Iowa
Iowa Northern Railway deal warrants heightened scrutiny
Quaker Oats plant in Cedar Rapids, photographed by David Harmantas (Shutterstock).
Scott Syroka is a former Johnston city council member.
Attorneys for Canadian Pacific Kansas City submitted a 59-page filing to the U.S. Surface Transportation Board on February 26 regarding the proposed acquisition of Iowa Northern Railway by Canadian National.
The Canadian Pacific Kansas City filing highlights the proposed deal’s “national importance” and cites “competitive concerns of significant magnitude” in calling for the Surface Transportation Board to classify Canadian National’s takeover attempt of Iowa Northern as a “Significant” transaction rather than the “Minor” transaction status that Canadian National has sought.
The distinction matters because “Minor” transactions aren’t subject to the same regulatory requirements as “Significant” transactions—meaning the public would have less access to information and less time to review the deal.
Canadian Pacific Kansas City made clear in its filing that it remains neutral for now on whether the Surface Transportation Board should approve or reject the acquisition. But it is calling for the “Significant” transaction classification “so that the Board and interested members of the public can undertake a more deliberate and thorough exploration of the competitive and other issues the Transaction raises.”
I wrote about some of those potential issues back in December. This week’s filing goes further in building a case in favor of classifying the transaction as “Significant.”
NATIONAL IMPORTANCE
The filing highlights the national significance of Iowa Northern’s service area, explaining that “The area served by Iowa Northern is of critical importance to U.S. agriculture. Cedar Rapids ranks as ‘[t]he largest corn-processing city in the world,’ hosting manufacturing plants for many familiar names, including General Mills, Quaker Oats, Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland. The Quaker Oats plant at Cedar Rapids is the largest cereal mill in the world.”
Beyond that, it underscores the importance of “efficient and competitive rail transportation” in shippers’ ability to transport “commodities like corn, soybeans and oats to processing facilities,” as well as transport “processed commodities like [dried distillers grains] DDGs, soybean oil, ethanol, and biofuels to market.”
ANTICOMPETITIVE CONCERNS
The filing notes that Canadian National and Iowa Northern are currently head-to-head competitors. For that reason, their merger would result in a “clear loss of competition” for local and international shippers alike, such as in the case of Canadian oats that are transported to Quaker Oats’ Cedar Rapids mill.
That loss of competition “would allow CN to drive up IANR’s rates (or reduce its services levels), knowing that doing so would risk nothing.” The filing continues, “All viable routes to Cedar Rapids from Canada would be controlled by CN in the future, whereas today IANR is fully independent of CN.”
The filing states, “The competitive ‘status quo’ will not be maintained. Shipper competitive options will be reduced everywhere that both CN and Iowa Northern have access, and more broadly Iowa Northern will be removed as an independent competitive force across the entire east-central Iowa region that it and CN both serve.”
DUBIOUS BENEFITS
In response to Canadian National’s claims that its proposed acquisition would yield win-win-win benefits for all stakeholders, the Canadian Pacific Kansas City filing states, “There is in fact substantial reason to be skeptical of the magnitude of the benefits CN identifies…”
For example, the filing calls into question the accuracy of the modeling Canadian National used to claim the deal would result in nearly 15,000 trucks being removed from highways.
Canadian Pacific Kansas City also argues that Iowa Northern is already meeting its shippers’ needs and does not need Canadian National to continue to do so. “In CPKC’s experience, Iowa Northern already provides quality service (and provides extra services) on an economical basis,” the filing reads. “It is not clear how CN could provide the same shipper amenities at lower cost to create rail-to-rail diversions.”
CANADIAN NATIONAL’S PR AND LOBBYING EFFORTS
There are signs that Canadian National may be getting nervous over the increased scrutiny. Recently, the company’s Public and Government Affairs team has invested significant resources in public relations and lobbying efforts regarding the deal. Canadian National has gone so far as to produce a podcast episode about the deal, lobbied local and state elected officials, launched a microsite touting the purported benefits of acquiring Iowa Northern, and bought an unknown amount of digital ads on sites like Google to promote the deal.
The microsite and digital ads avoid words like “merger,” which can often contain negative associations with reductions in quality and service, inflated pricing, and monopolization. Instead, they use more neutral words to describe the transaction, such as “combination.”
It all adds up to a significant effort to push through a transaction that Canadian National wants the Surface Transportation Board to classify as “Minor.”
