Timeline Iowa
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74 Million BP In the Manson Impact a
meteorite hit what is now Manson Iowa at an estimated 60,000 mph and
formed a crater 24 miles wide with an impact 3 1/2 miles deep.
(SFEC, 7/5/98, p.A10)
1804 Aug 20, Charles Floyd died,
the only fatality of the Lewis & Clark Expedition. In 1901 a
memorial was erected at his gravesite in Sioux City, Iowa.
(MC, 8/20/02)(Internet)
1811 Feb 3, Horace Greeley was
born. He popularized the phrase "Go west, young man," which was spoken
to Josiah Grinell, who went west to Iowa, became a Congregational
minister and founded Grinell College. Robert Noyce, developer of the
microchip and founder of Intel, graduated from Grinell.
(HNPD, 2/3/99)(WSJ, 10/26/00, p.W12)
1830 Jul 15, 3 Indian tribes,
Sioux, Sauk & Fox, signed a treaty giving the US most of Minnesota,
Iowa & Missouri.
(MC, 7/15/02)
1838 Jun 12, The Iowa Territory
was organized.
(AP, 6/12/97)
1839 Iowa’s Supreme Court ruled
against slavery.
(Econ, 4/11/09, p.31)
1846 Feb 26, William Frederick
Cody, aka "Buffalo Bill," was born in LeClaire, Scott County, Iowa. He
was a "Wild West" frontiersman-turned-showman. Three weeks after the
disaster at the Little Bighorn, Buffalo Bill claimed he had taken ‘the
first scalp for Custer!’
(HN, 2/26/98)(AP, 2/26/98)(MesWP)
1846 Dec 28, Iowa became the 29th
state to be admitted to the Union.
(AP, 12/28/97)
1849 Winterset, Iowa, was
founded.
(SFC, 7/11/03, p.A2)
1851 Apr 14, Morgan Earp was born
in Marian County, IA.
(MesWP)
1861 Dec 4, Lillian Russell,
singer and actress, was born Helen Louise Leonard in Clinton, Iowa. She
performed in burlesque and light opera, debuting in Gilbert and
Sullivan's HMS Pinafore in 1879. Russell was praised for her voluptuous
beauty and was frequently photographed. Women everywhere tried to
emulate her plump physique by buying potions and corsets to accentuate
their curves. Although Russell was the ideal beauty of her time, her
186-pound figure--which she kept by eating without restraint--would be
quite a departure from today's standard of beauty. Russell later wrote
a newspaper column on health, beauty and love, and she died in 1922.
(HNPD, 12/3/98)
1869 Iowa’s Supreme Court ordered
the state’s schools to be desegregated..
(Econ, 4/11/09, p.31)
1871 Jun 3, Jesse James and his
gang robbed Obocock Bank in Corydon, Iowa, of $15,000.
(MC, 6/3/02)
1871 Jul 3, Jesse James robbed a
bank in Corydon, Iowa, of $45,000.
(MC, 7/3/02)
1871 Jul 25, A carrousel was
patented by Wilhelm Schneider in Davenport, Iowa.
(SC, 7/25/02)
1873 Jul 21, At Adair, Iowa, more
than seven years after the Liberty holdup, the James-Younger gang made
their first train robbery. See 1866 for the 1st US train robbery.
(OGA, 11/24/98)(HN, 7/18/00)
1873 Aug 26, Lee De Forest
(d.1961), inventor of the audion vacuum tube, was born in Council
bluffs, Iowa. He is considered the father of radio.
(WUD, 1994 p.379)( http://www.britannica.com)
1874 Aug 10, Herbert Clark Hoover,
the 31st president of the United States, was born in West Branch, Iowa.
(AP, 8/10/97)
1877 William Voss and his brothers
Fred and John Voss established the Voss Bros. Manufacturing Co. in
Davenport, Iowa. Voss had invented one of the first washing machines
with early models operated by a hand crank or foot pedal. Voss
motor-driven machines were introduced in 1905. during the Depression
Voss washing machines sold for $39.95.
(SFC, 1/21/09, p.G4)
1883 Apr 25, Elsa Maxwell, writer
(Jack Paar Show), was born in Keokuk, Iowa.
(SS, 4/25/02)
c1883 In Iowa the Roseman Bridge
was constructed. It was later featured in the 1995 film "The Bridges of
Madison County."
(SFC, 7/11/03, p.A2)
1885 Jan 4, Dr. William W. Grant
of Davenport, Iowa, performed what is believed to have been the first
appendectomy; the patient was 22-year-old Mary Gartside.
