title: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

text: "Ground Zeroes" was released for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One in March 2014, and for Microsoft Windows in December 2014. Critical reception was generally positive, with praise for its mechanics and graphics, while the majority of the criticism concerned its short length. The game was met with some controversy for its handling of themes of sexual violence. It shipped 1 million units by April 2014.


title: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

text: "Metal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Experience", a bundle that includes both "Ground Zeroes" and "The Phantom Pain", along with all additional content for both games, was released in October 2016.


title: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

text: Players control Snake through the game map and attempt to complete missions while avoiding being spotted by the enemy. The threat detection system is revamped, with the removal of the onscreen meter or gauge to indicate the player that they are in the 'alert/evasion/caution' state as in previous games, which have instead been replaced by visual and audio representations. Snake's binoculars have been revamped; instead of selecting the binoculars as an item, the binoculars are hot keyed to a button. The player is able to mark enemies and be aware of their locations in the iDroid's holographic display. There are directional cues to help players when an enemy sees them from a distance and gets closer to them. A new "Reflex Mode" is activated when an enemy finds Snake and the player only has a short window of time to take out the enemy before they fully sounds the alarm. Lights can be shot out to further aid the player's stealth efforts.


title: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

text: "Ground Zeroes" features seven missions in total, locked at individual levels. After completing the main mission the player unlocks four subsequent missions (referred to as "Side Ops") set at different points in the day, all set in Camp Omega. These missions involve specific tasks, such as eliminating certain targets or obtaining classified information. After achieving a certain objective in the main mission, the player may unlock two additional "Extra Op" missions.


title: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

text: As the game is introductory in nature, being a prologue, the core story mission can be completed in a very short time frame. However, the game has many additional challenges, missions and alternative methods of play. A companion app for iOS or Android was made to help players access the in-game map and other iDroid functions on their smartphones. Console versions of the game have community features that allows a player to look at other players' performance in the game, showing where they were killed on the map.


title: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

text: Atmospheric weather and lighting in "Ground Zeroes" is mission-proprietary, meaning that the setting of the game depends on the individual mission being played. A real-time day and night cycle was originally planned for the game, but left out in favor of fully utilizing it in "The Phantom Pain". Kojima has spoken about the restrictive nature of previous "Metal Gear" titles, saying that they "set [the player] on one rail to get from point A to point B, with a certain amount of freedom between". In contrast, Kojima's team instead offered the player new ways of traversal and sneaking methods, such as taking a jeep, a car, or a helicopter around the mission area. This was in order for Kojima to accomplish a "true open world experience" with "Ground Zeroes".


title: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

text: Set in March 1975, a few months after the events of "Peace Walker", players control returning protagonist Snake, also known as Big Boss (Kiefer Sutherland/Akio Ōtsuka), as he works with Militaires Sans Frontières (MSF) to infiltrate an American black site on Cuban soil called Camp Omega. Once used as a refugee camp for people fleeing Cuba and Haiti, Camp Omega is home to an old prison that is being used for extraordinary rendition as it has no legal recognition under the United States Constitution. Snake's main objectives are the extraction of Paz Ortega Andrade (Tara Strong/Nana Mizuki), who has information regarding the whereabouts of the person or persons known as Cipher; and Ricardo "Chico" Valenciano Libre (Antony Del Rio/Kikuko Inoue), a Sandinista and former child soldier who was captured by Skull Face (James Horan/Takaya Hashi), the commander of paramilitary force XOF, who are in control of Camp Omega. Snake's mission is supported by Kazuhira "Kaz" Miller (Robin Atkin Downes/Tomokazu Sugita) and Dr. "Huey" Emmerich (Christopher Randolph/Hideyuki Tanaka) from MSF's Mother Base.


title: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

text: In the aftermath of the "Peace Walker" incident, Paz Ortega Andrade is missing and presumed dead. Under the direction of Kazuhira Miller and Huey Emmerich, Militaires Sans Frontières (MSF) prepare for an upcoming inspection by the UN, amid suspicions that they possess a nuclear weapon; MSF suspects this to be an attempt by Cipher to stifle them. Their preparations are interrupted when MSF agents in Cuba investigate reports that Paz survived and has been detained at Camp Omega. To complicate matters, Ricardo "Chico" Valenciano Libre's attempts to rescue her has resulted in his capture. Believing that both of them could compromise MSF, Snake is sent to infiltrate Camp Omega to extract them if they are alive, and confirm what they revealed to their captors. Snake believes rescuing Paz will convince Cipher to stand down, and that she will be willing to discuss Cipher's activities with MSF.


title: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

text: Snake infiltrates Camp Omega as a mysterious Special Forces unit known as XOF departs it. He locates and extracts Chico, who claims Paz is dead. Using a recording from Chico, Snake and Miller deduce that Paz is alive, and was moved deeper into the camp. Snake locates and rescues Paz, with the group escaping via an MSF helicopter designated Morpho One. On the way to Mother Base, Chico discovers that Paz was surgically implanted with a bomb, prompting Snake and an MSF medic to remove it by hand. They arrive at Mother Base to see it in flames as XOF forces attack. Morpho One lands long enough for Snake to rescue a few members of staff, including Miller, who claims that the UN inspection was nothing but a ruse for the XOF ambush, as it destroys Mother Base. As they attempt to escape XOF, Paz regains consciousness and warns them that there is a second bomb inside her. Knowing that she is about to die, she jumps out to throw herself clear of the helicopter. The resulting explosion causes Morpho to spiral out of control and collide with a pursuing XOF helicopter.


title: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

text: The epilogue reveals that the United States government downplayed MSF's destruction and attempted to cover up their dealings with the organization, as do many of MSF's clients. There are no known survivors of the assault, apart from Snake, Miller, and Huey. In a post-credits scene, set prior to Snake's arrival at Camp Omega, Paz is interrogated by Skull Face, the commander of XOF, who demands the whereabouts of Cipher / Zero, as Paz had met Zero in person. Paz eventually gives in and agrees to tell him Zero's location.


title: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

text: Collectible audio logs reveal that Huey arranged for the United Nations to come to Mother Base against both Snake's and Miller's objections, prompting them to hide the nuclear-equipped Metal Gear ZEKE underwater. At Camp Omega, Paz and Chico are tortured, physically and psychologically, for information about the MSF base. Chico tells Skull Face the location of the base and what defenses there are. Paz berates Chico for giving up the information, but later records herself saying she forgives him and would not have made it through the torture without him.


title: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

text: "Ground Zeroes" contains four additional missions, known as Side Ops, that take place in the weeks before the events of the main storyline. In the game's universe, they are labelled "pseudo-historical recreations". In the first mission, Snake is sent to a U.S. naval prison facility in Cuba to eliminate or extract a Marine Corps sniper team hiding at the facility to avoid extradition to Laos, where they stand accused of war crimes. Suspicious about the facility's purpose, MSF stations a spy—revealed to be the series' creator, Hideo Kojima, reprising a similar cameo in ""—in the camp, who requests an emergency evacuation. Snake provides support from the air long enough for him to escape. Unable to plant another agent of their own, MSF send Snake in to make contact with an undercover informant posing as a guard. He discovers that the informant has set a trap for him, but is able to secure a recording made by the guard. With evidence that the base is an illegal black site, Snake returns in advance of an airborne assault to sabotage the facility's anti-aircraft defences. Although he is successful, the promised assault is replaced by an airstrike, leaving him stranded in the middle of the base with fighter jets inbound. After escaping, he and Kaz Miller speculate that the entire affair—from the camp's conversion to a black site to the aborted assault—were a series of plots orchestrated by Cipher, first to establish a compound outside any legal jurisdiction and later to disrupt Militaires Sans Frontières' operations.


title: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

text: In February 2012, a site named "Development Without Borders" owned by Konami was uploaded promoting development for a new "Metal Gear" title, which was titled "The 'next' MGS". The site was recruiting staff for the 2012 GDC pavilion in March, and requested applications for several positions for the latest "Metal Gear Solid" targeted for "high-end consoles and PC" and "next-gen Fox engine". As the year went on, screenshots and videos of the newly announced Fox Engine were unveiled by the team. This media demonstrated a range of settings and characters, none explicitly related to the "Metal Gear" series. Certain screenshots, however, were noted to feature a character who resembled the Big Boss character of "Metal Gear", walking up to a Stryker AFV, previously seen in "Metal Gear Solid 4".


title: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

text: The game was announced on August 30, 2012, originally under the name of "Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes". It was revealed at a private function celebrating the twenty-fifth anniversary of the "Metal Gear" series, and made its public debut two days later at the 2012 Penny Arcade Expo. Director Hideo Kojima confirmed that Big Boss would return as the game's protagonist, and that the story would serve as a prologue to another game in the series,<ref name="VG24/7"></ref> later revealed as "Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain". It was the second game to utilize the Fox Engine, after "Pro Evolution Soccer 2014" the year before. The Japanese version of the game features an English text option, rendering in-game menus and subtitled dialogue in full English. This makes it possible to play the game with the Japanese voice cast accompanied by English text. "Ground Zeroes" is the first title in the series subtitled in Arabic, a feature the team had originally planned for previous games. In addition, he confirmed that the length of the cutscenes would be reduced, as he believes that long cutscenes have become outdated. According to "Famitsu", real dogs were used for motion capture during the development of the game's opening scenes, in addition to Konami confirming that part of Kojima's direction was influenced by AKB48 music videos, most notably the usage of sideways lens flares.


title: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

text: "Ground Zeroes" and "The Phantom Pain" were originally supposed to be released together, but "The Phantom Pain"s long development time resulted in Kojima splitting the project into two parts to allow players to experience the gameplay of "Metal Gear Solid V" prior to the full game's release. Kojima compared "Ground Zeroes" with the pre-title sequence in a Hollywood movie due to how it will build up the plot from "The Phantom Pain". Kojima claimed that his aim was to target taboos and mature themes, which he considered to be "quite risky", adding that his roles as creator and producer were in conflict with one another; as creator, Kojima wanted to take the risk of exploring themes that might alienate audiences, but as producer, he had to be able to tone down the content in order to sell as many copies of the game as possible. Ultimately, the role of creator won out, and Kojima described his approach as "prioritising creativity over sales". Kojima has described the connections and differences between "Ground Zeroes" and "The Phantom Pain", stating that "the advanced capabilities of the Fox Engine have allowed me to tell the new story in a new way", and that "there will be a significant difference in what "The Phantom Pain" brings to the series, so we want to ease players into the new open world environment and its potential", hoping to achieve that with "Ground Zeroes". The game breaks away from the franchise's tradition of using licensed firearms and other military technology; instead, players use fictional weapons that bear little resemblance to real-life counterparts, such as the Marines' Type 69 rifle being reminiscent of the M-16.


