A joint project between Investigate Midwest and the Cedar Rapids Gazette analyzed 20 years of data.
Investigate Midwest-Gazette report: Bacteria exceeds safe levels at Iowa's public beaches
People of all ages enjoy swimming at the beach on a hot summer day. But for Iowans, the pleasure can negatively affect their health.
In collaboration with The Gazette, a Cedar Rapids-based newspaper, we analyzed two decades of data showing the number of times state monitoring detected E. coli and microcystin. Our analysis shows the presence of the bacteria and toxin frequently exceed thresholds recommended by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
Our reporting illustrates how Iowa’s water quality problems affect residents’ recreational opportunities and their quality of life.
— Mónica Cordero, reporter and Report for America corps member
By Brittney J. Miller, The Gazette; Mónica Cordero, Investigate Midwest/Report for America; and Erin Jordan, The Gazette
Iowa ranks low for public land acreage, making its sparse public spaces — and their beaches — more attractive to residents. Iowa’s state parks have seen a 19% increase in visitation since 2000. Yet, year after year, public officials must warn against swimming at many of these public beaches due to poor water quality.
This is the last in a series of stories examining how the pork industry has changed.
Production contracts are “nearly universal” in North Carolina, a recent USDA report states. And while contract use has increased in Iowa and Minnesota, the Midwestern states are well below North Carolina’s rate of production contract usage.
Read the first part of this series on changing farm sizes.
Read the second part on producers becoming more specialized.
Read the third part on the use of production contracts.
Read the fourth part on how raising hogs has gotten cheaper.
Could the nation's pork producers adhere to California's Proposition 12 should they lose their case at the U.S. Supreme Court? Yes. They could. It's a point that Liz Cox, who oversees the California Department of Food and Ag Animal Care Program, made in July.
This is the first of four stories, When It Rains, a special series that shows how increased and intensifying rainfall is impacting communities and agriculture throughout the Mississippi River Basin. This story is by staff from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the Courier-Journal.
The late-July storms that devastated St. Louis and Eastern Kentucky helped showcase the risks wrought by a climate that is growing hotter and wetter – and more prone to dumping massive rains and flash flooding on communities whose creeks, streams and drainage systems are not equipped to handle such volatile waters.
Why it matters: Top digital journalists, innovators and researchers from universities and news organizations across the nation will lead this year’s MobileMe&You conference.
When and where: October 21-22, 2022, at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Register here.
Why attend?The Mobile Me&You conference explores how to think differently about storytelling on mobile and social media platforms to better reach the audiences of today and tomorrow.
Thank you for coming to Sunset on the Farm!
Thank you to the nearly 90 attendees to this this year's Sunset on the Farm event Sept. 25 at Walker Homestead near Iowa City. This is one of the best turnouts in the event's history, which supports nonprofit journalism by Investigate Midwest's IowaWatch newsroom. Attendees enjoyed pizza, wine, s'mores, a silent auction, music and the beautiful outdoors against a gorgeous sunset.
Special thanks to the event sponsor, the Cedar Rapids Gazette. We appreciate the help of the University of Iowa Event Management Workshop students who worked with 2022 Sunset on the Farm, including Emma Madden, Tatum Hussey, and Kileen Barnat, as well as instructor Heather Spangler.
