Rick Fredericksen

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway's newest Iowa acquisition, Prudential First Realty, soon will be adopting the “Berkshire Hathaway Home Services” logo. The company has 77 agents and three offices in central Iowa, and their “For Sale” signs that now say Prudential, will be converted to Berkshire Hathaway.

Brennan Buckley is a company marketing executive in Des Moines.

2013 is nearly upon us, and as we get ready to usher it in, we pause to look back on 2012 and some of the lives lost in the past year.  Today, we air our obituary show.  Join us to remember Iowa soldiers killed in Afghanistan, public figures, educators and others.

Listen back to recordings from cherished artists like Glenn Miller, the Everly Brothers, Andy Williams and other historic sounds and rare recordings from the Iowa archives. Then we recall cherished interviews and memorable surprises on Iowa Public Radio in the past year.

Lost treasures were revealed when Lake Delhi disappeared two summers ago. We conclude our series on the status of the eastern Iowa lake.

We’re all too familiar with whitetail deer. But there also have been a few recent sightings in Iowa of rare white-tailed squirrels.

The rodent with the bushy, snow-white tail is snow white. It’s been seen in the Witmer Park area near Drake University. Earlier this year, several were spotted in the town of Osage.

Lassie, Snoopy and Benji may be more famous, but Iowa’s “top dog” has just been given a lifetime appointment to a prestigious title in college athletics. He is the only live-animal mascot prowling the sidelines of Iowa’s major university sporting events.

A keepsake from the Vietnam War will be returned to an Iowa soldier who lost it in 1971 on the bottom of Iowa’s Lake Delhi. John Jones’ gold, 25th Infantry Division ring came off while swimming. Two years ago, after the dam broke and the lake drained, a Chicago treasure hunter found it under the muddy lake bottom, and a veterans official was able to trace it back to Jones, who lives in Cedar Rapids.

IPRs Rick Fredericksen has the story.

A new photo exhibit honors living Iowa veterans at the Gold Star Museum at Camp Dodge. Most Iowans will recognize many of them. Exhibit opens to the public on Nov. 9th.

When Iowans gather in Des Moines tomorrow to thank veterans for their service, one of the National Guard's most decorated units will be among those leading the parade. Historic 1965 audio from the 34th Army Band in Burlington and the Val Air Ballroom in 1967.

For nine days, starting next week, Iowa will be railroad heaven for fans of old trains. Thousands of people will be climbing aboard, photographing, or just admiring the romance of an earlier time. An organization of railroad buffs is bringing its national meeting to Iowa for the first time.

Iowa’s premier school for training court reporters is phasing out the curriculum. AIB, a private business college based in Des Moines, says there is not enough interest to keep the program going.

Last fall, officials predicted that farmland along the Missouri River might be out of production for at least a year. The flood of 2011 piled up sand dunes, gouged out deep holes and killed off many of the microbes that help crops grow.

But now it’s spring, and farmers are back on the land trying to fix what nature broke.

There’s something not quite picture-perfect about this picturesque farmland, known as Blackbird Bend, along the Missouri River near Onawa.   A 24-row corn planter is brushing over the tops of an already stunning winter wheat crop, twelve inches high. 

A shipment of precious cargo will begin its journey from the east coast to Iowa tomorrow morning. Crouching on 2 pallets inside a box-truck, are a pair of panthers; they were sculpted by one of Iowa’s most famous artists. The lost-and-found story is told by Iowa Public Radio’s Rick Fredericksen.

Something remarkable is happening in the countryside of Iowa this spring; something that hasn’t been seen to this extent, in more than 120 years. Wildlife experts are cheering the rebound of North America’s largest water fowl.

It has to be one of the most unusual golf teams in America. In-between tournament play, the coach and 8 women are on the prowl for Asian food. Why? Half the team is from Thailand.

As Iowa tries to retain its last jet fighter base in Des Moines, a non-profit group is hoping to save one of the last remnants of an air station that closed at the end of World War Two. Historic audio from Stearman training film and You Tube.

Mention the New Deal, and most Iowans would think of a bridge, state park or school gymnasium. But the arts also flourished during the Great Depression, thanks to federal programs that gave jobs to painters, sculptors, writers and performers. A museum director calls it, "the greatest art movement in Iowa in 100 years."

Seventy-five years ago, the federal government bankrolled countless infrastructure programs that put tens of thousands of Iowans to work; many of the projects are enjoying a revival, of sorts. Some are being renovated, others are endangered, and many are just as vital as they were in the 1930s.

One of the most tragic days in America's history comes flooding back this weekend, as we commemorate the tenth anniversary of 9-11. Citizens of Iowa were casualties, mourners, and heroes. Our historic sound project looks back at those terrifying days, using audio recordings gathered by IPR reporters.

A birthday party, a secret, and something found in most refrigerators. That combination will surely entice visitors to an iconic exhibit at the State Fair next month. Sculpting has commenced for the centennial of the butter cow. But the celebration will be tempered by the passing of the tradition's most famous artist.