KWIT/KOJI-FM (Sioux City, IA)

1 week ago | kwit.org | Bret Hayworth |Alejandra Perez

Since the Trump Administration’s cuts to USDA’s Emergency Food Assistance Program in February, the Food Bank of Siouxland lost about $140,000 worth of food. The loss of resources is revealed at the Sioux City Food Bank’s warehouse, where food is at its lowest level since 2020, and demand is outpacing supply. In 2024 about 8,050 families visited the Food Bank of Siouxland network. FBS estimates there are about 10,705 food insecure families within the Siouxland area.

1 week ago | kwit.org | Bret Hayworth

After several years of discussing a merger, the two hospitals in Sioux City will combine, as UnityPoint Health-St. Luke’s will acquire MercyOne Siouxland Medical Center and its affiliated other health care pieces. That move was announced Thursday by UnityPoint, as Sioux City will likely become a one-hospital-system town. UnityPoint and MercyOne have a letter of intent to carry out the consolidation, which could be done later this year.

1 week ago | kwit.org | Bret Hayworth

Woodbury County government officials took more steps towards borrowing $1.2 million for larger capital projects, including potentially using about half that money to tear down the former county jail downtown. The county board of supervisors in their Tuesday meeting approved a resolution for the form of a loan to borrow that money. The county supervisors most years borrow money for larger capital projects.

1 week ago | kwit.org | Bret Hayworth

*Planned Parenthood will close four clinics in Iowa as part of a reorganization across a five-state area, and that includes the facility in Sioux City. According to Planned Parenthood North Central States, a total of eight health centers will close in the region over the rest of the year. That includes Iowa locations in Ames, Cedar Rapids, Sioux City and Urbandale. Laws restricting abortion access and cuts to federal funding are some of the reasons the organization says it must downsize.

2 weeks ago | kwit.org | Alejandra Perez

The Trump administration has proposed to eliminate habitat destruction and redefine harm under the endangered species act. Focusing on direct actions such as hunting, killing and injury, habitat destruction would be removed from the definition of harm under the ESA. Currently there are 82 animal species and 154 plant species listed as threatened or endangered in Iowa, including the rusty patched bumblebee, common barn owl, and pallid sturgeon.