NORTH LIBERTY – North Liberty has set aside $75,000 in general funds each year for the next three years to lend to small businesses. These can be small business operations looking to open in North Liberty or expand within the city. Interested business owners can apply for up to a $25,000 loan. The plan is [...]

BUCHANAN COUNTY, Iowa — Olivia is some pig. After falling off a livestock truck along Interstate 80, people didn’t expect this pig-tale to have a happy ending. “When we first got her, we didn’t think she’d make it,” says Laura Nicholls with the Animal Rescue League of Iowa. But Olivia is something special. She survived the [...]

College Community Schools hosted an information session Tuesday to explain why every high school student needs a laptop computer. The school district wants to give every ninth through 12th grader a school-issued laptop. The plan is to order around 1,400 11-inch Macbook Air laptops. College Community has been studying the concept for three years.  They [...]

A large fight in Cedar Rapids Tuesday night sent six people to jail. The fight happened around 7 p.m. Tuesday near the corner of Jacolyn Drive and First Avenue NW, outside an apartment complex. Police say 40 to 50 people were fighting and smashing in car windows with baseball bats.  The first officer on scene [...]

Cedar Rapids police say they’re on target with plans to expand their shooting range practice facility, located at 2727 Old River Rd. SW. The upgrade is estimated to cost around $1.3 million, with the costs covered through grand funds. The project will involve widening the range, adding concrete barriers to divide the space and build [...]

WATERLOO, ia – It’s a multi-million dollar shot at breathing new life into Waterloo’s downtown. Thursday, city leaders broke ground on the 27.5 million dollar Cedar Valley Sports Complex. The project is being funded largely by private donations and a 9 million dollar tourism grant. Once complete the 130,000 square foot sportsplex will house year-round [...]

IOWA CITY – Cyclone and Hawkeye fans cringed during the unveiling of the 2011 Cy-Hawk Series Trophy. Last summer, during the Iowa State Fair, the Iowa Corn Growers Association unveiled the redesigned trophy. It featured a family, some corn and no football. It caused such an uproar from fans that organizers, at the very last minute, [...]

CEDAR RAPIDS — Seeking job seekers. A Cedar Rapids woman looking for work is now trying to help others facing unemployment. The job seekers program is a new bi-weekly support group at the Cedar Rapids Public Library in Westdale Mall. The two-hour sessions happen every other Monday from 6 to 8 p.m. and focus on everything from [...]

As the city of Cedar Rapids traffic camera program turns 2 years old, the debate continues whether they are an effective safety tool or just another way for cities to raise money. A Gazette and KCRG-TV9 review of data shows it is a little of both: Crashes along the “S curve” along Interstate 380 — between [...]

Five burglaries in about two days — including three along the same street — have northwest Cedar Rapids neighbors locking up their garages. Thieves took mostly bikes and tools from homes near H Avenue NW and Edgewood Road NW, adding up to about $2,000 in stolen items. Some say beautiful weather played a role in [...]

A proposed rate increase for MidAmerican Energy to fund a possible nuclear power power plant is ill-advised, an energy expert said Sunday during a visit to Iowa City. Dr. Arjun Makhijani, president of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research in Takoma Park, Maryland, spoke Sunday to a group of about 30 people at the [...]

It’s going to be a long week for some University of Northern Iowa students. Several students say they plan to eat, sleep and study in the halls of UNI’s executive offices to show their support for academics at the school. The group of students started their peaceful “study-in” at 7 a.m. Monday.  With permission from [...]

CEDAR RAPIDS — The 2010 midterm elections served as a kind of wake-up call for Linn County Auditor Joel Miller. “The last thing I want as the commissioner of elections is to have something bad happen on Election Day,” he said. Miller said he’s received several emails from parents worried about using schools as polling [...]

Vandals struck a northwest Cedar Rapids neighborhood Monday — for the third day in a row. And this time, their derogatory graffiti is a little harder to get rid of for one family. The vandals are targeting homes in the Stoney Point neighborhood.  Police have responded to at least four calls there in the past [...]

It’s a new year and a new ballot, but the arguments for and against a one-cent local option sales tax extension remain the same. Supporters say it’s the only path to flood protection.  Opponents argue there are too many questions to confidently cast a ballot. Last year, the measure asked for a 20-year extension of [...]

It’s taken victim advocates five years to change a specific domestic abuse law in Iowa. A criminal domestic abuse conviction for or choking used to put batterers behind bars for only 30 days. On Wednesday, Governor Terry Branstad signed a new law making the crime a felony, and boosting the penalty for conviction to a [...]

A plan to allow some Cedar Rapids students to open enroll might cause a transportation tug-of-war for parents and caretakers. Cedar Rapids Superintendent Dr. Dave Benson gave his recommendation to the school board Monday night on how to handle the district’s declining enrollment. He recommended shutting down Monroe’s early childhood center and Polk Elementary School.  It’s [...]

DECORAH — The three little eaglets hatched in Decorah last April captured the hearts of Internet users through a live webcam feed. They’ve since left their parents’ nest, but satellite data shows that at least one of them has returned to the area. The female known as D1 is the only one of the three being [...]

DECORAH – They captured the hearts of 200 million people across the country. Three little eaglets hatched live on the internet from a nest in Decorah last April, but only one is being tracked using satellite data. The 10-month old female, known as D-1, is the only eaglet being tracked using a solar power transmitter. [...]

They’re the tiny critters that make your skin crawl. Bedbugs are creeping their way into the Iowa Legislature as landlords try to make tenants more accountable for an infestation. House study bill 520 would require tenants to report bedbugs within a week of moving into a new apartment or within two days of discovering the [...]