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This week, we're in Iowa discussing a family annihilator. Then, we'll talk about a jail built like a lazy Susan. Buckle up and join us on this dark and twisted ride through the Hawkeye State.Be sure to subscribe on Apple and leave a review, or email us at unitedstatesofmurder@gmail.comFollow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter!Sources: CBS News, ABC News, Deadliest Mums and Dads, Murderpedia - Steven Sueppel, Radio Iowa, A Haunted History of the Squirrel Cage Jail, Pottawattamie County Jail, Iowa PBS, Little Village Mag, US Ghost Adventures, Unleash CB
The new Iowa PBS documentary "Dogs of Service" introduces viewers to the training process of service dogs and the work they do for a variety of individuals, including veterans.
Iowa PBS takes students on virtual field trips to all of Iowa's 99 counties, and the 2025 Talk of Iowa book club selections are announced.
The Pinning Combination podcast with The Gazette's K.J. Pilcher and Dick Briggs welcomes “Voice of College Wrestling” Tim Johnson. The former Morning Sun and Coe wrestler and Mount Vernon wrestling coach turned broadcaster discussed his experiences and the return of wrestling to Iowa PBS. Pilcher and Briggs also highlight recent results and upcoming schedules.
A new Iowa PBS documentary tells the story of the 30 days organizers had to prepare for Pope John Paul II's visit to Iowa in 1979.
@neil_dahlstrom Where are they from, what do they farm, how did they get into farmingHow's the family - do they farm with family?Husband (Son) & FatherQuad CitiesWhat are they up to today?What they see that excites them?Author of #1 bestselling book Tractor WarsPublished 3 booksTractor WarsThe John Deere Story: A biography of Plowmakers John and Charles DeereLicoln's Wrath: Fierce Mobs, Brilliant Scoundrels, and a President's Mission to Destroy the PressAlmost 2M views on a documentary of the book Iowa PBS had a television premiere of the book Tractor Wars - winner of the 2022 American Book Fest award for Best History-General Research & SpeakerTaken him to historical societies and museums, abandoned factories-turned coffee shops, and state-of-the-art research centers across the countryJohn Deere EmployeeNew exhibit on the history of toys at the JD Pavilion The archivist and historianMember of the Kitchen Cabinet, the Food and Agriculture Advisory Board at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History EducationMonmouth (IL) College - history and classicsEastern IL University - masters in Historical AdministrationIntern - IL State Archives through the IL Regional Archives Depository programFree TimeWatching baseball, Hiking, Spending time outdoors, Cruising in his 1971 VW Super Beetle Would you rather:Attend a losing cubs game at the world series or a winning opening cubs game John Deere Model A or John Deere 4020Hike bryce canyon or yosemite Infamous villain or unknown superheroMow or weed whackRead or write Only eat ice cream in winter or only drink hot chocolate in summer What is the best thing you have eaten and where did you get it?Swillah, 06/08/2024Thank you. 5 starsThis review is coming from a guy who has grown up in the inner city, Chicago specifically. Ironically, living in the city most of my life has fueled my desire for a more rural life and that's led me to AG, and AG related podcasts. I love everything about the life and the information you gentlemen give us weekly. My eyes have really been opened. Keep up the excellent work. Don't forget to like the podcast on all platforms and leave a review where ever you listen!Websitewww.Farm4Profit.comShareable episode linkhttps://intro-to-farm4profit.simplecast.comEmail addressFarm4profitllc@gmail.comPhone515.207.9640Subscribe to YouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSR8c1BrCjNDDI_Acku5XqwFollow us on TikTokhttps://www.tiktok.com/@farm4profitConnect with us on Facebookhttps://www.facebook.com/Farm4ProfitLLC/
We're going to be sharing this episode today, which if you're listening in real-time, is shortly after President Biden stepped aside, not accepting the Democratic nomination and instead, getting behind his VP Kamala Harris - our country's first female VP, and first Asian and Black VP as well. Today's episode is focused on acknowledging the contributions of people who came before Ruby Bridges, who we all think of when we think of school integration. Little did we know that back in 1868 in Iowa, there was a young Black teen who was actually the first known person to integrate a school. What would happen if we all read children books that included the story of Susan Clark? How would knowing about our country's real history, with all its nuances, false starts, hope, and persistence change our understanding of where we are as a country today - and what it really will take to move it forward into a more tolerant, accepting, integrated, supportive, community-driven nation? Maybe it would teach us that history isn't linear, that backlashes do happen, but that the desire to fight is a sign that we all still hold onto hope, which is really what we need collectively now. What to listen for: What's so important about understanding real history - in particular, the contribution of girls and women What the story of Susan Clark tells us about how change does NOT come easily, does not come linearly, and that history repeats itself. Why this story was written as a children's book About Joshalyn: Joshalyn Hickey-Johnson, aka Ms. Rocki, was born and raised in Waterloo, Iowa, and attended Waterloo public schools. She is the mother of two and grandmother of seven. Ms. Rocki took on the challenge of working a traditionally male job at Viking Pump in Cedar Falls, Iowa, and worked there for 30 years. She began writing books featuring real-life experiences from her children's lives as they were growing up. Her debut book, “GOOD MORNING, LOVEY!” was published in 2005, followed by “Travis It's NOT Your Birthday!” in 2008. She partnered with Chaveevah Ferguson, serving as a publicist with BaHar Publishing, the first African-American-owned book publishing company in Iowa. She co-authored “Ropes In The Kitchen” with her father, Naaman ‘Jock' Hickey. Ms. Rocki started NORTH END UPDATE, a weekly live interactive show highlighting good things in her local community and featured on Iowa Public Television's “Greetings from Iowa.” Since 2017, she has worked on the show with her best friend and co-host Chaveevah. Ms. Rocki recently hosted Iowa PBS's “Juneteenth: THE MOVEMENT.”