(AP, 1/4/00)
1896 Nov
14, Mamie G. Doud Eisenhower (d.1969), 1st lady (1953-61) of Pres.
Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890-1969), was born in Boone, Iowa.
(www.whitehouse.gov/history/firstladies/me34.html)
1887 Mar 3, The anti-Catholic
American Protective Association formed in Clinton, IA.
(SC, 3/3/02)
1892 Feb 13, Grant Wood, painter
(American Gothic), was born in Eldon, Iowa. Wood studied at the
University of Iowa, taught there and made Iowa the focus of his
paintings. His is considered one of America's first 'regionalist'
painters. His most famous work 'American Gothic', often spoofed, is a
painting of the puritanical farmer and his wife or daughter.
(HN, 2/13/01)(SSFC, 7/3/05, p.E3)
1894 Dec 30, Amelia Jenks Bloomer
(76), suffragist, died in Council Bluffs, Iowa; she had gained
notoriety for wearing a short skirt and baggy trousers that came to be
known as "bloomers."
(AP, 12/30/02)
1894 Andrew Clemens (b.1857), deaf
sand artist, died. He created pictures in attractive bottles using
natural color sands from Iowa.
(SFC, 5/24/06, p.G3)
1895 Sep 18, D.D. Palmer of
Davenport, Iowa, founded the 1st "college" of chiropractic near a duck
farm in Iowa.
(MC, 9/18/01)
1900 Dec 2, John Hossack (b.1841),
an Iowa farmer and a prosperous citizen of Warren County, was killed in
his bed from two blows with an ax. His wife was accused of the murder.
In 1927 Susan Gaspell (1876-1948), American novelist and playwright,
authored “A Jury of Her Peers,” a short story based on his murder trial.
(Econ, 2/21/09,
p.83)(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Jury_of_Her_Peers)
1900 A group of hobos from Chicago
began convening on an annual basis in Britt, Iowa. They called
themselves Tourists Union No. 63. In 1933 the Britt Chamber of Commerce
began sponsoring their annual National Hobo Convention.
(SFC, 1/26/04, p.B4)
1901 Nov 18, George Horatio
Gallup, American journalist and statistician, was born in Jefferson,
Iowa.
(HN, 11/18/98)(MC, 11/18/01)
1902 May 18, Meredith Willson
(Wilson), composer and lyricist (The Music Man), was born in Mason
City, Iowa.
(HN, 5/18/01)(SSFC, 2/14/04, p.D12)
1903 Mar 1, Leon Bismarck "Bix"
Beiderbecke, jazz cornetist (In a Mist), was born in Iowa.
(SC, 3/1/02)
1904 Mar 1, Glenn Miller
(d.1944), big band leader of the 1930s and 1940s, was born in Clarinda,
Iowa.
(AP, 3/1/04)
1904 Feb 4, MacKinlay Kantor,
novelist (Andersonville), was born in Webster City, Iowa.
(MC, 2/4/02)
1905 Harry Harlow (d.1981),
psychologist, was born in Fairfield, Iowa.
(CW, 6/03, p.51)
1906 Mildred Augustine Wirt Benson
(d.2002) was born in Ladora. She later became a newspaperwoman and
wrote the 1st 23 Nancy Drew children’s mysteries under the pseudonym
Carolyn Keene.
(WSJ, 5/30/02, p.A1)(WSJ, 5/31/02, p.A13)
1907 May 26, John Wayne, American
actor, was born as Marion Michael Morrison in Winterset, Iowa. He
became famous for his western and World War II movies.
(HN, 5/26/99)(AP, 5/26/07)
1909 Dec 12, Mildred Linton
(d.2003) was born in Ottumwa, Iowa. She became a film star in the 1930s
under the name Karen Morley.
(SFC, 4/21/03, p.B5)
1914 Mar 25, Norman Borlaug
(d.2009), later agricultural scientist and Nobel Prize winner (1970),
was born on a farm near Cresco, Iowa.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_Borlaug)(WSJ,
9/5/06, p.D8)(SFC, 9/14/09, p.A7)
1914 Sep 7, James Alfred Van Allen
(d.2006), physicist, was born in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. In 1958 he
discovered the two radiation belts surrounding the Earth, which were
named after him.
(HN, 9/7/98)(SFC, 8/10/06, p.B7)
1918 Jul 4, Ann Landers and
Abigail Van Buren, twin sisters who became famous columnists, were born
in Sioux City, Iowa, as Esther P. (Landers) and Pauline E. (Abbie)
Friedman. Their "advice" columns are syndicated in more than 1,000
newspapers. Esther Friedman died in 2002 at age 83.
