For the 2025 Bread & Butter dining guide, Little Village food reviewers visited and reviewed 10 Cedar Rapids area eateries. You can find more local restaurant coverage here. MARION New York Gyro 808 7th Ave, Marion, 319-200-1750 I feel like once a year when I do these reviews, there’s always one restaurant I’ve never visited […]
Marion
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Marion’s Happily Ever After Book Boutique is a one-woman matchmaking operation
I’ve been to my fair share of bookstores, and all have left me with something to remember: a dazzling window display, a cozy nook, a roaming cat. My latest store visit can be summed up by the exclaimed observation of a fellow patron: “It’s a penis!” This plush appendage sat atop a shelf in Happily […]
Posted inEastern Iowa
Vandals spray-paint racist and anti-Semitic graffiti in Marion
A four-block stretch of 10th Street in Marion was vandalized with racist and anti-Semitic graffiti, including swastikas, during the early hours of Thursday morning. “At least one vehicle was spray-painted, as were city streets, city sidewalks, light posts, and some businesses and homes between the 700 block and the 1100 block of 10th Street right […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Gov. Reynolds avoids answering questions about whether she would support banning abortion ‘without exceptions’
Gov. Kim Reynolds avoided giving a direct answer about whether she wants to outlaw abortions without any exceptions on Wednesday afternoon. As Reynolds was exiting a meeting in Marion’s Thomas Park, KCRG reporter Ethan Stein asked about her abortion stance. “Do you want the legislature to send you a bill that would ban abortion in […]
Posted inCommunity/News
How a Cedar Rapids strip mall brought town and country together — and stood the test of time
Anyone living in Cedar Rapids or Marion has more than likely found themselves needing to get to the other, and, most likely, has made the trip by way of First Avenue. On their way, they’ve probably seen an unassuming strip mall just a couple minutes into Cedar Rapids past the Marion border: an L-shaped series […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Local farmers markets enter national competition to determine who’s got the goods
The Iowa City Famers Market and other local farmers markets are competing this year in the Farmers Market Celebration, an annual competition organized by American Farmland Trust to determine the country’s most popular farmers markets. “We have participated in the past, when the format was different,” Tammy Neumann, the city’s coordinator for the market, told […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Iowa House passes bill allowing landlords to discriminate against people receiving federal housing assistance
On Monday, the Iowa House of Representatives passed a bill already approved by the Senate, which would overturn ordinances in Iowa City, Marion and Des Moines that prevent landlords from discriminating against people who receive federal housing assistance. In addition to invalidating existing ordinances, SF 252 (formerly SSB 1079) would also prohibit any local government […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Bill that would allow landlords to refuse to rent to people on federal assistance approved by Iowa Senate subcommittee
A bill advancing through the Iowa Senate would strike down ordinances in Iowa City, Marion and Des Moines that prevent landlords from discriminating against people who receive federal housing assistance. SSB 1079 would strip all local governments in the state of the power to enact or enforce ordinances that prohibit landlords from rejecting potential renters […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment
Bernie Sanders stays warm, becomes a meme, starts popping up in Iowa City, Cedar Rapids and Marion
Sen. Bernie Sanders suddenly seems to be everywhere. In little over a day, the Vermont senator has movie cameos, appeared in classic paintings, visited New York and joined the crew of he starship Enterprise — all thanks to a photo from President Joe Biden’s inauguration. The original photo was taken by photographer Brendan Smialowski for […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Five Iowans share how forgiveness of student loan debt would impact them
About 420,000 Iowans owed a combined total of $12.8 billion in student debt, as of September 2020. The average amount for Iowans with student loan debt was $30,500. People in Iowa are more likely to have student loan debt but owe “significantly less on average” compared to individuals in other states, according to data and […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Hy-Vee agrees to settle the class action lawsuit over its months-long data breach
Hy-Vee has reached a preliminary settlement agreement in the class action lawsuit filed by customers who had their credit and debit card information stolen during a massive data breach at some of the company’s stores in 2018 and 2019. According to papers filed in an Illinois federal court on Tuesday, the company began negotiating the […]
Posted inCommunity/News
Linn County renames park to honor memory of Meskwaki artist and women’s rights advocate
The Linn County Conservation Board has changed the name of the county’s largest park to Wanatee Park to honor the memory of Jean Adeline Morgan Wanatee, an artist and advocate for the rights of Native Americans and women. The park located in Marion was formerly known as Squaw Creek Park. Although there is some debate […]