Song: The Change Music by: Mary L. Cohen Notes: “My dad played the copper fish mold.” — aren't you curious now? Listen in as Mary Cohen and I explore family music, personal structures for improvisation, creating connections between incarcerated and not-incarcerated people, and more… We wander a bit through grief and disconnection and finding what is, in a conversation that's real and messy and touches on fear and joy, building a caring community for ourselves, our neighbors, the global world… living with regret and streaming grace to the person we were when we made a mistake; restoring connection. It's a glimpse of the rich variety of resources Mary draws on as she shapes her life… I hope to add some into mine. Songwriter Info: Mary L. Cohen, Associate Professor of Music Education at the University of Iowa, is lead author of Music-Making in U.S. Prisons: Listening to Incarcerated Voices (2022). She co-founded the International Music and Justice Network: IMAJIN Caring Communities, a group of researchers from 18 countries who study music-making in prisons, and you are welcome to join by contacting Mary to get on the group email list (mary-cohen@uiowa.edu). From 2009 to 2020 she led the Oakdale Community Choir with incarcerated and non-incarcerated participants where participants have written over 150 songs, and the Oakdale Choir performed over 75 of these songs, available with the Creative Commons License. To continue working toward the choir's goals of building communities of caring through singing and songwriting, she founded the Inside Outside Songwriting Collaboration Project where partnerships between incarcerated and non-incarcerated songwriters create original songs, build relationships, and learn about transformative and generative justice. She has been a keynote for conferences in Germany, Canada, and Portugal, interviewed by the BBC3 Music Matters, and has over 40 publications in journal articles, book chapters, and conference proceedings. She leads weekly music groups inside the Juvenile Detention Center of Linn County. Sharing Info: The song is free to share, and Mary welcomes networking support and invites you to further your education and activism regarding environmental justice, restorative/transformative/generative justice, and simply acting with kindness to all you encounter. Song Learning Time Stamps: Start time of teaching: 00:05:45 Start time of reprise: 01:07:58 Links: Oakdale Community Choir website: https://oakdalechoir.lib.uiowa.edu/ Dave Camlin's new book is Music-Making and Civic Imagination: A Holistic Philosophy. His website: https://www.davecamlin.com/civic There is a new 30 minute documentary film about the Oakdale Community Choir called "The Inside Singers." The 3 minute preview of the film is available at https://vimeo.com/169192145. Iowa PBS did a short 8'30" video story on the Oakdale Community Choir. Find it here: https://www.pbs.org/video/the-oakdale-community-choir-coralville-iowa-bfe7bd/ Andy Douglas, local Iowa City nonfiction & spiritual author wrote Redemption Songs: A Year in the Life of a Community Prison Choir about his experiences singing in the Oakdale Community Choir For people interested in abolition of the prison industrial complex, here are some good resources: Mariam Kaba's We Do This Til We Free Us University of Santa Cruz's Visualizing Abolition resources (including the Music for Abolition collection) Critical Resistance online at https://criticalresistance.org/ The book Mary wrote with Stuart Paul Duncan Music-Making in US Prisons: Listening to Incarcerated Voices To hear two versions of the Oakdale Community Choir performing "The Change" visit https://oakdalechoir.lib.uiowa.edu/original-works/ Most recent one was December 14, 2016 concert themed "Look on the Bright Side" track 13 The first version was Fall 2014 and is available under "Original works" link (scroll down a bit) along with the Fall 2016 version. The simple score of the song is available on that link too. Voice Science Works with lots of tools for voice habitation: https://www.voicescienceworks.org/ "The Real Work" (song) by Gretchen Sleicher, words by Wendell Berry https://songsforthegreatturning.net/originals/therealwork/ Nuts & Bolts: 6:8, minor, round Join the A Breath of Song Mailing list to receive a heads up as a new episode is released, plus a large version of the artwork, brief thoughts from my slightly peculiar brain... and occasional extras when they seem vitally important! No junk -- I will never sell your address. I read out all your names into my living room when I send new mailings... I appreciate the connection to you who are listening and singing these songs with me. https://dashboard.mailerlite.com/forms/335811/81227018071442567/share Exchange energy with A Breath of Song with dollars at the Gratitude Jar (whoo-hoo!!!!), or by making comments, leaving reviews, suggesting songs or songwriters (including yourself) ..... your participation matters! https://www.abreathofsong.com/gratitude-jar.html
Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter and Kay Henderson of Radio Iowa and Iowa PBS join Geoff Bennett to discuss the latest political news, including analysis of the 2024 campaign and how voters are reacting to the House impeachment inquiry of Biden. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders
Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter and Kay Henderson of Radio Iowa and Iowa PBS join Geoff Bennett to discuss the latest political news, including analysis of the 2024 campaign and how voters are reacting to the House impeachment inquiry of Biden. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders
Amy Walter of the Cook Political Report with Amy Walter and Kay Henderson of Radio Iowa and Iowa PBS join Geoff Bennett to discuss the latest political news, including analysis of the 2024 campaign and how voters are reacting to the House impeachment inquiry of Biden. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders
Welcome to the weekend!This is Stephen Colbert from the Gazette Digital News Desk, and I'm here with your update for Saturday, August 19th, and Sunday, August 20th, 2023.According to the National Weather Service, temperatures on Saturday will be sunny, with a high near 92, cooling to a low around 71 Saturday evening.Sunday will be sunny and hot with a high of 98. Sunday night will be partly cloudy, with a low around 72.Education savings accounts a ‘catalyst' for new private schools, according to an administrator It's likely more private schools will be opening in Iowa in the coming years, a private school administrator said Friday.The education savings accounts program passed by Republican lawmakers and Gov. Kim Reynolds this year created an opportunity for new private schools to start up across the state, Josh Bowar, the head of Sioux Center Christian School and the interim outreach coordinator for the Iowa Association of Christian Schools, said during the taping of this weekend's episode of “Iowa Press” on Iowa PBS.He said his organization has been in touch with at least 20 groups who are looking to open new Christian schools in the coming years because education savings accounts — valued at $7,600 per student for the coming school year — have increased the potential for the schools to attract students.More than 18,000 Iowa students were approved for the coming school year for the savings accounts to attend private school. About 60 percent of those students already attend private school, while about 40 percent are coming from public schools.Cedar Rapids man sentenced for role in Jan. 6 insurrectionA Cedar Rapids man was sentenced Friday to 30 months in prison for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol.Leo Christopher Kelly, 37, was sentenced Friday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., on seven offenses, including obstruction of an official proceeding, a felony, and six misdemeanors.According to court documents and evidence presented during Kelly's May trial, Kelly was one of the few rioters who breached the Senate Chamber. While there, Kelly ascended the Senate Dais, leafed through sensitive documents and took photos of them, the DOJ reported.Judge Royce C. Lamberth sentenced Kelly to 30 months in prison, followed by 36 months of supervised release. Kelly must pay $7,000 in restitution and fines.In the 31 months since Jan. 6, 2021, more than 1,100 people have been arrested in nearly all 50 states for crimes related to the breach of the U.S. Capitol.Marion traffic cameras now working at 2 intersections Traffic cameras at two intersections in Marion have been installed and officially went live Friday for a 30-day warning period, according to a news release from the city of Marion.The cameras are at the intersection of Highway 100 and East Post Road and the intersection of Highways 13 and 151.The original goal was to have them up and running by July 1, but the city hit a delay with permitting on signage for the cameras, according to the police department.Drivers caught on camera going more than 11 mph over the speed limit or running a red light will receive a warning in the mail for the first 30 days the cameras are live.After that, violations will result in a citation mailed to the registered owner of the vehicle.Have a good weekend, everyone.
