Each day, more than 200 agriculture workers suffer an injury severe enough to miss work, according to the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. Many farm laborers die because of injuries they received while working. Here's a look at 800 fatalities in Illinois between 1986 and 2012.
In 2011, Eric Herm's cantaloupes exploded. A fourth-generation cotton farmer in West Texas, Herm was experimenting with a home garden to help feed his family during the onset of a drought in the area. Blistering heat, including 100 degree days as early as May, was wilting Herm's cotton—and in the en
What started as a spring University of Iowa journalism school assignment has blossomed into a powerful story, told in personal detail through the lives of two Iowa mothers struggling with
Thousands of pounds of meat had to be recalled because of possible Listeria monocytogenes contaminations and an E. coli contamination. The U.S. Department of Agriculture labeled the recalls as "Class I" and called them "high" health risks.
The Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism has updated its financial and operational information at GuideStar.org/. GuideStar makes available online information about each IRS-registered nonprofit organization so that
Once thought to be on a downward spiral, recent criminal reports indicate meth use is climbing again. In fact, Illinois registered the fifth-most meth lab seizures and arrests in the country last year, behind Missouri, Tennessee, Indiana and Kentucky.
Michael Pasley is a survivor of meth addiction. He started using meth in his early teens and would inject himself with "three really healthy shots in one day" at the height of his addiction. Now, Pasley is on the full road to recovery.
In December of 2012, Tena Logan and five other individuals were indicted for running a meth ring out of their Coles County, Ill., residence. Their meth operation included more than a dozen different people who purchased the pseudoephedrine used for cooking meth.
Farmers used to worry about meth producers stealing anhydrous ammonia -- a popular nitrogen-based fertilizer -- from their properties. But now, with new meth production techniques, anhydrous ammonia thefts are becoming less common.
This IowaWatch collaboration with four Iowa newspapers, published in fall 2013, is particularly pertinent during the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday period. It tells you how and why gaps exist in home ownership, jobs and pay, education and crime exist among white, black and Latino Iowans.
Steven Sanchez's life has been a whirlwind since becoming the first transgender student to win the University of Northern Iowa’s Homecoming queen competition on Oct. 11. Now, he is receiving negative feedback via Internet coverage of his unusual win, reading insults while being called a freak, perve
In recent years, farmers have increasingly chosen to insure both the yield of their crop and the revenue of their crop. By choosing a revenue-based insurance option -- such as the revenue protection policy -- farmers can insulate their crop against steep drops in prices.
