A Public Affair

Many folks value Wisconsin's scenic lakes and forests, and our state is known for its rich history of environmental stewardship. But we're facing unprecedented threats to our environment from climate change and folks are already feeling the painful effects. On today's show, guest host Isaia Ben-Ami speaks with Stephanie Robinson of 350 Wisconsin about the climate movement in the state.  Robinson says that climate change is an “everyone issue,” and she works to connect the big picture of global warming with peoples' everyday lives, like their energy bills. The Trump administration's rollback of environmental protections, like the repeal of the Endangerment Finding, are true threats to Wisconsin's environment. Robinson says that there's some good news in that the Wisconsin Public Service Commission has approved six new solar projects.  They also discuss how climate activism needs to include voting protections, new methane gas power plants planned to power hyperscale data centers, and how climate inaction will only create a more expensive future. Stephanie Robinson has been on staff at 350 Wisconsin since 2018 and has served as Executive Director for the past three. Stephanie holds a master’s degree in urban and environmental planning and prior to her time with 350 Wisconsin, she led major environmental studies and directed air quality and clean transportation projects for local governments and regional agencies across the U.S. Featured image of a solar farm in Wheatland, Wisconsin via Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The Bricks that Build a Climate Movement in Wisconsin appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, guest host Zoltán Grossman is in conversation with Stephen Zunes about the on-again, off-again US war with Iran. They discuss the status of the Strait of Hormuz, the US's nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia, and the shifting public opinion in the US about the war. Despite the asymmetrical power of the US's aerial arsenal, Zunes says that Iranian drones have been very effective at creating tactical advantages in the war. Though there have been many attempts at a ceasefire deal, Zunes argues that any version would have to include some concessions to Iran's advantage. But he says that Trump would rather perpetuate the war than negotiate. They discuss the many rippling effects of the war including a decline in the world petroleum market, more insecurity for US allies in the Middle East, and the creation of nuclear apartheid as the US comes to a nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia. These issues, in addition to human rights abuses, are causing massive shifts in public opinion about the war with Iran and Palestine with young people especially.  Zunes connects the war with Iran to other global conflicts, from Morocco's occupation of Western Sahara to Palestine. He says that the Palestine solidarity movement should include Western Sahara and that The Odyssey film has created a rare opportunity to bring attention to the occupation.  Stephen Zunes is a professor of Politics and Director of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of San Francisco. He writes for The Progressive magazine, Truthout, Common Dreams, and other publications. His most recent book is Western Sahara: War, Nationalism, and Conflict Irresolution. Featured image of a satellite image of the Strait of Hormuz via Flickr (CC BY 2.0).  Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The Forever War with Iran Inflames other Regional Conflicts appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, Sabrina Madison, president of the Madison Common Council, is in conversation with local elected officials and organizers about the recent police killing of Corey Ruiz on Madison's Near-East side. She is joined by Dane County Supervisor Yogesh Chawla, community organizer Clyde Mayberry, and Madison Alder Davey Mayer. Supervisor Chawla and Alder Mayer represent the area of Williamson and Baldwin Streets where Ruiz was killed and where community members have constructed a memorial site and autonomous zone. They discuss their reactions to the police killing of Ruiz. Mayberry says he was shopping nearby when he saw a video on social media of officers attacking Ruiz. He dropped his groceries and began organizing, encouraging young people to “use your voice” in situations of injustice. Alder Mayer has been present at the memorial site every day and has knocked on residents doors to understand their reactions and needs. Supervisor Chawla reminds listeners that the police killed Paul Heenan and Tony Robinson in the same area and the DA has never charged an officer in these shootings. Supervisor Chawla says that “it's going to take pressing on the system” to keep this from happening again. He says he's working to respond to the situation the way the police should have, by providing support, services, and de-escalation. Pressing on the system looks like the DA waiving standard policies and procedures to press charges against the officer who killed Ruiz, says Mayberry. Alder Mayer and Supervisor Chawla say they'd like to see more counterbalances to policing, accountability, and justice. Alder Madison encourages more people to contact their state legislators and ask them to change the policies around how to fire police officers.  Issues of criminal justice are inseparable from public health, and the roundtable addresses how the city and county can better invest in mental health services and affordable housing. Mayberry is concerned that the city and county know the data–that Black people are disproportionately unhoused–but do not use this data to put money into Black households or Black-led organizations.  