Miscellany to start February

Notes 

On Thursday we saw the sun for the first time in over a week.

Local author Shannon Anderson had a piece on Lakeshore PBS that is now on youtube. The Historical Society had an exhibit highlighting Rensselaer authors in 2020. There are several major authors who have a connection with Rensselaer such as Edison Marshall and Eleanor Stackhouse Atkinson and a whole lot of very minor authors (such as me). I do not know where Shannon Anderson ranks in the list of best-selling Rensselaer authors, but she must be near the top of the list.

The Iroquois peaked less than a foot below flood stage. Below is a picture from the Talbert Bridge when the River was near its peak.

Here is a graph from the measuring gauge at Laird's Landing showing the height of the River for the past year.

 The rain in late January was enough to bring back Weston Pond.

Before Christmas I was posting pictures of decorated windows that were downtown and elsewhere. I missed one. I found it a few days ago, It is on a window of M W Insurance on South College.

The first public meeting about revising the Solar Ordinance was held in DeMotte and the Rensselaer Republican wrote about it in this week's edition. There will be a second public meeting to gather input on February 15 at the Jasper County Fairgrounds. If you want to have an impact, you might read the ordinance and suggest changes with reasons for the changes. I doubt if ranting will have any impact. 

I missed the past two Airport Authority Board meetings. The minutes of the December meeting are now on-line (scroll to the bottom for December). It was the last meeting for Sean Yallaly. He is resigning to spend more time with family; his term lasts until the end of this year. There is interest by someone in land that the Airport owns along SR 114. (This is land that was purchased to provide room for an east-west runway. The parts of the parcels along SR 114 are not needed for that purpose.) The Board approved moving the assistant manager position from part-time to full-time.

The former Gutwein-Risner building on Washington recently sold. There have been a lot of downtown buildings that have changed ownership recently: Walters Electric, Willow Switch, Steffen's, R&M, what is now Earth Body Magic Potions, and the former REMC building. Still for sale is the former Pub building on Van Rensselaer.

La Trinidad Bakery is opening Feb 4 in the same building as Aydas, but with a different entrance.

The County Clerk has released an updated list of candidates for the May primary election. (There are still a few days for candidates to file.) A few races of interest: Senator Mike Braun is not running for reelection but is running for governor, along with three others. Jeff DeYoung has three challengers for his Commissioner of District 2 position. There are five candidates for the County Council At Large position, including the three incumbents. 

Art Show

The second of the local school art shows is now on exhibit at the Fendig Gallery. This one is for grades three to five.

It is a short-running exhibit, from February 1 to 18.