The upcoming Iowa PBS documentary, "USS Iowa: Honoring the American Spirit", tells the story of the Hawkeye State's namesake at sea.
Throughout this year, Judy Woodruff has been examining divisions in the country. Recently, she listened in on focus groups in Iowa with two-time Trump voters as they discussed how they feel about the state of the nation, the divisiveness they see and who they feel is responsible. This story was produced with Iowa PBS and is part of the series, America at a Crossroads. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders
Throughout this year, Judy Woodruff has been examining divisions in the country. Recently, she listened in on focus groups in Iowa with two-time Trump voters as they discussed how they feel about the state of the nation, the divisiveness they see and who they feel is responsible. This story was produced with Iowa PBS and is part of the series, America at a Crossroads. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders
The news of former President Trump's federal indictment comes as the GOP primary field is still taking shape. Judy Woodruff is in Des Moines, Iowa, to listen in on voter discussions led by conservative pollster Sarah Longwell. Trump's indictment is the focus of the first of two America at a Crossroads reports on what Iowa Republicans are thinking. This story was produced with Iowa PBS. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders
The USS Iowa — a battleship that aided the U.S. military during World War II and the Korean War — is the subject of an upcoming Iowa PBS documentary.
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I'm here with your update for Wednesday, November 23.Soak in that temperature increase, we don't know how long this will last. According to the National Weather Service it will be increasingly cloudy during the day Wednesday with a high near 55 degrees. Commuters may be greeted by some patchy fog before 9 a.m. in the Cedar Rapids area. On Wednesday night it will be mostly cloudy with a low of around 39 degrees.Iowa's economy is in recession and losses in its workforce will be exceptionally difficult to recoup because older Iowans who are retiring are not being replaced by younger or new residents, a state economist said Tuesday.While the size of Iowa's workforce has continued to climb steadily throughout 2022, the most recent number of Iowans working still lags behind October 2019 and behind its pre-pandemic level in February 2020.Peter Orazem, a professor of labor economics at Iowa State University, discussed the state's economy and workforce issues Tuesday while recording this weekend's episode of “Iowa Press” on Iowa PBS.Iowa has the ninth-highest share of residents who were born in the state, Orazem said, meaning Iowa gets a proportionately small share of its population from other states or countries.“If you look at the sources of replacement labor in Iowa, it's really hard to come up with another one other than immigration, which has been the buffer for the Iowa labor force for many years,” Orazem said.Speaking of PBS, you won't be hearing any of their fundraising pitches for a while.An apparent cybersecurity breach has caused Iowa PBS to cancel the remainder of its annual fall fundraising pledge drive.An Iowa PBS spokeswoman Tuesday confirmed the issue, which has not impacted the station's ability to broadcast programming.“In the early hours of Sunday morning, Iowa PBS became aware of suspicious activity on our network systems. We swiftly brought in systems experts to help us identify the issue,” Iowa PBS spokeswoman Susan Ramsey said in a statement.The incident led Iowa PBS Friends Foundation, the station's governing body, to cancel the remainder of the Fall Festival, which is the station's pledge drive. That decision likely will mean a significant reduction in donations to the station; roughly half the station's annual revenue comes from contributions and grants, according to a recent state analysis.“While this will mean a considerable loss of donor revenue in this period, we believe this is in the best interest of the Iowans we serve,” the statement said.The College Community School District is increasing its starting salary for bus drivers to $23 an hour, a $2 per hour increase, in an effort to recruit and retain more drivers. New hires also will receive a $500 sign-on bonus as just one recent initiative the district has launched in response to the national bus driver shortage, according to a news release Tuesday. All College Community employees who recruit a bus driver, van driver or bus aide to join the transportation department also receive a new recruitment bonus. School districts across the nation are facing a shortage of school bus drivers. During the summer of 2020, the Cedar Rapids Community School District lost a fifth of its school bus drivers because of COVID-19. In August, the Cedar Rapids district said it was facing challenging bus driver shortages. The district implemented several short and long-term strategies to close the staffing shortage gap, including combining routes and having mechanics trained and driving buses.