Featured image of a sign at the memorial site for Corey Ruiz at the corner of Baldwin and Willy Street, courtesy of Sara Gabler/WORT. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post This Time Must Be Different: Responses to the Killing of Corey Ruiz appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Just this morning, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine, who was in Washington DC for Lindsay Graham's funeral, met with President Trump. The meeting was not recorded, but President Zelensky posted to X that the result was positive and they were able to make a deal in which the US would supply Ukraine with anti-ballistic defense technology.  On today's show, guest host Yuri Rashkin is in conversation with James, an American in the Ukrainian National Guard who has been serving on the frontlines for nearly two years. He is head of the fiber optic and fixed-wing drone laboratory for his unit. He has family in Wisconsin and Minnesota and runs the YouTube channel Y Ukraine. James moved to Ukraine before the war and joined the military as a civilian. He says “the war came for me.”  He now works on drones using his background as an engineer and says that a significant portion of his lab, and military funding in general, is financed by donations. He discusses what it's like to source materials for his lab and how the situation changes week by week and sometimes day by day.  There's constant activity in the war with Russia, though some reports have described the situation as a “stalemate.” Lately Ukraine has focused on destroying Russia's oil reserves and energy infrastructure. James says there is no single weapon that will end the war, and that there will be peace when Russia is held accountable for its war crimes.  Featured image of a Ukrainian vampire drone via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Ukraine Is Bootstrapping Its War Victories appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

The UK has a new prime minister, Andy Burnham, who replaced Keir Starmer after he resigned just two years due to general lack of support. On today's show, guest hosts, Adrienne Pagac and Pete Ramand, are in conversation with David Jamieson about British politics, the future of the Labour left, and how all this corresponds to US politics. Burnham promises to transform the UK economy, but he inherits all the same problems that plagued Starmer's time in office. Many consider Burnham to be on the “soft left” of the Labour Party, but there are concerns that Burnham and his new team will liquidate the welfare state and funnel state funds into the arms industry.  Where does this leave the Labour left? Jamieson says the Labour Party has become very centralized as neoliberalism and regional inequality fracture voters, potentially pushing the left out of the party or into the Green Party. Jamieson says that the treatment of democratic socialists by the US Democratic Party is similar to the treatment of Jeremy Corbyn in the UK. He's noticed a growing hysteria about democratic socialist candidates, but reflects that voters want authenticity and independent politicians. They also discuss the phenomena of New Labour under Tony Blair, Burnham's appointments like former defense secretary, John Healey, the US's interference in UK politics, figures on the far right, and more. David Jamieson is a journalist and socialist activist based in Scotland and co-editor of Conter. Featured image of 10 Downing Street via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Andy Burnham and the Shaky Future of the Labour Left appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Monster storms, too much rain, not enough rain, hail, and heat have become more prevalent in a political context made worse by a fossil-fuel cozy federal government. On today's show, host Esty Dinur speaks with Dr. Michael Mann about climate change, super El Niño, and the Trump administration's attacks on environmental protections.  Trump and Republican legislators have blamed Canada for the wildfire smoke that blanketed large areas of the US last week, but he and the vast majority of Republicans in Congress are taking large sums of money from fossil fuel interests. There was a time when Republicans passed climate legislation, but Mann says they've all moved to the anti-environment extreme.  Mann describes climate change's effect on the jet stream, including the proliferation of “resonance events.” If it's possible to find a silver lining in all the climate chaos, it's that El Niño years tend to result in less active Caribbean hurricane seasons, says Mann.  They also discuss the environmental costs of war, China's move toward “clean energy,” what could happen if Democrats gained control of Congress, and Mann's latest book with Peter J. Hotez called, Science Under Siege: How to Fight the Five Most Powerful Forces that Threaten Our World. Michael Mann is a Presidential Distinguished Professor of Earth & Environmental Science and Director of the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability and the Media at the University of Pennsylvania. His latest book, with Peter J. Hotez, is Science Under Siege: How to Fight the Five Most Powerful Forces that Threaten Our World. Featured image: a temperature map of El Niño from 2003. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Hail, Heat, and Forest Fires Under a Super El Niño appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