title: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

text: Originally it was announced that "Ground Zeroes" would be released digital only on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, while the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 would be receiving the title in both, physical and digital formats. This later changed when physical versions for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One were announced on December 10, 2013. The cover artwork would be changed between regional releases. Whereas the Japanese cover artwork depicts Snake and Miller, the western versions only feature Snake. Kojima explained that the decision to change the cover art for the western versions came from Konami's foreign marketing department, as they felt that consumers would not recognize Miller due to the underwhelming sales of "Peace Walker" on the PlayStation Portable in the west.


title: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

text: As part of a dual-exclusivity deal, the initial release of the two Extra Ops were locked between the PlayStation and Xbox platforms. The PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 3 versions featured the "Deja Vu" mission, in which the player must recreate scenes or events from the original "Metal Gear Solid", while the Xbox One and Xbox 360 versions featured the "Jamais Vu" mission, in which player controls the cyborg version of Raiden from "", as he is tasked with eliminating a group of bioroids who have infiltrated the base disguised as human soldiers (a homage to Kojima's earlier game "Snatcher"). Both Extra Ops were made available on all four platforms as a part of the Version 1.02 update patch on May 1, 2014.


title: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

text: "Ground Zeroes" was released in Japan for the PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on March 20, 2014. Because of the late launch of the Xbox One in Japan, its version was released several months later on September 4 in digital format only. As with previous "Metal Gear Solid" installments, a limited "Premium Package" edition was produced and sold by Amazon Japan. This edition was sold in a box featuring hand-drawn artwork by Yoji Shinkawa, which contained the game itself, a Revoltech Yamaguchi action figure of Snake in his "Ground Zeroes" garb, and a special edition of the "Peace Walker" novelization written by Hitori Nojima featuring exclusive artwork not in the stand-alone edition. The Australian and New Zealand release of "Ground Zeroes" was delayed to March 27. It was reported that various New Zealand retailers had delayed their release dates and contacted Konami, who confirmed the situation. On August 13, 2014, Konami announced that "Ground Zeroes", along with "The Phantom Pain", would be released for Microsoft Windows via Steam. "Ground Zeroes" was released on December 18, 2014, while "The Phantom Pain" was released on Steam on September 1, 2015.


title: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

text: "Metal Gear Solid V: The Definitive Experience", a complete edition that includes "Ground Zeroes" and "The Phantom Pain" in one bundle, was released for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Steam in 2016. It includes both Extra Ops on all three platforms, as well as the option to immediately start "The Phantom Pain" after completing the main mission.


title: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

text: "Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes" received "generally favorable" reviews from critics on all platforms except on PlayStation 3 which received "mixed or average" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.


title: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

text: GameSpot felt that the new stealth mechanics in "Ground Zeroes", such as the replacement of the radar and other indicators with binoculars and radio communication, made its overall gameplay more "immersive" than previous installments, noting that "nothing is simply handed to you, and "Ground Zeroes" is a far more tense and rewarding experience for it". Its open world format and side missions were also praised for adding a large amount of flexibility and replay value to the game, concluding that "though it's unusual for everything to take place in a single location, there's so much to do and see, and whether you take a stealthy or head-on approach, infiltrating Camp Omega is a thrilling experience that shouldn't be missed". IGN shared similar praise, describing it as a "stripped down" game which "avoids lengthy cutscenes, climactic boss fights, and the usual frayed and tangled plot strands in favour of smart, tactical gameplay". The length of the main campaign was noted as being short, but it was acknowledged that while the array of side missions and bonus objectives may only appeal to "score-chasers", "there's certainly plenty of content here to satisfy". Robert Rath, a columnist at "The Escapist", praised the emphasis on collecting information over gunfights and combat, saying ""Ground Zeroes" is the first "MGS" game to live up to its subtitle and actually allow you to conduct tactical espionage operations." Jim Sterling of "The Escapist" praised the gameplay and expressed anticipation for "Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain", but was highly critical of its length, describing it as a game demo and expressing shock that Konami had seen fit to sell.


title: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

text: Polygon was more critical, considering it "staggeringly short and unsatisfying, feeling more like a cash grab than an honest-to-goodness installment in a beloved franchise". Although praising its overall audiovisual design and attention to detail, "Ground Zeroes" was criticized for the changes made to its stealth mechanics, its "half-baked" action sequences, and the extremely short length of the game's main campaign, which was further criticized for being "dull" and "underwhelming". Ben Croshaw of Zero Punctuation called it a "$40 demo" with "half an hour of gameplay", but noted that he "enjoyed what little game there was".


title: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

text: While giving the game a high score in her review for IGN, Lucy O'Brien was highly critical of the use of sexual violence as a plot device. Collectible tapes in the game describe how Paz is sexually assaulted and tortured, including the insertion of a second bomb into her vagina or anus, and how underage boy Chico is forced to have sex with her. O'Brien described how the introduction of this part of the plot through collectibles effectively made them a reward for players. Several other writers criticized the use of sexual violence, describing it as a failure to portray rape in a meaningful way, as an example of acceptance of sexualized violence in video games, or as a reinforcement of rape culture.


title: Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes

text: During the first week of release in Japan, the PlayStation 3 version of the game sold 119,615 physical retail copies, ranking third place amongst all Japanese software sales within that week, whilst the PlayStation 4 version sold 91,903 physical retail copies. On 25 April 2014, Konami announced that the game shipped one million copies worldwide. The PlayStation 4 version has sold three times more than the Xbox One version. No official numbers were given on the sales of the Steam version; however, Konami has stated that sales of "Ground Zeroes" were "solid" on the PC platform.


title: I Think We're Alone Now

text: "I Think We're Alone Now" is a song written and composed by Ritchie Cordell that was first recorded by Tommy James and the Shondells. It was a major hit for group, reaching number 4 on the US Hot 100 in April 1967. It finished at No. 12 on "Billboard" magazine's year-end singles chart for 1967.


title: I Think We're Alone Now

text: The song has been covered several times by other artists, most notably by Tiffany Darwish in 1987. The Tiffany recording reached number 1 on the charts of various countries including the US, UK, Canada, and New Zealand. Other cover versions have also charted, including those by The Rubinoos (number 45 US, 1977) and Girls Aloud (number 4 UK, 2006).


title: I Think We're Alone Now

text: The writing of the song was credited to Ritchie Cordell, who wrote or co-wrote many songs for Tommy James, including the follow-up single to "I Think We're Alone Now", "Mirage" and its B-side "Run, Run, Baby, Run", and 1968's "Mony Mony". Cordell and his regular songwriting partner Bo Gentry gave the song to Tommy James, who thought it sounded like a hit. According to Tommy James, "I Think We're Alone Now" was written by Cordell and Gentry, but as Gentry was still under contract to Kama Sutra Records, the head of Roulette Records, Morris Levy, agreed to a deal naming Cordell as sole writer but splitting the royalties with Gentry.


title: I Think We're Alone Now

text: The song was originally written as a slow ballad, but when James, Cordell and Gentry recorded a quick demo, they made the song faster. Tommy James later wrote: "Ritchie and Bo originally wrote the song as a mid-tempo ballad. I said no way and started speeding it up... I.. put on a nasally, almost juvenile-sounding lead vocal, and without realizing it, we invented "bubblegum" music." They played the song to Levy, who approved of it, and it was then given a proper recording.


title: I Think We're Alone Now

text: The recording was produced by Ritchie Cordell and Bo Gentry. Tommy James recorded the vocal on the Christmas Eve of 1966 so that the song could be released in the new year.


title: I Think We're Alone Now

text: Like many early Tommy James and the Shondells releases, only band members Tommy James and Eddie Gray were featured on the record, with the rest of the band providing background vocals. Studio musicians were used as the rest of the rhythm section to back up the Shondells. These musicians include Artie Butler playing Ondioline electric keyboard, Al Gorgoni on guitar, Joe Macho on bass, Paul Griffin on piano, and Bobby Gregg on drums.


title: I Think We're Alone Now

text: They recorded the bass and drums first, and the rest then layered onto the recording. They also made the choruses quieter so that the verses became much more prominent. This was the first time that they recorded this way, a process they would replicate in many other later records to produce their signature sound.


title: I Think We're Alone Now

text: The version that James and the Shondells originally performed uses hard-driving arrangements for its two verses, both fiercely performed so as to convey a sense of urgency. However, the refrain (performed twice) is almost whispered and indeed followed by a sound effect of crickets chirping, giving an atmosphere of forbidden activities that are being deliberately kept hidden. The fade-out uses the lyrics of the refrain, but this time, the hard-driving arrangements are resumed.


title: I Think We're Alone Now

text: "I Think We're Alone Now" was a 1967 hit song for Tommy James and the Shondells, reaching number 4 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart during a 17-week stay. Rock critic Lester Bangs called the single "the bubblegum apotheosis".


title: I Think We're Alone Now

text: "I Think We're Alone Now" stands out as one of James's most successful recordings. It was featured in the horror film "Mother's Day" (1980) and the science-fiction thriller "10 Cloverfield Lane" (2016).


title: I Think We're Alone Now

text: In 1978, the American singer Lene Lovich recorded a cover version of "I Think We're Alone Now". Her version was originally released with her hit song "Lucky Number" as a B-side. Lovich recorded the song after contacting the radio presenter Charlie Gillett, who helped her get signed by Dave Robinson of Stiff Records. Robinson liked the record and immediately proposed it to be released as a single. However, her song "Lucky Number" gained so much more attention that it was later re-released as a lead single, at which it peaked at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart.


title: I Think We're Alone Now

text: "I Think We're Alone Now" appeared on Lovich's 1978 debut album, "Stateless", and she would later record the song in other languages, including German and Japanese.