This is John McGlothlen with The Gazette digital news desk and I'm here with your update for Tuesday, October 18th.According to the National Weather Service, it will be sunny in the Cedar Rapids area today, with a high near 47. Winds from the north-northwest between 11 and 20 mph, with gusts as high as 31 mph. Then tonight it will be clear, with a low around 23.Iowa's candidates for governor clashed over the best use of Iowa's state tax revenue, education and abortion in the first and only scheduled debate between Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and Democrat challenger Deidre DeJear. Monday night on Iowa PBS, Reynolds touted the record of her six-year term, pointing to tax cuts and keeping schools and businesses open during most of the COVID-19 pandemic as her major achievements and the reason voters should elect her again. DeJear, a businesswoman from Des Moines, said the state has been underfunding critical systems including education and health care, and said state government is not prioritizing the needs of Iowans. A Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll released Sunday showed Reynolds with a solid lead over DeJear, with support from 52 percent of Iowa voters compared with DeJear's 35 percent. Libertarian Rick Stewart, who did not meet the qualifications to be invited to the debate, showed 4 percent support in the poll.Iowa U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson of Marion was hospitalized Sunday night at UnityPoint St. Luke's Hospital for a kidney infection, and a televised debate in the race for the 2nd Congressional District has been canceled. In an update Monday afternoon, her chief of staff, Jimmy Peacock, said Hinson was feeling better but still undergoing treatment and would remain hospitalized overnight. Hinson, a Republican running for re-election to a second term in Iowa's newly drawn 2nd District, was scheduled to debate Democratic challenger and state Sen. Liz Mathis of Hiawatha tonight on Iowa PBS. A news release from Iowa PBS said both candidates were offered dates to reschedule the debate, but “none of those dates were mutually acceptable to the campaigns.”Former Iowa men's basketball player Joe Wieskamp was placed on waivers by the San Antonio Spurs Monday. Muscatine's Wieskamp was a second-round draft pick of the Spurs in 2021 after leaving Iowa following his junior season. He began the season on a two-way contract, and was converted to a standard NBA contract in March. He signed a two-year contract this summer with the first year guaranteed. So he'll be paid $2.175 million by San Antonio unless he is claimed on waivers. Wieskamp averaged 17.1 points in 15 games last season for San Antonio's Austin Spurs NBA G League affiliate. He played in 29 games with San Antonio, averaging 2.1 points in 7.1 minutes per game.–
A new documentary from Iowa PBS has been developed to raise awareness about suicide and mental health needs in Iowa.
The chance for rain from Friday will carry over a little into Saturday. According to the National Weather Service there will be a slight chance of showers, hovering at around 20 percent, in the Cedar Rapids area between 1 and 4 p.m., and a slight chance of showers and thunderstorms after that. Otherwise it will be mostly cloudy, with a high near 83 degrees. The low will be around 68 degrees. This trend will continue into Sunday, but with partly sunny skies and a high near 86 degrees. On Sunday night it will be mostly clear, with a low of around 66 degrees. With a brief glance at next week's temperatures, it's looking hotter again, so enjoy the cooler weather we get this weekend. The Linn County Sheriff's Office continued its search Friday for an 11-year-old Cedar Rapids girl named Zyah Thomas who went into the Cedar River Wednesday near Palisades-Kepler State Park. A Thursday evening tweet from the Sheriff's Office said Thursday's search efforts, which were conducted using boats and divers, yielded no results, and the search would continue Friday. Thomas was visiting the beach Wednesday afternoon with her family. She was playing in the water when she began to struggle, leading her to disappear into the river, according to Linn County Sheriff Brian Gardner. On Friday, there were eight deputies on scene. The search was being conducted using boats and a helicopter. Nearly a dozen nursing homes in Iowa have closed since late last year, largely due to financial stress from inflation, supply chain issues and workforce shortages, the leader of a statewide health care organization said Friday. While many businesses and industries are facing those same pressures, Brent Willett, president and CEO of the Iowa Health Care Association, said nursing homes cannot respond to those pressures in the same way other businesses can. Because of that lack of flexibility, many nursing homes, especially in rural areas, face closing, Willett said, and he argued that due to these challenges nursing homes need more financial assistance from the state. Willett made the comments Friday during taping of this weekend's episode of “Iowa Press” on Iowa PBS. Even where nursing homes that are staying afloat, many are being forced to reduce their services or available beds, Willett said. According to a recent survey of his group's members, at least 45 percent of Iowa nursing homes are limiting or freezing admissions because of a lack of staff, he said. Due to a https://www.thegazette.com/higher-education/university-of-iowa-scrambles-to-find-seats-for-more-freshmen-than-expected/ (larger-than-expected freshmen class coming next month) to the University of Iowa — meaning strong demand for on-campus housing — the UI has announced several measures aimed at mitigating crowding in its residence halls. Where the campus in both of the last two academic years provided on-campus isolation and quarantine space for students who contract COVID-19, students this fall must come up with their own plan, according to a https://apps.its.uiowa.edu/dispatch/messages/view/f916a796-5406-4249-8554-b1986510af01 (recent message) from UI Housing and Dining. The university also is reopening its Parklawn Hall, which UI officials previously suggested they might raze as part of redevelopment plans for 7.8 acres that include the former Hawkeye marching band practice field. In another interesting maneuver aimed at addressing the overflow, UI Housing and Dining is converting student lounges on floors in its Rienow, Slater and Stanley halls into rooms. Six students will share each lounge, which will be accessible only by key to its residents.
Charity Nebbe and guests discuss the history of Juneteenth and the recent swell of Juneteenth celebrations in Iowa. Later on, journalist Ty Rushing shares his new documentary on Iowa PBS that tackles how to end racism.
