Mar 03

‘House of Cards’ goes to Iowa

Posted on Tuesday, March 3, 2015, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

In the way that TV shows about politics go to Iowa, it’s caucusin’ time for Netflix’s “House of Cards”. Check the flags at the 16-18 second mark of the trailer embedded in this story.

The show got Oelwein High School’s sports nickname wrong, although possibly intentionally so to avoid issues. If anyone sees any other specific towns mentioned, let me know.

(Note: I have not actually watched this show, and have been informed about the goings-on that I’m sure everyone who DOES watch has already binged on by the time this post goes live. This Washington Post column reprinted on the Chicago Tribune‘s website doesn’t make me inclined, either.)

This note and recent Iowa-related Marvel pieces have been added to my “Iowa references” page, and no I am still not over finding out what they did to Clutier I MEAN, NAZIS, SERIOUSLY. I hate fictional Iowa Nazis.

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Mar 02

Private schools make up half of 2A girls’ state basketball field

Posted on Monday, March 2, 2015, at 10:10 AM by Jeff

Four private schools in Class 2A, including defending champion Iowa City Regina, made the 2015 Iowa state girls’ basketball tournament. All but one of those games are today, following Class 1A in the morning and afternoon. (Colo-NESCO tipped off against Newell-Fonda as this post went live.)

There is another factor to be noted: Based on the BEDS numbers*, seven of the eight state participants are among the largest 25 teams of the class. North-Linn is the outlier. Cascade and Unity Christian are the second- and fourth-largest schools in the class, respectively. Last year, Unity Christian was instead the smallest 3A school but finished as the state runner-up — and this year’s 3A bracket has no private schools in it.

*Tipton was in the 3A postseason and Clarion-Goldfield-Dows was in the 2A postseason, so that must be where the dividing line is.

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Feb 27

Gladbrook Elementary School closing

Posted on Friday, February 27, 2015, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

GladbrookGym96
November 17, 1996: Cropped video frame from Tama County 4H Awards Program. The gym floor was replaced in summer 1997 or summer 1998.

Tama County’s fifth-largest town has lost its school.

The Gladbrook-Reinbeck school board voted Wednesday night to close the elementary in Gladbrook and send all K-6 students to Reinbeck. A resident wants the courts to stop it but there isn’t much that can be done.

The Gladbrook and Reinbeck school districts started whole-grade sharing in 1988 and officially merged in 1998. Enrollment in the past decade has dropped significantly. Surrounding school districts, including North Tama, have been suffering the same problem.

The undefeated, top-ranked GR boys’ basketball team plays for a berth in the state tournament Saturday night, after doubling up the score on NT Tuesday. The season may have lost a little shine, though, because while a state title would be nice, a school closure is forever.

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Feb 26

Cedar Falls to put roundabouts on University Avenue

Posted on Thursday, February 26, 2015, at 10:08 AM by Jeff


November 21, 2001: The red lights in the background would be among those eliminated under Cedar Falls’ new plan.

The Waterloo Courier and KWWL both have stories about Cedar Falls’ plans to rebuild University Avenue, which it took over from the Iowa DOT last year. The urban arterial will be converted from six lanes to four, but more importantly many intersections will be converted to roundabouts. That includes the ramps at IA 27/58, which surprises me because I thought those would still be under state control.

In a word, yuck. (And there’s someone who hates them even more than I do.)

This very large PDF draws everything out. Note also that some right-in-right-out (no left turn) places will be added at the expense of eliminating the continual frontage roads.

Meanwhile, the DOT has told the city of Waterloo that it has to put off any potential transfer of jurisdiction of the rest of University because there is no money available. That’s related to uncertainty on the federal level, not the 10-cent increase in Iowa’s gas tax.

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Feb 25

Luther school demolished

Posted on Wednesday, February 25, 2015, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
April 16, 2014: The Luther school building at the intersection of IA 17 and E57 opened in September 1916.

The Luther school building, which had fallen into disrepair after its closure in 1972, was torn down Feb. 13 and 16, reports the Boone News-Republican.

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Feb 24

944, for real this time

Posted on Tuesday, February 24, 2015, at 10:05 AM by Jeff

Nearly two months after deciding against it, the city council of Center Junction reversed course and voted unanimously for disincorporation.

The Jones County town of just over 100 people is by far the largest in Iowa to go this route; the others only had populations in the couple dozens. It will be the third Iowa community in three years to cease official existence, following Mount Sterling and Millville.

