Iowans who drive cars with advanced technology are finding they're much more expensive to repair. A study shows cars equipped with "advanced driver assistance systems" may cost twice as much to fix after crashes or even fender-benders. Beth Mosher, at AAA-Iowa, says "high tech" features are … [Read more...]
Center For Rural Affairs study: parts of state still lack high-speed internet
A new report finds rural states like Iowa are still far behind in getting high-speed internet to all corners, which impacts the rate of growth and success. Johnathan Hladlik, policy director with the Center For Rural Affairs, says 31% of rural households lack access to broadband internet. He says … [Read more...]
Drivers happy with new safety technology, but study finds many don’t understand what it does
A study by the University of Iowa and AAA Foundation finds drivers like new technologies designed to help them drive safer -- but they don't understand all the limitations of those systems. Dan McGehee is the director of the U-I's National Advanced Driving Simulator. "People still need to learn … [Read more...]
Uber paying Iowa $612,950 as part of settlement over data breach
Uber is paying the State of Iowa more than half a million dollars as part of a nationwide settlement over a security breach at the ride-sharing company. In November of 2016, hackers were able to access the accounts of nearly 400 Uber drivers in Iowa. Uber tracked down the hackers and paid them to … [Read more...]
Woodbury County second to add full body scan at jail
The Woodbury County Sheriff’s Office has become the second in the state to use a full body scanner to check inmates into their jail. Sergeant Lee Blanchard says the SecurePass systems is faster and more efficient. "It allows us to see things you wouldn't normally see -- any kind of contraband … [Read more...]
Iowa area codes received 135 million automated calls in 2017
An estimated 30 billion"robo-calls" were made in the U.S. last year and so far this year, the pace of these nuisance calls in Iowa and the rest of the country is dramatically accelerating. According to YouMail.com, 3.3 billion automated robocalls were made in the U.S. in April -- a 34 percent … [Read more...]
Online grocery delivery service expands into Iowa
Residents in eight communities in two Iowa metro areas can now order groceries online and have them delivered to their doors. Instacart operations manager Megan Zigler says they recently launched service in the Council Bluffs-Omaha area as well as in the Quad Cities. "Instacart is a service … [Read more...]
Dubuque mayor hears from top Facebook official during conference
At least two Iowa mayors are at the U.S. Conference of Mayors which will conclude its three-day run in Boston today. Mayor Roy Buol of Dubuque says one of the weekend's keynote speakers was Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg, who announced a plan to train one-million people and small business owners in … [Read more...]
Facebook CEO testifies for several hours before Grassley and other Senators
Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley, chair of the Judiciary Committee, led a hearing Tuesday that featured testimony from Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The online social network is at the center of a data scandal in which Cambridge Analytica gained access to personal information of 87-million … [Read more...]
Grassley confirms Facebook CEO will attend Senate hearing
The CEO of Facebook has agreed to testify before a U.S. Senate committee chaired by Iowa's Chuck Grassley. Senator Grassley had announced last week that he planned to hold a Judiciary Committee hearing on data privacy in the wake of the revelation that data from some 50 million Facebook … [Read more...]