Iowa context for complicated news.
River to River treats the news as a set of practical questions for Iowans, not just a stream of headlines. Its conversations move from statehouse negotiations and voting rules to China, immigration, cancer risks, online privacy, and U.S. foreign policy.
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River to River is a public affairs hour that uses Iowa as a way into national and international news. Its episodes are built around patient interviews rather than quick takes. The show often begins by naming a concrete fact, then asks what that fact reveals. Iowa's cancer incidence rate leads into pesticides, nitrates, PFAS, radon, water monitoring, and the experience of a Greene County farmer whose family has faced repeated cancer diagnoses. A conversation about China starts with soybeans and follows older links through immigration, universities, diplomats, Taiwan, and present-day risk. Political episodes bring in scholars to examine religion in public life, U.S. standing abroad, book bans, primary races, and space competition. Statehouse coverage stays close to the practical machinery of government: budgets, property taxes, eminent domain, voting rules, county auditors, and registration documents. Immigration coverage treats enforcement and benefits policy as Midwest stories, tied to meatpacking towns, food access, public data sharing, state legislation, and daily uncertainty for immigrant communities. The program also makes room for legal history, as in its discussion of Cindy Cohen, encryption, the First Amendment, and digital surveillance. Its tone is steady and explanatory. It does not lean on personality-heavy banter. Instead, it gathers reporters, scholars, officials, advocates, and people close to the issue, then asks sequential questions that bring institutional language down to listener scale. The strongest episodes make national stakes feel specific without shrinking them. Iowa is not a backdrop here. It is the test case, the archive, and the point of return. River to River is best for listeners who want policy, history, and political analysis delivered with care, context, and a clear sense of civic usefulness.
Made for: For listeners who want current affairs explained through policy, history, institutions, and lived consequences in Iowa. It fits people who prefer steady interviews over partisan sparring or personality-led commentary.
What sets it apart: The show stands apart by repeatedly translating large national and global stories back into Iowa examples: farms, universities, state agencies, county auditors, immigrant communities, rivers, roads, and legislative deadlines.
River to River is a conversation about the news with an Iowa perspective. Together we dig into the story behind the headlines - we talk with newsmakers and a diverse range of experts to find out how the news affects you. We take on challenging topics, explore issues from all sides, and foster conversation and understanding
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Ben Kiefer connects Iowa's civic life to wider policy questions through specific interviews focused on evidence, consequences, and uncertainty.
River to River turns public affairs into careful, practical questioning, with Ben Kiefer guiding conversations that connect Iowa institutions and communities to larger political, economic, and health stories.
Iowa's soybeans came from China; your next headline could use a little more history.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A steady public-radio politics hour on religious symbolism, patriarchy, and political power.
River to River uses a Politics Wednesday hour to treat religion and politics as part of the same civic conversation. Jim McCormick and Karen Kudrowski bring different angles, with Jim focused on presidential and congressional relations in foreign and domestic politics, and Karen…
A calm, state-level history of how Iowa and China ended up intertwined.
River to River opens with an Iowa fact that carries real weight: soybeans have been Iowa's most valuable export to China, and the crop itself came from China before the federal government brought it to Iowa in the 1920s.
A grounded Iowa public-affairs hour that turns a voting bill into clear, concrete terms.
River to River starts with Planet Money's new book and the idea that economics reaches into daily life, then settles into the Save America Act and its proof-of-citizenship rules.
Iowa's spring planting squeeze, with farm budgets, trade, biodiesel, and weather all pulling in the same direction.
Spring planting in Iowa is framed as a season under pressure: fertilizer prices are up, trade tensions are shifting what farmers can sell and to whom, biodiesel has just had its toughest year yet, and winter weather keeps throwing in another variable.
A steady Iowa health hour that turns grim numbers into clear, local questions.
River to River treats Iowa's cancer burden as a lived problem, not a statistic to file away. The statewide numbers land hard, especially with the new look at people in their 20s and 30s, where Iowa ranks second-highest nationally.
Politics argued like a public record.
Campaign mechanics, polling math, and political leverage.
River to River opens a Politics Wednesday edition by focusing on questions around Pope Leo and religious symbolism in politics.
River to River begins with a fact that changes the frame: Iowa's soybean trade with China traces back to China itself.
This episode explores Iowa's high cancer rates through environmental factors like pesticides, nitrates, PFAS, and radon, featuring an interview with a farmer and cancer survivor.
This episode discusses Iowa's legislative priorities, including property tax reform, budget issues, and eminent domain, as lawmakers approach their adjournment date.
This episode features an interview with Cindy Cohen, a lawyer who successfully argued that computer code is protected speech under the First Amendment, leading to legal strong encryption and her role in growing the Electronic Frontier Foundation, as she discusses her memoir about fighting digital surveillance.
This episode analyzes how the Iran ceasefire is influencing U.S.
River to River from IPR News starts with Ben Kiefer talking with Planet Money's Alex Mayossi and Kenny Malone about their new book and the case for bringing economics into everyday life.
Aaron Murphy of the Gazette reports that Iowa's Senate File 2218 would require schools to use E-Verify after a former Des Moines superintendent pleaded guilty to falsely claiming U.S.
Host Ben Kiefer's April 3, 2026 News Buzz opens with IPR's Katerina Sestarek on Iowa's unresolved budget, a Senate proposal of just over $9.6 billion (a 1.2% increase) facing a deficit above $1 billion.
River to River spends the hour on the pressures shaping Iowa's farm economy.
This episode discusses the ongoing Iran war, Operation Epic Fury, and broader international conflicts with political science experts Kelly Shaw and Sarah Mitchell.
Ben Kiefer opens with Iowa’s cancer burden.
This episode features an interview with author Eric Larson about his new book 'The Demon of Unrest', which explores the five-month period between Abraham Lincoln's election and the start of the Civil War.
This episode examines Iowa's leadership in wind energy, its economic benefits, and the challenges posed by new restrictions and federal policy changes affecting future development.
This episode discusses the Iowa legislature's first funnel week, focusing on a bill that would cut lawmakers' per diem payments in half as a controversial approach to legislative compensation.