Portal:Iowa
Iowa (/ˈaɪ.əwə/ ⓘ EYE-ə-wə, Lakota: Ayúȟwa) is a landlocked state in the upper Midwestern region of the United States. It borders the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west; Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the east and southeast, Missouri to the south, Nebraska to the west, South Dakota to the northwest, and Minnesota to the north.
Iowa is the 26th largest in total area and the 31st most populous of the 50 U.S. states, with a population of 3,190,369, according to the 2020 census. The state's capital, most populous city, and largest metropolitan area fully located within the state is Des Moines. A portion of the larger Omaha, Nebraska, metropolitan area extends into three counties of southwest Iowa. Iowa has been listed as one of the safest U.S. states in which to live.
During the 18th and early 19th centuries, Iowa was a part of French Louisiana and Spanish Louisiana; its state flag is patterned after the flag of France. After the Louisiana Purchase, people laid the foundation for an agriculture-based economy in the heart of the Corn Belt.
In the latter half of the 20th century, Iowa's agricultural economy began to transition to a diversified economy of advanced manufacturing, processing, financial services, information technology, biotechnology, and green energy production. As of 2018, 22.6 million hogs outnumbered Iowans by more than 7 to 1 in 8,000 facilities large enough to require manure management plans. (Full article...)
Thomas James Vilsack (/ˈvɪlsæk/; born December 13, 1950) is an American politician serving as the 32nd United States secretary of agriculture in the Biden administration. He previously served in the role from 2009 to 2017 during the Obama administration. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 40th governor of Iowa from 1999 to 2007. During his tenure, Iowa experienced a peak in new CAFO construction.
On November 30, 2006, he formally launched his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 2008 election, but ended his bid on February 23, 2007. President-elect Barack Obama announced Vilsack's selection to be Secretary of Agriculture on December 17, 2008. His nomination was confirmed by the United States Senate by unanimous consent on January 20, 2009. Until his January 13, 2017 resignation one week prior to the end of Obama's second term as president, he had been the only member of the U.S. Cabinet who had served since the day Obama originally took office. (Full article...)- ... that an Iowa TV station paid Tom Brokaw, a future anchor of NBC Nightly News, $75 a week to work as a staff announcer and part-time newscaster?
- ... that Iowa radio station KTFC was partially powered by a wind turbine that the owner had bought from an Arizona wind farm?
- ... that Alice Ilgenfritz Jones was one of "Two Women of the West" from Iowa who wrote the 1893 feminist utopian novel Unveiling a Parallel?
- ... that a 2020 study concluded that taco pizza is the favorite pizza of Iowa?
- ... that years after it closed, the studios of an Iowa TV station became the headquarters for the state police radio network?
- ... that Joseph Eiboeck called the period from July 4, 1884, to 1890 "a reign of terror for Iowa"?
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- Date admitted to Union: December 28, 1846 (29th State)
- Demonym: Iowan
- Capital: Des Moines
- Elected state officers:
- U.S. Senators:
- Chuck Grassley (R)
- Joni Ernst (R)
- U.S. Representatives:
- Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R)
- Ashley Hinson (R)
- Zach Nunn (R)
- Randy Feenstra (R)
- Total area: 56,272 square miles (145,744 km2) (23rd most extensive state)
- Highest elevation: Hawkeye Point 1,670 feet (509 m) (42nd highest state)
- Mean elevation: 1,100 feet (335 m) (22nd highest state)
- Lowest elevation: Mississippi River 480 feet (146 m) (37th lowest state)
- Population (2022 estimate): 3,200,517 (32nd most populous state)
- Number of counties: 99 counties
- Number of municipalities: 947 municipalities
- Time zone: CST=UTC-06, CDT=UTC-05
- USPS code: IA
- ISO 3166 code: US-IA
- Adjacent states: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota
- State government website: Iowa.gov
| State flag: | |
| State seal: | |
| State motto: | Our liberties we prize and our rights we will maintain |
| State nickname: | The Hawkeye State |
| State bird: | Eastern Goldfinch (Spinus tristis) |
| State flower: | Wild Prairie Rose (Rosa pratincola) |
| State grass: | Bluebunch Wheatgrass (Pseudoroegneria spicata) |
| State tree: | Oak (Quercus macrocarpa) |
| State rock: | Geode |
| State soil: | Tama |
| State song: | The Song of Iowa |
| State tartan: | Iowa State Tartan |
| Commemorative U.S. coin: |
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