Aug 19

Photos from RAGBRAI LIII

Posted on Wednesday, August 19, 2026, at 11:00 AM by Jeff

Instead of a story from this year’s RAGBRAI route, I did a photo gallery. (Time is not a luxury, alas.)

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Aug 17

The 1996 Iowa State Fair and a ribbon that connects generations

Posted on Monday, August 17, 2026, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

OK, I admit I should have made this particular headline a little more SEO-friendly. Also, although I donated it, it might not actually BE on display at the Iowa State Fair this year, and I feel part of that is my fault. I should’ve given a heads-up that I was going to run this column.

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Aug 11

Clayton County Museum Crawl 2

Posted on Tuesday, August 11, 2026, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Here’s the second half of my six-museum marathon from one day in June.

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Aug 06

Always looking for the local connection

Posted on Thursday, August 6, 2026, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Le Grand Reporter 4/13/23:

Herbert Hoover calls on relatives

LeGrand included in Iowa itinerary — Uncle Davis and Aunt Amelia warmly greeted

LeGrand entertained distinguished company Thursday afternoon and evening. Herbert Hoover, member of President Harding’s cabinet and one of the outstanding figures of the World War, dropped quietly into town about 4 p.m., having come direct from Ames where at 11 o’clock he addressed the student body. The evening before he was the principal speaker before the League of Women Voters in convention at Des Moines.

Mr. Hoover came to LeGrand to pay a visit to the homes of his aunt Amelia Hoover and uncle H.D. Hoover, and renew the acquaintance of other kindred in the neighborhood. It will be remembered that as a boy Mr. Hoover made his home for a time with his Uncle Allen and Aunt Amelia at West Branch and he has always shown the most tender regard for them. His Uncle Allen passed away a year ago. He has a son whom he named Allen.

Mr. Hoover was accompanied by his private secretary. They left for West Branch Friday morning.

The Herbert Hoover Presidential Library and Museum will have a renovation rededication today in West Branch.

(This was on the same front page as the “Notice to Bidders” for the school building in Le Grand that remains in use to this day.)

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Aug 04

Final design set for Merrill rail crossing

Posted on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Waiting for a train on US 75 in Merrill is an experience one wants to have as little as possible. I endured it once last year. Now it’s going to be fixed.

The Iowa DOT has settled on a design that will relocate US 75 slightly to the east, with a bridge over new, slightly straightened railroad tracks. The second public meeting in four months on the subject will be held Aug. 7 in Merrill. While that may sound fast, in the overall six-step process, this is only the latter portion of Step 2. There hasn’t even been an environmental impact study yet.

This project is not in the five-year plan; reconstruction of 75 through Hinton is, in 2029. That means that without a big change in priorities or a big grant, the earliest construction could begin is late 2031 (fiscal 2032). Once the bridge is open, the railroad tracks can be relocated.

The concept mentions “reduced-conflict intersection” for this location. That’s not really true. What it really is, is a partial interchange at US 75 and old 75 (northbound exit, southbound entrance), with a turnaround for the other two traffic movements just to the south. Right now the south end is a Y intersection.

Also, in a surprise found a while back, the official city map of Merrill shows that old 75, 3rd and Main streets, is secret IA 470. We don’t know when or why this designation occurred.

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Jul 29

US 20/59 intersections to be converted to J-turns

Posted on Wednesday, July 29, 2026, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Good news: US 20 will not be getting a roundabout in Holstein!

Bad news: Both intersections with US 59 are going to become J-turns!

The story from KTIV says that this was selected over the roundabout due to right-of-way issues. That is completely believable given the location of the truck stop.

These would be the fifth and sixth J-turn intersections in Iowa, following the existing one on US 20 near Fort Dodge, one proposed for US 30 at DeWitt, and two coming to US 75 southwest of Merrill

Now, if these are going to be inflicted on the drivers, the absolute least that can be done in return is restoring the expressway south of Holstein to a true four-lane, right? Right?

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Jul 27

Hardy Consolidated, then un-consolidated

Posted on Monday, July 27, 2026, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Here’s a story about a school district dissolving before formation of modern school districts was really a thing in Iowa.

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Jul 24

License Plate Letters — QYT

Posted on Friday, July 24, 2026, at 10:20 AM by Jeff

Are we “quite” through with the Q’s in the Iowa license plate alphabet, after about a year, maybe a little less? It appears so.

The next thing to watch for is when the E’s, F’s, and G’s get replaced, which should be over the next year or so. At that time, the 1997 background will have been phased out completely.

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Jul 22

A history of the Meskwaki in Iowa

Posted on Wednesday, July 22, 2026, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The final event in the Iowa DOT’s America 250 Scenic Byways series was close to home. Three speakers, including historian Johnathan Buffalo, gave presentations about the Meskwaki tribe’s presence in Iowa, which has been continuous since 1735.

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Jul 20

Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton’s longest day

Posted on Monday, July 20, 2026, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

It’s championship or bust for Exira/Elk Horn-Kimballton — not only in softball, but for all but one of its sports teams, period.

The Spartans are a 1-seed playing in Fort Dodge today at noon. Seven hours later, in Audubon, the Audubon school board is scheduled to meet and approve athletics sharing agreements for everything except football. (EEHK added to Audubon’s numbers would bump up to 1A and be ineligible for the playoffs.)

Oh, and RAGBRAI is going through Elk Horn and Exira at the same time. Today. Right now.

Both KSOM-FM and the EEHK school district’s live feed have items about the meeting. EEHK will be the host for girls’ basketball; numbers are higher there and EEHK played in the state basketball tournament. Audubon will host boys’ basketball. This immediately raises the question in my mind about how exactly that will go, unless small schools aren’t doing girls at 6 PM and boys at 8 PM anymore.

This is ironic to a degree because half a century ago, the issue of whether the town of Kimballton would join the school district already named Elk Horn-Kimballton or Audubon took 16 years and four Iowa Supreme Court cases.

Although Elk Horn is technically in Shelby County, I would suggest “Audubon County” for the name of the combined teams. Because, although the shared superintendent of the schools told KSOM these talks “do not involve whole-grade sharing, closing school buildings, or changes to academic programming,” the unspoken word is yet.

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