Latest Iowa Headlines

All the headlines from our Iowa Topic Page, ordered by recency.

Business Moves

Apr 1 2019 // Brightway InsuranceBrightway Insurance, a national property/casualty insurance retailer selling through a network of franchised independent agencies, launched its new Independent Agent Program with its first group of new...

In ‘Trump Country’ Farm Belt, Flooding Woes Add to Trade War Stress

Mar 26 2019 // Nebraska grain farmer Ryan Ueberrhein was barely breaking even after the U.S.-China trade war pushed prices for his soybean crop to a decade low. Then the nearby Elkhorn River burst its banks as flooding swept across the...

Midwest Flood Risk Might Last for Months, Experts Say

Mar 25 2019 // Even as floodwaters receded in hard-hit places in in the Midwest, experts warned Saturday that with plenty of snow still left to melt in northern states, the relief may only be temporary.Rainfall and some snowmelt spurred...

Missouri, Kansas Residents Rush to Fill Sandbags as Floodwaters Move Downstream

Mar 22 2019 // Floodwaters that devastated swaths of Nebraska and Iowa rolled downstream on Thursday, swamping more Midwestern farmland as waterfront communities in Missouri and Kansas hurried to shore up strained levees.Flooding of the...

Midwest Flooding Prompts Evacuations, Rescues

Mar 18 2019 // Authorities used boats and large vehicles on Saturday to rescue and evacuate residents in parts of the Midwest where a recent deluge of rainwater and snowmelt was sent pouring over frozen ground, overwhelming creeks and...

Arthur J. Gallagher Acquires First Iowa Insurance Agency

Mar 13 2019 // Arthur J. Gallagher & Co. has acquired Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based Hammerberg Insurance Services Inc., dba First Iowa Insurance Agency Inc.Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Founded in 1912, First Iowa Insurance...

Company Faulted in Iowa Worker’s Fatal Accident

Mar 12 2019 // An Iowa safety regulator is blaming a company for not adequately training a worker who was killed in a Marshalltown construction accident. The Iowa Occupational Safety and Health Administration is proposing to fine Bridge...

Iowa Trucking Firms to Pay $47.5K to Settle Disability Discrimination, Retaliation Lawsuit

Mar 11 2019 // Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based CRST Expedited Inc./CRST International Inc. will pay $47,500 and furnish other relief to settle a disability discrimination and retaliation lawsuit filed by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity...

Nationwide Is Cutting Many More Jobs in Iowa than Originally Announced

Mar 4 2019 // Nationwide Insurance, based in Columbus, Ohio, has more than doubled the number of Des Moines, Iowa, job cuts it announced last fall.Nationwide said in November 2018 that about 80 workers in Des Moines would lose their...

Iowa Diocese: 28 Priests Accused of Abusing Minors Identified

Feb 28 2019 // At least 28 priests are credibly accused of having sexually abused more than 100 boys and girls while working for a Roman Catholic diocese in Iowa, church officials announced.The Diocese of Sioux City identified those 28...

Farm Bureau Health Coverage Plan Favored by Rural Kansas Lawmakers

Feb 24 2019 // Rural state lawmakers are pushing a plan to allow the Kansas Farm Bureau to offer health insurance coverage to members without having to comply with federal Affordable Care Act mandates in hopes that the influential...

Nationwide Insurance Cuts More Jobs in Iowa

Feb 22 2019 // Nationwide Insurance has more than doubled the number of Des Moines job cuts it announced last fall.Nationwide said in November that about 80 workers in Des Moines would lose their jobs as part of a company effort to...

Iowa Embassy Suites Hotel Settles with Woman Who Was Raped in Her Room

Feb 14 2019 // An Iowa hotel has settled a lawsuit with a New Jersey woman who was raped and battered after the front desk gave the attacker her room key.Attorneys for Cheri Marchionda say the operators of the Embassy Suites Hotel in Des...

Cook Named Next Managing Director of Iowa’s Global Insurance Accelerator

Feb 13 2019 // The Global Insurance Accelerator (GIA), headquartered in Des Moines, Iowa, has appointed Nicole Cook as the group’s managing director effective May 1. She joined the GIA full time on Feb. 11.During the GIA’s...

Grain Processing Corp. to Pay $45M in Iowa Pollution Settlement

Feb 8 2019 // A judge has approved a class-action settlement between Muscatine, Iowa, residents and a local factory that they blame for a noxious odor and haze and for causing health problems.District Judge John Telleen on approved the...

Iowa High Court: Insurer Not on Hook for Electrical Damage Caused by Squirrel

Feb 4 2019 // The Iowa Supreme Court says an insurance company doesn’t have to pay for damages after a squirrel climbed onto an electrical transformer and triggered a high-voltage spark that damaged a city’s power...

Global Atlantic Financial Invests in Iowa-based Insurtech Accelerator

Jan 31 2019 // Des Moines, Iowa-based The Global Insurance Accelerator announced a recent investment by Global Atlantic Financial Group Ltd.GIA is a business accelerator focused solely on innovation and technology for the insurance...

Iowa’s Holmes Murphy Creates Philanthropic Foundation

Jan 24 2019 // Waukee, Iowa-based insurance services firm, Holmes Murphy, has created the Holmes Murphy Foundation for its philanthropic and charitable-giving initiatives. This newly-formed foundation will oversee all philanthropic and...

Former Iowa Agent Convicted of Insurance Fraud

Jan 23 2019 // A former Iowa insurance agent has been convicted of insurance fraud following an insurance fraud investigation by the Iowa Insurance Division’s Fraud Bureau.The division reported that Joy Marie Heldt, age 48, of...

Midwest Legislative Priorities Include No-Fault Auto, Distracted Driving, Contractor Fraud, Tort Reform

Jan 7 2019 // With some of the highest auto insurance rates in the nation, Michigan’s no-fault insurance laws — much maligned by the insurance industry and business interests — are sure to be a target for legislative...