Northeast Iowa

Samples from 41 taps across five eastern Iowa cities show wide disparities in what residents are drinking. A Cedar Falls-based environmental scientist conducted a study to better understand how nitrate levels vary in the region.

Dubuque has been selected for a $750,000 grant from the Wisconsin-based Jeffris Family Foundation to restore historic structures in Eagle Point Park, a 164-acre preserve overlooking the Mississippi River. First, the city must raise an additional $1.5 million.

The loss of the historic Mississippi River Bridge at Lansing in December 2025 stranded the remote communities of northeast Iowa and southwest Wisconsin. This summer, residents and business owners have adapted — and advocated — as they wait for the replacement to open.

Members of the Otoe-Missouria Tribe are crossing the Midwest on a tour of ancestral sites. The 11-day journey brought them across Iowa and included a stop in Decorah, where they met with a researcher of the tribe’s native language.

A new outdoor climbing area in Jackson County is the first of its scale to open in the state in more than a decade. Volunteers passionate about opening more access to climbing in Iowa developed the site earlier this summer.

For the second time in less than a year, the Decorah City Council unanimously rejected a separation ordinance that would have limited the northeast Iowa city’s cooperation with ICE. Council members said the move would’ve made the city a target for state retaliation.