flooding

Iowa lawmakers have gaveled out for the last time this year.

After rising for weeks, the Mississippi River reached its peak over the weekend in parts of southwest Wisconsin and northeast Iowa. It crested at midday Monday in Davenport and Bettendorf and across the river in Illinois at Rock Island and Moline.

Discussing the top headlines of the week, including protests at the State Capitol and changes to state crime victim assistance programs concerning emergency contraception.

There's a long history of music making in prisons, but each program tends to be grassroots and unique.

Towns along the Mississippi River are no strangers to severe storms and flooding. But 2019 flooding took Davenport by surprise. Cars floated. People were evacuated. Is it ready for the next flood?

Davenport is preparing for high water on the Mississippi River. In its second Spring Flood Outlook, the Quad Cities National Weather Service says the risk is "well above normal."

People have lived along the Mississippi River and its tributaries for millennia, but levee systems built in response to past disasters aren't designed for the newest risk: increased rainfall caused by climate change.

Repeated flooding in some communities pushed residents to move to higher ground. But getting the resources and buy-in isn't easy, even in towns where residents have been flooded again and again.

Much of the Mississippi River basin is getting wetter, according to a new analysis of federal data, while rainfall events are becoming more intense. At the same time, the western half of the U.S. is increasingly prone to drought.

The city of Hornick broke ground on a berm on Thursday evening. The community hopes the structure will prevent damaging floods — like the one in 2019 that devastated the town.