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Reporter Acquitted; Legislative Action; COVID; Spirit Lake Massacre

This week on The Exchange, a report on the aquittal in the nationally-watched story of Des Moines Register reporter Andrea Suhouri.  Sohouri was pepper sprayed and arrested this summer at a Black Lives Matter event in Des Moines.  She was accused of disobeying a police order.  The trial in Des Moines lasted three days. 

We also hear about legislature action this week, including a bill that would crack down on rioting during protests.  Governor Kim Reynolds also signed a bill that would shorten early voting in Iowa. Both meausres met with pushback from Democrats.  And a Latino voting rights group has filed a lawsuit to stop the changes in early voting, mail-in voting and poll hours in Iowa. 

Also this week we hear from Deacon Mark Prosser of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sioux City about the effort to consolidate and evangelize in the many churches in the diocese, at a time of a priest shortage and other issues.  And we talk with Dennis Johnson, CEO of Ho Chunk, Inc. Capital, about the corporation's aquisition of several properties in Sioux City's Historic 4th Street downtown.

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Mark Prosser and Dennis Johnson

Aalfs building, 4th Street, Sioux City, IA.  Courtesy of mapio.net

And finally on the program, we hear two tales of the Spirit Lake Massacre.  The eveny  happened on March 8, 1857.

One of the stories is from a new, graphic novel about the event called, Moon of the Snow Blind: Spirit Lake by writer and artists Gary Kelley of Cedar Falls.  Kelley grew up in Algona hearing stories about the massacre and the survival of Abbie Gardner.  Gardner's cabin exists today not far from Arnold's Park Amuesment Park.  We also hear another Small Wonder from Jim Schaap.  Schaap explores some of the complex personalities and relationships among the Native Americans and the settlers they encountered.

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Gary Kelley and Jim Schaap

Moon of the Snow Blind: Spirit Lake by Gary Kelley

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