THURSDAY, APRIL 11, 2024 • VOLUME N0. 129 • ISSUE NO. 30 • 1 SECTION • 10 PAGES
Serving Colfax • Mingo • Baxter • Western Jasper County
Everyone can be an artist Baxter students show off artwork from kindergarteners to seniors
PICTURE PERFECT
PCM grad has unique experience photographing history at the U of I By Jamee A. Pierson Jasper County Tribune
Supervisors approve bridge rail work, geotech services for F-48 W Phase 2 County needs proper end sections for a bridge that goes over railroad By Christopher Braunschweig Jasper County Tribune For the second phase of the F-48 West reconstruction project — extending from South Skunk River to Colfax — another supplemental agreement was needed in order to have proper structural designs for the end rails of a bridge that goes over a railroad. The agreement was approved April 2 by the board of supervisors. Jasper County Engineer Michael Frietsch said the “bridge the railings that are there do not have the proper end sections on them.” Since the project uses federal aid and goes over the railroad, the county needs a proper structural design of the end rails. The agreement also adds geotechnical services. Which mainly cover the approaches to the bridge. Frietsch said the
Christopher Braunschweig/Jasper County Tribune The Jasper County Board of Supervisors on April 2 approved a supplemental project for the second phase of the F-48 West reconstruction project which authorizes geotechnical services and new end rail designs for the bridge that goes over a railroad.
concrete surface of the approaches need to be “rubblized,” or in other words “pounded into chunks into the ground and then new asphalt over top.” But in order to determine whether or not that is feasible, geotechnical services are needed. The bridge rail end sections are estimated to cost $9,500 while the geotechnical engineering will cost $4,200. Combined, services amount to $13,700. But the $4,500 in savings from a past supplemental proj-
ect for culvert evaluations for F-48 will reduce the total costs to $9,200, paid for in farm-to-market funds. In mid-March, the first phase of the F-48 West reconstruction project began. Frietsch stressed the highway is closed to through traffic, but those living and/or working on that road will still be able to access their homes or businesses. The $3.81 million project extends from Lambs Grove past the Baxter interchange of I-80.
Making beautiful music
With the eyes of the sports world centered on Iowa City this women’s basketball season, PCM grad Ayrton Breckenridge had a front row seat for the action as a photo editor for The Daily Iowan, the student led newspaper serving the University of Iowa community since 1868. In his senior year, Breckenridge is double majoring in journalism and cinema with a minor in history. He is also in his fourth year at the DI, making him a senior member of the team and a trusted person to cover such an important topic. “For sports that are doing really well or just a profit sports, we try to put more experienced people on them,” Breckenridge said. Since the Big Ten Tournament, he has been on the road with the team. From Minneapolis to Albany and now in Cleveland, Breckenridge is capturing moments from the historic year. “The few games I got to cover as an underclassman there wasn’t a lot of people around. People knew Caitlin Clark was a good player but it didn’t have quite the attention and draw that it does now,” Breckenridge said. “We saw it towards the end of last year but especially this year. All eyes were on Iowa basketball because they were returning from competing in the national championship. And obviously Caitlin Clark with all of the records.” Breckenridge got his start behind the lens during a semester in journalism class at PCM. While he didn’t continue in the class because he wanted to try out as many extracurriculars as possible,
Submitted Photo PCM grad Ayrton Breckenridge works at The Daily Iowan, the newspaper covering the University of Iowa.
the pull towards the camera continued. “I had a visual interest in high school, even middle school, making short films with the MacBooks they gave us. The semester I was in journalism I worked on Thunder TV. That is where I started,” Breckenridge said. “My editor at PCM went to Iowa and told me about The Daily Iowan. I went there and saw it, thought it was pretty cool and kept it in the back of my head.” He hadn’t even stepped into his first classroom at Iowa before grabbing an application for the DI. “I wanted to do more film making because of the cinema background, but the way it works at The Daily Iowan, since it is a print organization, they need pictures in print. So visuals are split between photo and video,” Breckenridge said. “I kind of got pushed a lot heavier into photo than I intended and it stuck. I enjoyed it that way.” His first assignment saw him finding a subject within the campus and photographing it. He PHOTOGRAPHER | 3
Students from area middle schools perform at 50th Jasper County Honor Band
By Jamee A. Pierson Jasper County Tribune More than 100 of the county’s top middle school student musicians took the stage for the 50th Jasper County Honor Band. Held April 2 at the Newton High School Center for Performance, students from the six area schools performed together after only a day of rehearsal. Guest conductor Michelle Grant, Colfax-Mingo 5-12 music director, led the group through four pieces including “Castles and Dragons,” “Freefall!,” “After the Storm,” and “Theme from Spider-Man.” “These kids have been incredible all day. I can’t think of a better group to work with,” Grant said. “We had some hard moments where things were difficult and they just played ‘After the Storm,” incredibly well. It was easily they best they played it all day. These guys are amazing.” Honor band members included: Newton Berg Middle School HONOR BAND | 3 CONTACT US
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Jamee A. Pierson/Jasper County Tribune More than 100 middle school students perform in the 50th Jasper County Honor Band April 2 at the Newton High School Center for Performance.
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