More Than a Mile's introductory podcast is about local food and the farmers and artisans that produce and provide to their local communities. Nick Carter is the host of the More Than A Mile podcast and is the co-founder and CEO of Market Wagon, an online farmers market. Episode 1 Transcript Nick Carter (Market Wagon) (00:04): Welcome to More Than A Mile, a local food podcast from Market Wagon, focused on connecting you to local food through farmer stories from across America. I'm Nick Carter, your host, a farmer and the CEO and co-founder of Market Wagon. We are your online farmer's market with a mission to enable food producers to thrive in their local and regional markets. Food is so much more than just nutrients and calories. It's actually the fabric that holds us together. And I look forward to crafting a generational quilt of farmers' stories and experiences, the victories and challenges of individuals, families, and teams doing their part to help democratize food in America. Thanks for joining me for this episode of More Than A Mile, and thank you for buying local food. It's one critical step in making an investment in food for future generations. (00:54): Well, my name's Nick, welcome to the More Than A Mile podcast. I'm your host. And normally I will be joined here by some of the esteemed farmers and food artisans, the food producers that really make local food, what it is. But today, just for a brief moment, I want to lay the foundation and let you know why we decided to launch this podcast and I'm gonna share a little bit about my background, how local food is important to me and why I think also it's important to everybody. As a matter of fact, I think it's so important that I wrote a book about it, and I gotta be honest. There's nothing more self-aggrandizing than self-publishing a book. Well, perhaps, self-publishing your own podcast about the book that yoU.S.elf-published. So I'm well aware of that. And let me just say that the point of this podcast is not about me and what I really look forward to is bringing onto the show, those people that I admire, respect, and have been spending my career to try and build a marketplace and a world where their small farms, their small food, businesses can thrive. (02:02): That's what this is all about. I want to let you know how I came to this mission in my career, why it's important to me. And I think it'll resonate with why you have tuned into a podcast about local food. So I wrote this book More Than A Mile, and it's a play on words, right? The question we were asking is what's important about local food and the answer is that it's more than just measuring it in miles. As I was in my late twenties and early thirties, trying to figure out how we could create a business that was viable on our own family farm. That seemed to be slipping away. I knew that the local food movement was our only chance we weren't going to get big. Let's talk about getting big or getting out a little later in the podcast today, including some historical soundbites that I'm going to reflect on. (02:54): And so I had to I had to make it into the local food movement. Well, the first question I wanted to ask is a little, what does that mean? How far away am I allowed to sell the stuff that we grow? And what I discovered is that there was very little by way of kind of an orthodoxy of local food that all of its adherence could faithfully commit to and celebrate. Or I guess excommunicate the heretics because people who love local food, its most loyal adherence may be drinking fair trade coffee sourced from Columbia. They'd certainly eat chocolate. And on the flip side of the coin, people that live in Arkansas probably aren't buying Tyson chicken just because it's quote unquote local to them. So there must be something else, something more elemental in this idea of local food that we were really grasping for, that we were looking for as food consumers in the U.S. and I wanted to try and unpack that. Historic Soundbite: Wendell Berry (July 1974) (03:52): "I also remember that at the same time in Washington, the word on farming was get big or get out a policy that is still in effect. The only difference here is in method. The force used by the communists was military, with us it has been economic, a free market in which the freest were the richest, the attitudes were equally cruel. And I believe that in the long run, the results will be equally damaging, not just to the concerns and values of the human spirit, but to the practical possibilities of survival. And so those who could not get big have got out, not just in my community, but in farm communities all over the country." Nick Carter (Market Wagon) (04:37): That was Wendell Berry. He's an incredibly influential author in the local food movement and in my life in particular. And I have to admit as I write a book and as I venture in this career in local food, I'm standing on the shoulders of giants. There's many who have gone before me, Michael Paul and Joel Salitan, Wendell Berry, and others. And I really want to zero in on Wendell Berry's work because what's interesting about his work over and against the others who have written about and pontificated on local food, and the state of our current food supply, Wendell was contemporary in the seventies and eighties, as these transformations were taking place, he was able to see then what would happen if America didn't turn away? And he was right. That is a level of prescience, of almost a prophetic power to be able to stand and warn about the future. (05:27): And if only we had listened, if only we had listened to Wendell and where Wendell was standing in the moment in the seventies, when, when that audio clip you just heard was, was recorded, he was standing up against the most influential person, arguably in the history of American agriculture who has really shaped American agriculture the way it is today. And his name is Earl Butz. Earl Butz was the Nixon era director of USDA, the United States Department of Agriculture. And he fancies himself the hero of American food supply. But what many of us have understood is that he's anything but. Historical Soundbite: Marshall Martin (Feb 1993) (06:07): "And then 1980s came along and times are difficult and many family farms faced foreclosure and bankruptcy. And there's still some today who, who claim that they're suffering from overexpansion. So I guess my question for you is Dr. Butz, first of all, did you say that, that the farmers are to plant fence row to fence row? And in retrospect, was that good advice?" Historical Soundbite: Earl Butz (Feb. 1993) (06:26): "I probably said it. I said a lot of things when I was secretary and I expect, I did say it, but it was the market who dictated that farmers plant fence row to fence row. Prices were up, exports were good. And the market dictated expand your production. They not only planted fence row to fence row, they tore out the fence rows. I can't even find the fence rows out there now, I guess that's because of large tractors and large combines. But be that as it may, but Marshall, if you don't produce it, you can't sell it. And if you have this program, we've had for years of curtailing production and telling the rest of where we're going to cut back and we're going to raise prices and cut back. That's not the way you expand markets. What we've done in our program around here is we've got our, we've put our prices up here with our price supports and then we've curtailed our production and paid our farmers not to produce. (07:11): We sent a signal to the rest of the world that, that we're not going to be a reliable supplier. We sent a signal to the rest of the world that we're going to cut back on production. We got high price and we sent a signal. You expand your production on your marginal acres and your fragile land. And then just undersell the U.S. by a few dollars a ton, which is precisely what they do. They made us the residual salesman in the world's marketplace. Undersell us $10 a ton until you empty your bins in your warehouses. And then the world can take what they need from the U.S. and that's the position we've gotten ourselves into so that now we've got to heavily subsidize our exports to dig out of the pit that we've dug ourselves into." Nick Carter (Market Wagon) (07:50): As a kid growing up on the farm, we spent our summers; spring, summer, and fall, producing food. We spent our winters clearing fence rows, pulling trees down, pulling out old fences and combining and joining fields together to make fields bigger and bigger and bigger so that we can produce more grain. Butz's vision for the U.S. was compelling. It was strong, and you got to hand it to the guy. He pulled it off. His vision was that the United States would become the world leader in grain exports. And in order to do that, he had to activate farms to produce as much grain as humanly possible--farm, quote, "fence row to fence row." That's what we were trying to do. The next quote was to "get big or get out" in order to be the most efficient grain producing nation. We had to be large, massively efficient grain farms all throughout the Midwest and central plain states. (08:44): We were going to export to the world, corn, soybeans, and wheat, in such supplies that nobody else would bother to grow it. We would dominate the market. Well, this was a great strategic play, especially in the Cold War era, when the Soviets controlled most of the world's oil supply, maybe we could control the grain supply. What happened though is that that market never really materialized. And while farms like mine, where we grew up originally raising livestock, feeding the grain that we raised to that livestock. And what we said was we walked most of our grain off the farm. We were a ecosystem unto ourselves. The manure went back to the fields and it produced more grain the following year. Just enough grain to feed our livestock, which were also raising alfalfa. And they