(IB, 12/7/98)(SSFC, 6/23/02, p.A10)
1922 Jan 24, Christian K. Nelson
of Onawa, Iowa, patented the Eskimo Pie. The product reportedly saved
the Iowans dairy business during the Great Depression.
(AP, 1/24/98)(SFEC, 4/11/99, Z1 p.8)
1923 Apr 17, Harry Reasoner,
American broadcast journalist, was born in Dakota City, Iowa.
(HN, 4/17/98)(MC, 4/17/02)
1923 Jun 27, Paul F. Conrad,
cartoonist (Pulitzer 1964, 71, 84), was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
(SC, 6/27/02)
1925 Aug 12, KMA-AM in Shenandoah,
IA, began radio transmissions.
(SC, 8/12/02)
1925 Oct 23, Johnny Carson
(d.2005), American television personality who hosted the "Tonight
Show," was born in Corning, Iowa.
(HN, 10/23/98)(SFC, 1/24/05, p.A7)
1926 Jun 7, Dick Williams, choral
director (Andy Williams Show), was born in Wall Lake, Iowa.
(SC, 6/7/02)
1928 Grant Wood, American artist,
encountered the German art movement Neue Sachlichkeit (New
Objectivity), while supervising the production of a stained-glass
window he had designed for the Cedar Rapids Veterans Memorial Building.
(Sm, 3/06, p.39)
1930 Dec 3, Andy Williams, singer
(Moon River, Andy Williams Show), was born in Wall Lake, Iowa.
(MC, 12/3/01)
1930 Grant Wood, American painter,
completed his "American Gothic." His sister and a Cedar Rapids, Iowa
dentist were his models. It is at the Art Institute of Chicago. Wood’s
biography, "Artist in Overalls: The Life of Grant Wood" by John
Duggleby, was published in 1996. He also painted "Dinner for Threshers"
now at the de Young Museum in SF. In 2005 Steven Biel authored
“American Gothic, A Life of America’s Most Famous Painting.”
(T&L, 10/80, p. 58)(SFC, 6/9/96, DB p.11)(WSJ,
11/5/96, p.A20)(SSFC, 7/3/05, p.E3)
1931 Jul 27, Grasshoppers in Iowa,
Nebraska and South Dakota destroyed thousands of acres of crops.
(MC, 7/27/02)
1938 Nov 13, Jean Seberg, actress
(Breathless, Paint Your Wagon), was born in Marshaltown, Iowa.
(MC, 11/13/01)
1938 Tennessee Williams (26)
completed his play "Spring Storm," while at the Univ. of Iowa. The play
dealt with the "unconscious cruelty of the sexual struggle in youth."
(SFEC, 11/14/99, DB p.35)(WSJ, 2/16/00, p.A24)
1941 Sep 11, Charles A. Lindbergh
sparked charges of anti-Semitism with a speech in Des Moines, Iowa, in
which he blamed "the British, the Jewish and the Roosevelt
administration" for trying to draw the United States into World War II.
Lindbergh had joined the America First Committee which opposed US entry
into the war.
(SFEC, 11/15/98, Par p.29)(USAW, 5/19/02, p.26)(AP,
9/11/08)
1942 Feb 12, Painter Grant Wood
(b.1892), creator of "American Gothic" (1930), died in Iowa City, Iowa,
a day before his 51st birthday.
(AP, 2/12/02)
1942 Jul 20, The first detachment
of the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC), later known as WACs, began
basic training at Fort Des Moines, Iowa.
(HN, 7/20/02)(AP, 7/20/02)
1943 Oscar Hartzell (68), former
Illinois farmer, died in a prison hospital with assets of 10 cents. At
the turn of the century he had sold to some 100,000 Midwesterners
pieces of the purported $100 billion estate of Sir Francis Drake. He
was tried and convicted of mail fraud in Sioux City, Iowa. In 2002
Richard Rayner authored "Drake’s Fortune."
(WSJ, 5/17/02, p.W11)(SSFC, 6/9/02, p.M1)
1944 Nov 9, The 455-foot Red Oak
Victory ship was launched from Richmond, Ca. It was named after an Iowa
town with the highest number of casualties per capita in WW II. The
Victory ships were successors of the Liberty ships.
(SFC, 9/16/98, p.A20)
1945 Mar 14, Sgt. 1st Class Marvin
Steinford, a native of Iowa, was part of a 10-man crew of a B-17 bomber
which was hit, while returning to its base in Italy from a mission over
Hungary. In 2004 his remains were found in a grave in the town on Zirc
in western Hungary, where he had been buried with 26 Soviet soldiers.