title: I Think We're Alone Now

text: "I Think We’re Alone Now″ was re-popularized when American pop singer Tiffany covered the song when she was 15 for her debut album, "Tiffany", which was released in 1987 on the MCA Records label. When George Tobin, Tiffany's manager and producer, gave her the cassette of the original version by Tommy James & the Shondells, Tiffany hated the idea of recording a version of her own for her album, mostly because she thought the song was neither modern enough nor hip enough. According to Tiffany, she also did not know that the song is about the prohibition of teenage sex. The producers then remade the song as a dance track, and when Tiffany played this to her friends, they started to dance to it. Tiffany returned the next day to record the song in around four takes.


title: I Think We're Alone Now

text: Tiffany also recorded "I Think We're Alone Now", but in a different arrangement, for her sixth album and her second as an indie artist, "Dust Off and Dance", which became her only album in the electronica genre. It was released in 2005. For the 2007 compilation album "I Think We're Alone Now: 80s Hits and More", her vocals were re-recorded, using the remixed 1987 backing track as a guide. Her earlier version is referenced in the alternative group Weezer's song "Heart Songs" on the band's 2008 "Red Album".


title: I Think We're Alone Now

text: In 2019, Tiffany re-recorded the song with a heavier, more guitar-driven sound and released it online.


title: I Think We're Alone Now

text: "I Think We're Alone Now" was Tiffany's biggest hit. Her version of the song spent two weeks at number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart and three weeks at number one on the UK Singles Chart.


title: I Think We're Alone Now

text: "I Think We're Alone Now" was not the first single from Tiffany's debut album. The first single was "Danny", but radio started picking up "I Think We're Alone Now", another selection on the album. It became a runaway number-one hit and was the 18th-highest-selling single for 1987 and the 32nd-highest-selling single in Australia for 1988.


title: I Think We're Alone Now

text: The accompanying music video for "I Think We're Alone Now" was directed entirely by Tobin and shot in numerous shopping malls in Utah, which echoed the way her early career had been promoted. Fashion Place Mall (Murray, Utah), Crossroads Mall (Salt Lake City, Utah), 49th Street Galleria (Murray, Utah) and Ogden City Mall (Ogden, Utah). Elements of the video were filmed in the now demolished Bull Ring Centre in Birmingham, UK. The video was featured in the 2012 film "Ted" and the song was also on the soundtrack and appears in its sequel.


title: I Think We're Alone Now

text: In 2019, a new video directed by Marc Trojanowski, featuring the re-recorded 2019 version of the song and filmed in various locations around Los Angeles, was released online.


title: I Think We're Alone Now

text: In 2006, the British-Irish all-female pop group Girls Aloud recorded a cover version of "I Think We're Alone Now" for their greatest hits album "The Sound of Girls Aloud" and the soundtrack of "It's a Boy Girl Thing". Girls Aloud's version was produced by Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania. The song was recorded just days before the group's greatest hits was sent to be manufactured. Following a single remix, "I Think We're Alone Now" was released as a contender for the Christmas number one. It reached the top five on the UK Singles Chart.


title: I Think We're Alone Now

text: The music video, inspired by heist films, features Girls Aloud robbing a Las Vegas casino. "I Think We're Alone Now" was promoted through various live appearances and was featured on 2007's The Greatest Hits Tour. The track was criticised and labelled "pointless" by contemporary music critics.


title: I Think We're Alone Now

text: Until three days before the greatest hits was manufactured, Girls Aloud was set to record a cover of Irene Cara's "What A Feeling", which they had performed on their . But members of Girls Aloud had called their record label on a Friday afternoon to say that they would rather record "I Think We're Alone Now"; the group recorded the song the following morning, and the album was mastered on Monday, three days afterwards. The album version was drastically reworked for the single release, due to the initial version having been so hastily recorded. Higgins said that "Xenomania used the only idea they could think of, which was to make the song sound like 'Something Kinda Ooooh.'" The single features an alternative vocal arrangement and an entirely new backing track. Later pressings of the greatest hits include the single version of "I Think We're Alone Now".


title: I Think We're Alone Now

text: The song was released on December 18, 2006. It was available on two CD single formats and as a digital download. The first disc included a previously unreleased track entitled "Why Do It?", co-written by Girls Aloud. The second CD format features a number of remixes, as well as a cover of the Christmas classic "Jingle Bell Rock". Girls Aloud's cover of "Jingle Bell Rock" was originally featured on the Christmas bonus disc that came with the limited edition of 2005's "Chemistry". The artwork for the second disc features Girls Aloud draped over a Fender guitar amplifier.


title: I Think We're Alone Now

text: Girls Aloud's version of "I Think We're Alone Now" appears on the soundtrack to the film "It's a Boy Girl Thing" (2006), starring Samaire Armstrong and Kevin Zegers.


title: I Think We're Alone Now

text: Girls Aloud's cover of the song was widely slated by music critics. An unidentified staff writer at "WalesOnline" described it as "cheap, obnoxious, totally pointless and, destined to be loved only by people too out of their heads on Christmas spirit to know any better". Adam Burling of musicOMH exclaimed, "Christmas does funny things to people. Even pop groups as reliably excellent at singles as Girls Aloud toss out pointless, lazy covers in a ruthless attempt to snare that coveted seasonal chart-topper from "The X Factor"'s clutches." A BBC Music review of "The Sound of Girls Aloud" chose to "ignore the Xmas party cover". Yahoo! Music stated "the karaoke rendition[s] of [...] Tiffany's 'I Think We're Alone Now' really drag this collection down". On the other hand, John Murphy of musicOMH said the cover "actually does the impossible by making Tiffany's version sound good".


title: I Think We're Alone Now

text: The single debuted at number 50 on the UK Singles Chart a week prior to its physical release, due to download sales. The following week, "I Think We're Alone Now" peaked at number 4 on the Christmas chart, being beaten by Leona Lewis' "A Moment Like This". The song slipped to number 7 in its second week. It spent a total of seven weeks in the top 75. The song also peaked at number 11 on the Irish Singles Chart and spent six weeks in Ireland's top 50. As their 17th best selling single it has sold a total of 85,000 copies.


title: I Think We're Alone Now

text: The video, directed by Alex Hemming and Nick Collett, is based, as stated above, on films like "Ocean's 11" and "Casino". During the video, the group attempt to rob a Las Vegas casino.


title: I Think We're Alone Now

text: Three different endings to the video were shot. The first shows the girls getting caught and tied up after opening a box full of money in the casino's safe; the second features Kimberley Walsh (with her back to the camera) removing her clothes in front of casino owners, causing them to faint; and the third features the girls playing with the money. 3 customers were allowed to vote on their favourite ending from November 8 to November 15, 2006. This last ending won the vote, despite the version with Kimberley stripping being uploaded to the internet. In March 2007, all versions of the video were made available to download on iTunes, though in the UK Store only.


title: I Think We're Alone Now

text: Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong released a cover of "I Think We're Alone Now" on March 23, 2020, to the official Green Day YouTube channel. In April the performance was also shared on "The Late Late Show with James Corden", along with an interview with Armstrong. This version, according to Armstrong, was recorded in his bedroom at his home in California and was released during the COVID-19 pandemic as an act of solidarity for those who were practicing social distancing and those in self-quarantine and was released as a single on April 17, 2020. The cover featured Armstrong's sons on bass and drums.


title: Erythema

text: Erythema (from the Greek , meaning red) is redness of the skin or mucous membranes, caused by hyperemia (increased blood flow) in superficial capillaries. It occurs with any skin injury, infection, or inflammation. Examples of erythema not associated with pathology include nervous blushes.


title: Erythema

text: It can be caused by infection, massage, electrical treatment, acne medication, allergies, exercise, solar radiation (sunburn), photosensitization, acute radiation syndrome, mercury toxicity, blister agents, niacin administration, or waxing and tweezing of the hairs—any of which can cause the capillaries to dilate, resulting in redness. Erythema is a common side effect of radiotherapy treatment due to patient exposure to ionizing radiation.


title: Erythema

text: Erythema disappears on finger pressure (blanching), while purpura or bleeding in the skin and pigmentation do not. There is no temperature elevation, unless it is associated with the dilation of arteries in the deeper layer of the skin.


title: Rick Rossovich

text: Frederic Enrico Rossovich (born August 28, 1957) is an American actor. Rossovich began acting in the early 1980s, first gaining recognition for portraying Ron "Slider" Kerner in the 1986 film "Top Gun". Rossovich's other movies include the thriller-drama "The Lords of Discipline" (1983), the sex comedy "Losin' It" (1983), the science fiction film "The Terminator" (1984), the romantic comedy "Roxanne" (1987), the witchcraft-themed thriller "Spellbinder" (1988), the thriller "Paint It Black" (1989), the military action film "Navy SEALs" (1990), and the Disney Channel Original Movie "Miracle in Lane 2" (2002).


title: Rick Rossovich

text: Rossovich is also recognized for his lead role in the TV-series "Pacific Blue", often described as a "Baywatch on bikes," which ran on the USA Network for five seasons between March 1996 and April 2000, and also gained popularity abroad. He also portrayed Dr. John Taglieri in the first season of "E.R.", and Spud Lincoln in the CBS series "Sons and Daughters" (1991).


title: Rick Rossovich

text: Rossovich was born Frederic Enrico Rossovich in Palo Alto, California and grew up in Grass Valley, California eventually graduating from Nevada Union High School. His brother, Tim, was a former professional football player and also an actor. He attended college at Sacramento State University. He was a bodybuilder during his late teens and early twenties. Rossovich has Croatian and Italian ancestry; his mother's family originates from the Tuscany region of Italy, while his father's family comes from Istria, Croatia. His great-grandfather emigrated to the United States from Mošćenička Draga, a coastal town in Istria, Croatia, whence the surname Rossovich originates, as it was first found there.


title: Rick Rossovich

text: He has been married since 1985 to Eva Rossovich, with whom he has two children: Roy (1986) and Isabel (1991).