COMPANY’S LOBBYING YIELDS SOME SUCCESS
To date, the following individuals or entities have sent letters to the Surface Transportation Board in support of Canadian National’s acquisition of Iowa Northern:
- Iowa State Senators Waylon Brown and Tim Kraayenbrink
- Cedar Rapids Mayor Tiffany O’Donnell
- Waterloo Mayor Quentin Hart
- Cedar Falls Mayor Danny Laudick
- Butler County Supervisors Greg Barnett, Wayne Dralle, and Rusty Eddy
- Cedar Rapids Metro Economic Alliance
- Iowa Area Development Group
- Iowa Association of Business and Industry
- Sukup Manufacturing Co.
- Hawkeye Community College, Kirkwood Community College, North Iowa Area Community College
- the SMART-TD union
These letters can be viewed within the application Canadian National filed with the Surface Transportation Board on January 30, 2024.
Alternatively, you can access Canadian National’s application and other documents related to the proposed deal by visiting the Surface Transportation Board’s website. Start here > confirm “Search For” field is set to “Dockets” > enter Docket Number “FD” and “36744” > this will display the various docket results > click on the “FD_36744” hyperlink under Docket Number > you will now be able to see a list of the filings and decisions submitted in regards to this deal, accessible as hyperlinked PDFs in the Attachment column.
FULL STEAM AHEAD FOR CANADIAN NATIONAL INVESTORS
As Canadian National chugs forward with its attempt to acquire Iowa Northern, it’s full steam ahead in terms of rewarding Wall Street investors. In its year-end earnings results released in January, the company announced a 7 percent dividend increase to shareholders as well as plans to buy back nearly USD $3 billion in stock per the latest currency conversion rate.
Canadian National did not mention any plans to pay back recent taxpayer dollars intended for short line railroads that were invested in Iowa Northern if the acquisition attempt is successful. Since 2021 alone, the U.S. Department of Transportation has awarded at least $13.9 million to Iowa Northern, including an education and training grant to improve safety on short lines across the country and a grant to fund rail improvements specifically in rural areas.
Canadian National also disclosed for the first time it had spent USD $230 million (including transaction costs) on its Iowa Northern acquisition attempt to date.
IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) – Andrew McKeever is hard to miss at an Iowa practice. The St. Mary’s transfer and center stands 7 feet, 3 inches tall and averaged 8.2 points and 9.2 rebounds per game last season.
‘Nothing like I’ve seen in practice’
Teammates have taken notice of McKeever’s size. Forward Trey Thompson said the center’s hands alone drew a reaction.
“Yeah, he’s big. That’s for sure. I saw him looking at his phone and it looked like a tiny, little iPod in his hand. I was like, ‘Geez, man,’” Thompson said.
Forward Joey Matteoni said McKeever’s presence in the paint stands apart from what he has seen in recent seasons.
“He controls the paint for sure and nothing like I’ve seen in practice the last couple of years. No offense to Cam (Manyawu), but I mean 7′3” is just different,” Matteoni said.
McKeever on why Iowa made sense
McKeever said the decision to transfer to Iowa was straightforward.
“It was a pretty obvious choice for me,” McKeever said. “Their team was so good last year, making an Elite 8 run. I was maybe a key piece that they needed with a little bit more size, even though their bigs were good, but they just didn’t have the height as some of the other teams did in the Big Ten. So I figured I could help in that way.”
From baseball to basketball
McKeever was not always a basketball player. He stood around 6 feet, 2 inches early in high school before a significant growth spurt changed his trajectory.
“I was like 6′2” during COVID and then I grew to 6′10″ when I was out of COVID. I was playing baseball at the time, and I was like, yeah, I got to go to basketball. I locked in during my sophomore season,” McKeever said.
His high school coach pushed him to make the switch permanent.
“My high school coach who I had been with growing up said, ‘You need to stop playing baseball and just focus on basketball.’ That’s kind of when it flipped the switch for me,” McKeever said.
Adjusting to his own size
Even after committing to basketball, McKeever said adapting to his own frame took time.
“Maybe a little uncoordinated and slow for my size. But I kind of worked on it a lot when I was at St. Mary’s and I got better at it,” McKeever said.
McKeever now joins Iowa’s program under head coach Ben McCollum.
Copyright 2026 KCRG. All rights reserved.
