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Up To Date

Seg. 1: Iowa Caucuses History | Seg. 2: Al Wallace Memoir

Segment 1: Why Iowa holds the first caucuses in the country, and what their results mean for each political party.

Advertising guidelines and an agriculture convention landed Iowa in the No. 1 spot in the country's presidential primary process. One political science professor said, for Republicans the caucuses show who will not be president, and, since 2000, the Democrat who won Iowa has gone on to be the presidential nominee.

  • David Redlawsk, chair of the department of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Delaware

Segment 2, beginning at 23:55: A Kansas City sportscaster opens up about the highs and lows of his dream job.

During his 33 years at FOX 4 in Kansas City, Al Wallace covered multiple World Series and Final Four tournaments, but never had a strong desire to cover a Super Bowl — "the Super Bowl is too big," he said. After being diagnosed with prostate cancer, the longtime sportcaster said he saw life through a different lense, and his time away from family became more difficult. 

Al Wallace discusses his memoir 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 10, at the Kansas City Public Library's Central Library, 14 W. 10th St., Kansas City, Missouri 64105. RSVP at KCLibrary.org.

When I host Up To Date each morning at 9, my aim is to engage the community in conversations about the Kansas City area’s challenges, hopes and opportunities. I try to ask the questions that listeners want answered about the day’s most pressing issues and provide a place for residents to engage directly with newsmakers. Reach me at steve@kcur.org or on Twitter @stevekraske.