The beyond organic farming movement emerges in Iowa. In 2010, Donna Schill, then a journalism graduate student, spent part of her summer working on an organic farm in Iowa and discovered a movement and a story that became her preoccupation for the next 12 months.
IowaWatch takes a look into the high rising prices of healthcare for autism treatment through the eyes of a family struggling with the costs. Legislation would expand insurance coverage, defraying cost of treatment.
The mid-1920s marked the beginning of chemical farming and of organic agriculture, as a result. Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian philosopher, educator, and agricultural specialist among other titles, believed that the burgeoning industrial food system was dangerous and functioned on misconceptions about
Organic food sales rose from 1.2 percent to 3.7 percent of all U.S. food sales from 2000 to 2009. Fruits and vegetables total 11.4 percent of all organic fruits and vegetables sold in the United States. But to organic purists, the cost of this growth may be more than just the higher prices they will
As the popularity of organic farm products soars across the U.S., an IowaWatch investigation has found that lax oversight of the industry raises questions about what the organic seal really means.
Underfunded, understaffed and riddled with gaps, Iowa’s mental health system is broken. Such is the dismal assessment of advocates, state and county officials and families who have sought care. Counties and state institutions have faced limited funding for years, and legislators are now beginning to
Women who decide to seek an abortion rarely make that decision after the first 20 weeks of pregnancy, according to an international research institute on reproductive health. But a legislative proposal in Iowa uses scientifically debatable assertions about fetal pain to target those few women. The p
Terminally ill adults can make advance directives from their doctors forbidding medical interventions outside the hospital, but a little-known Iowa law does not allow the same power to similarly situated minors and their parents.
Two years ago the Utah legislature authorized use of do-not-resuscitate orders for terminally ill children after discharge from the hospital. The new directives operate on the same model as those for adults, with the additional requirement that two doctors sign for them instead of one. Despite that
The Public Interest Research Group, PIRG, is gathering signatures for a petition to protect children from dangerous toys that may lurk in the colorful gift-wrappings this holiday season.