Author Archives: Jeff

Dec 24

CPKC’s Holiday Train in Bellevue

Posted on Wednesday, December 24, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

For Christmas, here’s what I wrote after Thanksgiving about the Canadian Pacific Kansas City’s Holiday Train stop in Bellevue. Jackson County is the 14th county in Iowa I’ve written a Substack story from.

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Dec 22

Degner named Superintendent of the Year

Posted on Monday, December 22, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The website K-12 Dive has named Iowa City superintendent Matt Degner its Superintendent of the Year. Degner is a North Tama graduate, hence the link here, and because it’s that time of year.

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Dec 18

The very, very preliminary I-380 six-lane meeting

Posted on Thursday, December 18, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The biggest revelation of the DOT’s public meeting about six-laning the middle section of I-380 between Iowa City and Cedar Rapids is that project PDFs will not be made available online on a regular basis due to the Americans With … Continue reading →

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Dec 17

Lansing bridge demolition Friday

Posted on Wednesday, December 17, 2025, at 10:07 AM by Jeff

The Iowa DOT has a press release about the various warning zones around the Black Hawk Bridge in preparation for its demolition Friday morning. There will be a livestream. The car ferry will not operate over the weekend as debris … Continue reading →

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Dec 15

Meeting on I-35 in Ames today

Posted on Monday, December 15, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The Iowa DOT will have an open house and information meeting at the Ames Public Library tonight regarding the six-laning of I-35 from the end of the present project near IA 210 to the US 30 interchange. PDFs are available … Continue reading →

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Dec 10

Veterans Day at North Tama

Posted on Wednesday, December 10, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Obviously, this happened a month ago, but I’ve been busy.

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Dec 08

How about those Hoosiers?

Posted on Monday, December 8, 2025, at 10:05 AM by Jeff

If I ever update my Iowa State-vs.-Oklahoma football page, the first graphic will need a fix after all. As for the rest of the weekend’s events, I might have more about that on my Substack later. Might.

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Dec 05

A map of 2025 8-man football forfeits

Posted on Friday, December 5, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

High school football season has been over for a couple of weeks, but the issues created by the multiple forfeits is going to come up again. I did enjoy making the map, though. More than half of the teams in … Continue reading →

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Dec 03

Okoboji writers retreat recap 2025

Posted on Wednesday, December 3, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

I didn’t do a story on my time at the Okoboji Writers (and Songwriters) Retreat last year because I ran into a different story on my departure via Sioux City, but I did this year. If anything, I had to … Continue reading →

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Dec 01

Traer losing its doctor’s office

Posted on Monday, December 1, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

November 11, 2025: MercyOne Traer Family Medicine opened as the North Tama Medical Clinic in 1976. A decade after losing the town’s longtime dentist, and a few years removed from losing the town’s once-a-week optometrist, the town of Traer is … Continue reading →

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