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – World War II veteran Laverne Severson turns 100 years old on July 14. On Thursday, family, friends and fellow veterans gathered at the Freedom Foundation in Cedar Rapids to honor and celebrate the milestone birthday.
The National World War II Museum says fewer than 1% of World War II veterans remain alive.
Laverne served as a line medic during the war and was stationed in the Philippines.
“As soon as I turned 18, it didn’t take me about a month until I was going overseas,” Laverne said.
His son, Boyd Severson, recalled stories his father shared about life at his base.
“His base over there, he told me they would get air raids every morning. The Japanese would do an air raid and they’d have to run and jump into their foxholes. And this is stuff you see in movies, and he actually lived through this,” Boyd said.
Eric Parker, assistant director of the Freedom Foundation, said veterans like Laverne deserve recognition.
“As long as we are allowed to still be graced with their presence, then we need to just soak that up and just be really thankful,” Parker said. “There needs to be a remembrance and there needs to be a legacy there that we can honor.”
Boyd said the number of surviving World War II veterans in Iowa underscores the importance of events like Thursday’s celebration.
“Slowly but surely we’re losing this generation that, from what I’ve seen, there’s 250 to 275 surviving World War II veterans remaining in Iowa, and my father’s one of them and they all should be recognized. It all should be honored,” Boyd said.
And we had to ask…what’s the secret to a century of life?
“Crackers and peanut butter in the morning for breakfast!” Laverne said.
Copyright 2026 KCRG. All rights reserved.
‘MasterChef’ winner and son rate 2025 Iowa State Fair foods
‘MasterChef’ Grant Gillon and his son Grady decide once and for all which is the best 2025 Iowa State Fair dish.
Summer at the Iowa State Fair has always been a celebration of Iowa’s appetite for fun, flavor and a little bit of culinary chaos.
On July 7, the Iowa State Fair revealed 84 new dishes served at the 200-plus food stands on the fairgrounds. And while the fair has always had an appetite for foods on a stick, novelty creations and glorious gut busters, the 2026 lineup pushes that spirit further than ever.
This year’s new foods reflect a fair in full technicolor: patriotic desserts exploding with red‑white‑and‑blue pride, global flavors stretching from Hawaii to Vietnam and over‑the‑top creations engineered for the camera as much as the palate. Strawberries dominate the sweets scene, butter becomes a starring ingredient and bison quietly emerges as the protein of the moment. Even classic comfort foods get a modern remix, whether wrapped in frybread, dipped in chocolate or topped with jalapeño heat.
Together, these dishes tell a story of a fair that’s evolving into louder, brighter and more playful dishes while still rooted in Iowa’s love of indulgence, nostalgia and big summer flavor. Here are the 10 trends defining the 2026 Iowa State Fair.
Hyper‑patriotic foods take over
This year, the Iowa State Fair celebrates America’s 250th birthday with a patriotic Fair Spirit theme that includes a massive 250-flag display, a “Spirit of ’76” historical exhibit, nightly drone shows and special events, as well as an official America 250 Tree and the Iowa Veterans Memorial Walkway on Expo Hill.
The State Fair’s 250th‑anniversary theme shows up everywhere, especially in desserts. Red‑white‑and‑blue sprinkles, flag toppers and “1776” branding dominate the fairgrounds.
Look for 1776 Dubai strawberries, dipped in a rich, creamy pistachio-tahini paste and crunchy toasted kataifi (shredded phyllo pastry) for $19 from The Strawberry Station. The Dairy Zone offers patriotic nachos, a sweet treat with waffle chips and vanilla ice cream, drizzled with cherry and blue raspberry dips, topped with whipped cream and festive red, white and blue star sprinkles for $10.
Bubbly Bar has Parmesan ice cream, a nod to an 18th-century sensation that combines the rich, nutty flavor of aged Parmesan with smooth, creamy ice cream. Bubbly layers in tart cherry and buttery pound cake for a Revolutionary-era treat for $14.
Over the Top goes patriotic with Sweet Americana, featuring strawberry shortcake, lemon bar and blueberry crisp ice creams, each topped with a shortcake cookie, a lemon bar square and chocolate-covered blueberries for $13.
Another sweet dish, the Star Spangled Frybread, comes with a sweet glaze, topped with festive red, white and blue sprinkles and finished with a light dusting of powdered sugar from Its Dough Time for $12.
