Category Archives: Torch News

Des Moines’ school board was forced to vote on a budget last night that included a one-point-25 percent funding increase from the state.  Des Moines Public Schools will lose 40 positions as...

Governor Branstad will sign the school start date bill on Friday.  The measure prohibits Iowa public schools from beginning classes prior to August 23rd this year…which happens to be the l...

Federal safety officials say train tank cars transporting ethanol or oil need to be retrofitted to make them more fire resistant.  The National Transportation Safety Board came out with yesterday...

Farmers in Iowa and elsewhere are expected to plant a record number of soybean acres this spring…but not as many acres of corn.  USDA says corn planting is down two percent, while soybean ...

It appears that slow economic growth is ahead for Iowa and eight other Midwestern and Plains states. The overall Mid-America Business Conditions Index dropped to 51.4 in March from 57 in February. But...

Looks like Iowa’s public schools will have an August 23rd school start date.  The senate majority leader has withdrawn his motion to reconsider the bill, which means it now goes to the gove...

Iowa could cut the number of teen driving deaths in the state by adopting a stronger graduated driver license law…that’s the word from a new national study.  It recommends raising th...

A former Des Moines police officer will be resentenced on excessive force charges connected to a traffic stop in 2008.  Merced Dautovic served 20 months in prison for striking a driver repeatedly...

The new prison in Fort Madison wasn't expected to be fully operational until the fall of this year, even before workers discovered the problem that's keeping it closed…that’s th...

Des Moines’ firefighters’ union is calling for a better system for responding more efficiently to different types of fires.  They say the change would make it less likely that you&rsq...