Michael Leland

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Iowa Public Radio

You’re not imagining things: Some plants are “leafing out” earlier than usual across the Great Plains and Midwest this spring.

The USA National Phenology Network tracks spring each year by looking at weather that prompts the earliest leaves to appear on bushes. It focuses on lilacs and honeysuckles, which are among the first each year to leaf out.

Leaves unfurled more than a week ahead of normal in January in southern Texas, and after some cold snaps, the early leaf out continued into Oklahoma.

Now, it’s happening in parts of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota two weeks early. In some places, it’s more than three weeks early.

Climate Central, a nonprofit focused on climate change, said leaf out has gotten earlier in recent decades in much of the country, which could make allergies worse.

Isabella Luu

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Iowa Public Radio

With five Iowa teams in this year’s March Madness games, college basketball fans who still hope to buy NCAA tournament tickets could be at a higher risk for scams.

Josh Planos, with the Better Business Bureau, said March Madness is a prime time for ticket rip-offs. If you plan to buy tournament tickets, Planos said to use a reputable ticketing site and pay with a credit card rather than with a payment app.

“It’s not to say that those payment methods aren’t effective or useful,” Planos said. “But you really don’t have the same protections that you do with a credit card.”

Other tips include buying from a trusted source, avoiding falling for high-pressure sales tactics and knowing what a realistic cost should be. Planos said if the seller is offering a bargain, it’s likely a scam. Another important tip Planos offered is: Do not use social media to buy tickets.

“That’s a gamble,” he said. “It doesn’t mean that folks don’t have success with that all the time for any number of products, but it really is challenging to know who it is that you’re communicating with.”

In the men’s games on Friday, Iowa State University plays against Tennessee State in St. Louis, the University of Iowa plays Clemson in Tampa and the University of Northern Iowa faces St. John’s in San Diego.

In women’s hoops on Saturday, Iowa will host Fairleigh Dickinson in Iowa City and Iowa State plays Syracuse in Storrs, Conn.

The Eastern Iowa Airport has organized a donation drive for its Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents, who have been working without pay because of the partial government shutdown which began in February. The airport is collecting nonperishable food items, household essentials and gift cards for gas and groceries to give to its workers. 

The organizing group, Indivisible Iowa Linn County Metro, is also collecting donations for the drive. Cindy Garlock, one of the lead organizers, said the TSA workers have been caught in the middle of fights in Congress over funding for the Department of Homeland Security. 

“They're doing their job, even though they have missed a paycheck now,” she said. “It’s unfortunate. They’ve been caught in the crosshairs here, when they’re just trying to do their job.”

Garlock said Indivisible members are making frequent trips to drop off donations at the airport. People can drop off donations at the information desk in the airport terminal from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. 

More than 1,600 plants and animals are protected under the U.S. Endangered Species Act, but out of all of those, only one is a moss.

Mosses and other bryophytes don’t get much attention, even among scientists, which has caused a lot of gaps in our understanding of them. It’s also a conservation challenge because you can’t protect a species if you don’t know it’s struggling.

That’s why John Brinda, an assistant scientist at the Missouri Botanical Garden, along with a group of scientists from across Canada and the U.S., are launching a new group called the Bryophyte Conservation Alliance to better understand and protect these plants.

Read the full story from Harvest Public Media’s Kate Grumke.

Iowa Poison Control Center

The Iowa Poison Control Center is now offering a live chat feature to contact poison experts. In addition to the center’s 24/7 Poison Help phone number, Iowans can connect with an expert via the “Chat Now” button on the IPCC website.

IPCC Education and Outreach Coordinator Jana Day said the new chat line is a way to meet people where they are.
“We want to make ourselves available to everybody, and if you would rather not pick up the phone and make a call, we can be here for you in another way,” Day said.

Day said most cases that come into the center come from exposure to pain relievers and other medications, as well as household cleaning products. IPCC saw about 24,000 poisoning cases across the state in 2025, with more than half involving teens and children.

Iditarod

Riley Dyche from Farragut crossed the finish line in seventh place in the Iditarod on Wednesday, completing the roughly 1,000 mile Alaskan trek from Anchorage to Nome in a little over 10 days.

The 33-year-old from southwest Iowa has lived in Alaska since 2012 and runs the Dark Horse Racing Kennel with nearly 40 dogs. While he and his father were always avid outdoorsmen, Dyche said an opportunity during his late teens got him hooked on mushing.

“My first semester of college in Leadville, Colo., I needed a job and heard about a place outside of town that gave mushing tours and that sounded really cool to me,” Dyche said. “I had always liked dogs a lot and it sounded fun, so I went and interviewed and ended up working there. I was pretty much hooked right away.”

Dyche has competed in the endurance race multiple times, including a top-10 finish in last year’s Iditarod. In a 2022 interview with KMA, Dyche said the mushers and the dogs experience sub-zero temperatures and strong winds of 40 or more miles per hour during the multi-day adventure.

“It’s kind of like climbing Everest,” he explained. “There’s people who are climbing it to just get to the top, and there’s people who are trying to do it for speed records. It’s the same thing for the Iditarod. Over half the field is running it to run it or finish it, and then there’s 20 to 30 that are running it to race it. There’s a big difference in running to finish and running to race.”

He said it’s often a huge accomplishment to even cross the finish line in Nome. This year, he ended the race with 12 of the original 16 dogs that started the race in Anchorage.

Newly released documents show that the Center for Intellectual Freedom at the University of Iowa paid $8,762 more than it had budgeted to host its inaugural event in December.

The documents show the largest single expense was the keynote speaker. The center paid conservative activist Christopher Rufo $34,000 to speak at the event. It also spent several thousand dollars more than it had budgeted on renting a space, hiring a DJ and catering. 

State Rep. Adam Zabner, D-Iowa City, criticized Republicans at the Statehouse over the event's high expenses. 

“For Iowa Republicans to spend $34,000 on their own pet project to bring in a super right-wing influencer at an event that’s not even open to the public, I just think is really tone deaf right now,” Zabner said.

A small section of the event was open to members of the public, but they were separated from the invited guests, and the event was not heavily publicized.

A public library book club event for middle schoolers in Bondurant was canceled Tuesday following community backlash over one of its selections.
 
The book club had chosen to discuss This Book is Gay, a book that frequently appears on banned or challenged book lists for its sexually explicit content and LGBTQ topics. It is commonly listed for readers ages 14 and older by publishers.
 
The library board canceled the book club event, citing safety concerns for patrons and staff. Officials said the book club is voluntary and selections are voted on by participating students.

