The Iowa DOGE Task Force also discussed possible education recommendations, including making portions of teacher pay merit-based, and consolidating rural school districts as populations in the least-populated areas of Iowa continue to decline.
Kids will play, learn and grow at the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Corridor’s newest facility — named the Busse Unit — that opened Wednesday in the Wellington Heights neighborhood in southeast Cedar Rapids.
The Freshman Academy at Washington High School that is “soft launching” this fall will give incoming ninth-graders a “Washington Warrior hug” as they transition to high school, said Breanna Oxley, future teacher at the Academy.
Iowa City will nearly double the amount of money it provides to area nonprofits after the city council voted Tuesday to increase funding in the city’s Aid to Agencies fund by $350,000, to nearly $1.1 million.
More than a century after the Sisters of Mercy in 1924 established Mount Mercy Academy -- which would evolve into a junior college in 1928, a four-year college in 1960, and a full-fledged university with graduate degrees in 2010 -- the Cedar Rapids campus officially has new ownership.
Iowa Rep. Eddie Andrews is the third Republican to officially file to run in Iowa’s open-seat campaign for governor in 2026. At his campaign announcement Wednesday, he vowed to take on money in politics.
While the U.S. economy looks good underneath the surface, uncertainty around the impact of Trump’s tariffs and trade policy has kicked up a “bunch of question marks in the air, you know, dust in the air that makes the visibility low” for the Fed to consider lowering short-term borrowing costs, said Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Austan Goolsbee.
Iowa U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst is serving her second, six-year term representing Iowa in the U.S. Senate and is up for re-election in 2026. She has not formally launched a re-election campaign, but her announcement Wednesday of a campaign manager sends a clear signal that the Republican incumbent is building an operation to run for a third term.
An Oelwein woman was arrested Tuesday after she admitted to police that she started a fire that burned down three houses, including her own residence.
The Iowa City Council is moving forward with plans to put a 1 percent local-option sales tax on the general election ballot this fall. If a majority of voters give their approval, the tax could raise as much as $8-10 million each year.
The trial for a Cedar Rapids man accused of hiring two men to kill Chris Bagley will be delayed because a witness for the prosecution can’t testify in person next week because he’s under a chickenpox quarantine in federal prison. The judge denied a motion to have the witness testify by video.
The body of a man reported missing two weeks ago in the Iowa City area was found over the weekend in the Iowa River, according to a news release from the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office.
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