Western Iowa

An EF-3 tornado destroyed homes, businesses and lives in Minden on April 26, 2024. The traumatic experience shifted the perspective of the community's long-time mayor.

More than 950 students, teachers and staff in the Rock Valley Community School District were impacted when historic flooding swept across northwest Iowa in June 2024. Today, they remain united after months of recovery efforts.

A jury in Woodbury County recently reached a guilty verdict in the killing of a Sioux City man who was Native American. Advocates say the case is an example of how Indigenous people are at higher risk for gun violence and death.

As negotiations for a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia continue without a solid resolution, a different conflict plays out for Ukrainian refugees living in Iowa. Some fear being forced to leave their new and peaceful lives.

Five years after the COVID-19 pandemic first gripped Iowa, many people still struggle with long-term, debilitating health issues caused by the illness.

The painting, which has been part of the Sioux City Arts Center's permanent collection since 2007, has been sent to the Midwest Art Conservation Center in Minneapolis for a year-long conservation process.

With increased prices for food and housing due to inflation, economic hardship forces some owners to put their animals up for adoption. Some animal rescue groups in Iowa work to try and address the problem.

So far in Iowa, rumors of large-scale immigration raids have been unfounded. But many worry about what might happen next.

Family members say they are happy an arrest has finally been made in the death of a Sioux City teenager killed in 1983.

Fifty years ago, the National Weather Service tracked an intense low-pressure system that moved north across Iowa, producing a severe blizzard. In the aftermath, Gov. Robert Ray declared 40 counties disaster areas.