title: Rick Rossovich

text: Rossovich's first big movie break came when he was cast as Cadet First Lieutenant Dante Pignetti in the drama-thriller "The Lords of Discipline", with Bill Paxton and Michael Biehn. The movie helped launch Paxton's and Biehn's careers, and Rossovich would go on to work again with both Biehn and Paxton in "The Terminator" and "Navy SEALs". He and Paxton worked together also in "Streets of Fire", an American neo-noir rock musical film directed and co-written by Walter Hill. Rossovich's next movie was "Losin' It", a "teenage romp down to Mexico... and [Rossovich] played a marine who the kids kept coming across, and which resulted in some high jinks." "Losin' It" was Tom Cruise's first lead role. Rossovich and Cruise, who Rossovich considers "a great guy," first met on the set of "Losin' It". The two would become friends, and go on to star together in Rossovich's biggest hit and one of Tom Cruise's most memorable works, "Top Gun". On the set of Top Gun, Rossovich also "really bonded with Val Kilmer," partly due to their respective roles in the movie and the relationship of their characters. Rossovich has stated that bonding with Kilmer came "so naturally," and that he and Kilmer were "kind of like brothers." In 1984, Rossovich was cast as Ginger's boyfriend Matt in "The Terminator". Between The Terminator and Top Gun, Rossovich starred in "Streets of Fire", where he plays Officer Cooley, and meets again with Bill Paxton; the sci-fi horror film "Warning Sign", where he plays Bob; the action film "Let's Get Harry", in which he plays Kurt Kleein; and the neo noir mystery film "The Morning After", where he plays 'the Detective.'


title: Rick Rossovich

text: In the wake of Top Gun, Rossovich gained a major role in the Golden Globe nominee and critically acclaimed "Roxanne", a modern retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac starring Steve Martin and Daryl Hannah. He subsequently went on to star in the thriller "Spellbinder" alongside Kelly Preston; the dark fantasy horror comedy "Waxwork"; and the thriller "Paint It Black", alongside Martin Landau and Sally Kirkland.


title: Rick Rossovich

text: Rossovich started off the 1990s with what would become one of his most notable roles, that of "Corpsman James Leary" in the military action film "Navy SEALs", alongside Charlie Sheen, Michael Biehn and Bill Paxton, with whom he had already worked multiple times. Rossovich starred in a number of minor movies in the early 1990s, the most notable of which being the direct-to-video erotic thriller "Cover Me", alongside Paul Sorvino, Elliott Gould and Corbin Bernsen. In the late 1990s Rossovich landed a role on the long-running American medical drama television series "E.R.", playing Dr. John "Tag" Taglieri, Carol Hathaway's love interest in season one. The affair between Taglieri and Hathaway is one of main concerns of the first season of E.R.. From 1996 to 1998, Rossovich starred as the lead character in the crime drama series "Pacific Blue". The series achieved some success in the U.S., and was run in many other countries; in some of these (such as Italy) the series is still being broadcast on national television to this day. In the late 1990s, Rossovich starred in a few other movies, the most notable of which being "Truth or Consequences, N.M." with Kiefer Sutherland and the 1998 romantic comedy "Telling You", for which he made an uncredited cameo.


title: Rick Rossovich

text: Rossovich's career, which had been declining in the late ‘90s, came to a halt in the 2000s. He starred in the Disney Channel Original Movie "Miracle in Lane 2" alongside "Malcolm in the Middle"'s star Frankie Muniz in 2000 and in the crime film "Artworks" alongside Virginia Madsen in 2003 before going into retirement. Upon selling his Hollywood Hills home, Rossovich moved from L.A. to Ojai, California, where he and his wife had spent 18 months restoring a house in the early ‘90s. He then moved to Sweden, where he resides today. After giving up cinema and his Hollywood life, Rossovich attempted a return to acting in 2012, with the comedy drama "Sandbar". Rossovich doesn't appear to be contemplating to return to acting steadily, as in 2012 he stated ""I’ve had a really great marriage and kids. I’ve saved my money and invested. I can do what I want. I guess that's a blessing and a curse. It takes away some of your drive to go out and be a workaholic.""


title: Rick Rossovich

text: Rossovich has made guest appearances in such TV shows as "Tales from the Crypt", "Mad About You", "Murder She Wrote" and "Due South". In 2007, he appeared with his son, Roy, in an episode of "House Hunters International" set in Stockholm, Sweden.


title: Johnny Rivers

text: Johnny Rivers (born John Henry Ramistella; November 7, 1942) is an American musician. His repertoire includes pop, folk, blues, and old-time rock 'n' roll. Rivers charted during the 1960s and 1970s but remains best known for a string of hit singles between 1964 and 1968, among them "Memphis" (a Chuck Berry cover), "Mountain of Love" (a Harold Dorman cover), "The Seventh Son" (a Willie Mabon cover), "Secret Agent Man", "Poor Side of Town" (a US No. 1), "Baby I Need Your Lovin'" (a 1967 cover of the Four Tops single from 1964), and "Summer Rain".


title: Johnny Rivers

text: Rivers was born as John Henry Ramistella in New York City, of Italian ancestry. His family moved from New York to Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Influenced by the distinctive Louisiana musical style, Rivers began playing guitar at age eight, taught by his father and uncle. While still in junior high school, he started sitting in with a band called the Rockets, led by Dick Holler, who later wrote a number of hit songs, including "Abraham, Martin and John" and the novelty song "Snoopy vs. the Red Baron".


title: Johnny Rivers

text: Ramistella formed his own band, the Spades, and made his first record at 14, while he was a student at Baton Rouge High School. Some of their music was recorded on the Suede label as early as 1956.


title: Johnny Rivers

text: On a trip to New York City in 1958, Ramistella met Alan Freed, who advised him to change his name to "Johnny Rivers" referencing the Mississippi River which flows through Baton Rouge. Freed also helped Rivers gain several recording contracts on the Gone label. From March 1958 to March 1959, Johnny Rivers released three records, including "Baby Come Back" (a non-Christmas version of Elvis Presley's "Santa Bring My Baby Back (To Me)"), none of which sold well.


title: Johnny Rivers

text: Rivers returned to Baton Rouge in 1959, and began playing throughout the American South alongside comedian Brother Dave Gardner. One evening in Birmingham, Rivers met Audrey Williams, Hank Williams' first wife. She encouraged Rivers to move to Nashville, where he found work as a songwriter and demo singer. Rivers also worked alongside Roger Miller. By this time, Rivers had decided he would never make it as a singer, and song writing became his priority.


title: Johnny Rivers

text: In 1958, Rivers met fellow Louisianan James Burton, a guitarist in a band led by Ricky Nelson. Burton later recommended one of Rivers' songs, "I'll Make Believe," to Nelson, who recorded it. They met in Los Angeles in 1961, where Rivers subsequently found work as a songwriter and studio musician. His big break came in 1963, when he filled in for a jazz combo at Gazzarri's, a nightclub in Hollywood, where his instant popularity drew large crowds.


title: Johnny Rivers

text: In 1964, Elmer Valentine gave Rivers a one-year contract to open at the Whisky a Go Go, on Sunset Strip in West Hollywood. The Whisky had been in business just three days when the Beatles song "I Want to Hold Your Hand" entered the "Billboard" Hot 100. The subsequent British Invasion knocked almost every American artist off the top of the charts, but Rivers was so popular that record producer Lou Adler decided to issue "Johnny Rivers Live at the Whisky A Go Go", which reached No. 12. Rivers recalled that his most requested live song then was "Memphis", which reached No. 2 on Cash Box on 4–11 July 1964 and also on the Hot 100 on 11–18 July 1964. It sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc. According to Elvis Presley's friend and employee, Alan Fortas, Presley played a test pressing of "Memphis" for Rivers that Presley had made but not released. Rivers was impressed and, much to Presley's chagrin, Rivers recorded and released it, even copying the arrangement. Rivers' version far outsold the Chuck Berry original from August 1959, which stalled at No. 87 in the US.


title: Johnny Rivers

text: Rivers continued to record mostly live performances throughout 1964 and 1965, including Go-Go-style records with songs featuring folk music and blues rock influences including "Maybellene" (another Berry cover), after which came "Mountain of Love", "Midnight Special", "Seventh Son" (written by Willie Dixon), plus Pete Seeger's" Where Have All the Flowers Gone?", all of which were hits.


title: Johnny Rivers

text: In 1963, Rivers began working with writers P.F. Sloan and Steve Barri on a theme song for the American broadcast of a British television series "Danger Man", starring Patrick McGoohan. At first Rivers balked at the idea but eventually changed his mind. The American version of the show, titled "Secret Agent", went on the air in the spring of 1965. The theme song was very popular and created public demand for a longer single version. Rivers' recording of "Secret Agent Man" reached No. 3 on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart in 1966. It sold one million copies, also winning gold disc status.


title: Johnny Rivers

text: In 1966, Rivers began to record ballads that featured background vocalists. He produced several hits including his own "Poor Side of Town", which would be his biggest chart hit and his only No. 1 record. He also started his own record company, Soul City Records which included the 5th Dimension, whose recordings of "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" and "Wedding Bell Blues" were No. 1 hits for the new label. In addition, Rivers is credited with giving songwriter Jimmy Webb a major break when the 5th Dimension recorded his song "Up, Up, and Away". Rivers also recorded Webb's "By the Time I Get to Phoenix". It was covered by Glen Campbell, who had a major hit with it.


title: Johnny Rivers

text: Rivers continued to record more hits covering other artists, including "Baby I Need Your Lovin'", originally recorded by the Four Tops, and "The Tracks of My Tears" by the Miracles, both going Top 10 in 1967. In 1968, Rivers put out "Realization", a No. 5 album that included the No. 14 pop chart single "Summer Rain", written by a former member of the Mugwumps, James Hendricks. The album included some of the psychedelic influences of the time, such as the song Hey Joe, with a two minute introduction, and marked a change in Rivers' musical direction, with more introspective songs including "Look To Your Soul" and "Going Back to Big Sur".


title: Johnny Rivers

text: In the 1970s Rivers continued to record more songs and albums that were successes with music critics, but did not sell well. "L.A. Reggae" (1972) reached the LP chart as a result of the No. 6 hit "Rockin' Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu," a cover version of the Huey "Piano" Smith and the Clowns song. The track became Rivers' third million seller, which was acknowledged with the presentation of a gold disc by the Recording Industry Association of America (R.I.A.A.) on January 29, 1973. Reviewing "L.A. Reggae" in "" (1981), Robert Christgau said, "there are modernization moves, of course—two get-out-the-vote songs (just what George needs) plus the mysterious reggae conceit plus a heartfelt if belated antiwar song—but basically this is just Johnny nasalizing on some fine old memories. 'Rockin' Pneumonia' and 'Knock on Wood' are especially fine."


