History

After state funding cuts, a network of 60 sensors tracking pollution across Iowa will go dark next summer without new funding. Also, how a hurricane that struck an island nation led to mass hysteria over werewolves.

We discuss the Midwest origins of the "King of Late Night," plus the time a whole Iowa town came on Letterman's show. Then, we speak to a current producer for Seth Meyers.

Ruth Harkin reflects on her career and memoir, When My Husband Ran for President and Other Short Stories. Plus, what gravestones can teach us about history ahead of the annual Oakland Cemetery walk.

The City of Decorah was visited by royalty this week.

Vinh Nguyen has lived in Iowa for decades, but he grew up in Vietnam during the war, which ended April 30, 1975.

Over a century ago, lawyer Clarence Darrow fought battles that sound remarkably similar to present day struggles.

The student's research found that the statue, which had been part of the Mount Vernon college's art collection for over a century, had been taken from the Etowah Indian Mounds in Georgia in 1886. It was returned to the Muscogee (Creek) Nation on Sept. 30.

The recently expanded Ames History Museum is full of surprises for all generations.

The performances, presented by the Iowa Labor History Society, aim to highlight Darrow's fights for workers' rights, classroom freedom and justice — issues that remain at the heart of today's political debates.

A conversation with NPR's Mary Louise Kelly and a tour of Sandy Boyd's legendary collection of historical artifacts