Investigate Midwest, a nonprofit newsroom based in Champaign, Ill., has acquired IowaWatch, the organizations announced. As part of Investigate Midwest, IowaWatch (The Iowa Center for Public Affairs Journalism) will cease operations as a nonprofit and evolve into an expanded Iowa-based newsroom within Investigate Midwest, which is also known as the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting. “As colleagues for many years, IowaWatch and Investigate Midwest have naturally gravitated toward the common goal of deeply covering rural communities and Midwest issues that often go unseen and unreported,” said Pam Dempsey, executive director for Investigate Midwest. The organizations said the acquisition will enable the Iowa newsroom to do more investigative stories about agricultural practices in Iowa for Investigate Midwest, whose mission is to “expose the dangerous and costly practices of influential agricultural corporations and institutions.” Suzanne Behnke, who joined IowaWatch in August 2019 as executive director and editor, will lead Investigate Midwest’s expanding Iowa newsroom. The newsroom also will retain IowaWatch’s educational mission of training young journalists, which is a key part of Investigate Midwest’s work as well.