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Feb 23

US 71 to replace IA 196 in Sac County; IA 471 coming

Posted on Monday, February 23, 2015, at 10:00 AM by Jeff


September 17, 2007: Now it’s really the end of IA 196.

The route of US 71 in Iowa will undergo a significant change in 2015 and a new state highway will be created.

Among the DOT’s public lettings for Jan. 21 was a “traffic signs” project in Sac County. US 71 will replace all of IA 196 and then follow the US 20 expressway to Early. IA 175 will be the sole signed highway through Lake View. Old 71 between 175 and 20 will become IA 471. This number, obviously intended to create a connection to the old number just like Business 61 through Davenport is IA 461, is the highest to be signed immediately as such, and replaces 428 as Iowa’s highest signed number outside the 900s.

(If 471 is going to stick around, I wish a two-digit number had been recycled instead, like 36 since it was there for Wall Lake, or IA 39 extended east and north from Odebolt.)

This is only the third change to US 71 easily visible on a state map since World War II, following the Clarinda and Storm Lake bypasses. Minor changes affected the Arnolds Park, Lyman, and Grant areas.

Signs on US 20 that are less than three years old must be replaced to reflect the route changes. All IA 471 shields, and the markers on the BGSs, will be oblong instead of square. The change will decrease the total National Highway System mileage in Iowa, since the east-west segment will be dropped, and give 71 its second expressway segment in Iowa.

Iowa Highway 196 was born April 29, 1935, to maintain a Sac City-Carroll connection when US 71 was moved to run south from (old) US 20 near Early. Its exact date of death is unknown at this time.

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Feb 21

And we’ll never beat Royals (Royals)

Posted on Saturday, February 21, 2015, at 10:02 AM by Jeff

Colo, Iowa — After running out to an early 19-9 lead, turnovers in the fourth quarter contributed to the North Tama girls’ basketball team’s season-ending loss to Colo-NESCO, 42-39.

Between the middle of the second and middle of the fourth quarters, the Royals outscored the Redhawks 28-12. The Royals had eight three-pointers to the Redhawks’ one. NT missed an attempt to tie the game in the final seconds.

North Tama finishes 20-4, with three of those losses coming against Colo-NESCO. (So the Royals, who will be angling for their third state tournament appearance in a row Monday, better win the whole dang thing. Or at least not lose to Kee High.)

Stories: Ames Tribune, Waterloo Courier

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Feb 20

Van Buren, Harmony talk sharing

Posted on Friday, February 20, 2015, at 10:01 AM by Jeff


September 10, 2010: Cornerstone of the Bonaparte school building. Note centennial coming up.

The Harmony school district in southeast Iowa, a very early runner among non-geographic names, is exploring whole-grade sharing with Van Buren. KTVO had a story earlier this week. The Ottumwa Courier had a story two months ago and listed six options being considered. That list was not exclusive to Van Buren, but all six resulted in the closure of Harmony Elementary in Bonaparte. However, more recent developments leave the possibility of it remaining open.

Harmony Junior-Senior High School is on J40 half a mile west of the Lee-Van Buren county line. Its elementary is in Bonaparte. Van Buren High School is in Keosauqua, Iowa’s third-smallest county seat. There’s also an elementary school in Douds-Leando very near the end of the soon-to-be-decommissioned IA 98, but fifth and sixth grades are moving out. Stockport was closed in 2011.

Harmony’s enrollment has declined by 20% over the past decade. Van Buren had a bump in enrollment after absorbing Fox Valley in the mid-2000s, but has declined steadily since. Harmony and Central Lee were together in football in 2012 and 2013 but Harmony fielded an 8-man team this year. It did not go well.

Should the two districts engage in whole-grade sharing in the future, the combined area would be the largest in Iowa with one high school.

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Feb 19

Fort Brule, South Dakota

Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2015, at 10:19 AM by Jeff

Just a few miles from the Big Sioux River and Iowa’s westernmost point lies a marker recalling the late American frontier. (Photo taken July 20, 2012. That’s not a color problem, it’s a drought problem.)

Fort Brule was established in 1861 but abandoned less than a decade later, as this Sioux Falls Argus-Leader article from 1954 explains. (That link also includes the text on the monument.) Iowa soldiers served at the fort one year. This marker is on SD 50 about a mile and a half east of SD 11 (old US 77).

This marker reminds us that while Iowa became a state in 1846, the western reaches of the state and points farther west did not see extensive white settlement until decades later.

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