Orlan LoveOrlan Love, The Gazette's outdoor writer since 1994, graduated from Marquette University in 1977 with a degree in journalism, after serving more than four years in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War. Born and reared in Quasqueton on the Wapsipinicon River, he still lives there with his wife, Corinne. Among other awards, his writings have twice earned the Iowa Newspaper Association’s master columnist designation. |
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Cedar County bird observatory upright again
The historic Althea Sherman chimney swift tower stood upright Tuesday for the first time in 21 years. “There were many times I thought this day would never come,” said Barbara Boyle of Williamsburg, shortly after a crane lifted the 6,500-pound tower onto a concrete foundation at a 560-acre nature preserve along the Cedar River near [...]
2009: Rubashkin guilty – No ill will from Postville leaders
[Editor's note: This story was originally published in The Gazette's Friday, November 13, 2009 edition.] Postville leaders reacted without vindictiveness last night to a guilty verdict against Sholom Rubashkin , the man widely blamed for plunging the town into a humanitarian and economic disaster. “I personally don’t think he was evil. He was just a bad [...]
2010: Rebounding – Two years after Agriprocessors raid, Postville is flush with new optimism
[Editor's note: This story was originally published in The Gazette's Wednesday, May 12, 2010 edition.] POSTVILLE — Postville is getting its groove back. Two years after an immigration raid knocked it to its knees, the state’s most ethnically diverse community again bustles with immigrants hoping to earn a share of the American dream. “We’re on the [...]
2009: Agriprocessors raid — 1 year later
[Editor's note: This story was originally published in The Gazette's Sunday, May 10, 2009 edition.] POSTVILLE — For flat-broke landlord Gabay Menahem, the dog and cat feces littering one of his many vacant rental units symbolizes post-immigration-raid life in Postville. The word he uses to describe the litter sounds incongruous coming from a learned member [...]
2008: Breach of child labor alleged – Raided plant accused of multiple violations of child labor laws
[Editor's note: This story was originally published in The Gazette's Wednesday, August 6, 2008 edition.] A months-long investigation of child labor practices at meatpacker Agriprocessors Inc. in Postville has uncovered 57 cases with multiple child labor law violations, the Iowa Labor Commissioner’s Office announced Tuesday. “The investigation brings to light egregious violations of virtually every [...]
Eastern Iowa NASA project may sharpen flood predictions
Editor’s note: One in a series of stories on flood protection, a topic that The Gazette considers a content priority for 2013. The National Aeronautic and Space Administration plans to collect Iowa precipitation data this spring that could launch a new era of timely and accurate flood predictions. The data will help scientists understand how [...]
Agent Orange still haunts Iowa Vietnam vets
IOWA CITY — Unlike warmly welcomed veterans of earlier and later wars, Vietnam vets got the parting gift that keeps on giving: Agent Orange — a plant defoliant that mistakenly included the carcinogen dioxin. Nearly 40 years after the war’s end, disability claims for often-deadly ailments caused by the ubiquitous toxic spray continue to mount, [...]
Iowa’s river islands need a little pruning
Cutting trees to save forests may seem paradoxical, but biologists are doing just that on islands in the Upper Mississippi River. “By cutting trees on the edges of islands, we hope to save the islands themselves and all the other trees growing on them,” said Rich King, manager of the McGregor District of the Upper [...]
Iowa National Guard tightening belt for sequester
The federal budget sequester will impair the readiness of the Iowa National Guard, as well as the personal finances of at least 1,100 of its members, officials say. “Our main concern is readiness. That is everything to our operation,” said Guard spokesman Col. Greg Hapgood, one of about 1,100 “federal technicians” facing mandatory furloughs this [...]
March 2013 has been cold — especially compared to March 2012
This March has been much colder than normal – an impression amplified by comparison with its 2012 counterpart, the warmest Iowa March in 141 years of records. The statewide average temperature during the first three weeks of this March has been 7.9 degrees cooler than normal, according to State Climatologist Harry Hillaker. That might seem [...]
