IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) – Third graders in Iowa will begin their second year of cursive handwriting education this school year due to a June 2024 change to the state education board’s requirements. In 2010, the introduction of Common Core curriculum standards ended required cursive handwriting education in many states, including Iowa. For some children, that meant an end to being able to read birthday cards from grandparents, writing their own signature and understanding historical documents like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. One Iowa City librarian said knowing cursive is instrumental in understanding and interacting with history. “It lets you go back and read the primary source document to figure out if it was taken out of context or if it was translated correctly,” said Beth Fisher, an adult program librarian at the Iowa City Public Library. As of last summer, the state’s education board now mandates cursive instruction to be introduced in second grade and mastered in third grade.
DES MOINES, Iowa (KCRG) – The 2025 Iowa State Fair welcomed a total of 1,160,121 Fairgoers. While the all-time record of 1,182,682 Fairgoers was set in 2024, this year’s turnout was the third-highest in history despite weather challenges. Along with multiple days of rain, the average daily temperature at the 2025 Fair was 8 degrees higher than the 2024 Fair. The 2025 Iowa State Fair Grandstand did break a record. It recorded 131,755 concertgoers. The old record of 128,504 was set in 2019. The Common Sense Institute released a study showing the fair’s economic impact. This year’s Iowa State Fair had the third-largest real (2025 dollars) economic impact of any in the fair’s 171-year history, contributing $177 million to the state’s GDP and $92 million in personal income. This year fell short of 2024’s record year by $2 million, and 2023’s impact by $1 million in real GDP. The Common Sense Institute estimates fairgoers spent a total of $85 million dollars at the fair this year, a 1.1% increase from $84.1 million in 2024. This means the average family of three spent an estimated $220 per day at the Iowa State Fair this year, a 3.11% increase from 2024. The 2026 Iowa State Fair is scheduled for August 13-23.
DUBUQUE, Iowa (KCRG) – A Dubuque man was found guilty of multiple charges including sexual abuse of a minor. 52-year-old Kenneth Bienash was convicted of sexual abuse of a minor, creation of child exploitation material, promotion of child pornography material, possessing child pornography material, and distributing child pornography material. According to court documents, a Dubuque woman contacted police to report her 15-year-old son had been a victim of a sexual assault. Police say Bienash found the teen online and gave him about $200 a week to take explicit images and perform sexual favors. He was initially charged with human trafficking, third degree sexual abuse and sexual exploitation of a minor. Bienash was arrested in February. He faces life in prison.
DES MOINES, Iowa (Iowa Capital Dispatch/KCRG) – Last week marked the first time since mid-June that statewide precipitation levels were below normal, while temperatures were 2-4 degrees above normal for the period, according to State Climatologist Justin Glisan. Despite the diminished precipitation levels, soil moisture remains high. Crops rated highly during the Aug. 11-17 reporting period, though developments for corn and soybean acres are slightly behind the five-year average, according to the crop progress and condition report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. North central parts of the state continue to have the wettest soils, with 55% of topsoil rated surplus. Glisan noted in the report that portions of eastern Iowa had above-average precipitation during the reporting period, but as a whole, the state average was eight-tenths of an inch, a little more than one-tenth below the normal. Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said in a statement that Iowa had no drought conditions, per the U.S. Drought Monitor map, for the first time in more than a year.
