On this episode, we listen back to a 2025 conversation with Dawson resident and Air Force veteran Justin Wolfe, who received bronze at the 10th annual Invictus Games in Vancouver, Canada. Adaptive sports have helped Wolfe push past limitations from his diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. Troy Peterson, a fellow veteran and Winterset resident, helped Justin turn to sports through his non-profit ValorFit. Later in the hour, research from ecologists Steven Dinsmore and Victoria Fasbender at Iowa State University demonstrates that humans can tweak their behavior in relatively small ways that could make a positive impact for the pectoral sandpiper, a migratory shore bird that often stops in Iowa on the way from breeding grounds in the Arctic to where they winter in South America. (This episode was originally produced Feb. 25, 2025.)
Gavin McGough
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Iowa Public Radio
Caitlin Troutman
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Iowa Public Radio
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Waterloo’s Bosnian community has been gripped by its home country’s World Cup success, right up until the U.S. men's national team knocked Bosnia-Herzegovina from the tournament on Wednesday. -
For the last century, Roosevelt High School’s synchronized swimming team has fostered a community for women both in and out of the water. This year marks the Sharks’ 100th anniversary, making them the oldest club of their kind. -
Many people enjoy the beautiful landscape of the Loess Hills of western Iowa. The professional boxer George Foreman loved it so much that he was buried there, even though he had no ties to the area.
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Kevin McKee said the pressure is on for the U.S. sled hockey team to win gold after the wins of the U.S. women’s and men’s teams at the Olympics. The sled hockey team would secure their fifth consecutive gold medal if they win on Sunday’s game. -
Iowa State's women's basketball star Audi Crooks is one of the leading scorers in the country. The spotlight on her has also brought criticism, but it has helped Crooks emerge as a role model for young players. -
CultureAll is a Des Moines nonprofit that works to introduce Iowans of different cultures to each other with the goal of building community. One of the ways they do that is through their Open Book program — a community project that creates connections and builds social cohesion through story sharing. We learn about that project and new research that shows that Open Book and the act of reciprocal storytelling can cultivate empathy. Later, we talk with Drake University health sciences professor Stacy Gnacinski. When she's not teaching, Gnacinski does mental performance consulting for athletes, from local youth, to the Olympic Winter Institute of Australia, where she's a mental performance consultant. She shares about her recent trip to the Winter Olympics.
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Tiara Phillips wanted to fill seats for her local hockey team, so she rallied together with a group that had discovered a newfound interest in the sport. -
Olympian, activist and entrepreneur, Sol Butler used sports to challenge racial barriers during the Jim Crow era. His life is chronicled in the new book, 'Sol Butler: An Olympian’s Odyssey through Jim Crow America,' written by University of Dubuque professor Brian Hallstoos. Hallstoos joins the program to discuss Butler's upbringing and impact. Plus, a look at the enduring impact of the 'Iowa Bystander,' considered the oldest Black newspaper west of the Mississippi River.
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An Iowa Lakes Community College baseball player was killed and 32 other people were injured when the team’s bus overturned Wednesday in northwest Iowa. College leaders pledge to support students through this time.
