Dani Gehr

The 108th annual Meskwaki Powwow takes place this weekend. It’s a four-day celebration of Meskwaki culture and tradition where everyone is welcome.

Some parents struggle to see their children leave the home, while others see it as a new and exciting phase of their life. Empty nesters share their experiences

In the 1980s, an Iowa City art teacher wrote to Keith Haring not expecting a response. This resulted in a friendship and two visits by Haring to Horn Elementary.

A now retired school principal, Iowa's own Kittie Weston-Knauer picked up BMX racing at 40, when she was one of two women in the country racing in her age group.

Elizabeth Wehrle, of Montezuma, received a quadruple organ transplant earlier this year with a new liver, kidney and retransplanted lungs. This week, she returns home.

Summer's here and it’s a great time to share a book with a child or find some books that will light up the imagination of the kids in your life.

In an era when many book clubs fizzle out within a few years, the Browning Literary Club, Ingleside Study Club and Serendipity Book Club are among those quietly defying the odds — by decades.

Let's say you're building a house or tackling a massive remodel. Should you try to save some money by acting as your own contractor? On this episode of Talk of Iowa, home improvement expert Bill McAnally shares his advice. He and host Charity Nebbe talk about some of the many challenges faced by people who take on the contractor role in their home projects. Then, Bill answers listener questions on all things home improvement.

Our air was getting cleaner. Now, wildfire smoke has reversed that progress. On this episode, a new University of Iowa study finds wildfires have undone years of gains against ground-level ozone pollution, and the effects are reaching deep into the Midwest. First, we hear from former Iowa residents Jerry and Sue Prothero, who watched ash fall like snow in northern Minnesota. Then, we talk with Jun Wang, the study's lead author, about why ozone pollution is worsening and what it means for Iowans. We also talk with Peter Thorne of the University of Iowa College of Public Health about the health impacts of wildfire smoke and ozone pollution. And we address the health and air quality impacts of a proposed gas plant in Linn County with Abe Kellison of Save Morgan Valley. Save Morgan Valley is a community organization opposing Alliant Energy’s proposed 720-megawatt natural gas power plant in unincorporated western Linn County.

A report from the Environmental Working Group claims thousands of feeding operations are off the DNR's radar. A representative with the Iowa Pork Producers Association says the DNR is following state law. Host Ben Kieffer speaks with the co-author of this report, Anne Schechinger, about how mapping animal operations relates to water quality issues, and Pork Association legal counsel Eldon McAfee shares what he thinks the report gets wrong. Then, Kieffer speaks with the recipient of the "Nobel Prize for statistics," University of Iowa professor emeritus Luke Tierney.