Erin Jordan

The Iowa Cancer Registry is expanding the way staff investigate whether the environment — air, water, chemicals in a workplace — might be causing cancer. In a reversal of the traditional process, researchers will start with a location with known contamination and see if people are sick nearby.

An equipment failure at the city’s wastewater plant lift station caused the sewage to flow into a storm drain leading to the river, the Iowa DNR reported.

In a state where college sports arenas blaze with fertilizer logos, the phrase “corn grows Iowa” is common on TV and radio and nearly 15 percent of lawmakers are farmers, there’s reluctance to pinpoint agriculture as a possible reason for Iowa’s rising cancer rate without conclusive evidence.

The Linn County Sheriff’s Office changed its policy in November to say homeless sex offenders must check in every five days. In February, following the court ruling, Linn County started registering homeless sex offenders like anyone else on the registry.

Many of these beloved public spaces aren’t accessible to people with disabilities. In some cases, it’s because the parks were built decades before federal accessibility standards were enacted. But even some new state park features are not fully accessible, a former state official said.

More than half of Iowa’s assessed streams and rivers had impairments and 63 percent of lake or reservoir segments were impaired in the 2024 draft list

Wastewater, including blood from Agri Star’s beef processing facility, went into Williams Creek before Postville city staff discovered the problem, diverted the waste into a holding tank and alerted Agri Star.

Contractors this month are pouring concrete for median barriers on I-380, near where it becomes Highway 218. The I-80 median barrier was completed in mid-January and a temporary barrier was removed in early February.

Eight of Valero’s facilities, including plants in Charles City, Lakota, Fort Dodge, Albert City and Hartley as well as one plant each in Nebraska, Minnesota and South Dakota, are expected to join Summit’s proposed pipeline, already about 2,200 miles long.

The Iowa Department of Natural Resources, charged with managing Iowa’s state parks, tries to strike a balance between safeguarding Iowa’s big trees and letting visitors see, touch and experience them.

Medical marijuana sales in Iowa have leveled off as Iowans flock to cheaper, largely unregulated consumable hemp products, regulators said Friday.

Iowa DNR Director Kayla Lyon told organizers she no longer will let conservation officers or other department employees spend as much paid time at the event and asked organizers to remove the agency’s name and logo from all marketing materials, boat trailers and other equipment.

Iowa’s largest credit union lost $73 million in the last quarter of 2023 due to loan defaults and a fast rise in interest rates, officials said.

Iowa DNR seeking information about fire Sunday that likely destroyed 350-year-old tree in Geode State Park, near Danville.

They were commenting at a public hearing on a proposed revision to Iowa Administrative Rules Chapter 65 -- which the Iowa Department of Natural Resources stripped of additional karst protections last fall after livestock owner groups expressed concerns.