The Granny Basketball League is growing fast, and this year's national tournament is in Ankeny. We hear from the Cedar Rapids Sizzlers, the Iowa Gold Stars and league founder Barb Tomlinson Trammel. We learn all about the sport, the league and how it connects with a rich history of women’s basketball in Iowa. Then, the freedom to wear trousers was one that women had to fight for and one of the earliest styles of pants that began to give women the freedom to move without restriction were called bloomers. Amelia Bloomer, women’s rights pioneer and reluctant fashion icon who lived in Iowa, inspired the name.

The Iowa Water and Land Legacy (IWiLL) Constitutional Amendment passed in 2010 with 63% of the vote. It was designed to fund a Natural Resources and Outdoor Recreation trust fund, but 16 years later the trust has never been funded. A new effort to fund the trust is underway. On this episode, we hear from Adam Shirley, CEO of Iowa’s County Conservation System, Anna Gray of the Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation and Lindsay Price of Audubon Upper Mississippi River. We talk about the strain of stagnant or dwindling funding on county conservation boards and what IWiLL could mean for those programs. Then, we listen back to a conversation about some of the oldest book clubs in Iowa from their members. (Part of this show was originally produced March 31, 2026.)

Thanks to storms and severe weather, tree limbs are down while tree stress is up. But there are ways to help the timber in your area and to keep damage from happening. On this Horticulture Day episode, Caitlin Troutman sits in for Charity Nebbe. We talk with Iowa State University professor of horticulture Jeff Iles about helping trees with storm damage, as well as preventative measures to consider before the next round of severe weather. Then, Iowa State University Extension Horticulturist Aaron Steil joins us to answer listener questions.

In a new University of Northern Iowa course, a pottery lesson from a local artist is a chance for intergenerational connection. Jim Kerns has been joining the class, Understanding Aging Through a Creative Lens, to not only share his artistic skills, but also to show the benefits of creative pursuits as we age. Kerns joins the show, along with Melinda Heinz, a gerontologist who started the class, and one of her students, Randy Williams. Later in the hour, we learn about Iowa's first men's shed, a space for men in the area to create and connect. (This show was originally produced November 6, 2025.)

As Carl Weems conducted research in New Orleans, he documented children's recollections of Hurricane Katrina. When Hurricane Gustav hit, Weems found that those with another negative experience maintained their recollection of trauma during Hurricane Katrina. Those with a more positive experience during Gustav remembered Katrina more positively than before. This is part of the foundation of Weems' new developmental theory that reshapes how experts understand the fluidity of memories and the impact of trauma. Weems joins the program to talk about his theory and the broader impact of traumatic and adverse childhood experiences, or TrACEs. Dr. Padget Skogman, a pediatrician, also joins the hour to share the long-term health impacts of TrACEs. (This show was originally produced November 18, 2025.)

The Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake is a rock and roll landmark and one of the few historic ballrooms still operating today. Its legacy is closely tied to 'The Day the Music Died,' when Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. 'The Big Bopper' Richardson performed their final show at the Surf on Feb. 2, 1959, before their fatal plane crash in a field north of Clear Lake the following morning. Often described as a living museum, the Surf has recently expanded with the opening of their Music Experience Center next door, which has artifacts of the three late stars, along with other artists that have performed at the Surf, since it first opened in 1933. In this episode, we tour the Surf Ballroom and the Music Experience Center which includes their immersive 'Not Fade Away' exhibit and Surf Music Academy. We also visit the crash site with Jeff Nicholas, whose family owns and maintains the crash site, which has become a tourist attraction for music lovers around the world. (This show was originally produced February 2, 2026.)