During a Bondurant City Council meeting, leaders noted they do not oversee library programming but pledged to improve communication with the library board moving forward.

Madeleine Charis King

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Iowa Public Radio

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren has endorsed state Sen. Zach Wahls in the Democratic primary for Iowa’s open U.S. Senate seat.

Warren, a former Democratic presidential candidate from Massachusetts, said in a statement that Wahls has “never been afraid to take on the political establishment to fight for what’s right.”

Wahls will face state Rep. Josh Turek in the Democratic primary on June 2. Turek has recently received endorsements from Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada and Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, as well as former Sen. Bob Casey of Pennsylvania.

Sheila Brummer

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Iowa Public Radio

Major cuts will not be coming to the Sioux City Public Library System. The city council voted unanimously during a budget meeting Wednesday to trim $100,000 instead of the previously proposed amount of $1 million.

Many in the community rallied around the library to try to keep it from cutting services and staff.

A national environmental advocacy group is supporting early stages of the project to recommission the Duane Arnold nuclear plant.

The Natural Resources Defense Council filed a comment saying it supports the consolidation of the plant’s ownership under NextEra Energy Resources. The group has long held concerns about nuclear energy. But Kit Kennedy, NRDC managing director of power, climate and energy, said so far, Duane Arnold is a safer option for supporting data center electrical demand than coal or gas-fired power generation.

“We wanted to engage in this process early and lay down some markers about what we thought the potential benefits of reopening the reactor could be and the safety concerns that are really important,” Kennedy said.

Kennedy said the NRDC’s goal is to participate in the federal regulatory process and steer things in the right direction. The group’s 12-page comment is not meant to be taken as support of the plant’s restart overall, just the ownership consolidation plan. 

The West Des Moines Police Department has made an arrest in the 15-year-old cold case murder of real estate agent Ashley Okland.

Okland, 27, was shot and killed while showing a townhome in West Des Moines on April 8, 2011.

West Des Moines police said a Dallas County grand jury has authorized the charge of first-degree murder against Kristin Ramsey. Ramsey, 53, is being held in the Dallas County Jail awaiting further action in the case.

The West Des Moines Police Department said it doesn’t expect any more arrests during a news conference Wednesday morning. Assistant Police Chief Jody Hayes said they couldn’t answer any questions about the case, as it is pending prosecution.

However, Hayes was able to speak about the impact of the Okland’s death.

“Since her death on April 8, 2011, the search for answers has weighed heavily on family, friends, co-workers and our central Iowa community,” he said. “In addition, Ashley’s story has haunted a very frightened community of professional realtors who have forever changed how they hold open houses and conduct business on a daily basis.”

Hayes said the investigation was a joint effort by local and state law enforcement, along with the Iowa Attorney General’s Office and the cold case unit. He said they followed up on thousands of leads from the public and reviewed countless items of evidence and materials collected throughout the investigation.

“The drive and unwavering commitment by investigators to solve this case is always and has been justice for Ashley and her family,” Hayes said.

Okland’s sister, Brittany Bruce, was at the news conference and talked about what the arrest meant to her family. She also thanked officers for “never quitting on Ashley.”

“That Friday afternoon, when Ashley was taken from us, seems so long ago,” Bruce said. “We had lost our hope in finding answers and having any justice for Ashley. It was really difficult to accept that the case had gone cold.”

Okland’s brother, Josh, spoke at the news conference. Both siblings said they are confident that prosecutors will see the case through and asked from privacy throughout the process.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said additional funding for the war against Iran will be subject to debate in the Senate.

It’s expected that the Trump administration will make a supplemental budget request in the near future. Grassley dismissed the notion Congress would rubber stamp a request for tens of billions in taxpayer dollars.

“The Pentagon is going to suggest a figure to us. It's going to go through the Appropriations Committee.  It's going to have a discussion there, and it's going to be fully debated on the floor of the Senate,” he said.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota told AgriPulse last week that Republican leaders are considering attaching other legislation, including additional aid for farmers, to a bill funding military operations. The conflict in the Middle East has caused the price of oil and fertilizer to rise sharply.

Democrats in Congress have been pushing for public hearings on the war, an idea Republicans have so far rejected. Grassley doesn’t think hearings are necessary and said President Donald Trump has made it clear that the goal is to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

Sheila Brummer

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Iowa Public Radio

There’s only one Republican left in the race for Iowa’s 4^th Congressional District after Iowa Tea Party Founder Ryan Rhodes dropped out and endorsed Chris McGowan.

At one point, five Republican candidates sought to replace Republican U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, who’s running for governor. Candidates had until last Friday at 5 p.m. to submit signatures to appear on the June 2 primary ballot.

McGowan, who is president of the Siouxland Chamber of Commerce, received President Donald Trump’s endorsement last month.

Democratic candidates that qualified for the primary ballot are: Dan Dawson of Lawton, Stephanie Steiner of Sutherland and Ashley WolfTornabane of Storm Lake.

The 4th Congressional District is the most conservative in Iowa, with Republicans outnumbering Democrats by more than 2 to 1. The district covers western Iowa and includes the cities of Council Bluffs, Ames, Fort Dodge and Marshalltown.

Joe Mitchell for Congress

Joe Mitchell, a Republican running for Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District, has been added to the “MAGA Majority” program. Mitchell is one of nine candidates running in key battleground districts across the country that was selected for the GOP election initiative.

Being included in the MAGA Majority, formally called Young Guns, means Mitchell’s campaign will receive early support, resources and greater visibility from the National Republican Congressional Committee. 

Mitchell, who is a former state representative from Mount Pleasant, said he doesn’t take the announcement for granted. 

“We always run like we're five points behind, no matter if we're in the lead or not,” he said. “That mentality is something I’ve had my entire life, and we want to make sure that we’re outperforming every step of the way, and that’s from voter contact to fundraising. I think we’ve done that thus far.” 

Mitchell received President Donald Trump’s endorsement earlier this year. He will face off against State Sen. Charlie McClintock in the Republican primaries on June 2. 

The Waterloo City Council is weighing possible funding cuts to its local museums, including the Grout Museum District, due to the city’s anticipated multi-million dollar budget deficit.

City officials said the council will discuss cutting the Grout Museum District’s funding by roughly $300,000, which is about 20% of its budget. The district runs the Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum and the Grout Museum of History and Science, in addition to several historical sites. 

Grout Museum District Executive Director Margaret Moye is urging members of the community to show support for fully funding the district’s museums at the city council’s budget hearing at the end of the month. 