In 2009 his remains were returned to the US.
(AP, 8/4/09)
1948 Jun 2, Jerry Mathers, actor
(Beaver-Leave It To Beaver), was born in Sioux City, Iowa.
(SC, 6/2/02)
1949-1951 In Middletown the Iowa Army Ammunition
Plant under the Atomic Energy Commission was the home of the only
nuclear assembly plant in the US. Worker health was not monitored.
Nuclear operations were moved to Texas in the 1970s.
(SFC, 7/31/00, p.A3)
1954 In Cedar Rapids, Iowa,
brothers Martin and Matthew Bucksbaum started what later became General
Growth Properties Inc. by building a shopping center to house one of
their family’s grocery stores in Cedar Rapids. General Growth
Properties went public in 1972. In 2008 the company stock fell below $1
as it struggled under $27 billion in debt. In 2009 the company filed
for bankruptcy.
(WSJ, 12/9/08, p.A12)(SFC, 4/17/09, p.C2)
1957 Dec 19, The musical play "The
Music Man," starring Robert Preston, with book and songs by Meredith
Willson, opened on Broadway at the Majestic Theater for 1,375
performances. Mason City, Iowa, Willson's home town, unveiled Music Man
Square in 2002
(AP, 12/19/97)(MC, 12/19/01)(SSFC, 2/14/04, p.D12)
1959 Feb 3, A plane crash
near Clear Lake, Iowa, claimed the lives of rock- and-roll stars Buddy
Holly (22), Ritchie Valens (17) and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson
(28). They had just finished performing at the Surf Ballroom in Clear
Lake. Buddy Holley and the Crickets had 2 hit songs "Oh Boy" and "Maybe
Baby," Valens had the 2-sided hit "Donna" and "La Bamba," Richardson
was popular for his song "Chantilly Lace."
(AP, 2/3/97)(WSJ, 2/25/99, p.A16)
1970 Cheryl Brown, Miss Iowa,
became the first African-American finalist in the Miss America beauty
pageant.
(www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/missamerica/peopleevents/e_inclusion.html)
1973-1977 Edward Mezvinsky served as a US
Representative. In 2001 he was indicted in Philadelphia for defrauding
clients in a $10.4 million scheme to meet personal and business losses.
(SFC, 3/23/01, p.A4)
1976 Jan 19, In the Iowa caucus
Jimmy Carter won with 28% of the vote. The rest went to Birch Bayh
(13%), Fred R. Harris (10%), Morris Udall (6%) and “Uncommitted” (37%).
(http://correntewire.com/post_iowa_perspective)
1980 Jan 21, In the Iowa
Republican caucus George H. W. Bush beat Ronald Reagan 32% to 30%.
Reagan went onto win the nomination and the presidency.
(http://correntewire.com/post_iowa_perspective)
1982 Sep 5, Johnny Gosch (12)
disappeared while delivering newspapers in Des Moines, Iowa. His was
one of the first faces of missing children to appear on milk cartons.
In 1997 he briefly contacted his mother, but feared for his life and
declined to give details about his location.
(SFC, 9/2/06, p.A5)
1984 The Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
(d.2008), a guru to the Beatles who introduced the West to
transcendental meditation, held his Taste of Utopia conference in
Fairfield, Iowa.
(AP, 2/6/08)(Econ, 2/16/08, p.95)
1984 Ted Waitt started Gateway
Computer at his grandmother’s Iowa farmhouse.
(SFC, 5/20/05, p.C2)
1985 Ted Waitt co-founded Gateway
Computer in an Iowa farmhouse.
(WSJ, 3/1/00, p.A1)
1986 Nov 29, Actor Cary Grant died
in Davenport, Iowa, at age 82.
(AP, 11/29/97)
1986 Rambling Rudy Phillips
(1911-2004) was crowned King of the Hobos at the National Hobo
Convention in Britt, Iowa.
(SFC, 1/26/04, p.B4)
1987 Aaron Rubashkin, a
Lubuvitcher Hasidic Jew from Brooklyn, reopened an abandoned
slaughterhouse in Postville. In 2000 Stephen G. Bloom authored
"Postville: A Clash of cultures in Heartland American."
(SSFC, 12/24/00, BR p.4)
1989 Mar 1, Prairie Meadows
racetrack in Polk County near Des Moines, Iowa, opened for business. It
lost money until it was converted to a casino in April, 1995.
