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Clay Masters

Clay Masters is a reporter for Iowa Public Radio and formerly for Harvest Public Media. His stories have appeared on NPR’s news magazines “Morning Edition” and “All Things Considered.” In addition to being a husband and father, Masters is a seasoned fly fisherman and studies the solo folk guitar style called American Primitivism.

Business
3:46 am
Wed January 9, 2013

Mississippi River Level Disrupts Supply Chain

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Originally published on Wed January 9, 2013 5:26 am

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And I'm Renee Montagne. Good morning.

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Election 2012
5:31 am
Sat August 18, 2012

King, Vilsack Take House Battle To Iowa State Fair

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Credit Clay Masters / Iowa Public Radio
Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa (right) flips pork chops at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines while Terry Aupperle of Wiota watches. Aupperle lives in Cass County. He can't vote for King anymore because of redistricting.
Credit Clay Masters / Iowa Public Radio
Former Iowa first lady Christie Vilsack speaks at a political soapbox at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines.
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Originally published on Sat August 18, 2012 1:14 pm

One of the country's toughest congressional races is in Iowa between Republican Rep. Steve King and the state's former first lady, Christie Vilsack.

Iowa is losing a seat in the House after the election, due to redistricting. Now ultra-conservative King is facing a more moderate electorate as he runs in the newly redrawn 4th Congressional District against a political newcomer.

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Harvest Public Media
3:03 pm
Wed August 15, 2012

What If Congress Doesn't Pass A Farm Bill?

Credit Clay Masters / Harvest Public Media
Ed Greiman, a cattle producer and president-elect of the Iowa Cattlemen, climbs onto the front of a truck hauling silage on his ranch near Garner, Iowa. Like other ranchers, he's getting a feel for what life would be like without a farm bill.
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Roy Pralle is an 85-year-old retired farmer from Latimer, Iowa. He spends most afternoons playing cribbage with other retired farmers at Dudley's Corner, a diner attached to a gas station in north-central Iowa.

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Around the Nation
7:01 am
Thu July 19, 2012

Drought Hits Farmers And Residential Landscapers

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The drought is beginning to really sink its teeth into the Midwest. More than three-quarters of the nation's corn acres are in a drought zone. In Iowa, Illinois and Indiana, corn crops are burning up and its causing commodity prices to shoot up. Suburban residents are paying to water their lawns, but it isn't doing much good.

Harvest Public Media
7:26 am
Mon June 25, 2012

Control Of Missouri River Divides Communities

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Credit Clay Masters / Harvest Public Media
Jim Redmond, with the Northwest Iowa Sierra Club, stands along the Missouri River in Sioux City, Iowa. Redmond said the river could handle the rainfall of the 2011 flood, but not when it’s cutoff from the flood plain.
Credit Clay Masters / Harvest Public Media
Bill Smith, president of the Missouri Valley Waterfowlers Association, stands near homes built along the Missouri River. Smith is also a subcontractor and has worked on dozens of homes since last year’s flood.
Credit Clay Masters / Harvest Public Media
Iowa area farmer Brian Johnson stands on his neighbor’s farmland where river bottom sand and silt has piled up, sometimes as high as 20 feet.
Credit Clay Masters / Harvest Public Media
Soybeans planted in previously flooded areas near the Missouri River in Atchison County, Mo., poke up through the silt.
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Along a vast stretch of the Missouri River, the floodwaters that ravished homes, businesses and farms last year are not a distant memory. 

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Election 2012
1:53 am
Tue April 17, 2012

Democrat Bob Kerrey Faces Uphill Race In Nebraska

Credit Clay Masters for NPR
Former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey campaigns at a Democratic caucus site on April 14 at Bellevue University in Bellevue, Neb. Kerrey has decided to run again for his old seat in the U.S. Senate.
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Originally published on Tue April 17, 2012 5:15 pm

Former Nebraska Gov. and two-term Sen. Bob Kerrey, who faces long odds in reclaiming the seat left open by retiring Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson, is in his home state trying to get his old job back.

After a full of morning of shaking hands, smiling and trying to win over voters, Kerrey settles on lunch at the Taqueria Tijuana in south Omaha.

After lunch, he takes off walking down 24th Street, telling his staffers to catch up with him. He says things are different now from when he first sought public office in 1982.

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Harvest Public Media
9:06 am
Wed January 18, 2012

Liberal Arts Degrees Grow Jobs At ConAgra

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Credit Courtesy ConAgra
ConAgra is behind giant brands like Chef Boyardee, Healthy Choice and Orville Redenbacher.
Credit Clay Masters / Harvest Public Media
Holly Barber and Eric Fasse both went through ConAgra’s Information Technology Intern program and landed jobs there after graduation.
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You might think employees in ConAgra’s Information Technology department are all big-time techies or that they boast computer science degrees from prestigious universities. While some certainly do, ConAgra is one of many companies making hiring decisions that are a bit outside the box.

A few years ago, the company re-vamped its IT intership program looking for more recent graduates with liberal arts degrees.  IT departments are usually heavy on computer scientists and not on those who didn’t climb the traditional techie ladder.

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School Lunches
3:13 pm
Mon December 12, 2011

School Lunch Changes Still In The Works

Credit Clay Masters / Harvest Public Media
Food service workers set out Individual salads at a school cafeteria in Lincoln, Neb.
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From Harvest Public Media: With more families depending on the National School Lunch Program to feed their children, school districts are gearing up to implement new nutrition guidelines being handed down by the federal government by early next year.

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