On the savory side of the menu, Blue Ribbon Bar & Eatery has the 1776 Liberty Bowl with a sourdough bread bowl loaded with cheese curds, French fries and slow-roasted shredded beef, all smothered in gravy and topped with hand-breaded onion rings. Try it for $15.
This is the most overtly patriotic menu the fair has produced in years.
Chocolate‑covered everything
Chocolate is the year’s dominant sweet, whether it’s poured, drizzled, dipped or smothered.
Try Belgian chocolate-covered strawberries from The Strawberry Station for $17 or an affogato, an espresso ice cream drink drizzled with chocolate (or caramel), at the Biscuit Bar for $8.
The Iowa Specialty Crop Growers Association slathers its Strawberry Bliss in chocolate. A buttery shortbread cookie comes topped with a strawberry and a cloud of meringue. The entire creation is covered in milk chocolate, drizzled with white chocolate and finished with a sprinkle of fresh-cut strawberries. Try it for $8.
Chocolate + fruit + spectacle is a clear 2026 signature.
Sweet‑heat mashups
Spicy‑sweet combos are bigger, bolder and more chaotic than ever.
Make your dessert fiery with the Firecracker Churros from Applishus with Lola’s jalapeno and habanero pepper spice sauce, honey molasses and sugar topped with an apple butter and cream cheese dip for $10.
Maybe one of the craziest concoctions at the fair is the Cajun Cluck ’N’ Chaos, a Cajun-style chicken sloppy joe with crunchy sweet pepper coleslaw and fiery spicy pickles topped with a skewer stacked with a tangy pickled egg and extra pickles, finished with a cloud of lime-infused pickle cotton candy. It all comes on a brioche bun at Cluckin’ Coop for $14.
Cowboy Candy from Stockman’s Inn brings sweet and spicy breaded jalapenos for $5.
Whatcha’ Smokin BBQ returns with Star Spangled Swine with pork belly with an apple chipotle rub and Big Red soda glaze rolled in blue and white honey crystals for $15.
While this trend marks a continuation of the fair’s love affair with spicy‑sweet combos, this year they’re more extreme.
Cheese goes maximalist
Cheese isn’t a garnish — it’s the headliner in 2026, with dishes with the dairy product as the main event.
Start with America’s “Berry” Good Grilled Cheese from What’s Your Cheez for $16. It combines several trends with a sweet and savory grilled cheese made with caramelized brioche bread, stuffed with blueberry white cheddar, layered with tart raspberry amaretto jam and blueberry bourbon jam, then stuffed with crispy candied pork belly that has a touch of sweet heat. Patriotic, sweet and savory, maximalist and cheesy all in one dish.
Cheese takes center stage with the Mozza‑Tini from DG – Destination Grille for $10. These hand-breaded gluten-free mozzarella sticks come with warm vodka sauce, jalapeno ranch drizzle and fresh parsley. Spicy and sweet come together with cheese.
The garlic dill pickle cheese curds from Brad & Harry’s Cheese Curds for $9 combine the food stand’s two most popular flavors, garlic and dill pickle.
Strawberries are the star fruit
Strawberries appear in more new food dishes than any other fruit. Often, they are paired with chocolate or patriotic themes.
The 1776 Dubai Strawberries at The Strawberry Station, the Strawberry Bliss at the Iowa Specialty Crop Growers Association and Sweet Americana at Over the Top are just some of the dishes offered at the fair.
This mirrors national trends. Strawberries are having a moment.
Global fusion expands
Hawaiian, Vietnamese, Salvadoran and Mexican influences make this the fair’s most international menu yet.
New dishes include Saigon birria pupusa from Saigonais Cuisine for $10. A pupusa comes filled with pho-braised brisket and melted cheese, served with a hoisin birria consommé for dipping. “Just as Iowa’s heritage has been built by generations of people bringing their own stories and traditions to the table, the Saigon birria pupusa brings Salvadoran, Vietnamese and Mexican flavors together in one dish. It is a tribute to the fair spirit — a celebration of unity, heritage and the American tradition of creating something greater together,” the fair said of the dish.
A taste of Hawaii brings spam musubi to Kama’aina Grill for $5. This fusion food combines American spam with Japanese musubi (rice ball) techniques. The stand also has Kama’aina Bento for $23. The plate lunch from Hawaii features teriyaki beef, fried saimin noodles, spam or garlic chicken served with rice and macaroni salad.
Bao Bao’s Tanghulu brings tanghulu, a Chinese street food of candied fruit on a stick, for $12.
