Author Archives: Jeff

Nov 26

Public vs. private, times six

Posted on Wednesday, November 26, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

All but one of the seven Iowa high school football championship games pitted a public school against a private school. The outlier was Class A, MMCRU vs. St. Ansgar. (Semi-ironic, no?) That is more public vs. private finals in football … Continue reading →

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Nov 24

Voluntary and involuntary

Posted on Monday, November 24, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Erin Kiernan is voluntarily leaving WHO in Des Moines to spend more time with her family — and that’s in the most positive way possible. The TV staff surprised her with a seven-minute farewell segment. Today is her last broadcast. … Continue reading →

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Nov 18

John Fitzsimmons, 1959-2025

Posted on Tuesday, November 18, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

John Fitzsimmons of Boone, a longtime member of the Lincoln Highway Association, died Saturday. He had a blog he occasionally posted to from 2016 to 2021. He billed himself as a “vagabond road artist”.  I last saw him at the … Continue reading →

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Nov 11

Gannett changes date style in stories

Posted on Tuesday, November 11, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Here’s something that you might not notice unless it’s directly pointed out: Gannett newspapers nationwide, including the Des Moines Register, Iowa City Press-Citizen, and Ames Tribune, have changed how dates are written in their stories. This has been going on … Continue reading →

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Nov 06

Gladbrook-Reinbeck bond issue succeeds — barely

Posted on Thursday, November 6, 2025, at 11:00 AM by Jeff

Well, how about that. It took Grundy County voting more than 90% in favor, but it happened. I cover the G-R bond vote and many more, with a map of every district in the state that had a bond referendum, … Continue reading →

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Nov 03

Gladbrook-Reinbeck’s third bond vote in four years

Posted on Monday, November 3, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Here we go again. This time, unlike last year’s vote, Gladbrook-Reinbeck’s superintendent made clear that there is a “stopping point” on this bond. It’s down to doing nothing but replacing the classrooms currently in the oldest building, and the auditorium … Continue reading →

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Oct 31

Completing my circumnavigation (in 2015)

Posted on Friday, October 31, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

I almost, but not quite, published a recap of Day 8 of my circumnavigation of Iowa on the day of the 10th anniversary (!) of it happening. It’s still to the month, though.

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Oct 29

1A volleyball regional finals: public vs. private

Posted on Wednesday, October 29, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Tonight 16 teams complete for eight places in the Class 1A state volleyball tournament. Like is so often the case as we reach this level, we have a bunch of public-private matchups. Most important for this blog is North Tama … Continue reading →

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Oct 28

GR puts out video before bond vote

Posted on Tuesday, October 28, 2025, at 10:10 AM by Jeff

The Gladbrook-Reinbeck school district has a video (linked here, attempt at embed below but YouTube doesn’t like that anymore) with a virtual tour of the addition that would be constructed if a bond referendum passes next week. The district has … Continue reading →

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Oct 23

A mini-war reenactment

Posted on Thursday, October 23, 2025, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

I went to Clark’s Park a month ago to write about a Civil War reenactment event. The sides were lopsided. The story was reprinted in the North Tama Telegraph and Sun Courier, but their formatting missed out on my intention … Continue reading →

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