Heard has served Iola in a variety of roles. A former business owner, she currently is chairwoman of Iola Industries and on the hospital’s community board. In the past, she has also served on Allen Community College’s board of trustees, the Iola Public Library board, and was a key member of the fundraising group for Allen County Regional Hospital.

In a wide-ranking conversation, Tim Stauffer talks with Heard about her own experiences, the progress women have made and what work remains to be done, and how we all benefit from a variety of voices at the table.

Here’s our conversation.

Data centers come with controversy and concern. Rehder talks on the record about his views on the project, the concern of rising utility rates, and how the data center fits in with the city’s vision for the future.

In a wide-ranging conversation that covers all this, plus more on public utilities, economic development, the rebuild of U.S 54 and more, Rehder offers a “state of the city” and reflects on nearly five years at the helm.

In this week’s podcast, Richard and Tim talk with Bob about what he’s seen and learned over a lifetime of journalism. Remarkably enough, Bob encountered only three editors— Angelo Scott, Emerson Lynn and Susan Lynn. But in terms of content, well, Bob’s articles number in the tens of thousands, covering everything from football to city council meetings to slugs. Yes, slugs.

Lee believes Allen County has the tools for robust economic development, and much of our conversation focused on his ideas on how to ensure the county prospers—and how his experiences make him, as he says, uniquely qualified for the job.

In today’s episode, the fifth in our series covering local candidates, we speak with Brocker about what’s motivating him to run again, his priorities if he wins the Aug 4 Republican primary against Symes, and how his business background would guide his decisions as commissioner.

As we spoke in their sunroom, a multi-million dollar rain, as Craig called it, gentle fell and tapered off as our conversation advanced. We spoke on a wide variety of topics, from his interest in affordable rural internet access, infrastructure and farming.

In this episode, recorded on a rainy May evening, reporter Trevor Hoag and Tim Stauffer accompany the Westervelt family on one of their walks on the Prairie Spirit Trail.

Check out sekmhcenter.org for more info.