Iowa

By Gretchen Teske – Quad City Times, Davenport, Iowa (TNS) Editor’s note: This story is part of a series that ran in Insight magazine looking at how several Iowa and Illinois companies use influencer marketing. Hy-Vee advertises that it has a helpful smile in every aisle, but there are familiar faces advertising the products, too.

By Gretchen Teske – Quad City Times, Davenport, Iowa (TNS) History and charm aren’t on the menu at the Crane & Pelican Cafe, but they’re among the first things customers notice. Owner Mandy Harvey has lived in the Quad-Cities all her life, with a special affinity for LeClaire — a river town about 15 miles

By Thomas Geyer – Quad City Times, Davenport, Iowa (TNS) As of 6:15 p.m., MidAmerican crews have identified the power outage in Davenport as equipment failure. Power should be restored to the area in about 30 minutes. According to the MidAmerican outage map, the cause is due to an equipment problem. MidAmerican Energy is reporting

By SARAH WATSON – Quad City Times, Davenport, Iowa (TNS) Lawmakers in the statehouse appear poised to tackle more legislation to limit property tax collection by cities and counties in the 2025 session. No specific proposals have yet been floated by lawmakers, but the prospect of further limits has some local government officials concerned about

By OLIVIA ALLEN – Quad City Times, Davenport, Iowa (TNS) From finances to diapers, one budding Quad-Cities nonprofit is helping local fathers learn the skills they need to succeed as responsible parents. The Quad Cities Responsible Fatherhood Initiative is a new program aimed at building a supportive community of involved, responsible and committed fathers by

By Daniel Zeilstra – The Kansas City Star (TNS) Saturday’s TV / radio COLLEGE FOOTBALL The Wasabi Fenway Bowl: Connecticut vs. North Carolina, at Boston, 10 a.m., ESPN The Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl: Boston College vs. Nebraska, at New York, 11 a.m., ABC, KCTE (94.5 FM, 1510 AM) The Isleta New Mexico Bowl: Louisiana-Lafayette

By ROBIN McCLELLAND – Globe Gazette, Mason City, Iowa (TNS) Mad Delirious will bring its “psychedelic noise rock experience” to ring in the new year at Lorados on Tuesday, Dec. 31. Joe Bartusek sits at the drums, hammering out a steady, ever-changing beat. Justin Fain slaps his bass guitar to drive the rhythms Neal Simmons

By Christopher Braunschweig – Newton Daily News, Iowa (TNS) Dec. 27—Out of the 17 locations that could be used to house the City of Newton’s animal control facility, only about seven were considered “good” sites by the police chief. Of those seven potential areas, council members only really showed interest in two and instructed staff

By Grace King – The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa (TNS) Dec. 27—The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced. Prairie High School culinary teacher Frank Bowman delights in teaching his students the basics like the patience of making a grilled cheese sandwich or the ease of making mac and

By BRUCE R. MILLER – Sioux City Journal, Iowa (TNS) The Iowa Film Critics Association named “Anora” Best Picture, Best Actress and Best Director in its annual polling of the state’s film critics. “The Wild Robot” won two awards – Best Animated Feature and Best Song {“Kiss the Sky”) while “The Seed of the Sacred

By BRUCE R. MILLER – Sioux City Journal, Iowa (TNS) You know real estate agents are the bravest workers in the world when one of them goes to the castle of Count Orlok and doesn’t think twice. NOSFERATU Nicholas Hoult stars as Thomas Hutter in director Robert Eggers’ “Nosferatu.” That’s Nicholas Hoult in “Nosferatu,” a

By Caitlin Yamada – Sioux City Journal, Iowa (TNS) SIOUX CITY — For chefs, two popular art forms to learn are fruit and vegetable carvings and ice sculptures. “Ice intrigued me more so than fruit and vegetable carving,” said Robert Dowd, executive chef at the Sioux City Convention Center. For more than 15 years, Dowd

By DOLLY A. BUTZ – Sioux City Journal, Iowa (TNS) SIOUX CITY — A Denver woman was arrested early Christmas Day on felony drug charges, after allegedly sideswiping a Sioux City Police patrol vehicle and striking a fire hydrant. Kayla J. Dreesen, 30, is charged with controlled substance violation and failure to affix a drug

By BRUCE R. MILLER – Sioux City Journal, Iowa (TNS) “Wicked” proved there’s still life in big-budget studio films. But the bulk of 2024’s best still came from independent studios, streaming services and foreign filmmakers. Does that say the business is expanding? Or has the capital of moviemaking shifted? Take a look at the list

By Nick Hytrek – Sioux City Journal, Iowa (TNS) SIOUX CITY — The City of Sioux City has reached a $7,500 settlement with a Nebraska woman whose nose was broken while tubing at Cone Park. Jennifer Peterson, of Elkhorn, Nebraska, had sued the city and Sioux City Parks & Recreation Foundation in August for negligence