title: Johnny Rivers

text: Other Hot 100 top 40 hits from that time period were 1973's "Blue Suede Shoes" (originally recorded in 1955 by Carl Perkins) and 1975's "Help Me Rhonda" (originally a No. 1 hit for the Beach Boys), on which Brian Wilson sang back-up vocals.


title: Johnny Rivers

text: Rivers' last Top 10 entry was his 1977 recording of "Swayin' to the Music (Slow Dancing)," written by Jack Tempchin and originally released by Funky Kings. Rivers' last Hot 100 entry, also in 1977, was "Curious Mind (Um, Um, Um, Um, Um, Um)," originally released by Major Lance and written by Curtis Mayfield. In addition, Rivers recorded the title song for the late night concert-influenced TV show "The Midnight Special". Johnny Rivers' career total is 9 Top 10 hits on the Hot 100 and 17 in the Top 40 from 1964 to 1977. Rivers has sold well over 30 million records.


title: Johnny Rivers

text: Rivers continued releasing material into the 1980s (e.g., 1980's "Borrowed Time" LP), garnering an interview with Dick Clark on American Bandstand in 1981, although his recording career was winding down. Around this time Rivers turned to Christianity.


title: Johnny Rivers

text: He is still touring, however, performing 50 to 60 shows a year. Increasingly he has returned to the blues that first inspired him.


title: Johnny Rivers

text: In 1998 he reactivated his Soul City Records label and released "Last Train to Memphis". In early 2000, Rivers recorded with Eric Clapton, Tom Petty and Paul McCartney on a tribute album dedicated to Buddy Holly's backup band, the Crickets.


title: Johnny Rivers

text: He is one of a small number of performers whose names are listed as the copyright owner on their recordings. Most records list the recording company as the owner of the recording. Others include Mariah Carey, Paul Simon, Billy Joel, Pink Floyd (from 1975's "Wish You Were Here" onward), Queen, Genesis (though under the members' individual names and/or the pseudonym Gelring Limited), and Neil Diamond. The practice began with the Bee Gees and their $200 million lawsuit against RSO Records, the largest successful lawsuit against a record company by an artist or group.,


title: Johnny Rivers

text: On June 12, 2009, Johnny Rivers was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. His name has been suggested many times for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but he has never been selected. Rivers, however, was a nominee for 2015 induction into America's Pop Music Hall of Fame.


title: Johnny Rivers

text: On April 9, 2017, he performed a song, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar, at the funeral for Chuck Berry, at The Pageant, in St. Louis, Missouri. One of his biggest and earliest hits was his cover of Berry's "Memphis, Tennessee".


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: Cedar Rapids () is the second-largest city in Iowa, United States and is the county seat of Linn County. The city lies on both banks of the Cedar River, north of Iowa City and northeast of Des Moines, the state's capital and largest city. It is a part of the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City region of Eastern Iowa, which includes Linn, Benton, Cedar, Iowa, Jones, Johnson, and Washington counties.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: As of the 2020 United States Census, the city population was 137,710. The estimated population of the three-county Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes the nearby cities of Marion and Hiawatha, was 255,452 in 2008. Cedar Rapids is an economic hub of the state, located at the core of the Interstate 380 corridor. The Cedar Rapids Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) is also a part of a Combined Statistical Area (CSA) with the Iowa City MSA.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: A flourishing center for arts and culture in Eastern Iowa, the city is home to the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library, the Paramount Theatre, Orchestra Iowa, Theatre Cedar Rapids, the African American Museum of Iowa, and the Iowa Cultural Corridor Alliance. In the 1990s and 2000s, several Cedar Rapidians became well-known actors, including Ashton Kutcher, Elijah Wood, Terry Farrell, and Ron Livingston. The city is the setting for the musical "The Pajama Game" and the comedy film "Cedar Rapids".


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: Cedar Rapids is nicknamed the "City of Five Seasons", for the so-called "fifth season," which is time to enjoy the other four. The symbol of the five seasons is the Tree of Five Seasons sculpture in downtown along the north river bank. The name "Five Seasons" and representations of the sculpture appear throughout the city in many forms.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: The location of present-day Cedar Rapids was in the territory of the Fox and Sac tribes at the time of European American settlement.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: The first white settler on the site of the future city was Osgood Shepherd, who built a log cabin (which he called a tavern) in 1837 or 1838 next to the Cedar River (then known as the Red Cedar) at what is now the corner of First Avenue and First Street Northeast. Shepherd was a squatter who claimed the land without legal title and also a reputed ne’er-do-well, who, if he was not a horse thief himself, definitely consorted with them. Early on, it appears that he “jumped the claim” of another squatter, Wilbert Stone, who had built a cabin and platted out a town, some distance south of Shepherd's cabin, that he called Columbus. Shepherd drove Stone across the river, claiming that Stone had built his cabin on Shepherd's land, then sold Stone's cabin to a buyer named Hull. Shepherd later tried the same tactic with perhaps the first settler on the west side of the river, Robert Ellis, but Ellis happened to be chopping wood at the time and warned that someone would be dead if Shepherd did not retreat.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: The true founders of the city were George Greene, Nicholas Brown, and a few others. Brown had experience as a miller and Greene had surveyed much of eastern Iowa, so both saw the value of the spot Shepherd had claimed. It was right next to the rapids—a prime spot to build a mill—the last set of rapids on the river before the Cedar fed into the Iowa River, meaning that goods milled on the spot could be carried by boat down river to the Mississippi. In 1841, they formed a partnership that bought out Shepherd's claim and platted out a town they called Rapids City. Brown immediately constructed a primitive dam and then built the town's first mill. His crude dam soon washed away, prompting Greene to induce Alexander Ely, an engineer from Michigan, to build a proper dam that would create a millrace capable of powering several mills.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: At this time, the city was confined to the east side of the river. The west bank soon contained a village named Kingston for resident David King who early on operated a rope ferry across the river.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: The town was formally incorporated by the Iowa State Legislature on January 15, 1849 as Cedar Rapids, named for the rapids in the Cedar River (the river itself was named for the large number of red cedar trees that grew along its banks). The population was less than 400.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: During the 1850s Cedar Rapids grew in size, and it was during this decade that the Czech population became substantial; when the town was reincorporated in 1856, a quarter of its roughly 1,600 inhabitants were Czech immigrants. The availability of cheap land in the new state of Iowa happened to coincide with the Revolutions of 1848 in the Austrian Empire that caused a large number of Czechs to flee their homeland and emigrate to the U.S. In 1851 was founded the institution that would eventually become Coe College. The decade also witnessed attempts by local leaders to improve the city's access to distant markets, first through purchase of a steamboat (aptly named "Cedar Rapids") and ultimately through investment in a railroad. The first locomotive rolled into town on June 15, 1859.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: Railroads were an important factor in the development of the state and the growth of cities along the rail lines. By the end of the 19th century, the 23rd largest state was the fifth largest in track mileage.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: In this same decade, "Major" John May, an inventor and land speculator, purchased the island (now called "May's Island") situated between Cedar Rapids and Kingston with the intention of founding a town he called May Island. When that scheme proved impractical due to the island's tendency to flood, he conceived the idea of making his island the center of a larger city that spanned the river and convinced the state legislature to officially name the land he had bought there, just south of Kingston, "West Cedar Rapids."


