms of entertainment, but it looks like I’ve been one-upped. Way upped. The Des Moines Register reprints a much, much larger compilation of Iowa references in movies, by two people who will be putting it into a book. The blurbs are short and clipped, much like I use for the list. If the link doesn’t die, that will be a much better source for film, although my list will still be here in a different style of sorting.

I’ve added the link to the references page.

Posted in Iowa Miscellaneous | Comments Off on Ultimate list of Iowa movies
Apr 21

Railroad in Marshall, Hardin counties abandoned

Posted on Monday, April 21, 2014, at 1:48 PM by Jeff

albionRR1875
This 1875 map shows the recently abandoned railroad through Albion in the recently dissolved Iowa Township in Marshall County.

On the south side of Albion, a little more than a decade after an at-grade railroad crossing replaced a very old bridge, the crossbucks now carry the EXEMPT designation. To the left and right, the tracks have been removed.

Abandoning a railroad is a multi-step and multi-governmental process. In Iowa, the end result is often a “railbanking” of the land for “rails-to-trails” projects.

The segment being abandoned, from Steamboat Rock to Marshalltown, spent most of its life as part of the Minneapolis & St. Louis, even though the railroad never reached St. Louis and was more a connection to Peoria via Oskaloosa. It later became part of the Chicago and Northwestern. A complete history of the line is included in the documentation from the Surface Transportation Board. (Related notice in the Federal Register.)

In the end, it was property of the Iowa River Railroad. Notably, a segment south of Ackley will be retained, possibly because it serves the ethanol plant at the US 20/S56 interchange north of Steamboat Rock. Eldora is officially a county seat without rail service.

In relation to Iowa’s highway history, besides the crossing noted at the top, IA 215 between Gifford and Union was built alongside this railroad, it paralleled S75 between Liscomb and Albion, and the Lincoln Highway crossed it in Marshalltown. A photographer captured images of various parts of the segment being torn up last summer. There are also some pictures of  various bridges. A Google Street View from October 2009 shows the multiple sidings that used to be at Union, whose elevator will lose rail service.

Since the concrete for IA 330 at the rail crossing is pretty new, it could be a while before the signals are ripped out and the crossing removed. I think I had to stop only once or twice since the at-grade crossing was built.

There are other rail segments still being abandoned in Iowa, as this document from the Iowa DOT indicates. The Marshall-Hardin segment may be dropped off that list soon since it has been completed.

Posted in Iowa Miscellaneous | Comments Off on Railroad in Marshall, Hardin counties abandoned
Apr 18

Mediacom is charging a sales tax on franchise fees

Posted on Friday, April 18, 2014, at 11:24 AM by Jeff

One peril of auto-pay: You never know when or how you’ll be nickel-and-dimed. So this actually started with my November cable/Internet bill.

“We have recently reviewed our federal, state, and local tax collection process, and have made updates in accordance with the applicable tax codes for your area.”

Yes, you’re seeing that correctly. There’s a 6% sales tax on the franchise fee. The net increase in the bill ended up being 1 cent, though, because the amount in the first “state sales tax” line decreased.

In January, the “Local Broadcast Channel Surcharge” went up 16 cents, which added 1 cent more in the franchise fee and 1 cent more in sales tax. Right now, that’s a bigger increase than the restructured tax figuring.

But, with Des Moines implementing a 50% increase in the franchise fee starting in July, there will be a higher amount of franchise fee that will then be taxed!

I’m going to reduce my hit from that, starting today. Like many people, the biggest reason I keep cable around is for live sports — and basketball season is now over. So until football season, I’m going to the super-basic bare-bones package. It’s not “cutting the cord” entirely, but when the History Channel isn’t doing anything about history and my “must see TV” is Jeopardy and Star Trek, why not try to save some money?

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Mediacom is charging a sales tax on franchise fees
Apr 17

Former NT band teacher in the news

Posted on Thursday, April 17, 2014, at 10:03 AM by Jeff

On the wires this week: A story about a 79-year-old flute player in a fifth-grade band in Dubuque, with a quote from director Brian Enabnit. I am assuming this is the same Brian Enabit who led North Tama’s high school band during part of the ’90s, although the difference between small high school and fifth-grade band makes me wonder.

Posted in Tama County | Comments Off on Former NT band teacher in the news
Apr 16

Happy Map Day

Posted on Wednesday, April 16, 2014, at 10:18 AM by Jeff

Belated Map Day, anyway. The DOT released the 2014 Iowa highway map online yesterday. The most notable change is the logo in the upper right corner — it has the newly designed version rather than the one created in 1975. That logo incorporated a variant of the U.S. DOT logo with the 1970s “Iowa: A Place to Grow” design in the center (and, as of the time of this writing, is still on the map page linked above).

IA 2’s black line through Fort Madison has been removed along with Business 61. I may post other nuggets of note later.

 

Posted in Maps | Comments Off on Happy Map Day
Apr 15

School nomenclature gymnastics

Posted on Tuesday, April 15, 2014, at 7:16 AM by Jeff

The school district in the central portion of Clinton County has an issue with being called…Central Clinton.

The Clinton Herald has the longer story, which was picked up by the AP. The official name is “Central Community School District of Clinton County”. The key to the grievance, apparently, is how the school name was displayed at the boys’ state basketball tournament, “CClinton”.

The district is looking at a nonexistent problem, or at least may not be trying to solve the right problem, and here’s why:

• The school was listed that way because the display at Wells Fargo Arena is limited to eight characters. At least, all my experiences there point to that limitation. It could be nine, but Tennessee was originally labeled as “Tennesse” in the 2012 NCAA Women’s Regional until I pointed that out to someone. Here would have been possible choices:

    • “CClinton”, which is precisely eight characters without the space, has the county name, and as such does “recognize the district or its location” to the best extent possible;
    • “C.DeWitt”, also precisely eight characters, something that may not immediately come to mind, but in retrospect may have been the optimal solution;
    • “C. Clin.”, a style followed in the 2012 girls’ state tournament with North Mahaska as “N. Mah.”;
    • “Central”, which may have been avoided because it doesn’t tell a neutral watcher anything about where the district is, especially since it’s in far eastern Iowa;
    • “DeWitt”, which while giving a city name is not really the go-to option in this case.
    • During the HS tournaments, the team names have not been used on the scoreboard.

• In Department of Education lists, the name is “Central Clinton,” which the Herald acknowledged the district has used. Central Decatur, Central Lee, and Central Lyon follow that style. “[Geographic Location] [County Name]” occurs throughout the state, often followed by “Community School District” in the formal title.

• Iowa has another county-less Central — Central Community School of Elkader. Now, why that district isn’t called Central Clayton, I’m not sure. That’s also the district that owns central.k12.ia.us, while De Witt uses www.central-csd.org. Dropping “of Clinton County” from the official De Witt name could cause more confusion.

My suggestion: Central Clinton Community School District (“of DeWitt” if necessary) for the formal name, Central Clinton for the short name. The word “County” could also be in the formal name after “Clinton” to clarify apart from the city. Note, though, that this likely would have resulted in “CClinton” on the basketball scoreboard, which is what kicked this whole thing off in the first place.

UPDATE 10:45 AM: Added “Clinton County” note at bottom and team name bullet point.
Posted in Schools | Comments Off on School nomenclature gymnastics