Staying home with your special someone or kicking back solo are perfect ways to celebrate Valentine’s Day — so long as you have a good movie to watch! Here are four streaming movies to keep your heart full this weekend.

Since 2020, Des Moines has lost several cornerstones of its live music scene, from small clubs to major festivals. The closures have narrowed the path for local artists to develop, even as new venues and entertainment giants reshape how live music operates in the metro.

Across the U.S., demand for romance books continues to boom, including locally. This Valentine’s season, the genre has reached a fever pitch thanks to the success of media based on romance books, including LGBTQ hockey romance Heated Rivalry and Netflix's Bridgerton.

Performance venues and cultural organizations are seeing a spike in artists from abroad canceling performances and demonstrations — and rethinking U.S. tours.

With the new Music Experience Center and the Surf District project, Clear Lake is continuing to support today’s musicians, while honoring the ones who died in 1959.

The new, multi-site, month-long festival in Iowa City centers on Afrofuturistic art, fashion, literature, media and community dialogue.

Renowned public radio music host Mark Simmet retired at the end of 2025 after nearly four decades of service at KUNI and Iowa Public Radio.

Grant Faulkner will be at Beaverdale Books in Des Moines on Jan. 23 to promote “something out there in the distance,” a novel written in the flash fiction style.

The prestigious James Beard Awards, which recognize culinary excellence in the U.S., released its list of 2026 semifinalists. It includes a bakery in Iowa City, a cocktail bar in Des Moines and chefs at two Des Moines restaurants.

This Iowan was the first Black woman to graduate from Grinnell College. She lived to be a supercentenarian, dying in 2026.