If there’s something you’ve seen or heard around the state and thought, “I wonder what’s that all about?”
That’s what Curious Iowa aims to answer. Curious Iowa stories originate with questions submitted by the public and we investigate. Submit your questions today.
Submit your questions or what you are curious about and we’ll review submissions to investigate. Reader-submitted story topics will be posted here and included in a periodic newsletter. Our investigations can come in the form of videos, long-form articles and podcasts.
Burlington and Iowa City held the capital designation in Iowa before Des Moines. In this week’s Curious Iowa, The Gazette digs into why the capital moved to Des Moines, and which buildings served as temporary capitols for state lawmakers.
A Cedar Rapids resident wondered how area hospitals are using artificial intelligence. The Gazette’s series Curious Iowa found that AI tools help with time-consuming tasks like note taking, summarizing charts, analyzing images and preparing bills.
Iowa’s highways are built to withstand a wide variety of vehicles, from compact cars to eighteen-wheeler semis and large farm equipment. They do have their limits, though, and according to the Iowa State Patrol, that limit is about 80,000 pounds.
Experts say earthquakes in Iowa rare, but not impossible.
How did Cedar Rapids’ Bever Park Zoo get started? And when and why did all of the exotic animals leave?
A reader from Tama County wondered about mowing Iowa roadsides. We look into why Iowa’s mowing law was put in place, what it aims to protect and the requirements for haying roadside grasses.
With the buzz surrounding plans in Texas and California to carve up state maps in a tit-for-tat redistricting battle, one curious Iowan asked The Gazette: Could the same happen in Iowa?
As school buses return to their routes this fall, a Cedar Rapids resident wondered what measures are taken to ensure the vehicles are safe for students.
As brighter LED headlights become more popular on the roads, two readers of The Gazette wondered whether there are regulations in Iowa for how bright headlights can be, and if so, how those regulations are enforced.
What are grocery stores doing to divert food from landfills? And what happens to the food that doesn’t get sold?
Iowa programs tend to focus on physical improvements, emotional support to help older adults.
Iowa law imposes stringent restrictions on the acceptance of gifts by public officials, employees and candidates. The goal is to protect the public trust and prevent conflicts of interest or the appearance of impropriety. But what does the law say? And how often is it broken?
A 1980s DOT and DNR partnership put nesting boxes on the backs of Iowa highway signs. Now, they are being taken down
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