(WSJ, 6/24/96, B1,11)
1989 Jul 19, 111 people were
killed when a United Air Lines DC-10 crashed while making an emergency
landing at Sioux City, Iowa; 185 other people survived.
(AP, 7/19/08)
1990 The World Food Prize was
endowed by Iowa businessman John Ruan in honor of Norman Borlaug,
father of the "Green Revolution."
(SFC, 10/15/97, p.A15)
1991 Sep 15, Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin
entered the Democratic presidential race, promising to "take back
government from the privileged few."
(AP, 9/15/01)
1992 Feb 10, In the Iowa caucus
favorite son Tom Harkin won with 76% of the vote. The rest went to
“Uncommitted” (12%), Paul Tsongas (4%), Bill Clinton (3%), Bob Kerrey
(2%), and Jerry Brown (2%). Clinton ended up winning the Democratic
nomination and the presidency.
(http://correntewire.com/post_iowa_perspective)
1993 Apr 19, South Dakota Gov.
George S. Mickelson (52) died in an Iowa plane crash.
(AP, 4/19/97)
1993 Jul 11, In Des Moines, Iowa,
severe flooding shut down a water system serving 250,000 residents.
(AP, 7/11/98)
1993 Jul 14, President Clinton
visited flood-stricken Iowa for the second time in 10 days, telling
flood victims to "hang in there."
(AP, 7/14/98)
1993 Jul 21, More rain set back
cleanup and recovery efforts in parts of the Midwest; Transportation
Secretary Federico Pena examined flood damage along the Mississippi in
Keokuk, Iowa.
(AP, 7/21/98)
1993 Jul, The flood in Davenport
crested at a record 22.6 feet.
(SFC, 4/25/01, p.A5)
1993 Aug 2, In a dramatic scene
shown on national television, Jessica, a 2 1/2-year-old girl at the
center of a custody battle, was removed from the Michigan home of Jan
and Roberta DeBoer and turned over to her biological parents, Dan and
Cara Schmidt of Iowa.
(AP, 8/2/98)
1994 The Winnebago nation gave
Lance Morgan $9.7 million from its Iowa casino to start a new venture.
Morgan formed Nebraska-based Ho-Chunk Inc.
(Econ, 4/5/08, p.71)
1997 Nov 23, Iowa septuplet mom
Bobbi McCaughey left the hospital and returned home while her seven
babies stayed behind in intensive care.
(AP, 11/23/98)
1997 Dec 20, In Cambodia Theng
Bunma, business tycoon and accused drug trafficker, was awarded an
honorary doctorate from Iowa Wesleyan College via the manipulations of
Ted Sioeng, an Indonesia-born businessman. Sioeng was at the heart of
the "donorgate" scandal over China’s attempt to influence the 1996 US
elections.
(WSJ, 1/13/98, p.A22)
1997 Iowa passed a Defense of
Marriage Act that defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman.
(SFC, 12/16/03, p.A9)
1999 Jan 15, Gov. Tom Vilsack
began his office. He called for a new motto to replace: "Iowa, you make
me smile."
(WSJ, 1/14/99, p.B1)
1999 Feb 10, Timothy Schultz (21)
and Sarah Elder (20) of Des Moines split a $10.6 million Powerball
lottery prize.
(SFC, 3/6/99, p.A3)
1999 May 16, Tornadoes swept
through western Iowa and 2 people were killed.
(SFC, 5/17/99, p.A3)
1999 Aug 14, Gov. George
Bush won the Iowa Straw Poll with Steve Forbes 2nd and Elizabeth Dole
3rd.
(SFEC, 8/15/99, p.A1)
1999 Sep 6, In Richland the house
of Jerry Usovsky exploded during a party and 7 people were killed.
(SFC, 9/7/99, p.A5)
1999 Sep 9, The College of
Agriculture at Iowa State Univ. received a record $80 million donation.
At least part of it came from the estate of Raymond and Mary Baker of
Des Moines. Mr. Baker was a director of research at Pioneer Hi-Bred
Int'l.
(SFC, 9/10/99, p.A2)
1999 Oct 14, Democrat and
Republican leaders in Iowa announced plans to move the caucuses to Jan
24.
(SFC, 10/15/99, p.A3)
1999 Dec 23, In Keokuk, Iowa, a
house fire left 3 children and 3 firemen dead. Dave McNally (48), Jason
Bitting (29) and Nate Tuck (39) were caught in a flashover.
