IPR News Stories

A new report by the non-profit Trust for America’s health found that drug-related deaths rates in Iowa decreased by 15 percent while alcohol-related deaths decreased by 4 percent from 2017 to 2018.

Orchestra Iowa, situated in Cedar Rapids and under the direction of Tim Hankewich, has announced its 2020-2021 season, which includes a yearlong celebration of Beethoven’s 250th birthday with a twist. They’re taking a unique focus and plan to pay tribute to Iowa’s Czech heritage and explore Beethoven’s works supported by his Czech patron, Prince Joseph Franz von Lobkowicz. 

The first in-person concerts of the season are currently scheduled for mid-September. 

A new agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture makes Iowa the seventh state where some small meat lockers can sell products in other states.

A 22-year-old black man in Des Moines said he wants to know why he was targeted by three white men who assaulted him last weekend. DarQuan Jones was attacked early Saturday morning in south Des Moines and told police at least one of the men used racial slurs during the incident.

Remember that old recorder, band or orchestra instrument tucked away in the closet? Now is your chance to dust off your talents, get lessons, and dive back in. Some of Iowa’s top-notch classical musicians and music schools are teaching online music lessons right now using Facetime, Zoom, Skype and Google Hangouts to keep music education alive during the pandemic.

Here’s a collection of five newly-written songs by midwestern folk musicians.

Republican leaders of the Iowa Legislature announced Wednesday that the legislative session will resume June 3.

This is the third time top lawmakers have decided to delay their return to the Statehouse since they put the session on hold in the early hours of March 17 to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Iowa farmers have hit a bit of a speed bump with widespread frost and colder temperatures.

Iowa State University Extension Field Agronomist Paul Kassel said he hasn’t had any reports of damage but the cooler weather has put a damper on growing progress.

“We’re kinda losing out here on leveraging our early planting. We like to plant early to kind of extend the growing season and increase the amount of time during the summer months when we can fill the kernel and the pods that’s probably the overall bigger concern,” said Kassel.   

A primary election on June 2 will determine who runs against Republican Sen. Joni Ernst for one of Iowa's U.S. Senate seats. There are also primaries in each of Iowa's four congressional districts, as well as in many state legislative districts.

Due to concerns about COVID-19, Secretary of State Paul Pate has made adjustments to this year’s voting process. 

Sunday is Mother’s Day. Music, especially Folk music, is often passed down in families. Here are five examples of mothers making music with their grown children.

Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a proclamation Wednesday that will allow some more businesses to reopen Friday.

Campgrounds, drive-in movie theaters, tanning facilities and medical spas can reopen at 5:00 a.m. Friday statewide if they follow public health guidance.

Music buffs usually associate the “Three B’s” as the trio of the classical geniuses Bach, Beethoven and Brahms. This Friday, IPR’s Steinway Cafe is honoring at least one of those. 

IPR Classical's Steinway Cafe series hosts live, in-studio performance on our renovated 1918 Steinway piano over the noon hour. Due to social distancing measures and ongoing health concerns surrounding COVID-19, we’re hosting the first virtual Steinway Cafe performance on Friday, May 8 on Facebook and streaming at iowapublicradio.org. 

In an effort to support local musicians and keep the music community engaged during this unprecedented time, IPR is bringing you a weekly live concert series every Tuesday night that we're calling #IPRTunesday. 

In 2018, Varsity movie theater in Des Moines closed after an 80-year run. Now the nonprofit Des Moines Film Society wants to reopen it.

President of the Film Society’s board of directors, Ben Godar, says his four-year-old organization has been looking for its own home to screen independent films and hold events.

“We’ve tried to tie in a lot of education where we can to our screenings, have filmmakers in person, things like that,” says Godar. “Having our own facility is just going to give us more and more tools to do those kind of things.”

May brings warm weather and blooming flowers here in the northern hemisphere. In folk songs, it also brings courtship. Countless traditional ballads in the English language (and other languages as well) begin by specifying that the action takes place in May. Some end happily, some not. Here are a few of them.

Gov. Kim Reynolds last week temporarily prohibited debt collectors and banks from seizing funds from Iowans’ bank accounts and wages during the coronavirus public health emergency.

Iowa Workforce Development notified Iowans last week that refusing to return to work for fear of getting coronavirus will disqualify them for unemployment payments, but that’s not always the case.

Iowa Legal Aid Litigation Director Alex Kornya said state law is more nuanced than IWD’s statement would lead Iowans to believe.

Incarcerated Iowans are voicing fears that the new coronavirus may “run like a wildfire” through the state’s correctional facilities. Statements from individuals currently held in Iowa prisons that were shared with Iowa Public Radio raise concerns about the Iowa Department of Correction’s ability to control the spread of the virus, at a time when confirmed case numbers are ticking up and testing remains limited. Some Iowans serving time warn that widespread outbreaks of the disease could lead to “panicking” and a critical breakdown in the “social adhesive” that makes life behind bars possible.

Here’s a collection of songs from Midwestern artists, most of them newly recorded from wherever the artists find themselves these days. As the weeks of sheltering-in-place go by, IPR's Karen Impola encourages you to continue to seek out new music to listen to, and to sing, play, and dance to.