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Iowa is a state located in the Midwestern United States of America on the rolling hills between the Mississippi River and the Missouri River. The state is the center of one of the Earth’s most productive agricultural regions. Admitted to the Union on December 28, 1846, Iowa became the 29th State. Iowa ranks 26th in total area and 30th in population among the 50 states. The United States Census Bureau estimates that the state population was 3,007,856 in 2009. Des Moines is the capital, most populous city, and center of the most populous metropolitan area of Iowa.

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The Iowa-class battleships were a class of fast battleships ordered by the United States Navy in 1939 and 1940 to escort the Fast Carrier Task Forces that would operate in the Pacific Theater of World War II. Six were ordered during the course of World War II, but only four were completed in time to see service in the Pacific Theater. The last two had been laid down, but as a result of the post war draw down of the armed forces they were canceled prior to completion and eventually scrapped. Like other third generation American battleships, the Iowa class was a departure from the traditionally held role of the battleship of engaging other battleships in a line of battle. Conceived, constructed, and commissioned at a time of changing naval strategy, the Iowa class was built with an intended role of defending United States aircraft carriers from enemy attack rather than for engaging in battleship on battleship gunfights. To this end, these battleships followed the design pattern set forth in the preceding North Carolina-class and South Dakota-class battleships, which placed great emphasis on speed as well as the secondary and anti-aircraft batteries. The Iowa-class battleships served in every major U.S. war of the mid and latter half of the 20th century. In World War II, they defended aircraft carriers and shelled Japanese positions before being placed in reserve at the end of the war. Recalled for action during the Korean War, the battleships provided seaborne artillery support for United Nations forces fighting against North Korea. In 1968, New Jersey was recalled for action in the Vietnam War and shelled Viet Cong and Vietnam People's Army military forces. All four were reactivated and armed with missiles during the 1980s as part of the 600-ship Navy initiative, and in 1991 Missouri and Wisconsin fired missiles and 16-inch (406 mm) guns at Iraqi targets during the First Gulf War. Citing the impending end of the Cold War and the sizable operating expense, the United States Navy decommissioned all four battleships in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 2001 and 2006 sister ships New Jersey and Wisconsin became the second and third battleships of the class to open as a museum ships, respectively. The fourth ship - Iowa - has yet to donated; she was to have become a museum ship in San Francisco, California, but due in part to political differences between the non profit and San Francisco's city council the original museum ship plans fell through. Iowa remains berthed in the Suisun Bay reserve fleet in Suisun Bay, California, pending the outcome of a renewed round of bidding for the battleship.

William Williams Chapman (August 11, 1808 – October 18, 1892) was an American politician and lawyer in Oregon and Iowa. He was born and raised in Virginia. He served as a United States Attorney in Iowa when it was part of the Michigan and Wisconsin territories, and then represented the Iowa Territory in the United States House of Representatives. He later immigrated to the Oregon Country, where he served in the Oregon Territorial Legislature. After settling in Portland he helped to found The Oregonian newspaper and promoted economic interests in the city. He also was involved with building Canyon Road near Portland, and fought in the Rogue River War in Oregon. In later years he served in the Oregon Legislative Assembly and promoted the expansion of railroads from Portland. Chapman Square, a park in downtown Portland, is named for him and was built on land he sold to the city.

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• ...that the Des Moines Register, "The Newspaper Iowa Depends Upon," ended its tradition of printing the sports sections on peach-colored paper in 1999?
• ...that algific talus slope ecosystems exist only in the Driftless Area of Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa?
• ...that students at Iowa State University are traditionally not considered "true Iowa Staters" until after they have been kissed underneath the Campanile (pictured) at the stroke of midnight?

USS Iowa (BB-61) fires her 16-inch/50-caliber guns on 15 August 1984 during a firepower demonstration after her modernization.
Image by PH1 Jeff Hilton More Selected Pictures

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