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.
Home ownership is taken for granted as the default standard of living for many Iowans. But black and Latino homeownership rates have dropped since 1960, an analysis of census data shows. The reasons are explored in the conclusion of the series, "Iowa's Opportunity Gap," an IowaWatch collaboration wi
In August 2013 IowaWatch and West Liberty Index reporter Stephen Gruber-Miller interviewed West Liberty schools Superintendent Steve Hanson about the district’s dual language program. District officials say the program has helped improve the educational experience and outcomes in their schools.
White Iowans have made strong gains in high school and college graduation rates, lowering poverty levels, median family income and home ownership since 1960. But black and Latino achievements have grown far more slowly, or in some cases declined, widening an opportunity gap among the races, an IowaW
Virgil Gooding sees a link when it comes to the difficulties black Iowans have had obtaining home ownership, higher income, jobs, and high school and college degrees.
“It has to
Overall, 1 percent of the charities raising money for veterans groups get 86 percent of the revenue. See who they are in this News21 report, which warns that much of the money at other places doesn't reach veterans. Best advice: know where your money is going.
The federal government has yet to document how many students on the Post-9/11 GI Bill have graduated, or even if they stayed in school. Tom Harkin's Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions questions whether or not veterans attending for-profit schools were benefiting from the educa
The fight to feel like a veteran weighs substantially on female soldiers returning from war, though their numbers have been historic, with more than 280,000 returning from deployments in
Veterans are killing themselves at more than double the rate of the civilian population with about 49,000 taking their own lives between 2005 and 2011, a News21 reveals. Veterans committed one of every five suicides in Iowa in 2005 through 2011.
Broad federal requirements are allowing many levees to fall through the cracks in maintenance and leave the reliability of others unknown, an IowaWatch investigation revealed. Levees that are inspected generally rate low, but repairs aren't always made.
Social, economic and logistical barriers keep many pregnant, drug-addicted women in Iowa from accessing substance abuse treatment. Moreover, despite attention given the problem over the years, social stigma and fear of losing custody can keep them from seeking medical care during pregnancy, an IowaW
Between 2003 and 2011, more than 11,150 children were found to have illicit drugs in their system, information from the Department of Human Services shows. An interactive IowaWatch map shows you how bad the problem is in your Iowa county.
