While we all should honor our mothers every day of the year, Sunday marks the official day for showering moms with love and appreciation. Flowers, cards, brunch and phone calls are the obvious ways for grateful husbands and children to say thank you. Here are several other ways to get Mom out and about [...]

NewBo City Market leaders chose Kristie Wetjen as its new executive director after former director Ann Poe left in February. Wetjen took over the top spot on April 15. She is the former executive director of the Amana Colonies Convention and Visitors Bureau, where she worked with local businesses and developed programming to help them [...]

CEDAR RAPIDS — Some things old, some things new, some things borrowed and lots of red, white and blue. That’s what’s in store for the 30th anniversary of the Cedar Rapids Freedom Festival. The celebration gets under way June 21 to 23 with the return of the Dock Dogs canine aquatic contest, moving to Kirkwood [...]

EMBARGOED UNTIL 2 P.M. SATURDAY, MARCH 23 The Paramount Theatre will rock and roll with next year’s Broadway series. The fun kicks off with “Under the Streetlamp” on Oct. 5, featuring the music of the American Radio Songbook of the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s, performed by former members of the Broadway touring production of “Jersey [...]

The board of the Cedar Rapids/Linn County Solid Waste Agency has expressed support for contributing $50,000 to the $9.4-million Prospect Meadows Ball Fields project. The agency’s contribution, a formal vote on which will take place in April, will come in two, $25,000 payments, and the money will be used for a trail on the ball [...]

A Cedar Rapids-based startup has cracked the starting lineup of a mentorship program run by sports giant Nike. The online recreational sports league manager RecBob was named to the start-up Nike+Accelerator inaugural 10-member class, run by mentoring company TechStars. Read the full article from the Des Moines Register here.  

A thirst for knowledge took Elizabeth Barry far afield in her 91 years, but her love of home kept her rooted in Cedar Rapids. Barry, who died March 1 from ovarian cancer, spent her lifetime nurturing her family and her passions, from fishing and gardening to Hawkeye football and The Gazette, which her grandfather helped [...]

The Main Street Iowa program was started 26 years ago with the intent of preserving and restoring Iowa’s downtowns — to identify potential market niches and to capitalize on each community’s identity. The program, developed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and run though the Iowa Department of Economic Development, now includes some 49 [...]

In the dead of winter, the Cedar Rapids Kernels don’t have any players assigned for the upcoming season.  Yet walking around the bowels of Veterans Memorial Stadium, the emptiness of the locker and equipment rooms stands out. Hardly any bats or baseballs can be found, as the Kernels are in the midst of an affiliate [...]

Many baby boomers who remember the muscle cars they lusted after as teenagers now have the cash to satisfy that craving, and a Cedar Rapids business is benefiting. DJ’s Muscle  and Memorabilia, 3815 16th Ave. SW, sells “drivable” classic muscle cars as well as automotive-related antiques. “We typically sell cars in the range of $15,000 [...]