Ames Healthy Life Center, Win Cowger's Research On Trash in Iowa's Waterways

Listen Here NowOriginally broadcast 06/14/2019
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Keith Abraham, Director of Ames Parks and Recreation, Nancy Carroll, Director of Heartland Senior Services, and Susan Gwiasda Ames Public Relations Officer give an in-depth description of the proposed Ames Healthy Life Center. The Ames City Council recently approved the holding of a referendum on September 10 for 29 million dollars in public funds to match 20 million dollars in private and partners' donations toward the center, which will integrate recreation, youth and elder care, nutritional education, gardening, and research.

Ames and ISU Sustainability Director Merry Rankin introduced former ISU student Win Cowger, who explains his recently published paper: "Anthropogenic Litter Cleanups in Iowa Riparian Areas Reveal the Importance of Near-Stream and Watershed Scale Land Use."

The research paper studies near-stream and watershed scale land use control of litter in Iowa's streams. 

Art, Wild Foods, Pollinator Fest and Joy in Jewell

Listen Here NowOriginally broadcast 06/12/2019
Listen to the entire episode now!Our program started by bringing our listeners back to last Friday's Ames Art Walk, with music, interviews with artists, and description of the event at the KHOI studio.  Then we heard about upcoming events.  First, Ben Hoksch described the "Wild Foods" workshop he's leading for Legacy Learning at Briggs Woods near Webster City. Then Randall Cass, extention entomology specialist in honey bees, native bees, and pollinators described bee keeping in Iowa (an occupation involving tens of thousands of Iowans), and gave us a preview of "Polinator Fest" taking place at Reiman Gardens on May 22.  We ended the program with Paul Wierson's announcement of the municipal band concert with Simon Estes, and Susan Franzen's discovery of a concert of Beethoven's 9th symphony to be performed on two grand pianos in the United Church of Christ in Jewell by  world renown pianist Stephan Moller and Jewell residents,  Delayna and Don Beattie. 

Diversity of Wonder, Peregrine Falcons, Ames Municipal Report

Listen Here NowOriginally broadcast 06/07/2019
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Dennis Hart gives a summary of local news from the Ames Tribune.

Dr. Manjit Misra, Director of ISU's Seed Science Center and Cindy Hicks, Public Relations for the Seed Science Center, describe the newly released award-winning film, Seeds: Diversity of Wonder. Misra describes the work of the Seed Science Center, how this led to the creation of the film, and shares why seeds fill him personally with wonder. The Film will be shown at Reiman Gardens on Father's Day, June 16, from 6 - 9 PM. The showing is free to the public, along with popcorn.

Ames Public Relations Officer Susan Gwiasda gives a municipal update for the city of Ames.

Environmental Reporter Pat Schlarbaum describes recent banding of young peregrine falcons in Southeast Minnesota with the Raptor Resource Project. 

Festivals, Anne Frank, and Caregivers

Listen Here NowOriginally broadcast 06/05/2019

 

Festival Season has arrived, starting with Boone River Valley Festival on Memorial Day. Next on the summer festival circuit are Firemen's Days in Cambridge (May 7-8), and Story City's Scandinavian Days ( May 6- 9), so we devoted our program to giving a preview of those events.  Jay Wilson from the Story City Greater Chamber Connection  previewed events including the Judge Story Theatre production of Children of Eden.    Also onstage this weekend at Ankeny Community Theatre is The Diary of Anne Frank.  Director Cheryl Clark discussed the play and the serious issues it raises.  Finally, Mathew Covington of Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement, called to tell us about a Susannah Dyen, from "Caring Across Generations" who be speaking on actions to support paid and family caregivers. 

Art Walk Preview, ISU Student on Ames City Council

Listen Here NowOriginally broadcast 06/03/2019
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Art Walk will take place in downtown Ames on Friday, June 7 from 5-8 pm. Tammy Havlik, a volunteer at KHOI, has been working to get ready for Art Walk, and she was on the show to tell us about some new and old traditions that people can look forward to when they visit KHOI during Art Walk. There will be a food truck and Red Bluez playing music out front. Inside KHOI, there will be mural painting, jewelry making, and snacks. 

Host Gale Seiler interviewed Devyn Leeson, who is the newly appointed ex-officio ISU student City Council member. He talked about his goal of representing the voices of ISU students to the City Council, in particular around issues of housing and safety in Ames. He brings with him experience on the ISU Daily where he often reported on City Council meetings. 

