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Aug 2025 13

WATCH: Iowa Republicans’ task force targets teacher, police retirements (PT 1) – Cornhole Champions #35

By | POLITICS VIDEO, POLITICS, Iowa Production Staff

Iowa Republicans are coming for the public employee retirement system—again. Despite promising to "protect and defend" IPERS in 2018, Gov. Kim Reynolds's handpicked DOGE task force now wants to eliminate pensions for new state employees.

On this episode of Cornhole Champions, Zachary Oren Smith, Amie Rivers, and Avery Staker break down how wealthy business executives are targeting the 11th best-funded pension system in America.

Toss some bags at Iowa DOGE's pension grab... Josh Turek's Senate bid... And how cancer research cuts are shutting down labs across Iowa...

Cornhole Champions is a weekly podcast powered by Iowa Starting Line. This podcast is produced by me and edited by Rebecca Steinberg. Our music is by Avery Mossman and our show art is from Desirée Tapia.

*SHOW RUNDOWN:*
00:00 Cold Open: The Great Donut Debate Gets Heated
04:30 Iowa DOGE Targets Teacher and Police Pensions
06:00 What is IPERS and Why One in Ten Iowans Depend on It
08:30 Average IPERS Payout: Only $15,000 Per Year
10:30 Iowa Has the 11th Best Pension System in America
11:00 Even Iowa Republicans Oppose This Proposal
12:00 Why Public Workers Earn Less Than Private Sector
13:30 How This Could Gut Iowa's Public Workforce

*LISTEN AND SUBSCRIBE TO CORNHOLE CHAMPIONS:*
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... and everywhere you listen to podcasts

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Aug 2025 8

WATCH: When science moves faster than policy (w/ David Cwiertny) – Cornhole Champions Interview

By | POLITICS VIDEO, POLITICS, Iowa Production Staff

Sometimes the science moves faster than public policy. And it has real impacts on your health.

On this episode of Cornhole Champions, Zachary Orne Smith explores this gap with Dr. David Cwiertny, an environmental engineer at the University of Iowa.

Toss some bags at the science-policy gap… why we find chemicals everywhere we look… and what mass balance means for Iowa's future.

Cornhole Champions is a weekly podcast powered by Iowa Starting Line. This podcast is produced by me and edited by Rebecca Steinberg. Our music is by Avery Mossman and our show art is from Desirée Tapia.

*SHOW RUNDOWN:*
0:00 - Welcome: Iowa's cancer rates and chemical safety evolution
2:30 - Mass Balance Principle: Why chemicals never really disappear
5:00 - Neonicotinoids: The pesticides painted on seeds
8:00 - Atrazine Study Reversal: Same research, opposite conclusions
11:30 - The Science-Policy Gap: 20-year lag between discovery and action
14:00 - Why Simple Answers Don't Exist for Complex Problems
16:30 - Living in the "Gray Area" of Chemical Safety
18:30 - Alternative Agriculture: Different models, same profitability

*LISTEN AND SUBSCRIBE TO CORNHOLE CHAMPIONS:*
- YouTube - https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2LsUFhizO07jdk5Wav4mOT7tArltF8z5&si=FryZd7N7tG5tJ5Ju
- Substack - https://cornholechampions.substack.com/
- Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cornhole-champions-podcast/id1779497714
- Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5rzNpiA4IwgLmxbyrhETY6?si=6c4a527fa9ad4f64
- PocketCasts - https://pca.st/74atty1j
... and everywhere you listen to podcasts

*FOLLOW ZACHARY OREN SMITH ON SOCIAL MEDIA:*
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