Cornhole Champions Podcast

Cornhole Champions is a weekly podcast, powered by Iowa Starting Line, where we throw bags at Iowa's biggest stories and maybe sip a beer or two. cornholechampions.substack.com

Cornhole Champions Podcast is a news podcast hosted by Zachary Oren Smith, with 54 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Zachary Oren Smith hosts Cornhole Champions Podcast, a news show with 54 episodes published.

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  Cornhole Champions Podcast

  🌽Iowa's economic crash out - Cornhole Champions #46

  Oct 29, 202548 minS0

  <p>It's easy to miss what's happening in Iowa when you're scrolling past headlines. GDP down 6.1% in Q1. Soybean markets shipped to Argentina. A $20 billion bailout that somehow bypassed the farmers who needed it most. But this isn't just about tariffs or trade policy. It's about who holds power in Iowa and who gets left behind.</p> <p>On Cornhole Champions, host Zachary Oren Smith sat down with Chase Seibert and Liz Fleming to unpack the New York Times story everyone should be reading: how Trump's economic policies hit Iowa harder than almost anywhere else in the country. </p> <p>...

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  Cornhole Champions Podcast

  🌽Jennifer Konfrst on building power in the minority - Cornhole Champions #45

  Oct 28, 202524 minS0

  <p>Former Iowa House Minority Leader Jennifer Konfrst of Windsor Heights is challenging Republican Congressman Zach Nunn for Iowa’s 3rd Congressional District. As the first woman to lead Iowa House Democrats, Konfrst has spent seven years fighting for reproductive rights, healthcare access, Medicaid funding, and school voucher accountability while building power in the minority. On this episode of Cornhole Champions, Konfrst explains why voters feel frozen by political uncertainty, how Democrats can win even when outnumbered, and what effective opposition actually looks like in Iowa politics. Cornhole Champions is a weekly politics and policy podcast powered by Iowa Starting Li...

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  Cornhole Champions Podcast

  Art Cullen: How big Ag broke Iowa... and what comes next

  Oct 22, 202549 minS0

  <p>It’s easy to romanticize small-town Iowa — cornfields, calm mornings, and hardworking families. But behind the postcard image is a story of consolidation, pollution, and the steady draining of civic power. For my penultimate episode of the 2025, I spoke with Pulitzer Prize–winner Art Cullen has spent decades writing from Storm Lake about the forces reshaping rural life. In his new book Dear Marty, We Crapped In Our Nest: Notes from the Edge of the World, he reflects on how we got here, what we have left, and what it would take to turn things around after a century of ext...

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  Cornhole Champions Podcast

  What could Iowa do to reverse high cancer rates? (w/ State Rep. Austin Baeth)

  Oct 15, 202525 minS0

  <p>Iowa has the second-highest cancer rate in the nation, and it's getting worse. State Rep. Austin Baeth isn't just a politician. He's a practicing physician who sees cancer patients every day and watches people die from this disease in his palliative care work. His unique perspective as both doctor and lawmaker reveals the harsh reality: Iowa's cancer crisis has identifiable causes and policy solutions, but special interests keep blocking progress.</p> <p>On this episode of Cornhole Champions, I speak with Baeth about why Iowa's cancer rates are skyrocketing when other states are improving. From radon in 70% of Iowa...

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  Cornhole Champions Podcast

  Different states, different justice (w/ Sarah Hedlund and Diana Mondragon)

  Oct 8, 202528 minS0

  <p>Sarah Hedlund and Diana Mondragon were groomed and sexually abused by the same high school teacher 20 years ago - but their paths to justice couldn't have been more different. Not because of the facts of their cases, but because of where they lived.</p> <p><br></p> <p>On this episode of Cornhole Champions, Zachary Oren Smith sits down with the co-hosts of "Blooming After Grooming" to explore how a predator moved from Iowa to Illinois after Hedlund ended the relationship, and how state laws either support or fail survivors seeking accountability.</p> <p><br></p> <p>From Iowa's...

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