(SFC, 12/24/99, p.A5)
1999 In Iowa artist Ray (Bubba)
Sorensen II began painting a Memorial Day tribute to US servicemen and
servicewomen with a stirring tableau painted on a large granite boulder
which stands next to Highway 25. He created new murals annually on the
rock.
(www.ticz.com/homes/users/bob/On-A-Rock/On-A-Rock.htm)
2000 Jan 24, In the Iowa Caucuses
Vice Pres. Al Gore won over Bill Bradley 63 to 35%; Texas Gov. George
W. Bush won over Steve Forbes 41 to 30%.
(SFC, 1/25/00, p.A1)
2000 Nov 7, In US presidential
elections Iowa chose Al Gore by a margin of 4,000 votes.
(Econ, 8/14/04, p.29)
2001 Mar 18, An Amtrak train bound
for the Bay Area derailed in Iowa and 1 person was killed with 96
injured.
(SFC, 3/19/01, p.A1)
2001 Apr 12, Tornadoes killed at
least 4 people in Iowa, Missouri and Oklahoma.
(WSJ, 4/13/01, p.A1)
2001 Apr 24, The Mississippi
crested at 22.5 feet in Davenport. The 1993 flood record was 22.6 feet.
(SFC, 4/25/01, p.A5)
2001 Aug 30, Leticia Aguilar (31)
was found dead with her 5 children at her home in Sioux City. A 7th
victim, Ronal Fish (58) was also found. Adam Matthew Moss (24) was
arrested the next day and charged in the murders. Moss pleaded guilty
on Sep 25 and was sentenced to 7 consecutive life terms.
(SFC, 9/1/01, p.A4)(SFC, 9/26/01, p.C12)
2001 Sep 6, The state Supreme
Court struck down a law that gave grandparents the right to spend time
with their grandchildren.
(SFC, 9/7/01, p.D4)
2002 May 3, In rural Iowa and
Illinois and 6 people were injured when 6 of 8 pipe bombs were
detonated in what was called a case of domestic terrorism. Suspect Luke
Helder was later found incompetent to stand trial.
(SFC, 5/4/02, p.A3)(AP, 5/3/07)
2002 May 7, Lucas John Helder (21)
of Pine Island, Minn., was arrested following a car chase near
Lovelock, Nevada, and charged for the recent series of mailbox pipe
bombs. Helder said he was trying to make a "smiley face" pattern on the
map of his bombings. His series of rural mailbox bombings left six
people wounded in Illinois and Iowa. Helder has since been found
incompetent to stand trial.
(SFC, 5/8/02, p.A1)(SFC, 5/10/02, p.A3)(AP, 5/7/07)
2002 Oct 13, In Iowa up to 11
bodies of suspected Mexican immigrants were found in a Union Pacific
rail car. The car had left Matamoros, Mexico, in June, and had been
parked in Oklahoma since mid-June.
(SFC, 10/16/02, p.A3)
2003 Mar 12, In Iowa David
England, president of Des Moines Area Community College, was arrested
along with his wife, son and daughter for conspiracy to manufacture and
deliver marijuana.
(SSFC, 3/23/03, p.C4)
2003 Apr 1, A cloned Javan banteng
was born by a beef cow in Iowa. Only 3-5,000 cattle-like bantengs
remained worldwide.
(SFC, 4/8/03, p.A3)
2003 Jun 28, The Mississippi River
Museum and Aquarium opened in Dubuque, Iowa.
(SSFC, 9/14/03, p.C12)
2003 Iowa introduced its Help Us
Stop Hunger (HUSH) program. It urged hunters to donate surplus venison
to local food banks.
(WSJ, 11/20/06, p.A1)
2003 Ted Townsend, an Iowa
meat-packing tycoon, gave $3,000 in campaign contributions to
Republican Senator Chuck Grassley. In 2004 Grassley secured a $50
million from the federal budget for an indoor rainforest promoted by
Townsend.
(Econ, 1/28/06, p.29)
2004 Jan 19, In the Iowa caucus
John Kerry led the Democrats with 38%, John Edwards was 2nd with 32%,
Howard Dean was 3rd with 18% and Dick Gephardt 4th with 11%. Entrance
polls showed that economic issues held top priority.
(SFC, 1/20/04, p.A1)(WSJ, 1/21/04, p.A1)
2004 May 8, A storm in Charles
City, Iowa, caused an estimated $3 million in damages as hail the size
of marbles to baseballs rained down on homes and vehicles.
(USAT, 5/18/04, p.17A)
2005 Mar 22, Iowa enacted a law
requiring an ID check and signature before the sale of cold remedies
containing an ingredient for methamphetamine.