were grazing. Instead, we became a specialized farm. We were contributing to the United States, food supply, corn and soy, but the world that Earl Butz saw as the customer for that, they didn't need it in the same quantity that we were able to produce. (09:49): So what do you do when you have heaping mountains of corn and soy piling up and grain elevators and in store houses and in the U.S. reserves of grain? Well, you release it into the market in new ways, making cheap livestock feed. There's a lot of plots, and many subplots, in the food movement in the U.S. but the overarching plot really has been our obsession and specialization for producing grain. Other things that matriculate out of that are, for example, our desire for pasture-raised or grass fed beef. Well, what's that a reaction against, well, in the seventies and eighties, it became more economical to simply confine your animals and feed them nothing but corn and soy, because well, all that corn and soy had nowhere to go. So it became very inexpensive to buy pure grain feed regimens. And we turned cattle, hogs, and eventually poultry into confined animals. Today, when you see a reaction against CAFOs (Confined Animal Feeding Operations), the real root cause of all of that was a massive overproduction of grain produced for Earl Butz's vision of feeding the world. But in the end, the world didn't need our grain that much." Historical Soundbite: Iowa PBS (Sep. 2013) (11:07): "In 1973, President Nixon's secretary of agriculture, Earl Butz, responded by calling upon American farmers to plant fence row to fence row. And he told them to get big or get out. Producers took his words to heart and the race to feed the world was on." Nick Carter (Market Wagon) (11:26): Earl Butz, fancied himself as the hero of American agriculture. And in many ways what he did was astounding. It was had a deep impact. That's for sure the echo effects of this bubble of grain supply are still here today. We spent most of the seventies, eighties, and nineties building confined animal feeding operations. But even at that, we couldn't consume all of the grain that these specialized Midwestern farmers were producing. Next, if you recall, ethanol became a big thing and even bio-diesel, what else can we do with this corn and soy? Well, maybe we can burn it in our cars? But as recently, as about a decade ago, we hit what's called the ethanol blend wall. We are blending more ethanol than we can use into our petrol fuels in the U.S. And so we had to come up with somewhere else to put it, and the next place ended up being dairy. (12:15): About five years ago, we started to see reports that we had been over producing milk in the U.S. and dairy was being dumped. Milk is now being applied to fields as a nitrogen fertilizer and where we stand today, we've pushed this bubble all the way to the end. And we are sitting in the U.S. on billions of pounds of excess cheese, because we've pushed the grain to the dairy, to the milk, to the cheese, and we have more than we possibly need. So how does that lead us to the original question of local food? What is local food? Is it really just a matter of distance? Well, the distance from you to where the food came from, it doesn't solve any of these issues of overusing the land for grain, specializing farms, putting animals into confined feeding operations. What we really mean by local food. (13:10): If we boiled it down is relationship. We want somebody to be local near to us, not just by the miles that I can drive to the place of production, but I'm looking for somebody who I can relate to that's producing my food and that person, the local food producer, stands not just as a relationship to me as a consumer, but they stand in a gap because they mediate a relationship between me and the land. They have a close relationship with their land and a close relationship with the person consuming the food. They become a mediator. My stewardship of the land in the U.S. is effectuated through my relationship with a farmer who's a good steward of the land that they own and that they operate. So what about certifications? What about labels like organic or natural? Well, they're helpful if the farmer that we are trusting to have a relationship with the land--mediate that relationship between us and the land--is actually growing things organically. But the organic certification program in the late nineties became co-opted by the USDA. (14:19): None other than Earl Butz's legacy. They trademarked the name and created a list of certification requirements in order to be able to use the label. The label today stands as sort of a proxy for, can I trust the person producing this food? And it's somewhat helpful, but what's more helpful is if I know the person and I understand how they are stewarding the land. I may not necessarily need to see that little round label on their package because the reality today is that little round label can get rather expensive and nearly impossible for small family farms to qualify for. And on the flip side, there are today over 40 synthetic chemicals that are approved by the USDA and still be allowed to be certified organic. The whole program when it became government run lost a lot of its appeal. So how do I know that these stewards of the land that I'm building a relationship with are doing it right? (15:19): Do I look for insignia, emblems, certifications? That's sort of what the USDA organic program promised. The reality, however, is that most of the people that are small family farms, they are responsible for the land, not just because they have to, to pass a certification, to make the person with the badge, check a box on a report, but because they have to, so that, that land continues to produce food for them, for generations to come. They have an obligation to the land out of their relationship to the land. Certified organic is helpful if the farmers are actually certified organic. If they're using organic practices. And what we've found is that many of the farmers and food producers who we work with have been organic before organic was cool. And they're organic still today, even if they can't afford or pass the regulatory hurdles that it takes to be able to legally use the little green emblem on their packaging that says certified organic. It may sound like what I'm asking people to do. (16:19): It seems daunting, build a relationship with every food producer that's going to feed your family. Yeah, that sounds difficult, but that's actually what we're doing with Market Wagon. And we learned the lessons the hard way. Before Market Wagon, I had started a company that was focused on getting local food into grocers, onto store shelves, where people could buy it and right alongside the rest of the industrial food that they were already shopping for. And we struggled for a lot of reasons, but one of the core problems there was grocery obfuscates, the relationship between the producer and the end consumer. The only way to directly connect you with the people who feed you is e-commerce. We're not trying to go back to Mayberry because, you know, a hundred years ago, everybody was directly connected to the people that fed them. Most of the time it was themselves and at the town square and in the small communities where they live. (17:13): And today the world is smaller because of the internet and because of technology. And we are doing this with Market Wagon, by creating more than just an online marketplace, where you can buy--more than buying, you can relate. We've created features that are almost like social media, following farmers, inviting friends, chatting, commenting, and having dialogues through the internet with food producers and the other people who consume the same food. We're creating a community around food and connecting you, using technology directly with the people who are producing the food so that you can trust them and they can mediate your relationship to the land that feeds us. That's also what this podcast is about. That's what I'm here to do is to bring the people onto this podcast, who you can know, learn a little bit more about them. Get to know the farmers, the food producers, the chefs, the artisans, who are mediating our relationship to the land. As we build a relationship-based trust-based food supply. I look forward to helping tell the story of farmers and food producers all across America, who are producing local food, measured more than just miles. Nick Carter (Closing) (18:37): Thanks for listening to this episode of More Than A Mile. Be sure to sign up for Market Wagon at marketwagon.com or after downloading the Market Wagon app for iOS or Android. Follow us @MarketWagon on Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, and Facebook for stories, recipes, special announcements, news, and just digital handshakes from our friendly farming community. If you enjoyed More Than A Mile, please rate the podcast and write a review on iTunes, Castbox, Pod Chaser, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Thank you for continuing to support local food. Credited Historical Audio Clips in Episode “Agriculture for a Small Planet Symposium (Wendell Berry).” July 1, 1974. The Berry Center. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1tioiBrZRE&t=50s “Leaders in Agricultural Policy: A Conversation with Earl Butz.” February 1993. Purdue Ag Econ. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46G831BReDs “The 1970s See Good Times in Agriculture.” Sep. 6, 2013. Iowa PBS. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Azxkm-3g1D4&t=2s
The weather impacts a wide-swath of our lives. Iowa PBS producer John Torpy found out many people have a passion about their line of work and that includes the state climatologist of Iowa. We're previewing the upcoming series of special reports entitled Iowa's Wild Weather. Torpy gives us some behind the scenes information on the project and we see some clips from the upcoming body of work.