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: Cedar Rapids annexed the community of Kingston in 1870 and constructed an iron bridge across the river along the line of the current Third Avenue bridge.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: The economic growth of Cedar Rapids increased in 1871 upon the founding of the Sinclair meatpacking company. The plant allowed for year-round meatpacking because ice could be harvested from the Cedar River in winter to chill an icehouse, and within a few years it became one of the largest factories of its kind in the country, employing 400 people. In 1873 was built the oatmeal mill that would ultimately become the flagship operation of the Quaker Oats Company, and the largest cereal mill in the world.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: In 1909 the city acquired May's Island for the purpose of making it the seat of government; then, as now, there were ill feelings between east- and west-siders in Cedar Rapids, and the city's leaders hoped that putting City Hall in the "neutral territory" of the island would help ease tensions. In 1919, the residents of Linn County voted to move the county seat from Marion to Cedar Rapids, partially because Cedar Rapids had offered to donate the southern third of the island as a site for a new county courthouse and jail.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: During the Iowa flood of 2008, the Cedar River reached a record high of on June 13 (the previous record was ), surpassing the 500-year flood plain. 1,126 city blocks were flooded, or more than , and 561 city blocks were severely damaged, on both banks of the Cedar River, comprising 14% of the city's total area. A total of 7,749 flooded properties had to be evacuated, including 5,900 homes and 310 city facilities, among them the City Hall, Central Fire Station, Main Public Library, Ground Transportation Center, Public Works building, and the Animal Control building. It is estimated that at least 1,300 properties in the Cedar Rapids area had to be demolished because of the flood, which caused several billions of dollars in damages. More than 4,000 members of the Iowa National Guard were activated to assist the city. The temporary levees became saturated not only with the flood waters but also with additional rainfall, causing them to fail.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: Until the flood, the city's government was headquartered in the Veterans Memorial Building, near the Linn County Courthouse and jail on Mays Island in the Cedar River, making Cedar Rapids one of a few cities in the world, along with Paris, France, with governmental offices on a municipal island.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: During the flood of 2016, remnants of Hurricane Paine from the eastern Pacific Ocean via the Gulf of California caused the second highest recorded crest of the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids, reaching on September 27. The inundation of southern Minnesota, central and western Wisconsin, and northeastern Iowa by Hurricane Paine's remnants began on September 21 and 22 and continued until the end of the month. The cresting in Cedar Rapids was below the initial estimate of and the revised estimate of , but more than above the flood stage of . The flood was above levels considered to have about a 1% chance of occurring in a given year. More than 5,000 homes were affected, causing over 5,000 people to evacuate. The Cedar Rapids Schools were closed for a week.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: In 2015, Cedar Rapids approved a $625 million flood protection plan over 20 years for levee improvements. Although the improvement to the levee system in Cedar Rapids had not been completed due to over $80 million in funding not appropriated by the United States Congresses of 2014 and 2016 and the voting down by local residents of a temporary increase in the local sales tax to pay for the levee improvements, out of school students along with hundreds of thousands of volunteers and 412 Iowa National Guard troops filled more than a quarter of a million sandbags in a successful effort to prevent any major flooding of the city outside the evacuation zone. A system of Hesco barriers, earthen berms, and over 400,000 sandbags were used to plug the gaps in the levee system. The city of Cedar Rapids purchased additional Hesco barriers from Iowa City for $1.4 million. Numerous upstream cities that had been earlier affected by the September flooding and mandatory evacuations, including Charles City, Greene, Manchester, Clarksville, Shell Rock, Vinton, Janesville, Cedar Falls and Waterloo, sent hundreds of thousands of unused sandbags to support efforts in Cedar Rapids and nearby communities. The remnants of Hurricane Paine did not produce any rain to saturate the temporary earth berms and sandbags, which would have greatly increased the likelihood of breach in the temporary levee structures, causing a much greater flooded area; the river crested during very sunny weather. Additionally, beginning on September 25, 300 to 400 National Guard troops along with the Iowa State Patrol, other law enforcement agencies, and 60 duly sworn law enforcement officials enforced a nightly 8pm to 7am curfew.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: On August 10, 2020, an intense derecho formed over the Midwest and moved eastward across Iowa, with Cedar Rapids being the hardest-hit city. Sustained winds of , frequent gusts of or greater, and an estimated peak gust of on the southwest side of the city damaged the majority of residential and commercial buildings in Cedar Rapids, as well as 20 schools, and resulted in the closure of most local businesses. Thousands of trees were downed throughout all 75 square miles of Cedar Rapids. Most of the city's roads became mostly blocked or impassible due to downed trees and blown limbs, power poles along with their lines, and general debris, like large road signs, as well as damaged buildings, homes, and farms. 95% of the city was without power. Trash pickup stopped, cell phone service was very spotty for multiple days, and many gas leaks were reported. Interstate 380 was closed between Cedar Rapids and Iowa City.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: Hospitals treated over 300 patients for storm related injuries. Professional estimates suggested that cleanup and removal of the city's downed trees could take months. Arborists urged residents not to clear trees on their own, in order to avoid injury.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: On Friday, August 14, Governor Kim Reynolds arrived in Cedar Rapids, accompanied by Adjutant General Benjamin Corell of the Iowa National Guard. Gen. Corell said he had not seen a comparable level of damage since Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Other city officials described the damage as being even worse than the Iowa flood of 2008.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: The city is divided into four quadrants, used in assigning street addresses. 1st Avenue (U.S. Route 151 Business) divides the north and south sides of the city, and the Cedar River divides east and west. Mays Island, in the middle of the river, is the only area of the city where addresses have no quadrant. Areas outside the city limits that have a Cedar Rapids mailing address do not use the quadrants either.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: Except in the downtown area, 1st Avenue and the Cedar River tend to run diagonally instead of along the cardinal directions. Due to the curving of 1st Avenue, there are some areas in western Cedar Rapids where NW addresses are actually south of SW addresses.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: Cedar Rapids is divided into 14 ZIP Codes. Mays Island and the downtown area are covered by 52401. The northeast quadrant is covered by 52402 and 52411. The southeast quadrant is covered by 52403. The southwest quadrant is covered by 52404. The northwest quadrant is covered by 52405. Post office boxes are covered by ZIP codes 52406, 52407, 52408, 52409, and 52410. Several other ZIP codes are for specific businesses (Aegon USA, Collins Aerospace, etc.).


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and is water.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: There are twelve active neighborhood associations in Cedar Rapids. The neighborhoods nearest downtown include Wellington Heights and Oakhill Jackson in the southeast quadrant and Moundview in the northeast quadrant. Also farther north in the northeast quadrant are Noelridge Park and Kenwood Park, which was independent until it was incorporated into the Cedar Rapids city limits. The boundaries of Kenwood are 32nd Street to Oakland Road to Old Marion Road to C Avenue to 40th Street then 1st Avenue between 40th street and 32nd Street.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: In addition to the neighborhood associations in Cedar Rapids, there are many informal, unofficial neighborhoods, such as Bowman Woods, Vernon Heights, Stoney Point, Kingston Village, New Bohemia (NewBo) and Wilderness Estates.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: Czech Village is located along 16th Avenue SW, south of the Cedar River. It is home to such Czech-themed businesses as The Czech Cottage, Sykora Bakery, and White Lion Treasures. The National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library is one of Cedar Rapids' major tourist attractions. The museum's main building was directly on the river and was badly damaged by the 2008 floods. After the flood the museum moved a few blocks to Inspiration Place SW. The Bohemian National Cemetery is located nearby.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: The Cedar Rapids Czech Heritage Foundation is one of many local organizations working to promote and preserve Czech heritage in Cedar Rapids. It supports and sponsors many programs and events throughout the year, including the Miss Czech-Slovak Iowa pageant. Two Miss Czech-Slovak US queens can claim this community as home: Lisa Volesky and Stasia Krivanek.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: Olga Drahozal was the famed band leader of the Czech Plus Polka Band, a performing group that frequents the Kosek Band Stand in Czech Village. She, Bessie Duggena, and Leona Poduška taught Czech School ("Česká škola") at Wilson Middle School.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: In 2003, the African-American Historical Museum and Cultural Center of Iowa opened its doors. Cedar Rapids is also home to the historic 26-acre (105,000 m) Brucemore Estate, on which sits a 21-room mansion, and the Masonic Library and Museum.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: In 2009, Cedar Rapids was rated one of the "Top 10 cities to Grow Up In" in the United States, partly due to a low crime rate and a good public school system.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: Cedar Rapids has a humid continental climate with long, cold, sometimes brutal winters with plenty of snow, while summers are hot and humid, with frequent severe thunderstorms.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: The record low temperature in Cedar Rapids is , set on January 31, 2019, while the record high temperature of was set on July 6, 1911.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: The Cedar Rapids Metropolitan Statistical Area consists of Linn, Benton, and Jones counties. The MSA had a


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: 2020 census population of 276,520. Linn County was the only county in the MSA before the MSA was redefined after the 2000 census.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: As a growing job center, Cedar Rapids pulls commuters from nearby Marion and Hiawatha. Other towns that have become bedroom communities include Ely, Swisher, Shueyville, Palo, Atkins, Fairfax, Walford, Robins and Bertram.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: Based on the 2010 American Community Survey 1 Year Estimates, the median income for a household in the city was $51,186, and the median income for a family was $63,265. Males had a median income of $40,413 versus $26,402 for females. The per capita income for the city is $26,370. About 6.3% of families and 11.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.5% of those under the age of 18 and 4.3% of those 65 or older.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: As of the census of 2020, the population was 137,710. The population density was . There were 62,398 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 77.8% White, 10.4% Black or African American, 2.7% Asian, 0.4% Pacific Islander, 0.3% Native American, 1.7% from other races, and 6.8% from two or more races. Ethnically, the population was 4.7% Hispanic or Latino of any race.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: As of the census of 2010, there were 126,326 people, 53,236 households, and 30,931 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 57,217 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 87.98% White, 5.58% African American, 0.31% Native American, 2.21% Asian, 0.12% Pacific Islander, 0.93% from other races, and 2.87% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.31% of the population.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: There were 53,236 households, of which 28.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.8% were married couples living together, 11.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 41.9% were non-families. 32.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.95.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: Age spread: 23.5% under the age of 18, 11.2% from 18 to 24, 27.4% from 25 to 44, 24.8% from 45 to 64, and 13.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35.3 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.4 males.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: In the 2000 census, Cedar Rapids was 91.9% non-Hispanic white, with well over half of the population claiming a specific ethnic European ancestry, such as Germans (35.5%), Irish (17.1%), English (9.4%), Czechs (7.8%), Norwegians (5.1%), and French from either France or Canada (3.2%). The city also has a growing minority population: for example, in the three-year period from 2006 to 2008, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated that 4.9% of the Cedar Rapids population identified as African Americans, up from 3.7% in the 2000 census.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: The Mother Mosque of America, dedicated on June 16, 1934, is the longest standing mosque in North America. In 1972, another mosque was built and the original mosque was sold and fell into disrepair before being purchased in 1990 by the Islamic Council of Iowa and renovated. It is on the National Register of Historic Places. The Iowa flood of 2008 extensively damaged the basement, destroying many historic documents.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: Muslim presence in the area dates to 1895 when the first immigrants arrived from the Beqaa Valley in today's Lebanon and Syria. Islamic Services of America (I.S.A.) was established in Cedar Rapids in 1975 and provides Halal Certification and supervision throughout the world.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: Cedar Rapids is one of the largest cities in the world for corn processing. The grain processing industry is Cedar Rapids' most important sector, directly providing 4,000 jobs that pay on average $85,000, and also providing 8,000 indirectly. Fortune 500 company Collins Aerospace and trucking company CRST are based in Cedar Rapids, and Aegon has its United States headquarters there. A large Quaker Oats mill, one of the four that merged in 1901 to form Quaker Oats, dominates the north side of downtown. Other large companies that have facilities in Cedar Rapids include Archer Daniels Midland, Cargill, General Mills, Toyota Financial Services and Nordstrom. Newspaperarchive, based in Cedar Rapids, is the largest newspaper archive in North America with a repository of more than 150 million pages assembled over 250 years; it was taken offline for two days by the 2008 flood.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: According to Cedar Rapids' 2018 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the area are:


