🗣️ It’s Friday, April 3, which I celebrate for two bittersweet reasons: It’s my late mom’s bday, and it’s Varnum v. Brien Day.

On this day in 2009, Iowa became just the third state in the US to legally recognize same-sex marriages. And now look at us.

Time for Only in Iowa, this week’s pet photo, and news you can use!

Severe weather above a corn field. (Joshua Eckl/Unsplash)

Over the decades, Iowa has seen April blizzards that shut down entire regions, tornado outbreaks that rewrote record books, and weather whiplash that swung from sunshine to severe in a matter of hours.

Here are some of the wildest April weather events in Iowa’s history. How many do you remember?

How much higher is your bill due to utility profits? That and more Iowa Worker’s Almanac news and layoffs for Apr. 2, 2026:

Iowa’s April weather can turn extreme fast. From historic blizzards to record tornado outbreaks, discover the wildest April storms in Hawkeye State history.

Health care workers aren’t largely unionized across the country. But that’s now changing. In Iowa, a second hospital system’s workers have unionized. Here’s how they did it.

Thanks for reading. This newsletter was written by Amie Rivers. It was edited by Paula Solis.

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