(WSJ, 3/23/05, p.A1)
2005 Mar 24, Jetseta Gage (10) was
abducted from her home in Cedar Rapids. On Mar 28 Roger Paul Bentley
(37), a registered sex offender, was charged with 1st degree murder and
kidnapping.
(SFC, 3/29/05, p.A3)
2005 Apr 6, Frank Conroy (69),
novelist and director of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, died in Iowa City.
(WSJ, 5/18/05, p.D14)
2005 Jul 4, Iowa’s Gov. Tom
Vilsack gave all Iowa’s ex-prisoners the right to vote.
(Econ, 7/25/05, p.23)
2005 Nov 12, Tornadoes hit central
Iowa and left one person dead.
(SSFC, 11/13/05, p.A13)
2006 Feb 11, It was reported that
the town of Hull was one of many in central Iowa whose groundwater has
been contaminated by farm chemicals. It pinned hopes for its future
water supply on the new Lewis and Clark Rural Water System, due to open
in 2018. The system planned to pump Missouri River water across South
Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa.
(Econ, 2/11/06, p.33)
2006 Apr 13, It was reported that
Iowa had counted at least 515 cases of mumps this year, where it had
previously averaged 5 cases per year. Another 100 cases were reported
in Nebraska, Kansas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri
and Illinois.
(SFC, 4/1/06, p.A3)(SFC, 4/12/06, p.A14)
2006 Apr 14, Tornadoes hit the
campus of the Univ. of Iowa in Iowa City. One person was killed outside
of town.
(WSJ, 4/15/06, p.A1)
2006 Aug 9, Dr. James Van Allen
(b.1914), American physicist, died in Iowa. He helped launch the US
space program and in 1958 discovered the radiation belts surrounding
Earth following readings from the Explorer I satellite.
(SFC, 8/10/06, p.B7)
2006 Oct 10, The Diocese of
Davenport, Iowa, became the 4th Catholic diocese in the US to file for
bankruptcy amid the clergy abuse scandal, following the Archdiocese of
Portland, Oregon, and the dioceses of Tucson, Arizona and Spokane,
Washington. Since 2004, the Diocese of Davenport has paid more than
$10.5 million to resolve dozens of claims filed against priests,
including a $9 million settlement reached with 37 victims. The lawsuits
accused 11 priests of sexually assaulting children since the 1950s and
blamed church leaders for covering it up. The cost of the Catholic sex
abuse cases nationwide has risen to about $1.5 billion since 1950,
according to figures compiled from studies by the US Conference of
Catholic Bishops.
(WSJ, 10/11/06,
p.A1)(http://preview.tinyurl.com/2h36vd)
2006 Oct 14, In Bonaparte, Iowa,
Shawn Bentler (22) killed his parents and 3 sisters (14,15,17) at their
home.
(SFC, 10/16/06, p.A13)(AP, 10/14/07)
2006 Nov 30, Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack
(55) launched his campaign for the US presidency. He ended his bid Feb
23, 2007, due to what he called financial constraints.
(SFC, 12/1/06, p.A6)(WSJ, 2/24/07, p.A1)
2007 Jan 17, A US snow and ice
storm was blamed for at least 64 deaths in nine states. These included
20 deaths in Oklahoma, 9 in Missouri, 8 in Iowa, 4 in New York, 5 in
Texas, 4 in Michigan, 3 in Arkansas, and 1 each in Maine and Indiana.
(AP, 1/17/07)(SFC, 1/18/07, p.A3)
2007 Apr 25, US federal
authorities arrested John P. Tomkins (42) of Dubuque, Iowa, a man
suspected of mailing dud pipe bombs to financial companies in Chicago
and Kansas City, Mo., and threatening letters that were signed "The
Bishop."
(AP, 4/25/07)
2007 Aug 11, Republican Mitt
Romney (b.1947) won the first test of the 2008 White House race, using
a big wallet and broad organization to muscle aside a field of rivals
in a low-turnout Iowa straw poll. Mike Huckabee (b.1955), former
governor of Arkansas, came in second.
(Reuters, 8/11/07)(WSJ, 8/13/07, p.A5)
2007 Aug 31, In Iowa Polk County
Judge Robert Hanson cleared the way gay marriage when he ruled that a
state law allowing marriage only between a man and woman violated the
constitutional rights of due process and equal protection. County
attorney John Sarcone said the county would appeal to the state Supreme
Court, and he immediately sought a stay that would prevent gay couples
from seeking a marriage license until the appeal is resolved.
