© 2025 WVIK
Listen at 90.3 FM and 98.3 FM in the Quad Cities, 95.9 FM in Dubuque, or on the WVIK app!
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Stories that shaped our year in Iowa: Devastation, illumination and basketball

A collage of photos
John Pemble, Natalie Krebs, Madeleine Charis King, Lucius Pham
/
Iowa Public Radio
2024 was marked by a summer string of natural disasters, the Caitlin Clark effect and many moments of resilience along the way.

The waters rose, the moon eclipsed the sun, and a star sunset her time in Iowa. In the last year, Iowans have been at the center of national headlines and experienced the repercussions of consequential national debates. A local paper made Iowa a political lightning rod and lawmakers expanded their Republican trifecta in state government. Along the way, Iowans cheered, helped and, of course, cycled across the state. Let's look back at 2024 in Iowa.

January: The year begins with a tragic school shooting, prompting calls for gun legislation at the start of the legislative session

students rally in the iowa capitol against gun violence
Lucius Pham
/
Iowa Public Radio
Iowa high school students gathered in the Iowa Capitol to protest gun violence.

The 2024 legislative session in Iowa began four days after a deadly shooting at Perry High School, which is just under 40 miles away from the Capitol. The attack – considered the fourth mass shooting of the year when it occurred Jan. 4, 2024 – prompted high school students from around central Iowa to gather at the Capitol building to protest gun violence.

Legislators address special education, trans rights and organization of the state government during the 2024 legislative session

People cheer in a crowded room. One person holds up the trans flag.
Madeleine Charis King
/
Iowa Public Radio
Iowans cheer after lawmakers at the Iowa Statehouse kill a bill that would remove gender identity from the Iowa Civil Rights Act.

January through April was dominated by the legislative session. The 2024 session was the eighth in a row with the Republican trifecta in place, but that didn’t mean everything went smoothly. The session eventually ended early Saturday, April 20 after months of debates, rewrites and negotiations. Lawmakers passed another tax cut and made big changes to the state’s Area Education Agencies, behavioral health system and the state’s boards and commissions, among other measures.

Some bills that were introduced didn't move forward. These included measures that would define “man” and “woman” in Iowa law, address eminent domain concerns from landowners and would have increased penalties for killing an “unborn person.”

March: Caitlin Clark finishes her dazzling run as a Hawkeye

Our March Madness was spent watching, and then saying goodbye, to Caitlin Clark. The University of Iowa basketball player became the NCAA’s all-time scoring leader in her closing regular season game with the Iowa Hawkeyes women’s basketball team. Clark had already become a national sensation who boosted popularity — and ticket sales — for women’s sports. The Hawkeyes went on to win the Big 10 tournament and play for a national title. Clark finished the season with 3,951 career points.

Clark also went pro, and was selected first in the WNBA draft by the Indiana Fever. Her popularity has so far proven to be a boon for the WNBA, and she's been part of a larger renaissance for women’s sports and their fans. Clark has completed her first season with the Indiana Fever and was recently named Time Magazine’s Athlete of the Year.

After the college season ended, Hawkeye women's basketball head coach Lisa Bluder announced her retirement. In May, Bluder said she would be passing the torch to then-Associate Head Coach Jan Jensen. Bluder reflected on her 24-year tenure at Iowa — including the two years that had the team in the center of the basketball universe — with Charity Nebbe on Talk of Iowa.

April: A partial solar eclipse and the start of two seasons plagued by natural disaster

People with eclipse glasses sit up on a hill and stare at the sky.
Madeleine Charis King
/
Iowa Public Radio
The Science Center of Iowa hosted a star party at Drake University’s observatory in Des Moines. The event — and clear skies — drew hundreds of Iowans of every age group who camped out for hours to watch the partial eclipse.

April started off with a rare solar eclipse across the United States. Iowa was not on the path of totality, but the partial solar eclipse, which peaked around 2 p.m., still drew large crowds. Iowans young and old gathered to stop and stare up at the sky and participate in a collective moment of wonder felt across the country.

