Author Archives: Jeff

Aug 14

Preston Station sale

 November 29, 2002 When I was taking pictures of the George Preston Station in Belle Plaine in late 2002, George’s son Ron happened to be there. I hadn’t expected that, but I explained that I was taking pictures of the … Continue reading →

Posted in Highway Miscellaneous | Comments Off on Preston Station sale
Aug 13

We might have seen one or two of them

Iowa TV markets rank Nos. 4, 6, and 7 for political ad saturation. On a semi-related note, President Obama’s cross-state trip this week will get him coverage in four of Iowa’s seven media markets (five if KTVO covers him in … Continue reading →

Posted in Maps | Comments Off on We might have seen one or two of them
Aug 09

College conferences and House apportionment

(This is long and deals with the intersection of geography and football. You have been warned.) When Iowa State was on the verge of falling into athletics oblivion a year ago (again), I wrote in The Des Moines Register about … Continue reading →

Posted in Maps, Sports | Comments Off on College conferences and House apportionment
Aug 08

Aren’t you just the cutest little pirate

 Polly wants a cracker — or Polly will use his hook! The Hudson school district has RSS and Twitter feeds. (Technically, the Twitter feed is the superintendent’s.) That’s one of many school districts that redirect from or don’t use the … Continue reading →

Posted in Schools | Comments Off on Aren’t you just the cutest little pirate
Aug 07

Brie? Gouda? Wensleydale?

The Des Moines Register looks around a really big Hy-Vee: The combined food store, restaurant, coffee shop, sushi bar, health store, take-out food department, cooking education station and cheese shop is housed in more than 95,000 square feet. It’s the … Continue reading →

Posted in Iowa Miscellaneous | Comments Off on Brie? Gouda? Wensleydale?
Aug 07

How television ate college football

Andy Staples has an excellent long piece at SI.com. A key passage about the most recent events: Later, when it came time to add a 14th school, SEC leaders took Missouri. Clemson or Florida State might have made more geographic sense, … Continue reading →

Posted in Sports | Comments Off on How television ate college football
Aug 06

Everything except Business 20

July 25, 2012: The westernmost part of Business 20 through Fort Dodge now goes west a short bit on what was D26 before turning due south to immediately meet new 20. D36 is the designation for old 20 through Moorland … Continue reading →

Posted in Highway Miscellaneous | Comments Off on Everything except Business 20
Aug 05

No construction on IA 330

Planned work to build shoulders on the road south of Albion has been scrapped. (Marshalltown Times-Republican) Something was going to have to give, since the houses in the former village of Marietta are so close to the road. The road … Continue reading →

Posted in Construction | Comments Off on No construction on IA 330
Aug 03

Where I haven’t been in Iowa

After my latest excursion to the northwest (more on that eventually), I have been to or through all by 15 of Iowa’s 500 largest cities. The top of the “unvisited” list is Blue Grass (#211), by virtue of not really … Continue reading →

Posted in Iowa Miscellaneous | Comments Off on Where I haven’t been in Iowa
Aug 01

The most the New York Times has written about Iowa State

I’m not completely sure the statement in the headline is true, but the vast majority of this article about what Penn State faces with scholarship reduction deals with just HOW BAD Cyclone football was in the Jim Walden era thanks … Continue reading →

Posted in Sports | Comments Off on The most the New York Times has written about Iowa State