The Illinois Soybean Association is among several industries to oppose tighter regulations of pesticide protections for farm workers. The group – which represents 45,000 soybean producers in the state – filed a letter last week as part of a public comment period on proposed updates to the Agricultur
Twenty months after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, some would say little has changed when it comes to guns in America. Others would say everything has. A special News21 report explains.
IowaWatch executive director-editor Lyle Muller talked about Lauren Mills' payday loans investigation and a variety of other topics as WMT radio host Bob Bruce's guest on Wednesday, Aug. 13. You can listen to WMT's podcast here.
The programming hub for incarcerated sex offenders is at the Mount Pleasant Correctional Facility. The medium security prison houses men and women, and specializes in treating male offenders with substance
The number of sex offenders receiving treatment while living outside of prison walls on parole in Iowa towns is expected to almost double in two years. The dramatic increase is adding pressure for financial resources and people to supervise sex offenders on parole, a joint IowaWatch and Gazette inve
A 2006 state law requiring a minimum five years of electronic monitoring for people convicted of certain crimes against minors, including sexually violent crimes, was changed in 2009. In the change, Iowa dropped a five-year requirement and gave judges discretion over what the punishment should be.
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has begun acting to rein in abuse, producing a report critical of the industry and requiring two payday businesses to provide refunds and pay million-dollar fines. The bureau also is drafting rules that could provide further protections for consumers.
Brian Curtis took out his first payday loan when he was 19. It took more than a decade before he got out from under it and the climbing interest payments
Research and legwork for this story began in late 2013, based on a suggestion by Charles Munro, a lecturer and associate director of undergraduate studies at the University of Iowa
Some financial institutions, banks and credit unions in Iowa are trying to create alternatives to payday loans and help people who are unbanked open accounts. The program provides second-chance bank accounts and small dollar loans.
Each summer, hundreds of seasonal workers leave their homes in Texas and Mexico and travel more than 1,000 miles north to work in the corn fields of central Illinois. Many of those hundreds make their way to Rantoul, a village of about 13,000 people in Champaign County and the summer home of the Uni
A single pixel in satellite imagery will allow farmers to see exactly how their crops are performing down to a single acre with highly detailed maps. The new methodology will cost farmers an estimated 50 cents per acre per year.