A woman and boy look over bins filled with toothpaste and mouthwash.
Sheila Brummer
/
Iowa Public Radio
Brenda Wurdeman and her son, Ethan, sort through bins of toothpaste and other toiletries at the Neola Area Community Center on April 28, 2024.

At least 20 tornadoes touched down across the state at the end of April. An EF3 cell fatally injured one resident in Minden and destroyed more than 40 homes. The small community was hit “dead-on,” dealing a devastating blow to residents. In its aftermath, rural Iowa communities rallied together to get supplies to those in need. The tornadoes across the state were the first in a summer marked by many natural disasters.

May: Summer tornadoes continue, flooding strikes northwest Iowa and an abrupt closure rocks Iowa City

Woman stands in hallway that's under construction
Madeleine Charis King
/
Side Effects Public Media
Catherine Hillestad, the CEO of Adair County Memorial Hospital in Greenfield, stands in the medical-surgical unit. A tornado in May damaged the entire hospital, shutting it down for months for repairs.

In May, four people died after a tornado tore through Greenfield, a town of about 2,000 people in southwest Iowa. Violent winds were recorded, with speeds up to 185 mph — though some weather researchers say speeds may have actually reached 300 mph. The tornado took just a minute to rip through the small community, but its effects have been felt long since. The storm went right by the town's 25-bed hospital, dealing damage to every department and stunting medical care in the area for much of the year. The hospital fully reopened in November.

Laura Tull of Cedar Rapids turned to RVAP after struggling to find help in her own region. She spoke to a crowd in Iowa City protesting the University of Iowa closing RVAP on April 13, 2023.
Zachary Oren Smith
/
Iowa Public Radio
Laura Tull of Cedar Rapids turned to RVAP after struggling to find help in her own region. She spoke to a crowd in Iowa City protesting the University of Iowa closing RVAP on April 13, 2023.

On the other side of the state, news broke that a longstanding sexual assault advocacy program serving the Iowa City area would be shutting down. The Rape Victim Advocacy Program had provided support for survivors of sexual assault for more than 50 years. An IPR News investigation revealed how its abrupt closure came about and how the program's closure put services for 10% of the state’s population in jeopardy.

June: Catastrophic flooding prompts natural disaster declarations

Debris on the front yard of a house. There's a mattress, sofa, and broken dresser.
Sheila Brummer
/
Iowa Public Radio
The front yard of Cheri and Steve Gacke's home in Rock Valley is filled with property destroyed by flood waters. The couple recently remodeled the home by adding new siding and a four-car garage. They say all four of their vehicles inside were destroyed.

The Little Sioux River reached unprecedented levels at the end of June. The resulting flooding forced evacuations and damaged entire swaths of communities in northwest Iowa. In the months that followed, IPR’s Sheila Brummer detailed recovery efforts in Rock Valley, Correctionville and Sioux City. But there were also stories of resilience, seen through the lens of the Lyon County Fair and Clay County Fair. In Spencer, a town where more than 80% of homes were affected by flooding, stories of kindness were shared as the community worked together to begin its recovery.

Also in June, four instructors from Mt. Vernon’s Cornell College were stabbed in a park while visiting China. 

July: RAGBRAI passes through Greenfield, Iowa’s abortion ban finally goes into effect

cyclists walk their bikes
Katarina Sostaric
/
Iowa Public Radio
Thousands of RAGBRAI riders stopped in Greenfield two months after a tornado destroyed parts of the southwest Iowa town.

Cyclists from across the world gathered in Glenwood at the end of July to kick off RAGBRAI. The town had also just witnessed the closure of the troubled Glenwood Resource Center at the end of June. In July, the town of about 5,000 decked out its town square to prepare for an influx of padded-pant wearing cyclists who more than tripled the population for a few hours — and likely bought a few t-shirts. On the third day of the annual ride, thousands of cyclists stopped for lunch in the meeting town of Greenfield. On the way into town, cyclists rode past homes destroyed by the May 21 tornado that killed four people and injured dozens.

