Category Archives: Iowa Miscellaneous

Dec 24

KOEL back to 92.3

KKCV-FM, 98.5 “The Hog,” was a new country music station in the Waterloo area in the 1990s. Throughout my school years, that was my most frequently listened-to station. I even spent a job-shadow day there learning about the radio programming. … Continue reading

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Dec 11

When ‘Tama Jim’ honored Ulysses S. Grant (2)

Spring 1885 was approaching, and Iowa’s 5th Congressional District election of 1882 was still in dispute. Republican James Wilson had been declared the winner, but Democrat Benjamin Frederick was still fighting for it, and won the seat outright in November … Continue reading

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Dec 09

‘Tama Jim’ and his second stint in Congress (1)

This is what Iowa’s 11(!) congressional districts looked like for the elections of 1882 and 1884. The 5th District is in orange. A mid-decade redraw after a special census in 1885 created a new map that would be used through … Continue reading

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Dec 07

Iowa’s four closest U.S. House elections in a century

A Quad-City Times story interviewed the curator for the State Historical Society of Iowa about the closest congressional races in Iowa’s past. He limited himself to about the past century, starting with a 1916 election where the Republican won by … Continue reading

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Oct 28

Welcome to Etherville

Typos are nasty things. I should know, since my job involves trying to find them. (Glass house alert!) One should try to nudge the writer discreetly. Pointing at the New York Times, which to my knowledge doesn’t have a copy desk … Continue reading

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Oct 23

Iowa’s new election gender imbalance

After years and years of Iowa getting tsk-tsked for never electing a woman to Congress (I went into some reasoning for this in 2012), we shouldn’t let this year go by without pointing something out: Seven of the 10 major-party candidates … Continue reading

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Oct 19

Another matter of perspective

The new exit for IA 141 from northbound I-35/80, along with a half-diamond to the south at Meredith Drive, opened Friday. The Register had a preview earlier in the week. Presumably, northbound/eastbound, the Meredith exit will be 127A, and the … Continue reading

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Oct 02

‘Symphony of Iowa’ scavenger hunt

The Cedar Rapids Gallery of Art has selected 125 works to be on display for a 125th anniversary exhibit, reports the Gazette. That will go through mid-January. Among the works is a big one I didn’t know about, “Symphony of Iowa … Continue reading

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Sep 17

941

The Humboldt County town of Pioneer has unincorporated. After reading the funeral announcement — aka the City Development Board minutes of August 12 — it died of loneliness and apathy. (The word “apathy” is actually in there. There were only three … Continue reading

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Aug 21

‘Votes count now’

From the September 23, 1920, Tama Herald, unsigned but presumably from editor/publisher Charles J. Wonser: Votes count now. For many years we men have been told what would happen if women were given equal suffrage with men. Now they have … Continue reading

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