With the upcoming Midterm elections and the balance of power in Congress up for grabs, people are concerned that the Trump administration will meddle in election results. On today's show, guest host Tony Castañeda speaks with election expert Stephen Richer, who says we should have confidence in the free and fair elections process that our local election officials oversee.  In Richer's recent article for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, he reaffirms the 2020 presidential election results in Wisconsin. There were several post-election audits that found no cheating or mass fraud. But Richer's criticism of a Trump supporting group's audit of the 2020 Maricopa County election results earned him the ire of the President and MAGA supporters.  There are real concerns coming from the federal government, from Trump's executive orders on election administration that are held up in the courts to the scaling back of cyber security services that are provided to election administrators.  Richer says that the success and security of primary elections this year is a good sign, and he encourages listeners to get involved as temporary election workers, share facts with their friends and family, and reach out to election administrators if you have concerns. At the end of the day, election officials are your neighbors, and we should be concerned not only by the lack of trust in free and fair elections but by the lack of trust in our communities.  Stephen Richer is a Fellow and Lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School, Legal Fellow at the Cato Institute, former elected Republican in Maricopa County, and former lawyer. He's also on the board of the Democracy Defenders Action.  Featured image of a ballot machine via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Fear Election Narratives, not Election Administrators appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Ali Muldrow is in conversation with Sophie Lewis about her new book, Femmephilia: Love Letters to Trans Mermaids, Queer Mothers, and Marilyn Monroe. Lewis describes her journey from being a “queer runaway” child to a professional writer as an adult. Her writing confronts the white, bourgeois feminist worldview and advocates for a radical embrace of “femme” and a future with abundance for all. In Femmephilia, Lewis challenges readers to take femme seriously because there's still a confusion about what femininity means, for anti-feminists and feminists alike. Lewis distinguishes femme from femininity, calling the former a verb and a practice in the service of anti-oppression and anti-fascism. In theorizing femme, Lewis unpacks class and capitalism, rape culture, racial supremacy, and coloniality. Lewis says we shouldn't turn away from “girly” things because in them we can find joy, pleasure, and excess.  They also discuss the invisibilized labor of care work, the ideology of the nuclear family, and Hilary Clinton and Kamala Harris's unsuccessful presidential bids. Lewis wants us to move away from anti-utopian compromise and believe that we can have bread and roses and hormones too.  Sophie Lewis is a self-described ex-academic and feminist writer living in Philadelphia. She is the author of Full Surrogacy Now: Feminism Against Family, Abolish the Family: A Manifesto for Care and Liberation, Enemy Feminisms, and finally Femmephilia, an essay collection which just came out a few weeks ago. Her next book is called The Liberation of Children, and will be out from Penguin in 2027.  Featured image of the cover of Femmephilia: Love Letters to Trans Mermaids, Queer Mothers, and Marilyn Monroe. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Putting the Femme in Feminism appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

For many, parasites elicit feelings of disgust or fear, but today's guest has developed an affection for these small and mighty creatures. Award winning entomologist and evolutionary biologist Dino Martins joins host Patty Peltekos to discuss his new book, Hidden Creatures: Luscious Leeches, Bashful Botflies, and the Wondrous, History-Shaping World of Parasites. Martins grew up in rural Kenya where he was surrounded by animal and insect life and cultivated a fascination with mango worms and bot flies. He says we humans are just one of the organisms on this planet and that there's plenty to learn from parasites because they hold the fabric of life together. They're present in all areas of the cycle of life, even in our microbiome. He says, “One must truly love and seek to understand all of nature or, alas, you will come to love or understand none of it.” They discuss the rise of ticks in Wisconsin and around the world, and how these vectors of disease pose serious health problems. Martins says that ticks are resilient and adaptive and they're simply taking advantage of growth opportunities that humans have created for them through habitat disruptions, loss of biodiversity, and climate change. Invertebrates and insects are in decline all over the world, but parasites are on the rise due to human interference in natural systems.  Martins has a fascination with the minimalist but deeply feeling tapeworm, and describes how some parasites manipulate their hosts and how others are mutualists. Storytelling and art go hand in hand with Martin's scientific work. He drew the art in Hidden Creatures and asks his students to draw insects when he takes them into the field.  Dino Martins is an award-winning entomologist and evolutionary biologist. A professor at Stony Brook University, he has served as the director of the Turkana Basin Institute in Kenya, founded by Dr. Richard Leakey, and previously as the director of the Mpala Research Centre. He holds a PhD in organismic and evolutionary biology from Harvard University. His research and writing have been featured in Smithsonian Magazine, The Guardian, TED, the BBC, Granta, and National Geographic. He lives on Long Island and in Malindi, Kenya. Featured image of the cover of Hidden Creatures: Luscious Leeches, Bashful Botflies, and the Wondrous, History-Shaping World of Parasites. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Parasites Hold the Fabric of Life Together appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

