Clay Masters
Host: Morning EditionClay Masters is Iowa Public Radio’s Morning Edition host and lead political reporter.
Clay joined the Iowa Public Radio newsroom as a statehouse correspondent in 2012 and started hosting Morning Edition in 2014. He began covering presidential politics in Iowa his first week on the job and created the IPR podcast Caucus Land in 2019, which he co-hosted and which won a regional large market Edward R. Murrow award. Clay is an award-winning journalist whose reporting has appeared on various NPR and American Public Media broadcasts and podcasts.
He was one of the founding journalists of Harvest Public Media. Clay began his public media career in his native Nebraska where he covered agriculture and food production for Nebraska Public Media.
Clay has a bachelor’s of journalism from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
You can contact Clay at cmasters@iowapublicradio.org.
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Iowa’s nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency released its second proposal on Thursday for new political boundaries. A factory that makes blades for wind turbines in Newton will stop production at the end of the year and economists say it’s a setback for the community but not a sign that the wind industry is on the decline. Plus, An Iowa organization that works to end domestic violence is hosting a Día de los Muertos event this weekend to honor the lives of victims who died as a result of abuse. -
Voters in Des Moines will make a decision for three city council seats in the Nov. 2 election. Protesters have been showing up at city council meetings and calling on more racial equity for communities of color.
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Representatives of the United Auto Workers and John Deere say contract talks have resumed amidst their factory workers striking in Iowa and other states. Mexico’s Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development will join U-S Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in Iowa this week. Plus, Wind blade turbine manufacturer TPI Composites in Newton will lay off more than 700 workers by the end of the year.
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The Iowa Medical Examiner's Office has confirmed that remains found in September are those of a boy who disappeared in May. The racial disparities in Iowa’s prisons continue to rank among the worst in the country, according to the latest analysis by the advocacy group The Sentencing Project. Plus, a prosecutor has ruled that a police officer who shot and paralyzed a man in Waterloo in April acted legally because the target appeared to be chasing a deputy with a shotgun.
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Thousands of John Deere factory workers went on strike on Thursday.
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Politicians are reacting to the thousands of John Deere factory workers who went on strike Thursday. Iowa’s Latino Hall of Fame induction ceremony this weekend will be completely virtual for the first time. Plus, at one small southwest Iowa school district, students take care of chickens, pigs, sheep and goats. IPR’s Katie Peikes reports on what having a small farm at school teaches kids.
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Thousands of John Deere and Company workers, including in Iowa, are officially on strike for the first time in 35 years. The state Attorney General’s office has announced it is partnering with the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics to launch a new opioid treatment program. Plus, the latest Iowa Climate Statement says Iowa needs targeted investments to strengthen and expand its electrical grid, in order to prepare for extreme weather events brought on by climate change.
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Early voting for city and school board elections begins in Iowa on Wednesday. Republican Jon Dunwell won a special election Tuesday night for the Iowa House of Representatives district that covers Newton and other parts of Jasper County. Plus, a plan to build a carbon dioxide pipeline through 30 Iowa counties is raising concerns among farmers and environmentalists.
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The Iowa Department of Education hasn’t rescheduled an equity conference for teachers after saying in the spring that it would be postponed to the fall. The city of Cedar Rapids is allocating $10 million in federal pandemic relief funds to help pay for its Flood Control System. Plus, the Iowa Democratic Party yesterday (Monday) asked the Office of Congressional Ethics to investigate U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks' 2020 financial disclosure.
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Former President Donald Trump held a campaign-style rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds on Saturday, October 9, 2021, where he endorsed U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley for an eighth term.
