Government & Politics - Investigate Midwest (Page 4)

Evans: 2020 has shown us why America needs journalists

There is one week set aside each year to salute newspapers for the important role they have played in our nation, a role that goes back to the beginning of

By Randy Evans / for IowaWatch

/ 6 Oct 2020

Evans: 2020 has shown us why America needs journalists

Amid protests and change, Iowa police training on implicit bias varies

In 2015, the Iowa Law Enforcement Academy lacked training on implicit bias. As a cadet there then, Natasha Greene sought discussions on her own about some of the mistaken beliefs

By Danielle Gehr / IowaWatch

/ 6 Sep 2020

Amid protests and change, Iowa police training on implicit bias varies

Derecho-devastated Iowans wonder when more help will come: 'This is beyond us'

In 2008, residents of Iowa waited a day for a major disaster declaration when an EF-5 tornado struck Parkersburg. That twister cut through Black Hawk and Butler counties, killed

By Andy Kopsa / For IowaWatch

/ 16 Aug 2020

Derecho-devastated Iowans wonder when more help will come: 'This is beyond us'

Iowa officials stymie public information requests during pandemic

COVID-19 has Iowans wanting more information from federal, state and local governments to guide life-or-death decisions raised by the unprecedented pandemic. Is it safe to go to

By Erin Jordan, The Gazette

/ 9 Aug 2020

Iowa officials stymie public information requests during pandemic

24 rural Iowa counties opt for single polling site amid COVID-19 concerns

Voters in one Iowa county of 9,000 cast their ballots the same way people purchase a Big Mac: in the drivethrough. The Bloomfield Fire Department, the usual polling location

By Danielle Gehr / IowaWatch

/ 2 Jun 2020

24 rural Iowa counties opt for single polling site amid COVID-19 concerns

2020 and 2018 polling sites in Iowa's 99 counties

Iowa voters went to polls to cast votes in the June 2 primary amid a global pandemic. Election officials took precautions to avoid spreading COVID-19, which included in many

By Suzanne Behnke, IowaWatch

/ 2 Jun 2020

2020 and 2018 polling sites in Iowa's 99 counties

Nearly two years after ICE came to town, trauma still haunts these Iowa families

Editor’s note: This story was produced with support from the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Center for Health Journalism’s National Fellowship and by the Dennis A. Hunt

By Christopher Walljasper, Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting

/ 1 Apr 2020

Report card for the states rates those with best and worst laws to cut traffic deaths

Drunk drivers, motorcyclists and young or distracted motorists make up the majority of those involved in fatal vehicle crashes, and many states are failing to pass key safety measures that

By Amy Martyn/FairWarning

/ 29 Jan 2020

Report card for the states rates those with best and worst laws to cut traffic deaths

Missing DNA evidence hampers wrongful conviction fight in Iowa

In June, William Beeman, who is serving a life sentence in the Iowa Department of Corrections for a 1980 murder, asked a judge to order a DNA evidence test that

By Abigail Blachman / InjusticeWatch

/ 19 Dec 2019

Missing DNA evidence hampers wrongful conviction fight in Iowa

State Public Safety Department Vehicles Lacked Secure Devices To Store Weapons: Gun Stolen From Vehicle in 2018

Fewer than half of the vehicles from the Iowa Department of Public Safety’s two largest law enforcement divisions were equipped to give officers the option of locking up weapons

By K. Rambo

/ 11 Oct 2019

State Public Safety Department Vehicles Lacked Secure Devices To Store Weapons: Gun Stolen From Vehicle in 2018

Deer Collisions, Hail Help Drive Up Cost To Repair Iowa's Public Safety Vehicles in 2018

Iowa Department of Public Safety vehicles sustained a five-year high of $849,878 worth of damage in 220 incidents in 2018, department officials said. Although only six more incidents

By K. Rambo

/ 11 Oct 2019

Deer Collisions, Hail Help Drive Up Cost To Repair Iowa's Public Safety Vehicles in 2018

Long Line Of Presidential Candidates Trying To Emerge In Caucus-State Iowa

Former Vice President Joe Biden drew more people but Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, a presumptive long-shot in a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination, still was able to rouse

By Lyle Muller

/ 8 Aug 2019

Long Line Of Presidential Candidates Trying To Emerge In Caucus-State Iowa