The hot summer months often mean full immersion in the natural world for those who grow their own food. On today's show, host Douglas Haynes speaks with master gardener and social media star, Toni Farmer, who has made it her life's work to educate people about the joys of gardening and solutions to the broken food system.  Farmer's work is deeply personal, and often her videos take place in her own backyard vegetable garden where she shares tips and tricks and invites viewers to commiserate about daily struggles with pests or the weather. Home gardens were once the norm, but went out fashion post WWII when Americans prioritized convenience. “All the skills of growing food went away in a single generation,” says Farmer.   But people want to regain that knowledge, and Farmer showed up at the right time with the right knowledge to feed that hunger. Her social media accounts went viral in January 2025 when the Trump administration first implemented tariffs. Now, her posts educate people about the immediate and long-impacts of policy decisions like tariffs and the war with Iran. Her recent series “The Plan” has garnered hundreds of thousands of views. In it, Farmer prepares her audience for the looming global food crisis and encourages them to work with their neighbors to build food security.  Farmer says she's alarmed by the possibility of price shocks in the fall and is concerned by a recent social media trend of conflating conventional and organic farming. She also discusses how regenerative agriculture is the antidote to the cruel and extractive aspects of commercial agriculture and how immersion in your home garden is an antidote to the isolation of our digital lives. At the end of the day, it shouldn't be a privilege to eat healthy food, says Farmer.  Toni Farmer is an adjunct professor at both the University of Pennsylvania and Rowan University in the department of Earth and Environmental Science. At Penn, she teaches Regenerative Agriculture and Integrated Pest Management and at Rowan she teaches The Future of Food, a class about the impact of climate change on agriculture. She holds a Masters of Environmental Science from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master Gardener certification from Rutgers. Toni provides the garden video content for SJMagMedia, winning “best of” for 2021. She appears every Tuesday on Fox29 Philadelphia at 3:30pm helping tri-state regional viewers with garden tips. Learning to grow food is a critical tool for healthy food access. You can find her on Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook as ToniFarmersGarden. Featured image of a community garden via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post How a Thriving Garden Can Counteract a World on Fire appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Esty Dinur speaks with Sasha Abramsky about his recent article for the Nation Magazine, “Trumpworld's Global War on Multiracial Democracy.” Sasha Abramsky is the Nation Magazine’s Authoritarian Watch columnist and a frequent feature writer for the magazine. His work has also been published in the Atlantic, New Republic, New York Review of Books, the Guardian, Rolling Stone and many other venues. He is the author of 11 books, including, most recently, American Carnage: how Trump, Musk, and DOGE Butchered the US Government. Abramsky teaches writing at UC Davis. Featured image of Sasha Abramsky from 2023 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Trump's Propaganda Masquerades as Policy appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Arcatao, El Salvador is a small town in the mountains on the border of El Salvador and Honduras. On today's show, host Bert Zipperer speaks with Barbara Alvarado, TJ Hinds, and Claudia Enz about the Madison Arcatao Sister City Project. They talk about the history of the organization and their upcoming 40th anniversary celebration. The Madison Arcatao Sister City Project was founded in 1986 during the Salvadoran Civil War by concerned Madisonians in defense of human rights. The relationship continued after the 1992 Chapultepec Peace Accords that ended the 12 year war during which an estimated 70,000 people were disappeared.  They discuss the US's role in the Salvadoran Civil War and how the people of El Salvador were brutally oppressed. The Sister City Project worked with Salvadoran churches that were steeped in liberation theology to support the people of El Salvador to rise up. Alvarado shares a Salvadoran saying, “solo el pueblo, salva el pueblo,” or only the people can save the people. The current president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, has revived the oppression of the Salvadoran people, under the rhetoric of being tough on crime. Alvarado, Hinds, and Enz discuss the lack of due process in El Salvador and how the Bukele is using taking political prisoners and creating industrial-scale prisons like CECOT.  Featured image of a sign outside a church in Arcatao, El Salvador via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).  Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post 40 Years of the Madison Arcatao Sister City Project appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