“There's quite a few folks who absolutely understand how we fit into the ecosystem of Waterloo,” Moye said. “The fact that we’re a tourist draw, we bring dollars to other entities besides ourselves and we are community players and are in active partnerships across Waterloo and Cedar Falls.” 

Waterloo is facing a $2.1 million budget deficit for the upcoming fiscal year.

Because of state property tax legislation passed in 2023 that consolidated several local levies, including the voter-approved one funding the museum district, Moye said the city now has control over where that money goes.

“I respect that the legislation put the city in a very difficult place,” she said. “It capped growth areas, it changed how cities can collect different funds ... but the simple fact is that the voters of Waterloo approved this levy because they recognize our value.” 

City officials said they could cut the amount the city gives to the museum district by half, allowing the city to keep the rest of the money it collects through the levy, rather than using it to fund the museum district.

The Waterloo City Council will meet to discuss the budget on March 30 at 5:30 p.m. The public can attend in person or watch a live stream.

The Family Leader, a major Christian conservative organization in Iowa, endorsed Adam Steen in the Republican primary for governor.

The Family Leader President and CEO Bob Vander Plaats personally endorsed Steen last month. Now, he said the group’s board has unanimously decided to throw its political organizing and financial support behind Steen.
 
Vander Plaats said this doesn’t mean he has anything against U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, the presumed frontrunner in the Republican primary for governor.

“Our history in Iowa shows and proves we do not elect congressmen to be governor of Iowa,” he said. “We believe that is the perfect candidate that Rob Sand wants to run against to win.”

He said Steen is the most qualified candidate for governor and would give Republicans their best chance at beating Democratic State Auditor Rob Sand in November.

Three candidates running for Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District qualified to appear on the June 2 primary ballot.

The two Democratic candidates are state Sen. Sarah Trone Garriott of West Des Moines and Xavier Carrigan of Waukee.

Incumbent U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn will appear on the primary ballot and faces no Republican challengers. Nunn is currently serving his second term in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Iowa’s 3rd District covers 21 counties in south-central Iowa, including Des Moines, Osceola and Ottumwa.

Five Republicans and one Democrat running for governor submitted enough signatures to get on the ballot this year. The Iowa Secretary of State’s Office released the final list of candidates Monday afternoon.

State Rep. Eddie Andrews, U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, former state Rep. Brad Sherman, Zach Lahn and former Department of Administrative Services Director Adam Steen are set to appear on the Republican primary ballot.

State Auditor Rob Sand is the only candidate who will be listed on the Democratic primary ballot. Democrat Julie Stauch submitted paperwork last week to get on the ballot, but election officials determined she didn’t have enough signatures to qualify.

Iowans can file objections this week to candidates accepted for the ballot. The state objection panel may remove candidates from the ballot if they’re deemed ineligible. 

The former president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association has said the fertilizer price spike is out of control.

Lance Lillibridge raises cattle, corn, soybeans and alfalfa in Benton County, near Vinton. During an interview with Brownfield Ag News, he said raising fertilizer prices because of the US and Israel’s war with Iran is unfair.

Lillibridge ordered his fertilizer supply before the war in Iran broke out, but many farmers had not.

“We’ve had a problem with fertilizer prices for quite some time now, and it hasn’t been dealt with, and now that we have a situation, a geopolitical situation, it has completely amplified that and it has gone completely out of control,” Lillibridge said. “Eventually, it is going to hurt everyone down the road if we don’t get this fixed quickly.”

On Friday, the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture said that the White House is looking at “every potential avenue” to lower fertilizer prices, and that she’s talking with Congress about “additional funds” for U.S. farmers.

According to the American Farm Bureau, 49% of the global supply of nitrogen and 30% of the global supply of ammonia come from the Persian Gulf.

A group is suing an Iowa co-op over a massive fertilizer spill in western Iowa.

In March of 2024, a valve was left open for two days on a storage tank owned by NEW Co-op in Red Oak in Montgomery County. Over 250,000 gallons of liquid nitrogen reached the East Nishnabotna River, killing fish, turtles and other wildlife along 50 miles of Iowa and Missouri waterways.

In July of 2025, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird announced a $100,000 settlement with NEW Co-op. Carrie La Seur, an attorney representing Nishnabotna Water Defenders, a nonprofit group formed after the spill, said the settlement does little to ensure such an event won’t happen again.

“The consent decree does not include anything along the lines of improving the technology or operating practices at the Red Oak site or any of NEW Cooperative's many other sites that are similarly situated, many of them storing similar amounts of fertilizer near other water bodies,” she said.

The Nishnabotna Water Defenders are seeking full restitution for the value of the lost natural resources, mandatory containment barriers and remote shutoff technology at all NEW Cooperatives chemical storage sites and new state permitting of these facilities.

The company has not responded to the suit filed in the Iowa District Court for Montgomery County.

Blizzard conditions forced the closure of long stretches of Interstates 80 and 35 Sunday night. The Iowa State Patrol responded to more than 60 crashes on Sunday alone.

Nine of the crashes involved injuries, and one person died in a crash in Davis County.

Mike Kennon, Cass County’s emergency management coordinator, said first responders were very busy when I-80 was still open, with an untold number of cars and trucks strewn in the ditches and medians. The Nishna Valley YMCA in Atlantic was designated as the shelter for nearly 50 stranded motorists in need of medical treatment and a place to stay.

The principal of Cedar Rapids Prep was arrested over the weekend.

Justin Blietz was taken into custody Saturday evening on first-degree harassment charges. A criminal complaint says Blietz threatened to slit a woman’s throat and watch her die.

A woman by the same name was granted a temporary restraining order against Blietz last year for domestic violence concerns, though it was canceled just weeks later. A spokesperson for the Linn County Jail says he is no longer being held there.

KCRG reports Blietz has been placed on administrative leave. The chief of schools for Opportunity Education Network, the nonprofit that runs CR Prep, will take over leading the school.

CR Prep has not returned IPR’s requests for comment.

New reports show that two different bills aimed at reducing residential tuition at Iowa’s public universities could cost the schools wildly different amounts.

One bill that has passed in the House would allow in-state families to pay a fee during their student’s first year to lock in their tuition rate for the following three years. It would allow families to plan for the exact cost of a four-year degree.

Another bill passed out of the House would freeze tuition increases for all resident undergraduate students over the next five years.

