May 03

Meanwhile, in Fort Dodge

Posted on Friday, May 3, 2013, at 12:49 AM by Jeff

SPRING DOES NOT WORK THAT WAY!

Related: Lagomarcino Hall Arch, 2012 vs. 2013

(h/t Cyclone Fanatic)

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May 02

A historic snow day for these schools

Posted on Thursday, May 2, 2013, at 9:51 AM by Jeff

This picture shouldn’t have a May 2 date-stamp. More reports here.

Let’s hope this week of weather is a real drought-buster.

Based on TV stations’ websites, there are multiple schools that cancelled classes today because of snow. Because this is historic, here’s a list of those I’ve seen: AGWSR, Algona, Audubon, Belmond-Klemme, Central Springs, Clarion-Goldfield, Clear Lake, Coon Rapids-Bayard, Dows, Eagle Grove, East Sac, Eldora-New Providence/Hubbard-Radcliffe, Forest City, Fort Dodge, Garner-Hayfield/Ventura, Glidden-Ralston, Griswold, Hampton-Dumont, Humboldt, IKM-Manning, Iowa Falls-Alden, Lake Mills, Manson NW Webster, Mason City, Newell-Fonda, North Iowa, Northeast Hamilton, Northwood-Kensett, Ogden, Osage, Panorama, Pocahontas Area/Pomeroy-Palmer, Riceville, Rudd-Rockford-Marble Rock, South Central Calhoun, South Hamilton, Southeast Webster-Grand, St. Ansgar, Stratford, Storm Lake, Titonka, Twin Rivers, Webster City, West Bend-Mallard, West Fork, West Hancock.

There also is a statewide website with listings. According to the alerts there, ENP and HR really intended on having school: “School is cancelled for South Hardin school and Hubbard-Radcliffe Elementary. Buses will be turned around and dropped back off at school.” Lake Mills admitted surrender: “Too much snow! LMCS closed today.”

Enjoy this, kids. It will be one of your weirdest snow days ever.

UPDATE: And now, schools farther east are dismissing early. List includes Aplington-Parkersburg, Clarksville, Dike-New Hartford, Grundy Center, Murray, Nashua-Plainfield, North Butler, Tripoli, Waverly-Shell Rock.

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May 01

Lane shift on I-35

Posted on Wednesday, May 1, 2013, at 10:54 AM by Jeff

For perhaps the first time in 54½ years, part of I-35 in the West Des Moines area will be in a different place. Traffic is being shifted tomorrow night to new median pavement to rebuild the southbound lanes and expand to six lanes. When this part of I-35 opened in 1958, this wasn’t part of West Des Moines.

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Apr 30

May in Iowa (wait, what?)

Posted on Tuesday, April 30, 2013, at 12:16 PM by Jeff

Now Mother Nature is just throwing days in a blender and then stringing them together. Here’s the current forecast for Goldfield.

goldfieldforecast

The phrases “New snow accumulation of around an inch possible” and “May 2” should never be part of the same paragraph.

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Apr 27

Kossuth County Area Schools and Rural Iowa’s Population Collapse

Posted on Saturday, April 27, 2013, at 7:41 PM by Jeff

As population and school enrollments in rural Iowa keep shrinking, many districts are finding it increasing difficult to stay afloat. One place this change is keenly being felt is in north-central Iowa.

Rather than make this essay a blog post, I made an independent page about it. It will be in the “Key Posts” links on the sidebar for lack of a better place to put it, and I’ll try to keep this reference high on the blog for a while.

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Apr 27

Keely Lyons, 1985-2003

Posted on Saturday, April 27, 2013, at 8:20 AM by Jeff

On April 27, 2003, a girl was killed on the night of her senior prom. It wasn’t by anything she or her friends had done.

The incident is perhaps most horrifying in its driest description: A drunk driver doing 80 in a 45 ran a red light. The impact split a car full of teenagers in half. The driver, a Bosnian citizen, then fled the country and wasn’t brought back to the United States until two years later.

In 2005, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for vehicular homicide.

Remember Keely Lyons.

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Apr 26

42

Posted on Friday, April 26, 2013, at 7:07 PM by Jeff

The movie about Jackie Robinson is very good. My only question: How, in a film so committed to accuracy the actor playing Red Barber worked endlessly on mimicking the radio broadcaster’s voice, does the final cut have a scene labeled “Interstate 24 — Missouri” in 1945?

Posted in Highway Miscellaneous | Comments Off on 42
Apr 25

Titonka Elementary School closing

Posted on Thursday, April 25, 2013, at 3:28 PM by Jeff

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
July 6, 2011: Dead district walking.

Even though Titonka’s merger with Algona does not take effect until 2014, the district effectively will cease to exist this summer. All students K-12, instead of just 5-12, will be going to school in Algona. There will still be a preschool in Titonka.

As you can see above, Titonka has a really, really nice school building. I hope it can be put to good use. I wish in cases like this the larger district would consider a student distribution to keep absorbed district buildings alive, but when it’s a matter of literally a few dozen students, it’s just not cost effective.

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Apr 25

Jack Trice’s jersey number has been discovered

Posted on Thursday, April 25, 2013, at 12:24 PM by Jeff

I completely understand the lengths of research this writer went to.

(One microfilm clip shows Coe played Wisconsin in 1923. Imagine that today.)

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Apr 24

CWL may be next small-school domino to fall

Posted on Wednesday, April 24, 2013, at 12:59 PM by Jeff

Corwith-Wesley and LuVerne have been whole-grade sharing for more than 30 years, but could never merge because the combined districts didn’t meet the 300-student threshold.

Now the two districts may be going to join Algona within the next five years.

I hope to have more about this later.

Note: A Mason City Globe-Gazette article mentions in passing the collapse of the Corn Belt Conference, which Wikipedia says is one of Iowa’s oldest. But in this case realignment is not an effect of money so much as simple attrition.

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