When Black women mobilize, democracy wins, says Atima Omara. She's written a new book called The Instigators: How Black Women Have Been Essential to American Democracy (And What We Can Learn from Them) and joins host Ali Muldrow to talk about how Black women have fought against racism and sexism and instigated for a more just society. As voters prepare to cast their ballots in the upcoming state and federal elections, the future of our multi-racial democracy stands in the balance. Omara says it's important to work within the Democratic party in order to make it even more inclusive, like Fannie Lou Hamer did. She says the most effective politicians are the ones who stay focused on everyday people.  Omara wrote this book with other Black women and people of color in mind. She wanted to decenter the voices of people who are white, male, cis-gender, wealthy, raised in cultural centers on the coasts, etc. They also talk about the recent wave of democratic socialist candidates, white comfort and patriarchy, and how Black women are to thank for so many intellectual and cultural touchstones.  Atima Omara is the Founder and Chief Strategist of Omara Strategy Group—a progressive political and advocacy consulting firm—and the author of the new book The Instigators: How Black Women Are Essential to American Democracy (And What We Can Learn from Them). Featured image of the cover of The Instigators: How Black Women Are Essential to American Democracy (And What We Can Learn from Them). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post When Black Women Mobilize, Democracy Wins appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Because of the US's war with Iran, people around the world are experiencing food and price shocks. On today's show, guest host Patty Peltekos is in conversation with environmental historian Kate Brown, author of the new book Tiny Gardens Everywhere: The Past, Present, and Future of the Self-Provisioning City, to talk about how people living in cities can contribute to their own food sovereignty.  Modern zoning laws too often prevent people from creating gardens in cities. Brown talks about how it once was: people farming the commons using what we would now call regenerative agriculture. That was before the invention of private property, consumer culture, and the enclosure movement in Europe that transformed land and labor. But people are pursuing tiny gardens as an antidote to industrial agriculture. From Washington, DC to Berlin, Brown profiles the ingenious ways people are growing tomatoes instead of turf grass, defying unjust laws, and sharing their bounty with neighbors. And states as different as Maine and Florida are creating legislation to make it easier for people to create their own tiny gardens.  If you want to start gardening, Brown says the first thing to do is find a friend to garden with. They also talk about migrant labor in the US, how Brown decolonized her research, and how industrial equipment, fertilizers, and insecticides are waging war on the environment. Kate Brown is the Thomas M. Siebel Distinguished Professor in the History of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is the author of several prize-winning histories, including Plutopia: Nuclear Families in Atomic Cities and the Great Soviet and American Plutonium Disasters (Oxford 2013) and A Biography of No Place: From Ethnic Borderland to Soviet Heartland (Harvard 2004). Manual for Survival: A Chernobyl Guide to the Future (Norton/Penguin Lane, 2019), translated into eight languages, won the Marshall Shulman and Reginald Zelnik Prizes for the best book in East European History, plus the Silver Medal for Laura Shannon Book Prize. It was also a finalist for the 2020 National Book Critics Circle Award, the Pushkin House Award and the Ryszard Kapuściński Award for Literary Reportage. Brown was a Guggenheim Fellow in 2009, a Carnegie Fellow and winner of the American Academy's Berlin Prize in 2016. Her latest book, Tiny Gardens Everywhere: The Past and Present of Urban Self-Provisioning was published by Norton in February 2026. Brown's work on Tiny Gardens has been supported by fellowships from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies. She has published a short segments from this work in the New Yorker, Mother Jones and Lithub. Featured image of the cover of Tiny Gardens Everywhere: The Past, Present, and Future of the Self-Provisioning City. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post What If Urban Gardeners Could Feed Us? appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Douglas Haynes highlights a unique Wisconsin education program called the Driftless Field School at Thoreau College. He speaks with two educators, Benjamin Bernard-Herman and Margot Higgins about how their program engages the most pressing questions of our time, like climate change and inequality, and teaches students to revitalize their relationships to land and communities. The Driftless Field School is a five-and-a-half week long summer immersion program that offers place-based environmental education. They focus on the “bioregion” of the Driftless, the unique area of the Midwest that was never glaciated. Rather than imagining places as defined by state boundaries or urban centers, bioregions emphasize biological, geological, and cultural similarities. In the Driftless, this means engaging students on issues of energy and ethanol, issues that are deeply rooted in the region but are equally global environmental issues. They also talk about how their courses engage students in developing ecological literacy, the ability to notice the world around them. Students learn to sleep outside, take care of sheep, grow their own food, and more, all with an eye toward reciprocity. They also learn how to conduct oral histories, sing, and be a citizen in a place no matter where they go. Benjamin Bernard-Herman is a PhD candidate in the department of