We're going to get a little dirty in this week's podcast. We'll climb aboard a combine and discuss how we shoot video at harvest from the ground, on-board and in the air. Peter Tubbs and Paul Yeager talk about examples of places we've recorded video, the types of gear and how we usually know what farmers are thinking in how they react to a television camera showing up in their field. Click here for this in the field report and look behind the scenes of our Iowa PBS operation.
Some high profile Republicans who may run for president are in Des Moines today (Friday) where they'll speak at a gathering of Christian conservatives. Two members of the Trump White House will address The Family Leader's annual Leadership Summit: former Vice President Mike Pence and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem will also be there. Family Leader president Bob Vander Plaats told Iowa PBS that those three potential GOP candidates were invited because they've spent less time speaking to Iowa evangelical voters. The Family Leader plays a prominent role in GOP presidential politics. In 2016, Vander Plaats endorsed Texas Sen. Ted Cruz who won the Iowa caucuses but lost the Republican nomination to Donald Trump.Party officials have said they expect the Iowa GOP to hold the nation's first caucus again in 2024. Iowa's unemployment rate rose slightly to 4% in June as more resident began looking for work. Iowa Workforce Development reported Friday that
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I'm here with your update for Saturday, April 24 and Sunday, April 25. I feel the need to start the weather off by informing you it is going to randomly jump up to a high temperature of nearly 80 degrees Monday and Tuesday. I mention this both because the weekend's weather will not be as interesting, and because that is roughly a 40 degree jump from some of the highs this past week. I don't mean to undersell this weekend's weather, though. Besides some frost in the mornings it should be rather pleasant. According to the National Weather Service there will be a high near 60 degrees in the Cedar Rapids area Saturday with partly sunny skies. Sunday will feature very similar weather, with partly sunny skies predicted and a very low chance for precipitation. It is an event that was made to be announced on the radio: Toby Keith is coming to the Xtream Arena. The Xtream Arena in Coralville announced Friday that the country music star will be the venue's first concert. Keith will headline the arena on Oct. 14 with guest Matt Stell. The roughly $70 million arena and sports complex https://www.thegazette.com/government-politics/ahead-of-bittersweet-opening-coralville-arena-backers-express-excitement-for-the-future/ (opened in September 2020) and has hosted sporting events and soon will be home to a USHL hockey team, but this marks the first music event for the venue. The arena has a capacity of 6,600 for concerts. Federal health officials lifted a temporary pause Friday night on the use of the one-dose Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine after a safety review by the CDC and the FDA. The agencies had paused use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine last week because of reports of six cases of blood clots among the millions of people who had received the vaccine. The announcement Friday evening followed a meeting of an independent advisory panel to the CDC that recommended the inoculations with the Johnson & Johnson vaccine resume. The panel said the benefits outweigh the risks even as it was briefed about an additional small group of recipients who had developed blood clots. Rob Sand, the Democratic Iowa state auditor, said Friday he is considering three options for next year's elections: run for re-election as auditor, run for governor or run for the U.S. Senate. Followers of Iowa politics have suspected Sand, a former staffer in the Iowa Attorney General's Office who was elected state auditor in 2018, was likely to run for governor or the U.S. Senate seat in 2022. Sand confirmed that speculation Friday during taping of this weekend's episode of “Iowa Press” on Iowa PBS. In local politics, the vacancy on the Johnson County Board of Supervisors will be filled by special election. Johnson County voters will go to the polls June 8 to fill the seat of former Supervisor Janelle Rettig, who resigned last weekend. The decision to hold a special election was made Friday by a committee consisting of County Auditor Travis Weipert, County Recorder Kim Painter and County Treasurer Tom Kriz. This briefing is sponsored in part by Corridor Careers. Are you looking for a job? https://www.corridorcareers.com/ (CorridorCareers.com) is a resource to local job seekers where they can get job tips, sign up for local job alerts, build a resume and more. Check it out at https://www.corridorcareers.com/ (CorridorCareers.com). Be sure to subscribe to The Gazette Daily news podcast, or just tell your Amazon https://www.thegazette.com/topic?eid=121774&ename=Alexa&lang=en (Alexa) enabled device to “enable The Gazette Daily News skill" so you can get your daily briefing by simply saying “Alexa, what's the news? If you prefer podcasts, you can also find us on iTunes.
