Jun 18

Exira-EHK merger vote coming soon

Posted on Tuesday, June 18, 2013, at 11:33 AM by Jeff

A good article from the Omaha World-Herald with some basics about the merger process, benefits, and the pressure districts face. The most important factor in this case, though, may be the financial trouble the Exira district has been in recently.

Posted in Schools | Comments Off on Exira-EHK merger vote coming soon
Jun 17

Another Dyersville interchange meeting

Posted on Monday, June 17, 2013, at 1:59 PM by Jeff

Still about the one to the southwest with US 20.

Posted in Construction | Comments Off on Another Dyersville interchange meeting
Jun 15

The Des Moines Register moves

Posted on Saturday, June 15, 2013, at 3:28 PM by Jeff

Stories from WHO and KCCI, along with the Register’s last editorial from the old building. This makes the second newspaper building I’ve worked in that has been abandoned.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on The Des Moines Register moves
Jun 14

Royal Gorge fire in Colorado

Posted on Friday, June 14, 2013, at 1:38 PM by Jeff

royalgorge
August 5, 1995: Entrance to Royal Gorge park/tourist area. I presume this is in the area burned in the fire.

Wildfires in Colorado have claimed the area around a major tourist attraction, Royal Gorge Bridge near Cañon City, Colorado. The bridge is still intact but slightly damaged.

When my family went there in 1995, Royal Gorge was billed as the highest suspension bridge in the world, but this story from CBS’s Denver affiliate says it is now in eighth place but still highest in the U.S.

The news reports say that practically everything around the bridge, including the tram across the gorge, is a total loss.

Very sad.

Posted in Geography | Comments Off on Royal Gorge fire in Colorado
Jun 13

Hallie Christofferson, Iowa ambassador

Posted on Thursday, June 13, 2013, at 2:31 PM by Jeff

Ames Tribune:

“My roommates [at the Team USA tryouts] didn’t really know much about Iowa, so they were just asking a bunch of questions,” Christofferson said. “The topic came up about how I used to show pigs, so that took a while to explain to them.”

And how was it finally resolved?

“I had to demonstrate how I showed pigs,” Christofferson said.

That’s only part of the larger story about how she’s working both an internship and workouts this summer.

Posted in Iowa Miscellaneous, Sports | Comments Off on Hallie Christofferson, Iowa ambassador
Jun 13

Chopped liver, as usual

Posted on Thursday, June 13, 2013, at 10:40 AM by Jeff

Andy Staples fawns over Nebraska’s move to the Big Ten:

If Nebraska and Oklahoma could somehow find a way to play an annual out-of-conference game, I’d bump this move to an A-plus. That was the best game in the Big 8 and pretty much the only thing anyone misses about Nebraska being in the Big 12. With the playoff coming, it might be worth it to both schools. Oklahoma has never been scared to play anyone. Neither has Nebraska. So let’s make it happen every year.

“The only thing anyone misses.” You know, aside from the five teams in four neighboring states, many with more than 90 games played against Nebraska, who may never get to face the Huskers again. But who cares if the teams partially responsible for making Nebraska what it is today never get another shot?

He also writes that loss of the Texas-A&M game is “a needless consequence” and could be played “if their leaders quit being babies about it.” Hogwash (actually, another, more serious word). Notably, he does not say the same thing about Missouri-Kansas.

Posted in Sports | Comments Off on Chopped liver, as usual
Jun 12

Council Bluffs willing to take over IA 192

Posted on Wednesday, June 12, 2013, at 11:06 AM by Jeff


June 12, 2006: Even if IA 192 got decommissioned, the route would still work as a Business Loop I-29. This is the north end’s direct merge into the interstate.

Council Bluffs is so desperate to get water and sewer work done on West Broadway (US 6) that it’s willing to take responsibility for IA 192 (16th Street) north of there, reports the Omaha World-Herald. The article notes cities are responsible for that even on state-maintained roads.

The article also says, “What’s more, the city will take over ownership of the South Expressway between I-80 and West Broadway as part of a railroad consolidation agreement for the Interstate reconstruction project.” I think that means the south segment including a viaduct will be turned over regardless of what happens with 16th Street. In that case, IA 192’s length would be cut in half, left only with the portion that used to be US 75 on 16th Street. Transfer of that would, of course, eliminate the highway altogether.

However, interstate reconstruction in that area is still years off. There’s a state website dedicated to the project, but it sorely needs to be updated since it still says “Construction on Segment 2 is expected to begin in 2011.”

In other news, the highway commission approved the five-year plan yesterday.

Posted in Iowa Miscellaneous | Comments Off on Council Bluffs willing to take over IA 192
Jun 10

School closures and the Barker rules

Posted on Monday, June 10, 2013, at 3:23 PM by Jeff

The Iowa Department of Education has online the two dozen or so appeals about school closings since 1977. That year, the Iowa Department of Public Instruction created the “Barker rules”. In response to a case regarding the Van Buren school district (PDF), recommendations but not a law were put out for how a school board should proceed in closing a building.*

The recommendations became “administrative rules” in 2003 — which is how things fell apart. It’s only fitting that a procedure that mostly affects rural areas got brought down by something happening in Des Moines.

As part of a comprehensive assessment of the Des Moines school district, the school board there after multiple reviews and meetings voted in July 2005 to close a handful of buildings. Some parents and others claimed the district had not followed the Barker rules. The district said it had, and the Board of Education sided with it. The parents/community members then went to court, which culminated in an Iowa Supreme Court ruling (PDF) on July 31, 2009.

Not only did the court uphold the building closures, it ruled that “legislative authorization for the ISBE’s adoption of rules prescribing the procedure school districts must follow in making school closing decisions is noticeably absent in the Code.” (Wallace v. Iowa State Board of Education, 07-0943, p.8) The board had made an “erroneous interpretation of the statues” and “[a]ccordingly, the rules are void.” (p.9)

Since then, the Department of Education still encourages districts to follow the Barker rules, but they are not required. Once a local school board has made its decision, there isn’t much recourse left.

*The Barker ruling is about the only time the state overruled the school district with actual consequences. The board said Sutherland was wrong in closing Calumet in 1984, but by the time that happened it was too late.

Posted in Schools | Comments Off on School closures and the Barker rules
Jun 08

Double minority

Posted on Saturday, June 8, 2013, at 10:26 PM by Jeff

According to Pew Research Center, 56% of all American adults now have a smart phone and 67% are on Facebook.

Considering there are some people who fall in the latter category but not the former (and likely much more than vice versa), the percentage who have neither — and are under the age of 60 — may border on vanishingly small. However, I remain among them.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Double minority
Jun 07

Button copy in Indiana

Posted on Friday, June 7, 2013, at 10:21 PM by Jeff

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

July 7, 2008: I-64 in Indiana, four miles from the Kentucky state line. In other news, this picture is nearly five years old.

(Sorry for the lack of stuff, been preoccupied.)

Posted in Highway Miscellaneous | Comments Off on Button copy in Indiana