GoldenKDog brought Korean hot dogs to the fair in 2025. This year, they introduced the Cinnamozza Kdog, a mozzarella cheese Korean corn dog dunked in salted butter, sprinkled with cinnamon sugar and topped with Cinnamon Toast Crunch for $18.
Dessert spectacle rules
Desserts are bigger, brighter and built for social media. These over-the-top dishes are shareable, both with another person and on Instagram.
Oreo Overload Nachos from Dairy Zone for $10 start with waffle chips piled around vanilla ice cream, hot fudge topped with crushed Oreo cookies for dipping and whipped cream. Dairy Zone suggested dipping the waffle chips into the sundae.
The deep-fried cookie dough pie from Minneapple Pie comes with vanilla or cinnamon ice cream for $12.
The walking taco goes dessert-style with the walkin’ Oreo sundae for $9 from Wonder Bars.
If combining savory and sweet is your thing, try the Ultimate Bacon-Brisket Mac & Cheese Donut. The $7 snack from The Rib Shack starts with mac and cheese loaded with bacon and brisket that’s breaded in a cake-style coating and finished with a sweet barbecue glaze. Not enough? It’s topped with chopped brisket and garnished with a slice of fresh jalapeno. You can nab six for $30.
Dessert nachos, dessert doughnuts and dessert frybread add up to the fair pushing “dessert as spectacle.”
Bison and pork dominate the protein scene
The Iowa Pork Producers lead the way with pork dishes at the Iowa State Fair. The fair estimates it sells 46-50,000 of its famous Pork Chop on a Stick during the 11-day event. But save room for some new riffs on pork that appear in 2026, including the Porky Pileup at the Stockman’s Inn for $15. The dish features fries layered with pulled barbecue pork, mac n’ cheese and cowboy beans topped with bacon bits.
Kalua pork appears at Kama’aina Grill as a plate lunch with rice and macaroni salad for $18, as well as in a poke bowl for $23.
DG – Destination Grille has the Porky Parm Gnocchi, a gluten-free potato gnocchi and Graziano sausage tossed in a house-made AE cream Parmesan sauce with a pesto drizzle and shaved Parmesan, all topped with an America 250th year flag and a souvenir piggy pal for $14. Note that everything at DG – Destination Grille is gluten-free.
Bison, though, is emerging as the breakout starring protein. Newcomer Sleepy Bison Grill has a bison burger for $13, a bison cheesesteak slider for $11 and bison nachos for $14.
Butter becomes a flavor
The Iowa State Fair is famous for its Butter Cow made with approximately 600 pounds of low-moisture, pure cream Iowa butter. In 2011, the fair turned food media on its collective head with the deep-fried butter on a stick from concessionaire Larry Fyfe. The indulgent dish featured frozen butter dipped in honey-cinnamon batter, deep-fried and topped with a powdered sugar glaze.
In 2026, butter is a micro-trend, with the butter-dipped ice cream cone from Coney Corner for $6 that swaps out chocolate for a buttery hard shell encasing vanilla soft serve.
That Cinnamozza Kdog comes with a salted butter dunk. And buttery desserts feature shortcake, pound cake and even Biscoff cookie butter cheesecake funnel cake from McGrath’s Funnel Cakes for $15.
Chaos foods define the fair
Maximalist, hybrid, over‑the‑top creations are now a fair signature, and the new dishes in 2026 do not disappoint. The Cajun Cluck ’N’ Chaos at Cluckin’ Coop and Ultimate Bacon‑Brisket Mac & Cheese Donut at The Rib Shack certainly fall into that category.
One of the most expensive dishes at the Iowa State Fair brings caviar and chicken nuggets from JR’s SouthPork Ranch for $99 that blends childhood nostalgia with pure luxury. JR’s calls it “a little bit county fair, a little bit Champagne lifestyle and 100% conversation starter.” Coqodaq, a Korean-inspired fried chicken restaurant in New York, served this dish during the 2025 U.S. Open, and McDonald’s followed with a Valentine’s Day special that combined McNuggets with caviar. Now, the trend hits Iowa.
Sign up for our dining newsletter, Table Talk DSM, which comes out on Wednesday mornings with all the latest news on restaurants and bars in the metro. You can sign up for free at DesMoinesRegister.com/tabletalk.
Susan Stapleton is the entertainment editor and dining reporter at The Des Moines Register. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, or drop her a line at sstapleton@gannett.com.
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