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.)
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When Mike Jay isn't announcing track and field meets around the state and country, he's sending running shoes to student athletes as part of the Track Guy Foundation. Also, a conversation about the veteran-led humanitarian organization Team Rubicon. -
Vinh Nguyen has lived in Iowa for decades, but he grew up in Vietnam during the war, which ended April 30, 1975. -
The service and sacrifice of Black Americans in defense of the United States is believed to be a driving force in the progress of civil rights over generations.
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Scott Detrow, host of All Things Considered on NPR, discusses the effects of federal funding cuts to public media. Then, we revisit a conversation with Green Beret John Paluska.
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Polk County’s lead homelessness planning organization, Homeward, identified more people struggling with homelessness. Those numbers might go up more when COVID rental assistance money runs out, but there are solutions. -
An update from a retired Green Beret from Ottumwa on his efforts to help his former Afghan Special Forces counterpart. Then, what the travel ban means for Afghan refugees.
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Vinh Nguyen has lived in Iowa for decades, but previously, he grew up in Vietnam during the war which ended April 30, 1975.
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In April 1975, Marine pilot John Morgan received orders to fly his helicopter to Vietnam and help evacuate people after the war. It ended up being the largest helicopter evacuation in history — and a defining moment in his life as an American. -
Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley hosted a crowded town hall meeting in southeast Iowa's Lee County, where constituents aired concerns about his response to recent actions taken by the Trump administration.
