The Daily Iowan WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 29, 2025
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PUTTING A PIN IN HISTORY Iowa girls’ wrestling sees an exponential increase in participation after sanctioning.
Isabella Tisdale Visuals Editor
isabella.tisdale@dailyiowan.com
Carver-Hawkeye Arena’s overhead lights flicker as thunderous applause fills the air. Smoke begins to spill out of the tunnel. A spotlight shines right down into the arena’s center. The Iowa women’s wrestling team filters in, looking up to the Hawkeye fans adorned in black and gold. Hands interlocked, the
INSIDE
women exchange smiles with fans. As they take to the mat for introductions, the smell of the fog machine seeps throughout the arena. The churn of the machine is hardly audible over the raucous applause still rocking the seats. This program, which did not exist a mere three years ago, has drawn thousands of eyes to the mat. Collins Hoeger, 9, watches in awe as the first match begins, the women twisting and turning with their competitors. Collins man-
aged to snag a seat in the first few rows, close to the floor with her parents and sister by her side. As more matches take to the mat, the girls intently examine the wrestlers’ every move and strategize. Iowa dominates. They win all their matches against Cornell College. Collins sits and watches them all. Collins had competed in matches of her own in Anamosa just that morning and, much like the Iowa athletes, won with a
clean sweep. She and her family piled into the car, driving 40 miles with her medal in hand to see Iowa’s matchup. The young wrestler is part of the first generation of girls who will grow up watching women wrestle on the mat in college. Iowa remains the only Power Four school in the country with a women’s wrestling program and sits alongside only three other Division I schools with the sport.
WRESTLING | 2A
UI offers small-town water solutions New technology would allow water treatment at a smaller scale.
Chloe Oppelt News Reporter
news@dailyiowan.com
Iowa readies for Trump’s immigration plan Local experts and advocates for immigration expressed fear for Iowa City’s immigrant communities, viewing Trump’s plans as a threat to the city’s vibrant culture, history of helping immigrants and refugees, and economy. EPI | 6A
50 years of history at Gabe’s Gabe’s has established itself as an institution in Iowa City’s ever-growing music ecosystem. The venue has hosted historic acts like Nirvana and Led Zepplin, but they’ve never strayed from their original mission of platforming local artists. 80 HOURS | 1C
University of Iowa Civil Engineering Professor Craig Just has worked with wastewater and treatment solutions for over 30 years. Just His most recent project, a small-scale wastewater treatment solution, is currently being evaluated against federal regulations. Wastewater is runoff stormwater or water that has been contaminated by humans and animals. In Iowa, the majority of this water is treated at large wastewater plants or in big lagoons. Iowa City’s plant alone treats around 8 million gallons of water a day. These solutions have been normalized across the U.S. with few alternatives until now. The university recently announced a pilot system directly worked on by Just that could deeply impact how small-town Iowa gets
its water. If it does, hundreds of small towns across Iowa will be able to use this technology for their wastewater. Just described the system as a wastewater plant in a shipping container, likening it to a treatment appliance. “It’s meant to be as simple to use as an iPhone,” he said. “You buy it as a gadget, hook it up, and someone provides support for it. It’s not as simple as that, but it’s meant to be something you can buy off the shelf.” The project in Dow City was a collaborative effort made by different organizations. One of the key players is BES Water Solutions. This company is based out of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, and focuses on providing communities with restorative and sustainable water treatment solutions. Nathan Seberg, BES Water Solutions’ business director, worked in tandem with Just. “I was the boots on the ground, the person organizing, making sure everything was set up on more of the manual labor side,” Seberg said. “I helped get the system installed.”
DOW CITY IMPLEMENTS NEW RESEARCH Dow City is about 220 miles from Iowa City.
Infographic by Ana Rivera | The Daily Iowan
Just and Seberg first met during the summer of 2020 as they started developing systems and ideas for these containers. They continued working together, and in 2024, the current system began being tested in Dow City on their wastewater lagoon. Just detailed the treatment process that is performed by these
shipping containers. “The process takes about a day at least in Dow City. It can pretty much treat the water on demand because the system is running at all times. The water coming in is treated and released. It doesn’t take
RESEARCH | 8A
California wildfires spark action across the nation The crisis has prompted local efforts in Iowa , to support individuals in Los Angles. Emma Jane News Reporter
news@dailyiowan.com
Mariam Mkhitaryan, a 2022 Ames High School graduate, moved to Los Angeles to attend California State University Long Beach as a film major with plans to pursue a career in directing. When she was back in Iowa spending the holidays with her family, wildfires ravaged southern California. “When the fire started, I did actually have a weird existential crisis,” Mkhitaryan said. “I bit the bullet. I
went out of state, did all of this so I can be in the ideal place, and now that place is burning down.” The wildfires began on Jan. 6 in Los Angeles County, quickly spreading through communities like Pacific Palisades and Eaton
Canyon. The fires have caused at least 28 deaths, displaced over 200,000 residents, and destroyed or damaged more than 16,000 structures with several blazes still actively burning, NBC Los Angeles reports.
“I went out of state, did all of this so I can be in the ideal place, and now that place is burning down.” Mariam Mkhitaryan
Student at California State University Long Beach
While Mkhitaryan was grateful to be safe in Iowa and relieved her Long Beach apartment remained untouched, she said witnessing the devastation unfold in the county she’s called home for three years took a significant emotional toll. “I just remember waking up every single morning, checking for an update, seeing that it got worse, crying,” Mkhitaryan said. “That was my morning routine while I was in Iowa.” Ultimately, Mkhitaryan decided
FIRES | 8A