Journalists of the Gazette: Meet Grace Nieland

How long have you been at The Gazette?

I’ve been at The Gazette about three months (as of June 2025). I’ve been working in Eastern Iowa, though, for about three years.

Where are you from and where did you go to school?

I am a self-described Midwest mutt. I moved around a lot, but I went to high school in St. Charles, MO, so that’s normally what I tell people. It’s right outside St. Louis. I went to college at the University of Missouri Columbia. It’s actually the country’s first journalism school.

Describe your beat.

I cover Linn County, Cedar Rapids, Marion — a little bit of everything as it relates to local government.

What do you like about being the Linn County Government Reporter?

What I like about the Linn County government beat is that local government really does have so many touch points in people’s day to day lives. I don’t even think a lot of people necessarily realize how often they interact with something that can be traced back to either their city or county government. And so in that way, the beat is really expansive, and you can kind of get into a lot of topics that you wouldn’t necessarily think about when you hear the words local government.

Share a fun fact about yourself.

I’m actually a test tube baby, so that basically means that my parents did IVF. Obviously that’s kind of a costly procedure and so if I was misbehaving, my mom would joke that she was going to let the bank repossess me, which I still think about to this day. I don’t know how that would have worked, but it was a very funny thing to tell a child.

What do you like to do for fun?

Outside of work, I’m a really big reader. I read a little bit of everything — I’m actually on my 47th book of the year right now. I also like to hike and I’m learning to knit. I can only do scarves right now/anything that the length doesn’t have to change.

Where can we read your latest work?

You can read my latest work at www.thegazette.com/grace-nieland.

Comments: grace.nieland@thegazette.com