By Daniel Zeilstra – The Kansas City Star (TNS) Friday’s TV / radio COLLEGE FOOTBALL The Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl: Oklahoma vs. Navy, at Fort Worth, Texas, 11 a.m., ESPN, KCTE (94.5 FM, 1510 AM) The Birmingham Bowl: Georgia Tech vs. Vanderbilt, at Birmingham, Ala., 2:30 p.m., ESPN The AutoZone Liberty Bowl: Texas Tech

By SARAH WATSON – Quad City Times, Davenport, Iowa (TNS) Voters in parts of Scott, Clinton and Jackson counties will vote Jan. 28, 2025, in a special election for their state senator, Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds announced Monday. Former senator for District 35, Chris Cournoyer, was sworn in a week ago as the state’s new

By NINA BAKER – Quad City Times, Davenport, Iowa (TNS) A Davenport doula who specializes in end-of-life care has joined with the Midwest Writing Center to host a workshop on poetry as an expression of grief. The Dec. 28 “Narrating Grief Through Poetry” event focuses on using poetry and sound to capture, process and release

By OLIVIA ALLEN – Quad City Times, Davenport, Iowa (TNS) Over the past two weeks, most Quad-Cities schools have celebrated the holidays in some fashion to keep their students engaged before winter break. Several schools host annual concerts or Christmas recitals during this time, while many teachers or clubs sponsor themed parties. Others, however, took

By NINA BAKER – Quad City Times, Davenport, Iowa (TNS) The Swampland Jewels, a fusion band mixing Iowa charm and Gulf Coast soul, will perform on Sunday, Jan. 19, for the first 2025 show in Polyrhythms’ Third Sunday Jazz series. “Let The Swampland Jewels take you on a trip down old Highway 61, and across

By JOSHUA SHIMKUS – Quad City Times, Davenport, Iowa (TNS) Starting on Jan. 1, 2025, the city of Moline plans to hire six new firefighters/paramedics with the intention of staffing a third ambulance in the city. This will be the first major staffing increase for the department in more than 40 years. According to a

By CHAD DRURY – Ottumwa Courier, Iowa (TNS) OTTUMWA — The last meeting was already going to be difficult for Brian Morgan. Then his wife and three kids walked into the Wapello County Courthouse courtroom single file, and took a seat in the back of the room. Morgan chaired his final meeting of the board

By CHAD DRURY – Ottumwa Courier, Iowa (TNS) As the year 2024 comes to a close, here’s a look back on a year’s of news that appeared in the pages of the Ottumwa Courier. These headlines were curated by Courier staff, and come from reporting by the Courier and our news partners. Part 1 covers

By JEFF REINITZ – Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Iowa (TNS) WATERLOO — Authorities are asking the public’s help in locating a woman who fled from a residential facility where she was serving time for firing a gun in 2020. D’Iona Asia Marie Wilson-Bass, 21, failed to report back to the Waterloo Women’s Center for Change on

By JEFF REINITZ – Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Iowa (TNS) CEDAR FALLS — A Denver caregiver has been arrested for allegedly using her Cedar Falls clients’ credit cards for personal expenses. Cedar Falls police arrested Rachael Lynn Nicklaus, 38, on Dec. 20 for three counts of felony dependent adult abuse, two counts each of identity theft

By Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Iowa (TNS) WATERLOO — Waterloo Community Schools has named Charletta Sudduth director of equity, inclusion and belonging effective July 1. She will succeed Gina Weekley, who is relocating out of state with her family. Weekley will hold the position through June. Sudduth currently serves as the district’s pre-K administrator. That role

By MARIA KUIPER – Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Iowa (TNS) TRIPOLI — A natural sanctuary now looks like a graveyard after bird flu has spread through its waterfowl. Sweet Marsh bird flu 02 Dead trumpeter swans litter the ice of Sweet Marsh in Bremer County. Sweet Marsh, a wetland northeast of Tripoli, welcomes Canada geese, trumpeter

By Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, Iowa (TNS) Each December, Courier reporters look back at their favorite stories of the past year. We ask them to pick their favorites: not necessarily the biggest stories of the year, just the ones they found most interesting. Here are some of Andy Milone’s favorite Cedar Valley stories of 2024. Some

By Tom Barton – The Gazette, Cedar Rapids, Iowa (TNS) Dec. 26—The Gazette offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced. A semi truck collided with a train near Amana Thursday morning, temporarily blocking a busy highway. Authorities said no one was injured, and traffic was detoured around the crash site.

By Christopher Braunschweig – Newton Daily News, Iowa (TNS) Dec. 26—Disagreements over the allocation of funding for various partner agencies have reared their ugly head once again at the City of Newton’s budget workshops. While city staff has recommended the bare minimum of assign funds for HIRTA and the Des Moines Airport’s expansion project, the