Latest Iowa Headlines
All the headlines from our Iowa Topic Page, ordered by recency.
2 Utility Workers in Iowa Die After Striking Buried Electrical Line
Aug 5 2020 // Two workers installing internet cables in Pella, Iowa, died after striking an underground, high-voltage electrical cable. Pella Police Lt. Paul Haase said the workers died Saturday morning after striking the electrical...
Virus Outbreak at Iowa Pork Plant Was Larger than Reported by State
Jul 23 2020 // The first confirmed coronavirus outbreak at an Iowa meatpacking plant was far more severe than previously known, with more than twice as many workers becoming infected than the state Department of Public Health told the...
Liberty Mutual Loses Bid to Charge Employer for Claims Paid from Exempt Workers
Jul 22 2020 // A workers’ compensation insurer cannot charge an employer an extra $1.7 million in premiums for the risk presented by employees who were exempt from coverage under Iowa’s workers’ compensation law, a...
Appeals Court Backs Immunity of Iowa Officer Who Stomped on Suspect’s Ankle
Jul 20 2020 // A Davenport, Iowa, police officer who stomped on the ankle of a suspect used unreasonable force but cannot be held liable for doing so, a federal appeals court ruled on July 9. The 2015 stomp by officer Brian Stevens...
Iowa’s First Mainstreet Insurance Acquires 3 New Agencies
Jul 14 2020 // Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based First MainStreet Insurance (FMSI), a TrueNorth affiliate, has added three new firms to its family of insurance agencies — two in Iowa and one in Tennessee. FMSI acquired Sisson and Associates of...
Court Upholds Immunity in Case of Iowa Officer Who Stomped on Suspect’s Ankle
Jul 10 2020 // A Davenport, Iowa, police officer who stomped on the ankle of a suspect used unreasonable force but cannot be held liable for doing so, a federal appeals court ruled on July 9. The 2015 stomp by officer Brian Stevens...
Iowa’s BrokerTech Ventures Gains 4 New Carrier, Wholesale Partners
Jul 9 2020 // BrokerTech Ventures, an insurance broker-led platform and accelerator program based in Des Moines, Iowa, has added four super-regional and national insurance firms as partners: The Cincinnati Insurance Companies,...
Families of 3 Deceased Workers Sue Tyson Over Iowa Virus Outbreak
Jun 29 2020 // The families of three workers who died after contracting the coronavirus in an Iowa meat plant outbreak sued Tyson Foods and its top executives on June 25, saying the company knowingly put employees at risk and lied to...
Iowa Lawmakers Dispute Finding of No Violations at Tyson Plant Despite Deaths
Jun 25 2020 // Iowa’s workplace safety agency says an inspection did not uncover any violations at Tyson Foods’ largest pork processing plant, where several employees died after contracting the coronavirus. The Iowa...
Absenteeism at Meatpacking Plants Tied to Workplace Safety Concerns
Jun 15 2020 // Smithfield Foods Inc. is missing about a third of its employees at a South Dakota pork plant because they are quarantined or afraid to return to work after a severe coronavirus outbreak, according to the workers’...
Remnants of Cristobal Bring Thunderstorms, Flooding to Midwest
Jun 11 2020 // The remnants of Tropical Storm Cristobal were moving out of the Midwest and into Canada on Wednesday, with gusty winds and heavy rain leaving behind flooding in Indiana, Wisconsin, Missouri and Iowa. High winds brought...
Iowa Republicans Push to Limit Coronavirus Liability
Jun 11 2020 // Iowa Republican legislators are fast-tracking a bill that would give meatpacking plants, nursing homes and other businesses broad immunity from coronavirus lawsuits despite criticism that it would also enable them to...
Iowa Chemical Plant to Pay $80K for 2019 Spill that Hurt Worker
Jun 8 2020 // A Waterloo, Iowa, chemical plant will pay a nearly $80,000 civil penalty to settle violations of federal Clean Air Act following a spill last year that hurt a worker there, federal officials said. The federal Environmental...
Court Allows Lawsuit over Iowa Amusement Park Death to Proceed
Jun 8 2020 // The wife of a central Iowa amusement park employee killed in an accident at the park in 2016 can proceed with a federal lawsuit and the park’s insurance company may have to pay damages, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled...
Minnesota Worker Sues Iowa City after Electrocution
Jun 1 2020 // A construction worker from Minnesota who was electrocuted and fell from a building is suing the city of Sibley, Iowa, for negligence. Victor Maldonado, of Worthington, Minnesota, alleges in a lawsuit that the city knew the...
Tyson Foods to Close Iowa Meat Plant as More Workers Catch COVID-19
May 28 2020 // Tyson Foods Inc. said on Thursday it will temporarily close an Iowa pork plant due to the coronavirus pandemic, a month after U.S. President Donald Trump ordered slaughterhouses to stay open to protect the country’s...
Tornadoes Rake Parts of Iowa in 2 Days of Severe Weather
May 28 2020 // At least four tornadoes raked parts of Iowa on May 26, the National Weather Service confirmed, to give the state a second day of severe weather. All of the tornadoes appeared to be weak and in mostly uninhabited areas that...
Report: Regulators Sat on Complaint as Virus Outbreak Grew at Iowa Plant
May 19 2020 // State safety regulators declined to inspect an Iowa pork plant after receiving a complaint alleging workers were exposed to the coronavirus in crowded conditions — a decision that critics said allowed a burgeoning...
Nephew: Dead Worker Had Warned Virus Was ‘Everywhere’ at Iowa Plant
May 18 2020 // In the days before his death, an Iowa meatpacking worker twice warned that the coronavirus was spreading through his plant because of its crowded spaces and lack of personal protective equipment, his nephew said. Husen...
2 Injured in Explosion at Western Iowa Gas Station, Auto Shop
Apr 29 2020 // Two men who were inside a western Iowa gas station and auto repair shop when it was leveled by an explosion are expected to recover from their injuries. Dan Grote, co-owner of Earling Standard Shop, received stitches for...