A Legislative Services Agency report shows that an earlier version of the bill that locks in tuition would cost Iowa’s public universities just over $15 million in revenue in its third year. That was before the House added the “opt-in” fee.

The tuition freeze would cost the schools $61 million in its fifth year.

Last month, the Board of Regents proposed a 3% tuition increase at the three universities but agreed not to act until the board’s meeting in April.

Read the full story.

Madeleine King

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Iowa Public Radio

Iowa will receive $3 million as part of a settlement with Live Nation and Ticketmaster. The major antitrust case was brought by the U.S. Department of Justice and dozens of states.

The lawsuit alleged the company used its dominance in concert promotion, venues and ticket sales to limit competition and raise prices for fans and artists.

The settlement caps ticket service fees at 15% and allows competing promoters to sell up to half of venue tickets.

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird called the agreement a win for Iowa, though more than a dozen states say the terms don’t go far enough and plan to continue the lawsuit Monday.

Read the full story.

Farm bankruptcies are on the rise nationwide.

In 2025, there were 315 bankruptcy filings amid multiple years of low row-crop prices and high input costs, though that’s still fewer farm bankruptcy filings than there were in the 2010s.

Joe Mahon, an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, says bankruptcies are creeping back up to those high levels.

“The commonality between what we're seeing right now and what we saw in the latter half of the last decade is sort of a prolonged period of strain on incomes starting to eat into savings, and that ends up resulting in a financial picture that causes more producers to look into filing for bankruptcy,” he said.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that total farm debt will exceed $600 billion this year.

Read more from Harvest Public Media.

Nancy Corona

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U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The Neal Smith National Wildlife Refuge near Des Moines plans to continue environmental education and renovate its visitor center. Educational programs at the refuge have been paused for two years since storm damage forced the refuge’s Prairie Learning Center to close in 2024.

During a public open house, Refuge Manager Scott Gilge said staff are reevaluating which educational programs they can offer while planning renovations.

“And as part of our process well have to go back and look at your guys’ comments and say ‘OK, is that something that’s compatible with the refuge?’” he said.

Gilge said the refuge plans to cut the size of the learning center in half to keep staffing and operational costs down. Some programs will be offered outside of the center to encourage learning opportunities on the refuge grounds.

The Sioux City Library Board is proposing smaller cuts after some city council members said they want to reduce the budget by up to 25%, or $1 million.

Board member Jim Wharton said they found a way to save $100,000, but any more would impact services.

“We love our library, we know you do too, and we want to work together to strengthen this institution that has served our community for 150 years.”

Wharton is also a former mayor of Sioux City. He said the state has put pressure on communities by failing to fund programs and by limiting the amount of money raised through property taxes.

City council member Julie Schoenherr said this is a good starting point. However, local governments are facing tough choices because of federal cuts and state spending limits.

“They're pulling dollars from every entity that they can that hurts the most disadvantaged, the families, the middle, the lower middle class and below who don't have the money,” Schoenherr said. “Pull something that I can afford, I won't bark near as loud. That just breaks my heart when I see things like that. It just breaks my heart.”

Schoenherr said Sioux City has been forced to make reductions across the board, not just the library.

State Sen. Julian Garrett, R-Indianola, said he’s going through treatment for prostate cancer and won’t be seeking reelection. He has served in the Legislature since 2011.

Garrett is one of at least four state senators to be diagnosed with cancer in the past two years.

In a statement, he said it’s been “his greatest pleasure to serve in the Iowa Senate to stand up for the Constitution … and enact common-sense, conservative legislation.”

Zach Lahn has filed paperwork to get on the Republican primary ballot for governor.

He’s a businessman from Belle Plaine who’s aligned himself with Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda.

Lahn said his priorities of tackling water quality issues and Iowa’s high cancer rates are resonating with people from all political parties.

“But we have to be willing to address the root causes of this and not just beat around the bush or be around the edges on these issues. We have to be willing to confront the elephant in the room, and that is that we’ve been lied to for a long time by large agricultural companies about the safety of their products.”

Three other Republicans have turned in their paperwork to run for governor: Randy Feenstra, Brad Sherman and Adam Steen. Rob Sand and Julie Stauch have filed to run in the Democratic primary election on June 2.

Gas prices have surged since the start of the war with Iran, and many agricultural leaders say E15 would help consumers save money.

Nick Bowdish, president and CEO of Siouxland Ethanol, said E15 is a solution for higher prices at the pump. The gasoline blend contains up to 15% ethanol.

“We're American-made, domestically made, and all of our plants are actually sitting on fuel supplies that could be doing more work in serving the consumer, but there's an archaic fuel regulation that still to this day limits ethanol and gasoline at 10% for all motor vehicles,” Bowdish said.

Craig Brodersen said all the corn he raises on his farm in western Iowa gets sold to a local ethanol plant.

“E15 helps the consumer. It really does. You’re not buying it from a foreigner. You're buying it from us,” Brodersen said.

Federal rules restrict E15 sales from June through mid-September because of air-quality concerns.

So far Congress has failed to pass legislation approving year-round use.

The Senate Agriculture Committee heard testimony this week on ways to boost demand for farm products. Several participants urged lawmakers to approve year-round E15.

Geoff Cooper, president and CEO of the national Renewable Fuels Association, said President Donald Trump could issue emergency waivers allowing existing retailers to continue selling E15 in the summer. It's a move he says could save drivers up to 50 cents a gallon.

The newest Cancer in Iowa report estimates 6,400 Iowans will die of cancer this year and more than 21,000 will be newly diagnosed.

The Iowa Cancer Registry estimates prostate, breast and lung cancers will make up more than 40% of new diagnoses.

Mary Charlton, the director of the Iowa Cancer Registry, said Iowa continues to have the second highest rate of new cancers in the country for reasons that are very hard to determine.

“You know, it just really continues to be of concern of how many different types of cancer that we're highly ranked in in the country, and such different types of cancer with different sets of risk factors, and they continue to have different geographic patterns in Iowa,” Charlton said.

She said Iowa’s adolescent and childhood rates are comparable to U.S. rates, but that’s not the case for young adults.

“Where we do see where we have higher rates than the rest of the country is in our young adults, ages 20 to 39, and in fact had the second highest rate of cancer in our young adults in the country,” Charlton said.

At the same time, the report found the number of Iowans who are surviving cancer continues to grow. More than 175,000 Iowans are either living with or have had cancer in their lives.

Read more.

An army munitions plant in the southeast Iowa town of Middletown has announced it is temporarily pausing its operations to conduct a proactive safety review.