(AP, 8/31/07)
2007 Oct 28, Iowa Democrats voted
to move their leadoff precinct caucuses to Jan 3. Republicans had
picked the same date earlier this month.
(SFC, 10/30/07, p.A5)
2007 Dec 8, Talk show host Oprah
Winfrey publicly endorsed Barack Obama for president during appearances
in Des Moines and Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
(AP, 12/8/08)
2007 Dec 13, Democratic
presidential hopefuls meeting in Johnston, Iowa, called for higher
taxes on the highest-paid Americans and on big corporations in an
unusually cordial debate.
(AP, 12/13/08)
2008 Jan 3, Democrat Barack Obama
and Republican Mike Huckabee won the Iowa caucuses as the candidates
move on to New Hampshire. Obama won with 38% over Edwards at 30% and
Hillary Clinton at 29%. Overall, Clinton leads with 175 delegates,
including superdelegates, followed by Obama with 75 and Edwards with
46. Huckabee won 34% with Romney at 25%. Huckabee scored 30 delegates
and Romney got 7.
(AP, 1/4/08)
2008 Mar 24, In Iowa City, Iowa, a
woman and her 4 children were found dead. The burned body of Steven
Sueppel (42), the husband and father, was found soon after in a wrecked
van. Sueppel had been indicted last month on charges of stealing some
$560,000 from Hills Bank and Trust, where he was vice president and
controller.
(SFC, 3/25/08, p.A2)
2008 May 12, US immigration agents
arrested more than 300 people at Agriprocessors Inc, a kosher meat
plant in Postville, Iowa, amid an ongoing investigation into
identification theft, fraudulent use of Social Security numbers, and
for illegal immigrants.
(Reuters, 5/12/08)
2008 May 25, Powerful storms
packing large hail, heavy rain and tornadoes made for a deadly Memorial
Day weekend across the nation's midsection, killing at least seven
people in Iowa and a 2-year-old child in Minnesota. 222 homes were
destroyed in Iowa.
(AP, 5/26/08)(SFC, 5/28/08, p.A2)
2008 Jun 8, Wicked weekend storms
pounded the US from the Midwest to the East Coast, forcing hundreds of
people to flee flooded communities, spawning tornadoes that tore up
houses and killing at least eight people in Indiana (1), Michigan (6),
Connecticut (1). Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle declared a state of emergency
in 29 counties and President Bush declared a major disaster in 29
Indiana counties, freeing up aid. Iowa Gov. Chet Culver declared an
emergency in nearly a third of the state's 99 counties.
(AP, 6/8/08)
2008 Jun 11, In rural western
Iowa four boys were killed when a tornado hit. They were among the
elite of the Boy Scouts of America to attend a special week-long
leadership development seminar put on by the Mid-America Council.
(www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,366264,00.html)(AP,
6/13/08)
2008 Jun 13, In Iowa the Cedar
River crested at nearly 32 feet, 12 feet higher than the old record set
in 1929. Water submerged more than 400 blocks of Cedar Rapids,
threatened the city's drinking supply and forced the evacuation of a
downtown hospital.
(AP, 6/14/08)
2008 Jun 18, Floodwaters breached
two levees in western Illinois and threatened more Mississippi River
towns in Missouri after inundating much of Iowa for the past week. One
official estimated up to 47 square miles could be flooded.
(AP, 6/18/08)
2008 Jun 24, In Iowa a railroad
bridge collapsed into the flooded Iowa River near Columbus Junction,
dropping a locomotive and its engineer into the water.
(AP, 6/25/08)
2008 Oct 30, In Iowa US federal
agents arrested Sholom Rubashkin, a former senior executive of the
Agriprocessors, a kosher meatpacking plant in Postville, for employing
illegal immigrants for commercial gain and helping them secure fake
documents. A day earlier Iowa labor authorities levied some $10 million
in fines against Agriprocessors for labor violations.
(WSJ, 10/31/08, p.A3)
2008 Nov 14, In Iowa police again
arrested Sholom Rubashkin, former chief executive of Agriprocessors
Inc., a Postville slaughterhouse, on new charges of bank fraud.
(WSJ, 11/15/08, p.A2)
2009 Apr 3, The Iowa Supreme Court
issued a unanimous ruling finding that the state's same-sex marriage
ban violates the constitutional rights of gay and lesbian couples,
making Iowa the third state where gay marriage is legal.
(AP, 4/3/09)
2009 Apr 27, Iowa counties began
processing same-sex marriage applications.
(WSJ, 4/27/09, p.A1)
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