Author Archives: Jeff

Aug 23

School timeline mega-update: 1990s

June 22, 2014: The Wayne school district’s midyear closure of the school in unincorporated Cambria in December 1995 is a crucial link in a discovery I explained weeks ago: It contributed to a streak of closures that predated the modern … Continue reading

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Aug 20

School timeline mega-update: 21st century

June 24, 2017: The rear addition of the Arthur school building is close to the original’s style except for the color of the bricks. Starting off with a bullet from earlier so the next one makes sense, and admitting a … Continue reading

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Aug 18

School timeline mega-update preview

Someone took the last shot in an official basketball game in the gymnasium. Someone was the last student out the door on the last day. Someone was the last school district employee to lock the doors. When I started my … Continue reading

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Aug 16

Many state-level ‘poor’ bridges on replacement list

A few weeks ago, we got another round of stories about Iowa’s high number of “structurally deficient” bridges. This occurs regularly; I made a post five years ago about the bridge list then and their replacement timetables. As a reminder, … Continue reading

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Aug 14

Mocking Iowa’s 2020s congressional districts (6)

Bonus Saturday post! Had the census numbers been released Monday or Tuesday, when I had a full evening to play with them, I would’ve come up with this map earlier. It might have even superseded Mock 13 entirely. Once I … Continue reading

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Aug 13

Mocking Iowa’s 2020s congressional districts (5)

The actual 2020 census numbers came out yesterday, in extremely large and complex files meant to be interpreted by extremely expensive and complex software. I am but a simply country blogger of limited means. So, in order to get fast … Continue reading

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Aug 12

Iowa State Fair 2021: Metal detectors, NO TRAM

I once said a year without the Iowa State Fair would be unfathomable. Well, we’ve seen and heard a lot of unfathomable things lately. Now the Iowa State Fair is BACK, but with a couple of changes that show things … Continue reading

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Aug 11

When is Channel 14 not Channel 14?

KMEG, Sioux City’s CBS affiliate, is by a good margin the youngest of the “Big Three” network stations serving Iowa. It is more than a decade younger than any except WQAD, which preceded it by four years. Its youth is … Continue reading

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Aug 10

Derecho day

August 18, 2020: Derecho-damaged trees in Keystone. Sign says “Thanks firemen, Dave M and all volunteers. We appreciate you!!” See this blog post for more pictures. “You have 20 minutes!” I said to the front desk as I left the fitness … Continue reading

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Aug 09

Betty Lou Varnum, 1931-2021

If you were a child between 1954 and 1994 within range of WOI-TV Channel 5, you knew Betty Lou and “The House with the Magic Window.” Betty Lou Varnum died last week. The Magic Window was shuttered the instant ownership … Continue reading

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