Amie Rivers

Without any professional teams in state, what’s a basketball fan looking for live games in Iowa supposed to do? Watch one of these incredible local teams, of course! From the G-League on down, get your live basketball fix by checking out a game at one of these Iowa teams: [inline-ad id=0] Iowa Wolves (Des Moines)…

The Iowa nursing home closings that began in 2022 are accelerating now—and they’re hitting small towns and rural communities the hardest. Colonial Manors of Manilla, which closed in July 2021—loss of 34 jobs—was the only Iowa nursing home closure that year reported to Iowa Workforce Development. But that began changing in July 2022, when the…

Did you work to kill chickens or clean farms during the 2015 avian influenza outbreak in Iowa? You might be eligible for back wages. The federal government is trying to locate people who worked in Osceola, Sioux, and Cherokee counties in Iowa during the 2015 bird flu outbreak. That’s because the US Department of Labor…

Twenty behind-the-scenes workers that keep productions at a historic Iowa City theater running smoothly—including this weekend’s Mission Creek Festival—are asking for the public’s help to put pressure on their employer for their first union contract. Englert Theatre production crew members unanimously voted, 13-0, to unionize on Nov. 7 of last year, according to the National…

A Starbucks coffee shop in Iowa City is the first Starbucks in the state to file for union representation. The move occurred just two days before the company’s former CEO was asked to testify before a US Senate committee for union busting. Thirty-one workers at the Burlington and Clinton Starbucks, at 228 South Clinton St.,…

A bill that would add more hoops to jump through for federal public assistance money—legislation that would cost the state millions over the next few years to put in place—passed the Iowa Senate Wednesday. The bill, Senate File 494, passed along party lines, with all Republicans in favor and all Democrats against. Sen. Jeff Edler…

A small eight-person police department in western Iowa just won what’s believed to be the largest collectively bargained wage increase in Iowa history. The Carter Lake Peace Officers Association, the union covering the eight police officers of the City of Carter Lake, won 12% raises for new hires and up to 42% raises for their…

A major eastern Iowa employer has closed abruptly, laying off 81 people. Richelieu Foods in Grundy Center told Iowa Workforce Development on Feb. 28 it would be getting rid of 81 jobs by April 28 and closing its plant. According to the Grundy Register, the company closed the plant the same day it made the…

Another international company is laying off dozens of Iowans at the same time they’re enriching their stock price. Transamerica Life Insurance Co. told the state it would lay off 42 workers at its Cedar Rapids location March 21. The company said it employs 1,600 workers at that location. [inline-ad id=0] “Positions are being eliminated across…

March temperatures could determine whether Iowa’s outdoor construction industry thrives or withers—all because of a new law limiting unemployment that affects laid-off workers over the winter. By law, construction companies can’t pour concrete for roads, bridges, and other state and federal infrastructure projects unless the temperature is 35 degrees and rising. Iowa’s 26-week unemployment law…