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I'm here with your update for Thursday April 8. Thursday will bring another day with a chance for rain all day, although that won't mean it will rain all day. According to the National Weather Service there will be a 30 percent chance of rain after 10 a.m. in the Cedar Rapids area with a high near 55 degrees. Then there will be a 50 percent chance of showers Thursday evening. The cloud cover will range from cloudy to mostly cloudy all day. https://www.thegazette.com/k/over-600-students-in-quarantine-in-iowa-city-schools/ (More than 600 students in the Iowa City Community School District were in self quarantine Wednesday) — including about a third of the students at Northwest Junior High School — because of exposure to the novel coronavirus. Of those students, 127 have tested positive for COVID-19. Five staff members are positive for the disease, and 16 are in quarantine. In all, 11 classrooms were closed because of the absences. When a classroom is closed, however, students continue learning virtually for two weeks until they can return to in-person learning. Iowa City schools are following quarantine guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Students in close contact with a positive COVID-19 case, even if both people were properly wearing a mask at the time of contact, will be quarantined. https://www.thegazette.com/news/gov-kim-reynolds-calls-for-ban-of-vaccine-passports/ (Gov. Kim Reynolds said Wednesday she wants legislation to prohibit vaccine passports in Iowa), citing her concern about potential action from the federal government to create a system that businesses and other entities could use to decide who can, for instance, safely travel or attend concerts. Just a day earlier, the White House said there will be no federal vaccine passport system. During a news conference Wednesday at Iowa PBS studios, the Republican governor expressed her staunch opposition to such vaccine passports. Although she was vague about what kind of prohibition she seeks, vaccine passports, generally speaking, are documents provided electronically or otherwise that prove an individual has received the COVID-19 vaccine. The idea has been gaining traction among businesses and schools as a way of assuring customers and allowing them to reopen more broadly. However, this week the World Health Organization, citing equity concerns, said it was against mandatory proof of the vaccine for international travel. So far, the Republican governors of Idaho, Texas and Florida have signed similar executive orders forbidding their state governments from requiring or issuing COVID-19 vaccine passports. https://www.thegazette.com/higher-education/first-university-of-iowa-presidential-finalist-to-visit-monday/ (The University of Iowa next week will host a public forum for the first of four finalists) to become the institution's 22nd president. Each finalist is scheduled to make a two-day campus visit to meet with constituent groups and participate in an open forum. The first finalist will come Monday and Tuesday, with his or her public forum scheduled for 3:30 p.m. this coming Monday. The other three finalists are scheduled to come on their visits before the end of the month. Given the pandemic and social distancing requirements, in-person attendance at the forums will be limited. But each forum will be livestreamed, and members of the public can submit questions via the Uhttps://presidentialsearch.uiowa.edu/search-process/candidate-forums (I presidential search website.) This briefing is sponsored in part by Corridor Careers. Are you looking for a job? https://www.corridorcareers.com/ (CorridorCareers.com) is a resource to local job seekers where they can get job tips, sign up for local job alerts, build a resume and more. Check it out at https://www.corridorcareers.com/ (CorridorCareers.com). Be sure to subscribe to The Gazette Daily news podcast, or just tell...
This is Stephen Schmidt from the Gazette digital news desk and I'm here with your update for Thursday, March 4. All that snow melting recently may contribute some to the fog during your commute Thursday morning, but besides that it will be another sunny day. According to the National Weather Service, the fog possibility of fog will lessen in the Cedar Rapids area after 10 a.m. Then it will be mostly sunny, with a high near 43 degrees. The low will be 23 degrees Thursday night, with partly cloudy skies. Demonstrating her faith in the newly approved one-shot Johnson & Johnson vaccine against COVID-19, Gov. Kim Reynolds was injected with it Wednesday on live television. Reynolds, along with her husband, Kevin, and state Public Health Director Kelly Garcia received inoculations partway through a news conference at the Iowa PBS studios. Reynolds said she waited until now to receive a COVID-19 vaccine to defer to other Iowans in populations more vulnerable to the infection's most severe effects. She said she chose to receive the Johnson & Johnson shot to show Iowans it is as safe and effective as the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines already in circulation. While the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was shown in clinical trials to prevent virus deaths and severe symptoms, it has been tested as being less effective in preventing moderate symptoms. Iowans will not have to pay state income taxes on the temporary federal unemployment compensation they received during the pandemic, under a bill passed unanimously by the Iowa House on Wednesday. Representatives agreed to add the provision to a Senate-passed measure that exempted federal Paycheck Protection Program grants and loans given Iowa businesses after the pandemic arrived in Iowa last March. Democrats sought to also exempt state jobless benefits from Iowa income tax, but that effort failed because of its additional cost. Environmental groups spoke out this week against a third attempt to open an 11,600-head cattle feedlot near Monona. The public meeting Monday was over the nutrient management plan submitted by Supreme Beef, owned by Mike Walz, Dean Walz and Jared Walz. The men have been trying to open a feedlot on the site since 2017, but the proposal has https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/government/feedlots-runoff-violations-near-monona-stay-with-iowa-department-of-natural-resources-20180717 (met ongoing opposition) from some neighbors and environmentalists concerned about the 34.5 million gallons a year of manure coming from the feedlot polluting streams and groundwater. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources in October https://www.thegazette.com/subject/news/government/iowa-dnr-approves-smaller-cattle-feedlot-near-monona-20201006 (approved Supreme Beef for 2,700 cattle), but the company wants a larger operation. This briefing is sponsored in part by Corridor Careers. Are you looking for a job? https://www.corridorcareers.com/ (CorridorCareers.com) is a resource to local job seekers where they can get job tips, sign up for local job alerts, build a resume and more. Check it out at https://www.corridorcareers.com/ (CorridorCareers.com). Be sure to subscribe to The Gazette Daily news podcast, or just tell your Amazon https://www.thegazette.com/topic?eid=121774&ename=Alexa&lang=en (Alexa) enabled device to “enable The Gazette Daily News skill" so you can get your daily briefing by simply saying “Alexa, what's the news?" If you prefer podcasts, you can also find us on iTunes.
Today we are joined by Michael Egel, general and artistic director with the Des Moines Metro Opera. It's been a whirlwind of a week for Egel and his team. They had to make the tough decision to cancel the in-person 2020 summer festival. But the good news: Thanks to a partnership with Iowa PBS, the Opera will hold a Virtual Festival. We go through all the details on this episode. To learn more about the Des Moines Metro Opera or to support, visit desmoinesmetroopera.org. Music by Admiral Bob.
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