Woman stands with sign reading "Abortion is Health Care" in front of security at the judicial building.
Madeleine Charis King
/
Iowa Public Radio
Iowans gather in front of the state Supreme Court building on Thursday ahead of the court's hearing on a 2023 law that would ban abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected.

An Iowa law banning abortions as early as six weeks went into effect at the end of July. This moment came after years of legal back-and-forth between Gov. Kim Reynolds, lawmakers and several levels of the Iowa Judicial Branch. Eventually, lawmakers passed the now-enacted “fetal heartbeat” ban during a one-day special session in July 2023. For several months it was prevented from taking effect due to a temporary injunction from a lower court, which was then reversed by the Iowa Supreme Court in late June.

August: Masses converge on small-town Iowa for a big festival, while a local shop saves the day

Thousands of Iowans trekked down to St. Charles in August to sweat it out for a stacked lineup at Hinterland Music Festival. It was one of the buzziest lineups in years, topped for many not by a headliner, but by pop star Chappell Roan, who played a Sunday afternoon set that was scheduled before the artist exploded in popularity. During her routine “to my ex” intro for her song “My Kink is Karma,” Roan said she and her band’s Christian-oriented outfits were chosen because they were playing on a Sunday. Those outfits, we later found out, would not have been possible without the Theatrical Shop in Des Moines.

September: Des Moines solidifies a controversial crackdown on homeless encampments

A blue car speeds past an encampment located along a street with tall buildings in downtown Des Moines in the background.
Madeleine Charis King
/
Iowa Public Radio
The Des Moines City Council passed several ordinances aimed at preventing people who are homeless from staying on public property.

A U.S Supreme Court ruling in June created an option for cities to create their own laws that prohibit people from camping and sleeping on public property. Less than a month later, the Des Moines City Council officially introduced its own proposal. After many public hearings, the final set of ordinances were passed in mid-September. City officials have said the measures are meant to urge people without homes to use services such as shelters. Critics say these shelters lack the resources to support Des Moines’ homeless population properly.

November: Republicans win big

Mariannette Miller-Meeks holds up a copy of the Des Moines Register
Natalie Krebs
/
Iowa Public Radio
Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks holds up the Des Moines Register at her election night watch party, criticizing a poll published three days before that inaccurately predicted Democrat Kamala Harris would win Iowa.

The election — seen as a potential toss-up after Vice President Kamala Harris took the top of the ticket late in the game — proved to be less competitive than Democrats had hoped. Republicans retained control of the U.S. House and retook the Senate and the executive branch, solidifying a national Republican trifecta.

Speaking at her election night event, Iowa Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks took a moment to show off a copy of The Des Moines Register, showing the ill-fated Iowa Poll by Ann Selzer that had shown Harris gaining a sizable lead over now President-elect Trump. The poll had been seen as a last-minute boon to Democrats until Election Day, when Republicans won handily, including every congressional seat in Iowa. In December, Trump filed a lawsuit against Selzer and The Register, arguing they violated Iowa’s Consumer Fraud Act by using the poll for "brazen election interference."

Woman speaks while sitting at a wooden table
Madeleine Charis King
/
Iowa Public Radio
Hiawatha City Council member Aime Wichtendahl speaks at a hearing against HF 2082, a proposal in the 2024 legislative session that would have reduced legal protections for transgender Iowans. Lawmakers ultimately declined to advance the bill.

The election also brought at least one history-making moment in Iowa. Democrat Aime Wichtendahl was elected to represent Iowa House District 80, serving the Cedar Rapids area. When she’s sworn in this January, she’ll become Iowa’s first transgender state representative. 

December: The killing of a CEO with Iowa ties

The shooting death of UnitedHealthcare CEO and Iowa native Brian Thompson sparked a national conversation about the health care industry. His alleged killer, Luigi Mangione, is being charged with federal crimes of murder, stalking and weapon offenses, in addition to his previous indictment on state charges. In Iowa, those who grew up with Thompson in Hamilton County remembered him as a friend, neighbor and star student.

Madeleine Charis King (she/her) manages and writes Iowa Public Radio’s newsletters. She also takes photos in support of IPR's news and music teams.