Director of public and congressional affairs for the Joint Munitions Command, Justine Barati said it was an internal decision, rather than a directive from the state or federal government.

She said she cannot provide specific details about what prompted the shutdown, only that it includes reviewing the plant’s processes, production lines and storage areas on a temporary basis.

Barati the public should not be concerned and is not in danger.

It’s not clear how long the shutdown will last.

Gov. Kim Reynolds held the first in a series of events she's calling her legacy tour Thursday night in Cedar Rapids. Republican Party Chair Jeff Kaufmann asked questions about her life and career in front of an audience of county Republican chairs, state legislative hopefuls and members of the conservative group Turning Point USA.

Reynolds said one of her biggest accomplishments while in office was lowering the individual income tax rate.

“We've done some incredible things. I mean, when you talk about tax reform — when we took office, we had the sixth highest individual income tax rate in the country. We have now the sixth lowest, and we did it in six years,” Reynolds said. "That’s incredible.”

Several dozen protesters stood outside the event, carrying signs criticizing Reynolds for her economic policies.

She announced her retirement last year. Her term ends in January.

A traveling herd of three giant bronze bison sculptures will stop in Iowa City on Sunday. The bison are on their way to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C.

The sculptures are part of a national project celebrating the history of the American bison and the 250th anniversary of the United States. Jessica Smith is with the University of Iowa’s Natural History Museum, where the bison will arrive.

“Iowa in general is a really important stop, because of our history with prairie interaction between Indigenous and native cultures with the bison,” said Smith. “And we have some of the most important archeological dig sites in the world that give us a lot of information about the history of bison and human interaction.”

Organizers said the public is invited to gather and see the bison, then wave goodbye to the sculptures as they continue their cross-country trip.

The University of Iowa Museum of Natural History will be the bison’s only stop in Iowa.

The journey is part of a nationwide celebration of the 250th anniversary of the United States.

Read more.

Agriculture employment grew 10% nationwide between 2010 and 2024, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. That means potential jobs for people who grew up far from traditional agriculture.

Christine White, the chief program officer with the National FFA Organization, said FFA chapters across the country serve students in urban, technology-forward settings.

“When you think about agriculture holistically, from pre-research all the way to consumers, the food, ag and natural resources value chain has opportunities for all students to engage in the industry,” White said.

White said that the organization formerly known as Future Farmers of America changed its name to invite urban and suburban students who don’t encounter traditional farming in their neighborhoods. Program advisors said students are learning skills that can help them work in a wide range of industries — from biotech to cosmetology.

At Missouri’s University City High School, students grow batches of lettuce, basil and collards at a hydroponic farm inside a shipping container.

“There’s not farms in the urban city,” said Corey Bradley, manager of several hydroponic farms in the area. “By having a hydroponic farm in the middle of an urban community, it exposes more people, the youth, to agriculture.”

Read more from Harvest Public Media.

Some Iowans with disabilities are pushing lawmakers to remove income and asset caps from a special Medicaid program that allows them to work. But recent reductions to spending for Medicaid at the federal level may be giving lawmakers pause.

The Medicaid buy-in program allows working disabled Iowans to pay a premium to get coverage, but it caps income at 250% of the federal poverty level, which is $39,900 a year for a household of one. It also has an asset cap of $12,000 for an individual and $24,000 for a married couple, which excludes some things, like a primary home and vehicle.

These limits stop working disabled Iowans from earning as much as they can at a time when federal and state lawmakers have also approved minimum work requirements for many others on Medicaid, said Carlyn Crowe, the public policy manager at the Iowa Developmental Disabilities Council.

Advocates have been pushing lawmakers for three years to remove these caps and instead set Medicaid premiums at 6% of income, Crowe said.

One problem, experts said, is that states are now facing nearly a trillion dollars in reductions to Medicaid spending under President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which was signed into law last summer.

At the Iowa Statehouse last session, a House committee passed a bill unanimously that would have done just what advocates were asking for, but that legislation stalled this year. This session, Iowa Republican lawmakers have instead proposed to raise the program’s income limit to 300% of the federal poverty level.

Read the full story.

Political strategist Julie Stauch turned in signatures to get on the ballot for Iowa’s Democratic primary for governor in June.

Stauch said voters have told her water quality, public schools and health care are their top concerns. She said Democrats should choose her over her primary opponent, State Auditor Rob Sand, because she’ll work for Iowans.

“I’m not going to be a career politician. I don’t have my own agenda,” she said. “I’m just finding out what they want done, and I’m going to go to work on it. And I’m demonstrating that I’m going to work on it by talking about the things I would do.”

Three Republicans have filed so far to run in the GOP’s primary for governor: U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, former state Rep. Brad Sherman and Adam Steen, former director of the Iowa Department of Administrative Services.

The Le Mars Public Library was founded 150 years ago this week. A celebration on Wednesday featured cake, speeches, an unveiling of new library card designs and a proclamation from Mayor Rob Bixenman.

“The Le Mars Public Library has provided quality library services to the City of Le Mars and the surrounding areas for the past 150 years,” Mayor Bixenman said. “The library has served as a trusted institution that provides equitable access to information and services for all members of our community.”

Library director Shirley Taylor said the library was founded on March 11, 1876, and it started off as a paid membership service, with the city taking over operations in 1885.

“This was a group of citizens that got together, there wasn’t even an official incorporated town yet, but they felt something was very, very important, and they got together and they worked to make it happen,” Taylor said. “I think sometimes we tend to feel like, ‘Oh, somebody else will do it,’ and I guess, to me, the important thing is it is our calling to work on it for the next generation and those after.”

There are events planned every month for the next several months to celebrate the library’s sesquicentennial. The celebrations will conclude on Aug. 6 with the 150th Celebration Bash at the library.

A billionaire with Iowa ties has been asked to testify before a U.S. House committee investigating convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

Ted Waitt is a Sioux City native who co-founded the computer company Gateway 2000. He dated Epstein’s longtime associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, for several years in the late 2000s. Maxwell was Waitt’s guest at former President Bill Clinton’s daughter Chelsea’s wedding.

Maxwell is serving a 20-year federal prison sentence for child sex trafficking.

Waitt is one of seven people asked to be interviewed by the committee next month. The group also includes Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Josh Turek filed nearly 10,000 signatures from all 99 counties to be on the June primary ballot. 
 
Turek is currently a state representative for Council Bluffs. He faces state Sen. Zach Wahls in the Democratic primary for U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst’s open seat. 
 
