After repeated rejections, Cedar Rapids won a state license for a casino in February and immediately broke ground. Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell said calling the project a long shot is an understatement.
“I have said from the very beginning this was ‘David versus Goliath’ and by God, the story ended the same way,” O’Donnell says. “Let’s hear it for David!”
The 275-million Cedar Crossing Casino and Entertainment Center is due to open in December of 2026.
In September, the Des Moines school superintendent was arrested by federal immigration agents after a chase. ICE claimed Ian Roberts was born in Guyana, not the U-S, and large parts of his resume and backstory were fiction. School board chair Jackie Norris:
“There is new information that has been made public that we did not know,” Norris said, “and we have not been able to verify.”
Roberts is scheduled to go to trial in March on a list of federal charges.
Carol Whitmore of Des Moines was elected in September as national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the first-ever woman — and the first Iowan — to lead the V-F-W. Whitmore had served in the U-S Army 36 years.
The billion-dollar nuclear-powered submarine U-S-S Iowa was commissioned in April in Connecticut. Former Iowa First Lady Christie Vilsack was picked to give the crew its first order.
“Officers and crew of the USS Iowa, board our boat and bring her to life!” Vilack said.
It’s is the fourth U-S Navy vessel to bear the name.
In December, two Iowa National Guard members were killed, three wounded, in an ambush in Syria.
Marshalltown had an outbreak of Legionnaires disease in September which was eventually traced to rooftop air conditioning units, according to Marshall County Public Health director Sydney Grewell.
“We are focusing on the cooling towers and the CDC is in line with that,” Grewell says.
Two people in Marshalltown died from Legionnaires and nearly 70 were sickened.
The Black Hawk Bridge over the Mississippi River at Lansing in northeast Iowa was closed in October, and in December, it was rigged with explosives:
…and toppled into the water, making way for the 140-million dollar replacement, which should open in 2027.
Two big political announcements this year — first, in April, from Governor Kim Reynolds.
“After a lot of thought, prayer and conversations with my family, I have decided that I will not seek reelection in 2026,” Reynolds says.
And in September from Iowa Senator Joni Ernst.
“After a tremendous amount of prayer and reflection, I will not be seeking reelection in 2026,” Ernst says.
Those decisions have led dozens of candidates to run for state and federal office.
A baby born in 2024 to Iowa parents at just 21 weeks was introduced to the media in July as a healthy boy who was initially given zero percent chance of survival. Dr. Patrick McNamara, director of neonatology at University of Iowa Health Care:
“What we have learned is that survival is possible at 21 weeks gestation, but not just survival — meaningful survival.”
Nash Keen, of Ankeny, now holds the Guinness World’s Record for the most premature baby.
Audio here