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: Cedar Rapids is home to Orchestra Iowa, the Paramount Theatre, Theatre Cedar Rapids, Cedar Rapids Opera Theatre, and Brucemore, a National Trust Historic Site, among others.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: Cedar Rapids is also home to the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, The Cedar Rapids Ceramics Center, Legion Art's CSPS Hall, the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library, the African American Historical Museum, Kirkwood Community College's Iowa Hall Gallery, and the legendary Grant Wood Studio at 5 Turner Alley. These Cedar Rapids venues have recently hosted world class and award nominated exhibitions, including the works of Andy Warhol, Grant Wood, and the Iowa Biennial, among others.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art houses the largest collection of Grant Wood paintings in the world. The 1920s Paramount Theatre is home to the Orchestra Iowa and the Cedar Rapids Area Theatre Organ Society. Concerts and events such as high school graduations, sporting events, exhibitions, and political rallies are held at Alliant Energy Powerhouse, formerly known as Five Seasons Center.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: Many arts centers in Cedar Rapids sustained severe damage during the June 2008 flood. Among those severely damaged were the Paramount Theatre, Theatre Cedar Rapids, the National Czech & Slovak Museum, and the African American Historical Museum. Two Wurlitzer organs were damaged at the Paramount Theatre and Theatre Cedar Rapids. The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art suffered minor damage. It is expected to cost $25 million to repair the Paramount; Theatre Cedar Rapids reopened in February 2010.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: The current flag of Cedar Rapids was adopted on September 8, 2021. On the flag, the blue represents the Cedar River and the green portrays the city's green areas. Withal, the arch represents forwards progress, as well as the city's flood wall and the star represents the historic structures on Mays Island with its five stars depicting the City of Five Seasons.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: In 1962, a flag design was chosen through a design contest among high schools. The artist, Fred Easker Jr, was a high-school senior at the time. The flag depicts buildings of Cedar Rapids in blue and the words "Cedar Rapids" and "Iowa" above and below it in red. Among the buildings depicted were: a veterans memorial, a church, corn stalks, a factory, an early mill and an unfinished building to signify the city's promising future.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: In 2004, the North American Vexillological Association ranked Cedar Rapids' flag as among the worst flags in the United States. Moreover, the flag was decried during a Ted Talk in 2015. On account of this criticism, Cedar Rapids began the process of redesigning the city's flag. Residents were asked for input on the colors, symbols, and themes they would like to have the flag include. On September 18, 2021, the city unveiled a new flag at Cedar Rapids Public Library.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: The 15,000-capacity Kingston Stadium is located in Cedar Rapids. It is used for American football and soccer.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: The city is also home to the Fifth Season Races, which began just after the running boom. In 1986, a former Iowa State University runner Joseph Kipsang won the popular 8-kilometer race in 23:24 and won $7,000. A few notable runners who have won include Keith Brantly, Janis Klecker, Jeff Jacobs, Kenneth Cheruiyot, and Pasca Myers. The race is not the largest road race in the region and most recently has included both the 8K and a 5K run.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: Cedar Rapids has over of city owned property for undeveloped green space and recreational use. There are 74 formally named parks or recreational facilities. These include baseball and softball fields, all-weather basketball courts, two frisbee golf courses, sand volleyball courts, the Tuma Soccer Complex, a BMX dirt track, two off-leash dog exercise areas, the Old MacDonald's Farm (a children's zoo), 10 splash pads, and many parks that have pavilions, picnicking areas and restroom facilities. The various trail systems in Cedar Rapids have a total of for walking, running or bicycling.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: From April 6, 1908, to December 31, 2005, Cedar Rapids used the city commission form of government. It was one of the few larger American cities remaining to operate under this model. Under this form of government, the council was made up of a public safety commissioner, a streets commissioner, a finance commissioner, a parks commissioner, and a mayor. The council members worked on a full-time basis, served two-year terms, and were considered department heads. Don Canney, the longest-serving mayor in city history, served for twenty-two years under this system. The last mayor of Cedar Rapids under this form of government was Paul Pate.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: In 2005 the Cedar Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce spearheaded a movement to change from the commission form of government. A panel was appointed by Mayor Pate and the City Council to study the issue, and recommended that voters be presented with three options:


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: On June 14, 2005, voters went to the polls to decide whether to adopt a new form of government or continue with the commission form. 28,818 of the 83,514 registered voters (29.72%) cast ballots on the issue. 68.80% of the voters decided to adopt a new form of government. Elections were held on November 8, 2005, and 30 candidates ran. Kay Halloran, a retired attorney and state legislator, became the first mayor elected under the new system. Several members of the city council were elected outright; however, the remaining races were close enough to require a runoff election, which took place in December.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: Cedar Rapids now has an Iowa "Home Rule" charter which establishes a weak mayor system with a part-time City Council and Mayor both on four-year terms.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: Cedar Rapids is home to two four-year colleges, Coe College and Mount Mercy University. The University of Iowa also has an evening MBA facility there. Kirkwood Community College is the area's only two-year college, while Kaplan University (formerly Hamilton College) and Upper Iowa University also have campuses there. Cornell College in Mount Vernon and the University of Iowa's main campus in Iowa City are both within of Cedar Rapids.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: The Cedar Rapids Community School District is the largest school district in the metropolitan area with an enrollment of 17,263 in the 2006–07 school year. Most of the city is in the district limits. The district contains 24 elementary schools, six middle schools, and four high schools: Jefferson, Washington, Kennedy, and Metro High School (an alternative high school).


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: Two neighboring school districts draw students from within the Cedar Rapids city limits. The Linn-Mar Community School District serves part of the northeast quadrant of the city and has seven elementary schools inside the city limits. The College Community School District serves part of the southwest quadrant of Cedar Rapids as well as neighboring rural portions of Linn, Benton and Johnson counties. A central campus off Interstate 380 holds College Community's five elementary schools, Prairie Creek Intermediate, Prairie Point Middle School & Ninth Grade Academy, and Prairie High School. The Marion Independent School District also serves a portion.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: The Cedar Rapids Metro Catholic Education System, which is affiliated with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Dubuque, consists of four elementary schools, two middle schools, one PK-8 school, and one high school (Xavier). The Cedar Rapids Catholic Education System and Cedar Rapids Community School District are synonymous with each other in the Cedar Rapids Public and Parochial School System.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: The city hosts several private schools, including Summit Schools, Cedar Valley Christian School, Trinity Lutheran School, Isaac Newton Christian Academy, Faith Christian Learning Center, and Good Shepherd Lutheran School of the WELS.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: Cedar Rapids' radio market, which consists of Linn County, is ranked 200th by Nielsen Audio with 194,000 listeners aged 12 and older.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: iHeart Media owns four stations in the Cedar Rapids area, including WMT 600 AM, a news/talk station that has broadcast since 1922. Clear Channel also owns KKSY-FM 96.5, a modern country music station; KMJM 1360 AM, a classic country station; KOSY-FM 95.7 FM, a hit music station; and KKRQ 100.7 FM, with a classic rock format, which is an Iowa City station that is typically highly rated in Cedar Rapids. Townsquare Media owns four radio stations in Cedar Rapids, which were formerly owned by Cumulus Media: KDAT 104.5 FM (adult contemporary), KHAK 98.1 FM (country music), and KRNA 94.1 FM (classic rock). Townsquare also operates KRQN 107.1 under a Lease-Management Agreement. KRQN broadcasts a (contemporary hits) format. Three other stations in Cedar Rapids are independently owned: KZIA 102.9 FM (contemporary hits), KGYM 1600 AM (sports radio), and KMRY 1450 AM/93.1 FM (Classic Hits). Several stations from Davenport, Waterloo, and Iowa City also figure into ratings in Cedar Rapids. These stations include Waterloo-licensed contemporary Christian "Life 101.9," KNWS-FM; KFMW 107.9 FM, known as "Rock 108," with an active rock format; and KOKZ 105.7 FM, which has a classic hits format.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: The only noncommercial station licensed to Cedar Rapids is KCCK-FM 88.3 FM, a jazz station licensed to Kirkwood Community College. KXGM 89.1 is a non-commercial contemporary Christian music station licensed to neighboring Hiawatha. NPR stations from Cedar Falls (KUNI (FM) 90.9 FM) and Iowa City (KSUI 91.7 FM and WSUI 910 AM) reach Cedar Rapids.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: The Cedar Rapids-Waterloo-Iowa City-Dubuque media market consists of 21 eastern Iowa counties: Allamakee, Benton, Black Hawk, Bremer, Buchanan, Butler, Cedar, Chickasaw, Clayton, Delaware, Dubuque, Fayette, Grundy, Iowa, Johnson, Jones, Keokuk, Linn, Tama, Washington, and Winneshiek. It is ranked 90th by Nielsen Media Research for the 2016–17 television season with 346,330 television households.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: Cedar Rapids is home to four network-affiliated stations: KGAN channel 2 (CBS), KCRG channel 9 (ABC), KFXA channel 28 (Fox), and KPXR-TV channel 48 (ION). NBC affiliate KWWL channel 7 and The CW affiliate KWWL-DT2 are based in Waterloo and maintain a newsroom inside the Alliant Energy tower in downtown Cedar Rapids. Other stations in the market are KWKB channel 20 (Court TV Mystery), licensed to Iowa City and KFXB-TV channel 40 (CTN), licensed to Dubuque. Public television is provided by Iowa PBS, which has two stations in the area: KIIN channel 12 in Iowa City and KRIN channel 32 in Waterloo. KWWF channel 22 (RTN), which operated from Waterloo, ceased broadcasting in 2013. Mediacom and local company ImOn Communications provide cable television service to Cedar Rapids.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: "The Gazette" is the primary daily newspaper for Cedar Rapids. The "Cedar Rapids Gazette" won a Pulitzer Prize in 1936, under editor Verne Marshall and primarily due to his efforts and articles, for its campaign against corruption and misgovernment in the State of Iowa.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: "Cedar Rapids" is an American comedy film about a naive insurance agent, played by Ed Helms, who is sent to represent his company at a regional conference in big town Cedar Rapids. Although the film is set in Cedar Rapids, it was actually mostly shot in Ann Arbor, Michigan, although exterior shots were done in Cedar Rapids.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: The 2017 film "Amelia 2.0" is a scifi drama set in a nameless fictional city. The majority of the movie was filmed in Cedar Rapids, using iconic locations such as the Cedar Rapids Public Library and Theater Cedar Rapids as important set pieces.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: "The Crazies" is a 2010 film set near Cedar Rapids in the fictional Odgen Marsh, Iowa. Bruce Aune, a real newscaster from KCRG-TV 9 in Cedar Rapids, appears in a mid-credits scene near the end of the film.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: "The Final Season" is a 2007 film about the Norway High School baseball team's pursuit of their 20th state championship and the district's fight against consolidation. The film includes footage of the Kennedy High School baseball field, the new Cedar Rapids Kernels baseball stadium, and an appearance by former KZIA-FM Cedar Rapids radio personalities Scott Schulte and the late Ric Swann.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: Cedar Rapids is served by Cedar Rapids Transit, consisting of an extensive bus system and taxi service. Cedar Rapids Transit operates scheduled bus service throughout the city and to Marion and Hiawatha. A series of enclosed pedestrian skywalks connect several downtown buildings.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: The city is also served by The Eastern Iowa Airport (formerly known as the Cedar Rapids Airport), a regional airport that connects with other regional and international airports. Cedar Rapids Transit and private bus lines also connect at the airport.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: Interstate 380, part of the Avenue of the Saints, runs north–south through Cedar Rapids. U.S. Highways 30, 151, and 218 and Iowa Highway 13 and Iowa Highway 100 also serve the city.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: Cedar Rapids is served by four major railroads. They are the Union Pacific, the Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railway (Crandic), the Canadian National, and the Iowa Northern Railway Company [IANR]. The Iowa Northern Railway has its headquarters in the historic Paramount Theater Building. The Crandic and the Iowa Interstate Railroad also are headquartered in Cedar Rapids. The Iowa Interstate reaches the city via the Crandic tracks, running a daily train from Iowa City, Iowa to Cedar Rapids. Until the 1960s the city had been a major hub for passenger trains. Union Station and Milwaukee Depot served the city, with trains originating in all directions from major cities of the West and the Midwest. Passenger service by the Milwaukee Road continued to neighboring Marion until 1971.