Turek said he is well-positioned to take on the Republican frontrunner, U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, in the general election because he represents a part of the state that votes heavily Republican. 
 
“We keep hearing people saying we need change at the state level, and we need change at the federal level. We need people in D.C. that come from places like Council Bluffs, Iowa, with a real lived experience,” Turek said.
 
The Democratic primary is on June 2. 

Republican candidate for governor Adam Steen submitted more than 9,000 signatures to get on the ballot for the June 2 primary election.

Steen said his experience running businesses and serving as director of the Iowa Department of Administrative Services sets him apart from the other GOP candidates. He also said he’s not afraid of candidates who have raised more money than him because he has built up support across the state.

“We wanted to get signatures in all 99 counties to show the grassroots effort that this is,” he said. “Iowans are showing up. They’re showing up to our events. We’re answering questions. We’re not afraid to answer tough questions, and Iowans know that. It resonates with them very, very well, and we’re just showing and proving that we’re here for Iowa.” 

Republicans Randy Feenstra and Brad Sherman filed for the governor’s race, and Democrat Rob Sand has also submitted signatures to get on the ballot.

Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley expressed confidence in Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin leading the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

President Donald Trump nominated Mullin to succeed former Secretary Kristi Noem, who was ousted last week over her handling of immigration enforcement and allegations that she misused DHS funds.

Grassley said that during his short time in the Senate, Mullin has shown an ability to “work with almost anybody” and should be a good leader at DHS. He’s hopeful Mullin will not have the “political problems” that Noem had in that position.

Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a law barring local governments from having broader civil rights protections than those outlined in state code.

Last year, the Legislature removed gender identity as a protected class from the Iowa Civil Rights Act, which prompted several cities, including Iowa City, to pass resolutions affirming their existing protections against discrimination based on gender identity. The new law counteracts Iowa City’s local protections for gender identity.

Iowa City Councilor Laura Bergus said Republicans at the Statehouse are going against longstanding conservative beliefs about limited government intervention and home rule, which allows local governments to manage their area’s affairs.

“Every city, every county can have vastly different regulations when it comes to land use, and that has not been a problem,” Bergus said. “So, it’s clear that this is targeted. It’s clear that this is for the purpose of harming transgender Iowans, and it shouldn’t stand.” 

Bergus said city officials are trying to determine if the law is valid and whether the city will take any legal action. She hopes businesses and schools will continue to have policies that prohibit gender identity-based discrimination. 

Natalie Krebs

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Iowa Public Radio

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Zach Wahls turned in signatures to officially get on the primary ballot this June. 
 
Wahls is a state senator and was formerly the Iowa Senate minority leader. He said his campaign filed more than 10,000 signatures from across the state to run for U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst’s open seat. 

“I'm really proud to have Iowans from all 99 counties, and 15% of the folks who signed our petitions are Republicans and registered independents,” he said. “I think that's a good example of the coalition that we are building as we've been traveling across Iowa.” 
 
State Rep. Josh Turek is also running to be Iowa’s Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate. Republican frontrunner and U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson also officially filed to be on the ballot Wednesday. 

Natalie Krebs

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Iowa Public Radio

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Ashley Hinson turned in what she said was more than 15,000 signatures to get on the 2026 primary election ballot. Hinson is the frontrunner to get the GOP nomination for the open Senate seat currently held by Sen. Joni Ernst, who is not seeking reelection. 
 
Hinson has been in Congress since 2021 and currently represents Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District. If elected to the U.S. Senate, she said she wants to support "Iowa agriculture and our rural way of life.” 
 
“We've really built a movement of people who are sick and tired of the way Washington, D. C.’s chaos and dysfunction has been running and who will not rest until our nation's capital shares my goal of running a whole lot more like Iowa,” Hinson said.
 
Iowa’s primary election is scheduled for June 2. Former state Sen. Jim Carlin is also running for the Republican nomination.

Traffic deaths dropped back down in February after starting out high in January, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation.

DOT spokesperson Stuart Anderson told the State Transportation Commission that the lack of winter weather in January led to more cars on the road and more fatalities.

“Last month, we talked about January being an unusually high month, particularly coming off our record low year in 2025,” he said.

Anderson said there were 24 traffic deaths in January and nine in February.

“I believe that was the first single-digit month we’ve had since we’ve been recording a fatality,” he said. “So, February was remarkably low.”

It’s not all good news though, according to Anderson, who said March is off to a rough start.

“March has started out a little challenging,” he said. “Again, we’ve had six fatalities in March so far, and we’re still obviously early in the month.”

The 33 traffic deaths through February of this year is down one from the first two months of last year.

Welcome home ceremonies are planned for Thursday for Iowa National Guard members returning from the Middle East.

About 575 members of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 34th Infantry Division, known as the Red Bulls, were deployed as part of Operation Inherent Resolve. They worked alongside coalition forces to reduce the impact of ISIS in Iraq and Syria.

Two members of the Red Bulls who were from Iowa died during an ISIS ambush in December.

The ceremonies for the returning soldiers will take place at noon in Sioux City, at 2 p.m. in Des Moines and at 4:45 p.m. in Cedar Rapids.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said that well over half the money in a multi-billion-dollar farm bailout package has been claimed.

USDA Farm Service Agency Administrator Richard Fordyce said the application period for the Farmer Bridge Assistance Program, which opened Feb. 23, has been going smoothly.

“Almost $7.5 billion have been obligated, so well on our way to getting the $11 billion out to farmers,” Fordyce said. “We're super excited about the speed in which this program went out, the speed in which farmers responded.”
 
He said prefilled applications for direct payments are available to farmers who have a login.gov account. Otherwise, farmers can apply in person at their local Farm Service Agency office.

The deadline for row crop farmers to apply for federal assistance is April 17.

Natalie Krebs

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Iowa Public Radio

State Auditor Rob Sand turned in what he called a record-breaking number of signatures to get on the ballot for the June 2 primary election for governor.

Sand said he submitted 24,756 signatures from Iowa voters. Iowa law requires at least 3,500 signatures to get on the ballot for statewide office.

Sand is running for governor as a Democrat but said more than 20% of the signatures he collected came from independents and Republicans. He said that’s proof that his campaign has momentum, and it shows Iowans are interested in a new direction for the state.  

“This was a 99-county operation,” he said. “In fact, we are very close to 100 signatures in all 99 counties for this. So that we’re showing not just strength in heavily populated areas, but no matter where you live in the state of Iowa, you’ve got neighbors that signed to help us get on the ballot here.”

