It’s a really busy time for us at The NSP, but if you’ll indulge me this week, I’ve got a few quick notes. more

Waiting at the airport for our flight to depart Kampala, Uganda, on June 29, I struck up a conversation with a woman from Europe who, in her role with an international aid organization, spends months at a time in this central African country. more

Losing in sports is never fun. It’s an awful, gut-wrenching feeling. more

How many times have you heard the phrase, “Be careful what you wish for – you just might get it”? more

Eldridge residents won’t find the names “Ahlers and Cooney,” or “Brooks” on your November ballots. more

Aug. 1, 1973: The North Scott School Board extended an offer of employment to Frank Wood as a physical education teacher at the Senior-Junior High School. He would be paid $7,400 for the year. more

Aug. 11, 1983: A list of long-range capital projects for the North Scott School District was unveiled. It included a swimming pool at the high school, a new food preparation area, additions to the junior high, John Glenn and Virgil Grissom, a 400-meter track at the junior high, tennis courts at the junior high, Glenn and Grissom, and an athletic field complex renovation. The addition at the junior high was intended to make it a middle school for grades sixth, seventh and eighth. The next step was to present the plan to the public for comment and input. more

Persons old enough to watch, remember the most celebrated criminal trial of my lifetime, the O.J. Simpson murder trial  in Los Angeles. Simpson, the former Heisman Trophy winner, NFL star, TV celebrity and movie actor, was accused of stabbing his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, to death outside her condominium in Los Angeles on June 12, 1994. more

Aug. 15, 2018: The North Scott Trap Shooting team won national titles in doubles, handicap, singles and skeet shooting, and second place in sporting clays at the Scholastic Clay Target Program National Championships in Margeno, Ohio. Senior Eric Long also became the first North Scott shooter to bring home a national title in doubles, and Tommy Keeshan won the Top Gun award, which went to the shooter with the highest combined scores in singles, skeet, sporting clays, pistol and rifles. more

If you snoozed the past weeks, welcome to the new reality of bigtime college sports: the 18-team Big Ten and the 16-team Big 12. more

When our ol’ pal Scott Campbell announced his retirement last fall, one of the first things I wondered was who was going to replace him on the Fair beat. more

Aug. 26, 1998: North Scott’s Nicki Power was set to make history as the first female football player in the Mississippi Athletic Conference. A longtime soccer player, Power would serve as the team’s kicker. “She’s prepared to play,” said coach Randy Schrader. “She’s a stud soccer player, who plays hard and is tough. That alone has earned her the respect of our football players. They know she’s a hard-nosed kid.” more

It was reported in last week's NSP that the Long Grove city council sent a letter to the city of Eldridge urging Eldridge to continue to lease the headquarters building to the Scott County Library. more

Scott County sheriff's deputies weren't anywhere near show rings at this year's Mississippi Valley Fair. more

Sept. 2, 1998: Cornerstone Baptist Church in Eldridge was helping Dr. Jose Reyna with his dream of establishing permanent health clinics in Mexican border towns near McAllen, Texas. Members of the church donated $150,000 in medical supplies and equipment, and a delegation also traveled to Mexico to help build housing, attend to the sick, and share their message through a puppet ministry. Reyna and his family came to Scott County to thank the church and were hosted by the R.J. and Linda Holst family of rural Princeton. more

Decorah native Rob Sand, 41, was doing well during his seven years in the Iowa Attorney General's office, giving white collar criminals their just rewards. Most notable among them was Eddie Tipton, the mastermind of the largest lottery rigging scheme in American history. Sand's book about the attempted heist, "The Winning Ticket: Uncovering America’s Biggest Lottery Scam," rates 4.5 stars on Amazon. more

Sept. 5, 1973: Construction was nearly complete on two new grain elevators at the Eldridge Cooperative Company. The elevators stood 137 feet tall, and two work crews alternated 12-hour shifts for eight days to keep construction moving. A new dryer would be able to handle 2,000 bushels per hour. more

It’s CyHawk week when fans of two great universities put bragging rights on the line in a game that will be played Saturday at Iowa State’s Jack Trice Stadium. The rivalry is an annual tradition since 1977. more

Sept. 12, 1973: As the Iowa Highway Commission worked to finalize its plans for the proposed Highway 561, which would run north-south from Interstate 80 to the Wapsipinicon River, the Eldridge City Council learned that two east-west roads between Eldridge and Mt. Joy could be affected. As proposed, the new highway would stub off Lincoln Road and East Blackhawk Trail. The council wanted assurances that drivers would be able to cross the highway at these junctions. more

Put this in the category of small annoyances, the absence of printed roster sheets at athletic contests, especially high school sports. It started with Covid and then became a fact accomplished, replaced by QR codes which navigate your smart phone to electronic rosters. more