Apr 03

A TV show about road tripping in Iowa!

Posted on Wednesday, April 3, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

At the Iowa State Fair last year, Iowa Public Television Iowa PBS teased a “Road Trip Iowa” series coming in 2024. Well, it’s here! Sadly, I was not asked to be a consultant.

The press release has one very important sentence, emphasis added: “Season 1 consists of ten 30-minute episodes featuring the businesses, towns and landscapes along the byways of Iowa. Viewers will venture to the Mines of Spain in Dubuque, the Banner Lakes at Summerset State Park, the Salt and Pepper Shaker Gallery in Traer and other destinations around the state.”

Traer is not along any of Iowa’s 14 official scenic byways. It is, however, reasonably close to the Iowa Valley Scenic Byway, which goes from US 30 north of Montour southeast to the Amanas.

According to Advance magazine, the first episode debuts tonight and it will be the Western Skies Scenic Byway (Stuart to Missouri Valley). That will be followed by two-parters on the Jefferson Highway and Great River Road. I believe the Lincoln Highway will be in the second season.

The press release also says: “Iowa PBS will host three trivia nights to celebrate the launch of the new series. These competitive and entertaining events will take place on April 29 in Iowa Falls, May 1 in Clinton and May 10 in Harlan.”

Trivia? About Iowa’s scenic byways? Hmmmm…..

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Apr 02

On the Lansing and Baltimore bridges

Posted on Tuesday, April 2, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

In my most recent Substack, I look into how the Lansing Black Hawk Bridge’s closure is a far different situation than the Baltimore Francis Scott Key Bridge’s collapse.

I wrote it because I expected there to be stories about national infrastructure, and I wasn’t disappointed. An AP story comes with a twist: The eastbound Burlington Street Bridge in Iowa City, which carries northbound IA 1, is somehow NOT maintained by the Iowa DOT. I may look into that further.

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Apr 01

Hills Elementary to close

Posted on Monday, April 1, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

It was pretty much guaranteed to happen as soon as it was announced: The Iowa City school district is shutting down Hills Elementary. Stories: Gazette, Daily Iowan, KCRG (autoplay), KWWL (video only),

Iowa Starting Line has a copy of the packet from the March 5 school board meeting, which directly and explicitly blames private school vouchers and insufficient state aid for the need to fill a multimillion-dollar budget deficit. The district has needed to cut $24.7 million over two school years, and Hills accounts for $1.66 million of the remaining $3.75 million needed.

On March 1, I mentioned that the Hills school was built the year before the town was attached to the Iowa City district. KCRG has a story saying that the town sold the building to the city for $1 then, and would buy it back for the same price, adjusted for inflation.

Enrollment in the Iowa City district dropped in 2020-21, but there was a notable drop in the overall statewide total then, and it’s pretty much back to where it was. If Iowa City and Linn-Mar, two growing and property-tax-rich school districts, are having to make cuts, what does that say about the rest of the state?

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Mar 27

You’ve got to come back with me!

Posted on Wednesday, March 27, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

In which I, a “Back to the Future” trilogy superfan, get to geek out in Gladbrook over the newest addition to Matchstick Marvels.

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Mar 25

Eating from the what now?

Posted on Monday, March 25, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Deep in the March 19 Associated Press story “Pedal coast-to-coast without using a road? New program helps connect trails across the US,” we find this:

“Without the infrastructure bill, we wouldn’t be having these conversations,” Paprocki said. “We’d be fighting tooth and nail to get money and would probably be left off the food troth.”

Really? REALLY? Does the AP need a farm kid turned copy editor to teach the big city editors about ag-related metaphors? Perhaps they need their heads stuck in a trough.

In completely unrelated news, and I mean that in this case, newspapers owned by Gannett and McClatchy are dropping AP as a service. This is pretty big for the news industry. It means that in Iowa, the Des Moines Register, Ames Tribune, and Iowa City Press-Citizen will not run AP stories, and the AP cannot take stories from them and rewrite for syndication to other news outlets. Retired KCCI news director Dave Busiek wrote on his Substack about the potential implications.

UPDATE: In extremely related news, there but for the grace of God go I, but this is not the Coach K you are looking for. Headline typos are nightmares.

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Mar 23

Rodney Dangerfield, call your office (again) (again)

Posted on Saturday, March 23, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The Dish Network listing for Thursday’s ISU men’s NCAA tournament game forgot that Caitlin Clark isn’t playing in it. Maybe we can’t blame them, given the complete saturation.

Notice it never happens the other way around.

(h/t my parents)

PS: How ’bout that Audi Crooks!

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Mar 21

Southern Iowa US 63 corridor study online

Posted on Thursday, March 21, 2024, at 10:05 AM by Jeff

A “Draft Vision Document” for US 63 from Ottumwa to the Missouri state line is open for comment at the DOT website. It summarizes findings from meetings last year.

Much like the study of US 63 in Tama and Poweshiek counties, this study looks at turning the road into a Super-2 configuration. That includes adding passing/climbing lanes, something that southern Iowa needs on its roads more than northern Iowa does given the hilly nature of the area. US 63 already has some on the segment in question, but the distribution of them is part of the study.

The Amish community in the area is something else that makes this study a little different from others. Heavy buggy traffic affects planning for the shoulders and rumble strips.

The appendix says the study will be complete this winter but there is no timeline for improvements.

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Mar 19

Boomers, Boomers, Boomers

Posted on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

In my latest column, I look with dismay at yet another presidential election matchup between candidates born in the 1940s. The only one since 1992 that didn’t include at least one was 2008 (McCain, a Silent, vs. Obama, a young Boomer).

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Mar 14

Hamburg intersection to become 4-way stop

Posted on Thursday, March 14, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff


October 2, 2015: On southbound US 275 at IA 333 in Hamburg, you can see “Traffic from left does not stop” in yellow under the stop sign.

Hamburg’s key highway intersection is getting a change.

The intersection of US 275 and IA 333, which since 2003 has been IA 333’s east end, is being changed from a three-way stop to a four-way stop. The Iowa DOT says the change will take place Friday.

Until this change, northbound 275 traffic coming from the west could turn north and follow 275 or go straight ahead or turn without stopping. The fact that it’s a three-way stop at a four-way intersection could lead to confusion, understandably.

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Mar 12

Iowa schools timeline: Clay and Buena Vista

Posted on Tuesday, March 12, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Because I was out of ideas and had to blow one of my “evergreens” wanted to give Substack readers a taste of my school research, my most recent post is a compilation of dates for schools in Buena Vista and Clay counties.

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