Republicans Randy Feenstra and Brad Sherman have also submitted signatures to get on the primary ballot. The deadline to file paperwork to run in the primary election is Friday at 5 p.m.

Read more.

A Mahaska County supervisor used a racial slur to describe makeshift repairs during a public meeting last week. The Oskaloosa Herald reported that Supervisor Steve Wanders was describing the HVAC system in a building owned by the county when he used the racist phrase.

"The heating and air conditioning in that building is all chopped up because it used to be a grocery store, so it’s just kind of what I call n------rigged, whatever you want to call it,” Wanders said.

Wanders reportedly said afterward that he was not intentionally speaking in a derogatory way about any person or group of people and that he said it without giving it a second thought.

County Supervisor Chuck Webb said he didn’t respond to what he heard because he didn’t want to bring attention to it. Webb said no one has complained about it or mentioned the racist comment, according to the Herald.

The Cedar Rapids school board proposed fewer staffing cuts following concerns raised by families in the district. In December, the district projected reducing over 33 positions for the next budget year. Now, they plan to cut around 20 overall. 

The reductions are expected to save the district roughly $1.5 million

Washington High School would have lost roughly seven employees in the original proposal, but that number is down to 0.5 full-time employees after Washington families raised concerns about the impacts of the staffing cuts. 

Kaitlin Byers, board of education director for district four, said the purpose of the new staffing model is to create consistency across the district and respond to inconsistencies appropriately. 

“Educators, leaders, community members engaging in these conversations in a respectful and productive way, that has really kept the bigger picture in focus, which we’ve heard public comment, we’ve heard through emails, we’ve heard in our conversation with our board at these meetings,” she said. “It just reminds us that we’re operating as a community.”

The board will finalize its plan for teaching staff later this month.  

Sheila Brummer

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Iowa Public Radio

Christian Schlaefer has dropped out of the race for Iowa’s 4th Congressional District. The Republican said he is suspending his campaign but will continue to fight for conservative values.

Schlaefer is a farmer and volunteer firefighter from Lakota in Kossuth County.

Republican candidates Chris McGowan of Sioux City and Ryan Rhodes of Ames remain in the race for the seat currently held by Republican U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra. Feenstra is running for governor of Iowa.

Democratic candidates include state Rep. Dave Dawson of Lawton, Ashley WolfTornabane of Storm Lake and Stephanie Steiner of Sutherland.

Sheila Brummer

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Iowa Public Radio

A northwest Iowa school district is taking action after complaints of bullying and harassment of students of color.

About 25% of students who attend MOC-Floyd Valley in Orange City are minorities, and some said they have faced racism in school.

Superintendent Mike Mulder said he’s heard from concerned parents and residents over the past several weeks, and he will do something about it. During Monday’s school board meeting, he said he plans for staff to undergo additional cultural and bias-awareness training through a third party.

“Ultimately, our goal is to ensure that our students, when they walk through our doors, feel safe, feel supported and prepared for their success,” he said. “So, this is the work that we're committed to today, and the work that we need to continue moving forward.”

Some of the complaints include students who were born in the U.S. being told to “go back to their home countries,” and a high schooler wearing a shirt that said “ICE, ICE, Baby” with a photo of President Donald Trump.

An Iowa community college baseball team plans to return to the diamond after a deadly bus crash.

Iowa Lakes Community College will play Minnesota North College – Mesabi Range on Friday at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. That’s the home stadium of the Minnesota Vikings.

Carter Johnson, a 19-year-old from Rapid City, S.D., died when the team’s bus lost control on a curve in Calhoun County almost a month ago. The crash injured 32 others.

A social media post from the college said, “returning to the field represents the strength and resilience of the team and the incredible support surrounding them.”

Many community members came out in support of the Sioux City Public Library as the city considers making substantial budget cuts.

Dozens showed up at a city council meeting Monday, including high school student Legend Campbell. Campbell said that last year, almost a quarter of a million people visited the Sioux City Public Library system.

“Libraries are not just buildings with books, they are one of the most widely used and impactful public resources our city has to offer,” Campbell said.

The city council is considering cutting up to $1 million from the library’s $3.7 million budget. Some council members said they want the library to modernize and include more branches. They also suggested downsizing the main downtown location.

A final budget meeting is scheduled for March 18.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley expressed his support for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as the Trump administration works to release billions of dollars in disaster aid that was held up by former Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem.

During her time leading the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, Noem instituted a policy where she had to approve any expenditure over $100,000. The policy slowed the release of funds for natural and man-made disaster recovery efforts, including flood cleanup in Iowa.

Grassley said the federal government has played a major role in disaster recovery for the past 70 years, and those efforts should continue. In February, a review panel appointed by the Trump administration suggested sweeping changes to the agency, according to NPR.

“The administration proposed [what] they were going to do is dramatically reform FEMA, or there was some suggestion they were going to do away with it,” he said. “Those are idiotic suggestions.”

FEMA recently announced over $10 million in disaster aid for communities in western and northwest Iowa hit by flooding and tornadoes in 2024, but local officials said they're still waiting to hear about money to buy out flood-damaged homes.

States are deciding how to respond after Live Nation reached a tentative settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice.

The antitrust lawsuit claims Live Nation monopolized the live entertainment industry through Ticketmaster.

The settlement would allow competing promoters to sell up to half of amphitheater tickets and cap service fees at 15%. It also avoids breaking up Live Nation and Ticketmaster.

A bipartisan group of 26 states says the deal doesn’t go far enough. They plan to continue the antitrust lawsuit. Iowa is not listed among those states.

According to court documents, Iowa was expected to accept the terms of the agreement, but the Des Moines Register reports the Iowa Attorney General’s Office said there is no agreement. The Iowa Attorney General’s Office has not responded to IPR’s requests for comment.

Live Nation owns and operates one venue in Iowa, Vibrant Music Hall in Waukee. It also owns a controlling stake in Des Moines-based promoter First Fleet Concerts.

Read more.

The Iowa Heartlanders minor league hockey team will suspend its operation for the 2026-2027 season.

The ECHL Board of Governors approved a request from the owners of the team, which plays at the Xtream Arena in Coralville. A statement from the Heartlanders did not say why they made the request, but that during the suspension, the organization will look at its long-term strategies.

Owner Michael Devlin said it was “an incredibly difficult decision that followed months of careful evaluation.” He said the organization explored every other option before requesting suspension.

The team will finish out the eight games left in its current season.

U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra has turned in paperwork to get on the primary election ballot for the governor’s race.

