State Bills: Sentence Reduction and HS Dropouts
Originally broadcast 03/02/2015
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Pat Schlarbaum, KHOI’s environmental reporter, explains that we are hearing coyotes because their mating season has started. He describes various wild canines returning to our area.
State Senator Steve Sodders explains several senate bills he is sponsoring, to reduce criminal punishment for small amounts of marijuana, He discusses factors including cost, the individual, recidivism, and racial disparities in incarceration.
Yonus Michaels, Director of Alternative Learning Programs for the Ames Community School District,discussed dropout prevention and alternatives to traditional high school, in light of Bill 1138 being introduced by State Senator Herman Quirmbach, to raise the compulsory school age to 18.
Dennis Keeney was with us to talk about his autobiography "The Keeney Place" which was just released last month. Dennis carried his story from a lively description of the life of a farm boy in the 1940s and 50s through university training in scientific agriculture that led him to become the first director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. Cornelia Flora was also in the studio to carry forward reflections about the significance of sustainable agriculture and prospects for the road ahead. Later in the program Erv Klaas joined us to discuss Aldo Leopold and "The Land Ethic," part of the event "Ames Reads Leopold", March 2:00 - 5:00 PM, at the Ames Public Library.
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Environmentalist Pat Schlarbaum explains what is going on with all the wild geese and swans around the area. Apparently, a whole crew of migrating birds has arrived from the North to winter in Iowa.
The County Reporters took a road trip to Jefferson to visit RVP 1875’s version of Santa’s Workshop, where they talked with master woodworker Robby Peterson in his workshop about the historic furniture he builds and teaches others to build. Then we toured the History Boy Theatre and talked about the dinner and a musical show, “Murder Ballad,” directed by Angie and Robby Peterson, which is making its Mid-west Premiere on New Year’s Eve. On the way back to Ames we discussed Christmas Tree Farms in several counties.
Today's show features coverage of the Bakken Pipeline Resistance Meeting held in Ames City Auditorium this past weekend, an upcoming art show (and reception this Saturday) celebrating Ames history, and the history behind the actual "birthday" of Ames on December 17. Organizer Andrea Basche and reporter Susan Franzen recapped the anti-pipeline meeting, which drew 280 attendees, laying out the major reasons people are opposing it and correcting the misinformation shared by the pipeline company. After a musical interlude courtesy of Ames singer-songwriter Paul Doffing, we hear about an upcoming art show at Gallery in the Round in Ames from Tibi Chelcea, the organizer. Finally, Alex Fejfer of Ames Historical Society fills us in on the dirty dealings of Cynthia Duff, without which Ames would not exist, along with the all-day celebration planned for Dec. 17 in Ames.