River to River

Dozens of rural Catholic churches in Iowa are about to lose their weekend mass. Today, we hear about the changing map of midwestern Catholicism. First, we hear from a Vinton resident who's Catholic parish has appealed to the Vatican in effort to keep weekend mass in the wake of the Archdiocese of Dubuque's final 'Journey in Faith' restructuring plan. University of Iowa professor Kristy Nabhan-Warren joins to discuss what this initiative means for churches losing eucharistic mass and how this juxtaposes a recent increase in attendance at Catholic churches in urban dioceses, including Des Moines. Then, Deacon John Robbins of the archdiocese explains the mission behind 'Journey in Faith,' and answers listeners' questions.

On this Newsbuzz episode, IPR's Gavin McGough joins to discuss a new gas power plant that was approved by the Cedar Falls City Council this week, and IPR's Rachel Cramer shares how Iowa's landfills are filling up fast. Cami Koons of Iowa Capital Dispatch reports on a multistate research project that held a panel of rural Iowans Tuesday, and we hear about the U.S. losing ground in the higher education space as Iowa State University and University of Iowa continue to slip in university rankings. Humans for Racial Justice hosts their second annual Juneteenth event which tours local Underground Railroad sites in Cedar County, and IPR Studio One's Nick Brunner grooves us into the weekend.

Three Libertarians who filed to run for governor, lieutenant governor and U.S. House in Iowa won't appear on the ballot. That's after members of the Republican party challenged their paperwork, and the state objection panel voted to remove the names of Nicholas Gluba, Jules Cutler and Marco Battaglia from Iowa ballots. In this episode, host Ben Kieffer recaps that decision as well as the state party conventions with Megan Goldberg of Cornell College and Jonathan Hassid of Iowa State University. They also discuss looming changes to Social Security and the tentative peace deal with Iran.

Data centers are massive and thirsty for water and power. Iowans are split on whether they're good neighbors. On this episode, the data center debate as cities and counties throughout the state are weighing potential data center installations. First, a Brookings Institution researcher on what rural communities stand to gain and lose from these developments. Then, Linn County Supervisor Sami Scheetz joins to discuss the ordinance they passed earlier this year and how it compares to other local governments' approaches to recent data center proposals. Iowa’s state geologist discusses whether Iowa's groundwater supply can handle the demand from data centers. And a public health researcher joins to discuss the public health implications from data centers powered by nonrenewable sources.

Political scientists discuss the top stories of the week, including the results of the Texas primary. Then, a deep look at the two state lawmakers who are seeking the Democratic nomination for Sen. Joni Ernst’s open U.S. Senate seat.

In March, President Donald Trump called the war with Iran a tremendous success. Weeks later, the countries are in a fragile ceasefire and the U.S. is prepared to resume strikes if a deal isn't met soon. University of Northern Iowa political scientist and former Air Force intelligence analyst Evan Renfro joins this Politics Day to discuss the war and the Trump administration's foreign policy. Then, Cornell College's Megan Goldberg breaks down the upcoming primaries for the open 2nd Congressional District seat.

The legality of geofence warrants, where law enforcement can access the data of people in a geographic area, is being considered by the U.S. Supreme Court. University of Iowa Technology Law Clinic director Megan Graham walks us through the case. Also, fellow Iowa law professor Bethany Berger talks about the 1884 case being incorrectly cited in the Trump Administration's birthright citizenship case. Then, Cornell College's Megan Goldberg walks us through the 1st Congressional District primary races.