The Republican said he’s collected more than 7,500 signatures from all of Iowa’s 99 counties. He said he wants to make Iowa the most friendly state for business and agriculture.

"We got to get back to world class education, and then we got to make sure our kids stay right here," Feenstra said. "We got all these kids coming out of high school and colleges. That's our workforce. We want to make sure they stay here with a great quality of life.”

Republican candidate Brad Sherman has also turned in his required signatures for the primary on June 2.

Adam Steen, Eddie Andrews and Zach Lahn are also campaigning to be the Republican nominee for governor.

Feenstra outraised all of the other Republican candidates last year, according to campaign finance reports.

Linn County supervisors are moving forward with an ordinance that would regulate gas-fired power plants. It would require them to be built over two miles away from any residential zoning. It would also put in place standards on noise, infrastructure impacts and compatibility with the Eastern Iowa Airport.

Alliant Energy is proposing building a gas power facility in unincorporated Linn County, in part to support data center development in Cedar Rapids.

Economic Development Director Dennis Jordan said nearby residents will not have to pay for the infrastructure the utility builds to support data center projects.

“Residents will not have to pay for the infrastructure related to this generation outside of what would normally be spread across our system,” Jordan said. “So I would not expect an increase in either rates or fees associated with that.”

County Chair Kirsten Running-Marquardt said the ordinance balances potential economic growth with community concerns about air quality, noise and utility cost increases.

“This is taking into consideration that these are residential areas of communities that we’re looking at the setback from, with this amendment,” Running-Marquardt said. “We’re also trying to make sure that we’re being fair and reasonable should something arise, maybe that we haven’t thought of.”

Alliant previously proposed building the plant near the Eastern Iowa Airport, but selected a new location after concerns were raised by the public and airport officials.

St. Patrick Catholic School in Sheldon will permanently close at the end of the current academic year.

A statement from the Sioux City Catholic Diocese said the school’s board of education and leadership made the decision to close due to low and declining enrollment and other factors. The school has provided a Catholic education for families in the Sheldon, Ashton and Sibley areas for the past 70 years. This year, St. Patrick has 42 students enrolled in preschool through 8th grade.

Staff and parents were notified of the closure Friday afternoon. A message from the board was shared with parishioners this weekend.

“This was a difficult decision for the leadership of St. Patrick,” Bishop John Keehner of the Sioux City Catholic Diocese said in a statement.” “We are grateful for the many decades St. Patrick Catholic School served the families and students in the Sheldon area, teaching the faith and academics to our young people.”

The remains of six soldiers from an Army Reserve unit based in Des Moines were returned to the U.S. this weekend in a somber military ceremony at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and top Trump administration officials were there, along with Gov. Kim Reynolds and Iowa’s entire congressional delegation.

Two of the soldiers were Iowans. 20-year-old Declan Coady was a student at Drake and was posthumously promoted to sergeant. 45-year-old Maj. Jeffrey O’Brien of Waukee was commissioned as an officer in the Army Reserve in 2012. Additionally, 54-year-old Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert Marzan of Sacramento, Cali.a, had lived in Iowa for several years. The Sacramento Bee reports Kuwait was to be his final deployment after a 30 year military career.

On Air Force One after the ceremony, Trump told reporters the soldiers’ relatives are “great people” and it was “a very sad day.”

The soldiers’ remains were taken to a military mortuary on the Air Force base. The Pentagon has not announced details of their final flights to their home states. Their Army Reserve unit — the 103rd Sustainment Command — specializes in logistics for the military.

Scientists are finding tiny pieces of plastic in more and more places around the world. New research suggests algae could be part of the solution.

University of Missouri chemistry professor Susie Dai was trying to engineer algae to produce aviation fuel, but instead, she found that the clumps of algae were great at grabbing onto microplastics in water.

She’s working on a process to add algae tanks to wastewater treatment plants, which could use some help picking up the smallest microplastics.

“It’s wonderful to remove and retain the big ones, but eventually the smaller ones will be the ones really getting to the ecosystem and then getting to human exposure routes,” Dai said.

Dai and her coauthors laid out their process for using the algae to pick up microplastics in a new paper in Nature Communications.

Valparaiso University chemistry professor Julie Peller was not involved in the research, but said even in nature, algae is uniquely good at grabbing microplastics.

“The reality is, when this algae is in the water, it's like a little vacuum cleaner,” Peller said. “It pulls up all kinds of stuff that's in the water.”

Peller said people should skip plastic in their everyday life to prevent it from getting into water in the first place.

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More office workers are incorporating AI into their jobs, but the technology is not certain to replace them. A University of Iowa researcher said with increasing use of AI, office and clerical jobs will change, but they won’t go away.

Beth Livingston, professor of industrial relations at the UI’s Tippie School of Business, said AI’s impact on office work could be similar to the effect of automation on manufacturing. She said clerical and administrative workers should focus on developing what she and her colleagues call “irreplaceable human skills.”

“What are things that you can add to a conversation that computers just can't do? Your innovation, your creativity, your thoughtfulness. Even if Chat GPT can tell you what words to use in a conflict, you are still the one that has to deliver that message,” Livingston said. “And the more you can learn how to make yourself and your human skills as irreplaceable as possible, the better off you'll be.”

Because jobs like secretary, administrative assistant, or clerk are often entry-level and don’t require a college degree, Livingston said they’re overlooked by most researchers. She said there needs to be more research into how AI will affect all sectors of employment, not just tech and white-collar jobs.

Her study appears in the International Journal of Industrial Ergonomics.

Gov. Kim Reynolds said the state should stand united in supporting the families of two Iowa soldiers killed in Kuwait and other Iowans serving in the Middle East.

Reynolds said the deaths of Sgt. Declan Coady and Maj. Jeffrey O’Brien are devastating for their families and the state.

She said she visited Iowans serving in the Middle East in January, a few weeks after two Iowa National Guard members were killed in Syria. Reynolds said she saw how important they are to the mission, and military members need Iowans’ support and gratitude.

“Losing four soldiers from Iowa in the course of three months is a sobering reminder that our freedom is not free,” Reynolds said. “It demands sacrifice, and the kind of service that these heroes and their families have made on behalf of all of us.”

Reynolds also said she thinks the U.S. bombing of Iran is the right thing to do. She said the country is at war, and people shouldn’t be second-guessing the need to stand with military families.

“There will be time to do a review, but I think what we need to be doing … is we need to continue to stand united in support of our men and women that are serving, and especially until we get through this,” she said.