Leopold Center, Watersheds and Wetlands

Listen Here NowOriginally broadcast 05/29/2019
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Our first guest was Mark Rasmussen, director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, with an encouraging report of how the Center has been promoting projects of all kinds for Food, Farming and Agriculture.  Topics included benefits of ruminants for the soil, productive uses of lands too wet to cultivate, carbon sequestration in soil, the Farm to Schools group, and increasing markets for small local farms producing foods for local consumption.  They also support various speakers and Water Rocks, a dynamic educational program in Iowa schools.  Dan Haug, watershed educator for Prairie Rivers of Iowa, described the varied ways landowners can learn about and improve the water adjacent to their land.  Ava Auen-Ruan, a staff member from Farm andEnvironment Team at Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (ICCI), which is suing the state of Iowa on the basis of the  Public Trust Doctrine, which argues that citizens have a right to clean water, which is not being met by the voluntary nutrient reduction strategy now in place. 

Delaney at Diem, Carroll Prairie, Public land Conservation with Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation is Attacked by Iowa Legislature

Listen Here NowOriginally broadcast 05/27/2019
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Dennis Hart gives a summary of Iowa news of last week.

Local Talk brings excerpts from presidential candidate John Delaney's stump speech and questions from the audience at Cafe Diem last Thursday. Delaney proposes initiatives for health care, green energy to combat climate change, and service corps for young people to address national problems and sustain parks.

A Memorial Day story of local resident and conservationist Lorna Carroll Sellberg and her creation of Carroll Prairie, at the intersection of Avenue 610 and 200th Streets, East of Millford Township. Sellberg worked with theIowa Heritage Foundation to memorialize her father by donating half the value of this land and transferring it to Story County Conservation for public use. The land, dedicated on April 22nd, includes native prairie remnants, oxbow wetlands, and the meandering West Indian Creek.  

Abby Hade Terpstra, Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation Donor Relations Director, describes programs such as their Iowa conservation tax credit, that assist land donors in protecting and dedicating natural land for public use, while transferring it to local conservation groups.

Joe Jayjack, Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation Communications Director, describes recent laws and bills of the 2019 Iowa legislature (Bill 542) to restrict Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation from assisting farmers who want to transfer land for public use. He encourages Iowa residents to communicate support  to legislators for conservation of natural land. 

Chrystal Davis, Director of Destination Ames, Member & Visitors Services of the Ames Visitors and Convention Bureau, previews some of exciting public events and activities for the month of (end of) May June. Calendar of events. 

Bias on Course Evaluations, Ames Tenants Union

Listen Here NowOriginally broadcast 05/24/2019
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Dave Peterson from the Political Science Department at ISU spoke about course evaluations in which students are asked to rate their instructors at the end of each semester. We learned that these evaluations have consequences beyond just providing feedback to the instructor and that there are serious problems with the evaluations in terms of gender and other biases.

The Ames Progressive Alliance brought guests from the Ames Tenants Union, who talked about this new activist group that is fighting abuses and legal problems that renters experience in Ames. 

Bailey, Bobcats, Right for All

Listen Here NowOriginally broadcast 05/22/2019
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Our featured speaker today, Marlene Ehresman, executive director for Iowa Wildlife Center built on Pat Schlarbaum's phenology on Wildcats, to give us a description of the many ways people in Iowa can interact with wild animals in positive ways though volunteering at the center, or just interacting with wounded animals.  During the programs we had a couple of original songs by Marc Bailey, the singer-songwriter performing who will be performing at tonight's Pantorium Session. Ryan Mulcahy of the American Civil Liberties Union invited us to a workshop in the APL entitled "Rights for All."  Maggie Westvold had a poem and story about actor John Lithgow. 

BWCA, Flying Burrito, Ames interns

Listen Here NowOriginally broadcast 05/20/2019
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After Dennis Hart's news, we discussed an upcoming event at the APL by Save the Boundary Waters, a campaign to protect the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) and its watershed from sulfide-ore mining.  Mary Richards and Fritz Franzen came in to tell us about what BWCA means to them.  Next we heard from Matthew Goodman, owner of Flying Burrito, a business that been a staple in Camputown since 2003.  His story as ISU student, father, entrepreneur, city councilman, and progressive activist gave us insights into this pivotal time in Ames History.  Allee Wengert, Workforce Development director for the Ames Chamber of Commerce told us about four events planned for interns working in Ames this summer. 

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