title: Cedar Rapids, Iowa

text: Cedar Rapids is linked to other Midwestern cities by the Burlington Trailways bus hub at the Eastern Iowa Airport.


title: Suzy Miller

text: Susan Miller (married name Susan Hunt) (born 19 May 1949) is a British model, actress, dancer, and choreographer. She has acted in several films such as "Twenty Nine" (1969) and "The Wild Geese" (1978). Miller gained notoriety for being married to Formula 1 race driver James Hunt (in 1974), and leaving him for Richard Burton in 1976.


title: Suzy Miller

text: Miller grew up in Southern Rhodesia (modern Zimbabwe) with her parents, a twin sister and a brother. By the age of 24, she was a successful fashion model in Britain. She was known for being one of the "beautiful people" and for getting whatever she wanted easily. In 1974, she met Hunt in Spain. He proposed to her only weeks later, and they were married the same year. The couple were considered "one of the sporting world's most happily married couples."


title: Suzy Miller

text: The couple spent their honeymoon in Antigua with one of Hunt's close friends, also newly married, and then settled in Spain for tax reasons. Later, Miller described feeling that Hunt's career came ahead of everything else in his life. He was also frequently unfaithful and the marriage floundered.


title: Suzy Miller

text: In December 1975, Burton met Miller at a Swiss ski resort and invited her to return to New York with him. Their relationship developed quickly and Burton left Elizabeth Taylor for Miller. Burton allegedly paid Hunt $1 million as part of the divorce settlement between Hunt and Miller.


title: Suzy Miller

text: Miller claimed that part of the reason she initially became involved with Burton was so that she could make Hunt jealous. Miller divorced Hunt in Haiti in June 1976. After her divorce from Hunt, she and Burton had a honeymoon of sorts, and were married in August 1976 in Arlington, Virginia, U.S. During their marriage, Miller was reported to be jealous of Burton's ex-wife Taylor. An interesting anecdote involves Miller's jealous insistence that, while Burton was appearing in a revival of "Camelot" in Toronto, a page from the program displaying an advertisement of Taylor's jewelry line must be removed from every copy or Burton would not go on. Trying to keep peace with his wife, Burton acquiesced and the theatre's staff had to remove the offending page from thousands of copies of the program. The marriage between Burton and Miller ended in their 1982 divorce, which was settled in Haiti.


title: Suzy Miller

text: Miller married a third time, to American millionaire Jack Cawood, a real estate developer in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and the couple moved to the United States.


title: Suzy Miller

text: Ron Howard's 2013 film, "Rush" recounts the intrigues surrounding her former husband, Hunt, and the role of Miller is played by Olivia Wilde. At the time, it was reported that Miller was living on the Spanish island of Ibiza.


title: Marshal of the Soviet Union

text: The rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union was created in 1935 and abolished in 1991 when the Soviet Union dissolved. Forty-one people held this rank. The equivalent naval rank was until 1955 admiral of the fleet and from 1955 Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union.


title: Marshal of the Soviet Union

text: While the supreme rank of Generalissimus of the Soviet Union, which would have been senior to Marshal of the Soviet Union, was proposed for Joseph Stalin after the Second World War, it was never officially approved.


title: Marshal of the Soviet Union

text: The military rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union was established by a decree of the Soviet Cabinet, the Council of People's Commissars (Sovnarkom), on 22 September 1935. On 20 November, the rank was conferred on five people: People's Commissar of Defence and veteran Bolshevik Kliment Voroshilov, Chief of the General Staff of the Red Army Alexander Yegorov, and three senior commanders, Vasily Blyukher, Semyon Budyonny, and Mikhail Tukhachevsky.


title: Marshal of the Soviet Union

text: Of these, Blyukher, Tukhachevsky, and Yegorov were executed during Stalin's Great Purge of 1937–38. On 7 May 1940, three new Marshals were appointed: the new People's Commissar of Defence, Semyon Timoshenko, Boris Shaposhnikov, and Grigory Kulik.


title: Marshal of the Soviet Union

text: During World War II, Kulik was demoted for incompetence, and the rank of Marshal of the Soviet Union was given to a number of military commanders who earned it on merit. These included Georgy Zhukov, Ivan Konev and Konstantin Rokossovsky to name a few. In 1943, Stalin himself was made a Marshal of the Soviet Union, and in 1945, he was joined by his intelligence and police chief Lavrenti Beria. These non-military Marshals were joined in 1947 by politician Nikolai Bulganin.


title: Marshal of the Soviet Union

text: Two Marshals were executed in postwar purges: Kulik in 1950 and Beria in 1953, following Stalin's death. Thereafter the rank was awarded only to professional soldiers, with the exception of Leonid Brezhnev, who made himself a Marshal in 1976, and Dmitry Ustinov, who was prominent in the arms industry and was appointed Defence Minister in July 1976. The last Marshal of the Soviet Union was Dmitry Yazov, appointed in 1990, who was imprisoned after the failed coup against Mikhail Gorbachev in 1991. Marshal Sergei Akhromeev committed suicide in 1991 during the fall of the Soviet Union.


title: Marshal of the Soviet Union

text: All Marshals in the third category had been officers in World War II, except Ustinov, who had been People's Commissar for Armaments. Even Yazov, who was 20 when the war ended, had been a platoon commander. Brezhnev was not a professional soldier, but was still commissioned as a political commissar in the war.


title: Marshal of the Soviet Union

text: Of the 35 Marshals who were career soldiers, the majority were of Russian origin. Timoshenko (Tymoshenko), Kulik (Kulyk), Grechko (Hrechko), Yeremenko (Yeryomenko), Moskalenko, Batitsky (Batytsʹkyy) and Koshevoy (Koshovyy) were of Ukrainian origin, while Sokolovsky (Sakaloŭski) and Yakubovsky (Jakuboŭski) had Belarusian origins. Rokossovsky (Rokossowski) was born in Congress Poland to a Polish family, while Malinovsky (Malinowsky) was born in Odessa (now in Ukraine) to a Polish father. Tukhachevsky also had Polish ancestry. Bagramyan (Baghramyan) was the sole marshal of Armenian origin.


title: Marshal of the Soviet Union

text: The rank was abolished with the dissolution of the Soviet Union in December 1991. It was succeeded in the new Russia by the rank of Marshal of the Russian Federation, which has been held by only one person, Marshal Igor Sergeyev, who was Russian Defence Minister from 1997 to 2001.


title: Ryder Cup

text: The Ryder Cup is a biennial men's golf competition between teams from Europe and the United States. The competition is contested every two years with the venue alternating between courses in the United States and Europe. The Ryder Cup is named after the English businessman Samuel Ryder who donated the trophy. The event is jointly administered by the PGA of America and Ryder Cup Europe, the latter a joint venture of the PGA European Tour (60%), the PGA of Great Britain and Ireland (20%), and the PGAs of Europe (20%).


title: Ryder Cup

text: Originally contested between Great Britain and the United States, the first official Ryder Cup took place in the United States in 1927 at Worcester Country Club in Worcester, Massachusetts. The home team won the first five contests, but with the competition's resumption after the Second World War, repeated American dominance eventually led to a decision to extend the representation of "Great Britain and Ireland" to include continental Europe from 1979. The inclusion of continental European golfers was partly prompted by the success of a new generation of Spanish golfers, led by Seve Ballesteros and Antonio Garrido. In 1973 the official title of the British Team had been changed from "Great Britain" to "Great Britain and Ireland", but this was simply a change of name to reflect the fact that golfers from the Republic of Ireland had been playing in the Great Britain Ryder Cup team since 1953, while Northern Irish players had competed since 1947. In addition to players from Great Britain and Ireland, the European team has since included players from Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain and Sweden.


title: Ryder Cup

text: Since 1979, Europe has won eleven times outright and retained the Cup once in a tied match, whilst the United States won nine times over the same period. Since 1979, Europe has won four times away on foreign soil (in 1987, 1995, 2004 and 2012), whilst the United States has won twice away on foreign soil (in 1981 and 1993). From 1995 to 2014, Europe won eight out of ten Ryder Cups.


title: Ryder Cup

text: The Ryder Cup, its alternate-year non-European counterpart (the Presidents Cup), and its women's equivalent (the Solheim Cup) remain exceptions within the world of professional sports because the competing professionals receive no prize money, despite the contests being high-profile events that bring in large amounts of money in television, sponsorship, ticketing and merchandise revenue.


title: Ryder Cup

text: The 2021 Ryder Cup was held on the Straits course at Whistling Straits, Haven, Wisconsin, from 24 to 26 September 2021. The United States defeated Europe 19–9, to clinch the largest margin of victory in the modern history of the event (since the inclusion of Continental Europe in 1979).


title: Ryder Cup

text: The Ryder Cup was held in odd-numbered years until 1999, but it then moved to even years in 2002 after being cancelled in 2001 due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks. It moved back to odd years again in 2021, after the 2020 event was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.