September 2016

Politics is Local: Kim Weaver and Education

Originally broadcast 09/15/2016
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Every Thursday morning at 7 a.m. until November 8, the KHOI Local Talk production team brings you political content, focusing on local and state races and local takes on national political trends.

The hour begins with a 30-minute conversation with Kim Weaver, the 4th District Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, on a wide range of topics, including Medicare and Medicaid, her college debt-reduction program, changing the “all or nothing” disability system, and why it may be a good thing for Iowans that Rep. Steve King has been so ineffective (evaluated by InsideGov as the least effective member of Congress).

Next we shine the spotlight on how education figures into the election conversation. We hear audio from the U.S. Parents Involved in Education, a group of homeschoolers advocating for the elimination of the Department of Education. We also hear from Dr. Mandy Ross, associate superintendent of the Ames Community School District, and summarize the positions of candidates in the field.

Story! Festival, Thomas the Tank Engine

Listen Here Now Originally broadcast 09/14/2016
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Today's show featured four diverse entertainments going on this weekend in Central Iowa. We started the show with Abby Huff introducing Story! Festival the Storytelling events taking place in Story City September 15 - 17, followed by an interview with La'Ron Williams, one of the featured story tellers.

Next we discussed the upcoming visit of Thomas the Tank Engine to the Boone and Scenic Valley Railroad with with Jerri Heid, Youth Services Manager at the the Ames Public Library. Poet Jennifer Knox described Iowa Bird of Mouth, the crowdsourced poetry project for which she was awarded an Iowa Arts Council Fellowship. The project with be introduced to the public at an unusual event at the Ames Public Library including poets, birders and creation of crowdsourced poetry on the spot. We ended with a preview of Fox on the Fairway, a farce opening this Friday at the Boone Community Theatre discussed by Homey Simmonds and Corriann Westvold.

CyRide's 40th, Pipeline Update, Th Wrld Bnk

Originally broadcast 09/12/2016
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On Tuesday, September 13, it will have been 40 years since CyRide first began operating routes as a city operation (before, it had been a private business, subsidized by the city). Karen Jamison, an employee of CyRide since that date, and Bob Bourne, director from 1981-2006, talk about the early days, when the mid-day was still on a Dial-A-Ride basis and drivers and dispatchers had to make up routes on the fly.

We catch up with pipeline news, including North Dakota's issuing an arrest warrant for Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman, who filmed private security guards unleashing vicious dogs and using pepper spray on Native Americans protesting the bulldozing of burial sites. Here in central Iowa, 19 were arrested over the weekend near Pilot Mound, defending the Des Moines River where the pipeline is planned to burrow under; we hear the voice of one public schoolteacher who got hauled off to Boone County Jail along with more "hardened" misdemeanor-doers.

Finally, Jose Mendez and Jon Prosser discuss hiphop and their artistic collaboration: Jose (drummer for Mumfords, Dr. Murdock) does the music and sampling, Jon does vocals. Their new band, Th Wrld Bnk, will open for one of the headliner shows of Maximum Ames, DJ Yella of NWA, at 10:00 PM at DGs on Friday night.

Election Issues

Originally broadcast 09/09/2015
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KHOI reporter Whitney Wright reviews education issues at stake during this election period, including the state of public education and questions about whether the federal Department of Education should be discontinued. She gives a rundown of candidates say on the issue, both in national campaigns and Iowa campaigns..

Merry Rankin, ISU and Ames Director of Sustainability, describes the Local Food Festival hosted at Iowa State University, September 13. She is joined by Linda Naeve form Value Added Agriculture ISU Extension, Stephanie Downs from ISU Well-Being, and ISU students and interns in the ISU Office of Sustainability, Sindhuja Ram, Laurelin Haas. Story County Emergency Coordinator Keith Morgan explains what we all should have in our home emergency Kit and asks you to review this and restock during this Emergency Preparedness Month. For information on making a kit. Good idea: after making your own emergency kit, make one for a loved one as a Christmas present!

Pufferbilly Days and Local Theatre

Originally broadcast 09/07/2016
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Alyssa Knudsen, manager of programs and events at the Boone Chamber ofCommerce, telling us about the activities planned for the 40th Anniversary of Pufferbilly Days this coming weekend. John Fitzsimmons told us about a variety of Civil War Reenactment that will be part of the festival.

Homie Simmonds and Corriann Westvold gave us a preview of the 2016-2017 season for Boone Community Theatre and Kivan Kirk told about Story Theatre Company’s children’s workshops starting September 17. Homie and Corriann discussed Boone Theatre Compamy's November production of Narnia: the Musical, comparing it with Kivan's description of Story Theatre Company's December production of The Lion. the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Both plays are based on the same book by by C. S. Lewis, so Narnia fans will have a busy time at the end of 2016.

Future Generations and the Struggle for Two Rivers

Listen Here Now Originally broadcast 09/05/2016
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Carolyn Raffensberger, Ames lawyer and director of the Science Environment and Health Network, explains where the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) legal struggle is now:

  • There are two major pending lawsuits: Standing Rock against the Army Corps of Engineers for nationwide permitting of crossing of rivers; 15 Iowa landowners whose property was seized by eminent domain vs. the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB), which classified the private pipeline as a utility|
     
  • There are also two permits yet to be granted: the crossing of Oahe Lake, and a hydrostatic testing permit to essentially flush the pipeline from end to end once it is complete.

Trespassing With Intent

Originally broadcast 09/02/2016
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We speak with three earth and water protectors / pipeline protesters who were arrested Wednesday for blocking access to the Precision Pipeline yard in Boone, Iowa: Taylor Brorby, a native of North Dakota, is a writer living in Ames who has published an anthology of creative writing, Fracture, on the topic of fracking. Julia Slocum is the farmer at Lacewing Acres in Ames. Mary Sand is the leader of the local Amnesty International chapter. The goal was to slow construction of the Bakken crude oil pipeline, which has proceeded despite numerous lawsuits.

Taylor, Julia, and Mary reflect on how it was they decided to risk arrest, how they felt in the moment, how they were treated by law enforcement, and especially, how their actions connected with the 4000-strong encampment near Cannonball, North Dakota by American Indians in solidarity with the Standing Rock Sioux nation.

Susan Gwiasda of the City of Ames manager's office and Rudy Castor of the Public Works Department tell us about road closings (look out for the closing of 13th just east of the Furman Aquatic Center on September 6), incentives to get Ames High School students from the west side to park at Furman, and the 40th birthday of CyRide, coming up September 13.

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