Latest Iowa Headlines
All the headlines from our Iowa Topic Page, ordered by recency.
Iowa Health Insurance Review Process OK’d
Aug 2 2011 // Federal officials have approved Iowa’s process for external review of health insurance providers as established under the Affordable Care Act. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services notified the Iowa...
Iowa Governor Vetoes $5 Million Package for Lake Delhi Dam
Jul 29 2011 // Lake Delhi, Iowa, community leaders say they’re shocked and disappointed over Gov. Terry Branstad’s veto of a $5 million assistance package after flood waters destroyed the dam and recreational lake on the...
Iowa Receives Federal Waiver for Medical Loss Ratio Implementation
Jul 28 2011 // Iowa has received a waiver allowing an adjustment to some transitional Medical Loss Ratio (MLR) provisions of the federal Affordable Care Act in Iowa. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) granted the waiver...
Feds to Review Iowa Health Insurance Rates
Jul 28 2011 // Federal officials say they intend to conduct their own review of Iowa’s health insurance rates because the state’s review of rates is insufficient. The Des Moines Register reports that Iowa is one of 10 states...
Iowa Pays $180,000 to Working Mom Fired by State
Jul 27 2011 // The state has agreed to pay $180,000 to settle the claim of a state worker who was fired after her supervisor expressed skepticism that working mothers can handle high-pressure jobs. That supervisor, Roya Stanley, resigned...
Iowa Insurers Get More Time on New Health Law Medical Care Requirements
Jul 25 2011 // Iowa insurance companies have been given more time to comply with a new federal rule designed to curb insurers’ profits. The regulation that went into effect this year calls for insurance companies to spend at least...
Iowa Governor Proposes Downstream Missouri River Group
Jul 8 2011 // Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad has urged governors in three states to consider pulling out of a Missouri River association because of the Army Corps of Engineers’ long-term management of the river and what he believes is a...
Demolition of Flooded Homes on Iowa Island Begins
Jul 7 2011 // Contractors have started tearing down homes damaged in 2008 by flooding on San Souci Island in Waterloo, Iowa. Twenty houses in the island were turned over to the city in a $4 million buyout program authorized by the...
Flooded Missouri River Threatens Tributaries, Downstream Towns
Jul 6 2011 // In a season of flooding by some of the nation’s biggest rivers, it’s streams most Americans have never heard of that could cause some of the worst problems in the Midwest. Hundreds of tributaries that feed the...
Missouri River Levee Fails in Southwest Iowa
Jul 1 2011 // A Missouri River levee failed near Percival in southwest Iowa on June 30, the National Weather Service said. The breach, about a mile northwest of the town in Fremont County, had grown to about 200-yards-wide by 9 a.m.,...
People
Jun 20 2011 // Iowa-based United Fire & Casualty Co. announced new executive appointments and the election of four new directors for full terms on its 12-member board. Denver Regional Office Underwriting Manager Jolene Grow was...
Crews Racing Floodwaters to Build Up Iowa Levee
Jun 15 2011 // Crews in Hamburg, Iowa, were busy June 14 building up a secondary barrier to protect the small Iowa town after the swollen Missouri River punched a massive hole in the main levee. The river ruptured two levees in northwest...
Insurance Companies to Pay $50K Penalty to Iowa
Jun 7 2011 // Allied Property and Casualty Insurance and six affiliated companies have agreed to pay a $50,000 penalty to the state of Iowa for overcharging on more than 1,700 Iowa auto insurance policies. The Gazette said that coding...
Ratings Recap: EMC, Penn Millers, FMH
Jun 3 2011 // A.M. Best Co. has affirmed the financial strength rating (FSR) of ‘A-‘ (Excellent) and issuer credit rating of “a-” of EMC Insurance Companies (EMC) and its seven property/casualty insurance company...
Iowa-based United Fire & Casualty Files Reorganization Plan
May 26 2011 // Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based United Fire & Casualty Co. has signed an agreement and filed a reorganization plan with United Fire Group Inc. (United Fire Group), a newly formed subsidiary of United Fire, and UFC MergeCo...
Iowa’s First Latino Majority Town Is Sign of Midwest’s Growing Diversity
May 20 2011 // For the first time in decades Iowa has a minority majority town, and a University of Iowa researcher said it shows how profoundly the cultural face of Iowa and the Midwest is changing. According to 2010 U.S. census data,...
United Fire & Casualty Announces New Officers and Directors
May 20 2011 // Iowa-based United Fire & Casualty Co. announced new executive appointments and the election of four new directors for full terms on its 12-member board. Denver Regional Office Underwriting Manager Jolene Grow was...
Iowa Man Accused of Beating up Boss, an Insurance Agency Owner
Apr 21 2011 // A 41-year-old Sioux City, Iowa, man has been accused of beating up his boss before the boss, the owner of an insurance agency, could fire him. Court records say Joseph Sauce faces charges of willful injury and false...
Cleanup of Tornado-Swept Iowa Town to Take Months
Apr 12 2011 // Tom Sanford stepped carefully through his tornado ravaged home in Mapleton, Iowa, his work shoes crunching on broken glass and wood splinters scattered across the floor. In the living room, next to his busted television,...
Wide Tornado Cuts a Swath Through West Iowa Town
Apr 11 2011 // A large tornado flattened a grain elevator and destroyed homes and buildings on its weekend rampage through the small western Iowa town of Mapleton. Authorities reported no serious injuries. “It was huge, just...