anthropology at the University of Illinois, Chicago. His research is based in Wisconsin’s Driftless Region, and focuses on the values that sustain small-scale farmers in conditions of economic and environmental precarity. He earned an MA in the social sciences, with a concentration in anthropology, from the University of Chicago, and a BA in sociology and anthropology from Swarthmore College. He was the 2023-24 scholar-in-residence at Thoreau College, and has returned to Thoreau College to teach every year since; this is his third year teaching for the college’s Driftless Field School program. Dr. Margot Higgins is a professor in the Sustainability and Environmental Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse, where she instructs courses on topics including Environmental Justice, Food Politics, Political Ecology, and Environmental History. She earned an MA in Human Development and a PhD in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management from the University of California-Berkeley, as well as an MS in Environmental Studies from the University of Montana, and a BA in American Studies and Art from Colby College in Maine. In addition to her focus on the Driftless Region, Margot's research and teaching have taken her from Norway and California to Montana and Alaska, where she first started teaching college students in a backcountry field program in 2005. This is her second summer teaching the summer field course at Thoreau. Featured image of students at the Driftless Field School. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Teaching Eco-Literacy in the Driftless Bioregion appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Esty Dinur is in conversation with two guests, Dr. Feroze Sidhwa and Emmaia Gelman.  Sidhwa discusses the condition of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a pediatrician and neonatologist, who has been imprisoned and tortured by Israel for the past 18 months. Abu Safiya is not alone; the Israeli prison system under Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir commonly uses torture and starvation, says Sidhwa. Israel has targeted healthcare workers at an alarming rate and the healthcare system in Gaza is completely broken. A petition to free Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya is circulating online. Closer to home, Gelman says the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has been a “chief weapon against the anti-genocide movement in the US.” Gelman's new book, The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State, looks at how this organization has facilitated the movement of capital and weapons from the US to Israel and how the ADL has been successful at positioning itself as a defender of democracy and civil rights, but is actually using claims of antiracism to do conservative work. Gelman says that US imperialism and Zionism are shared projects and that we shouldn’t be surprised about the ADL's collusion with the government given their history of spying on other groups.  Emmaia Gelman is the author of The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State, a critical history of the Anti-Defamation League as a Cold War neoconservative institution (UC Press, 2026). She is the founding director of the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism, and co-hosts the podcast Unpacking Zionism.  Feroze Sidhwa is a trauma surgeon in California who volunteered in Gaza twice and was blocked from going a third time in November.  Featured image of the cover of The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State by Emmaia Gelman.  Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The Realities of Gaza and How the ADL is Implicated appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, former A Public Affair host, Zoltán Grossman, is back behind the mic in conversation with political anthropologist, David Vine. They talk about the on-again-off-again war between the US and Iran, the proliferation of US military bases around the world, and the scale of the US military budget. Vine's scholarship shows how US military bases are the linchpin of the expansion of the US empire, creating the conditions for perpetual war. Gulf States have hosted US bases for decades, making them targets in the US war with Iran. US bases encircle the globe and more are planned for construction in the Philippines. Contrary to the claims that these bases protect US democracy, in reality, they ramp up geopolitical tensions and harm the local communities they impose on. With an erratic and dangerous president at home, Vine says that we need to start closing down these bases because they continue to operate as launch pads for unjust wars. Close the bases, bring the troops home, and build up diplomacy, says Vine. With the $100 billion the US spends on these bases, Vine says we could be funding universal healthcare and free college education.  David Vine is a political anthropologist and author of a trilogy of books about war and peace, including The United States of War: A Global History of America's Endless Conflicts, from Columbus to the Islamic State, Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World, and Island of Shame: The Secret History of the U.S. Military Base on Diego Garcia. Vine was a professor of anthropology at American University in Washington, DC from 2006 to 2024. He recently co-authored the Project On Government Oversight report The True Total U.S. Military Budget.  Featured image of a map of US military bases in the Middle East via Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The Network of US Military Bases Provoke Endless Wars appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

In an oppressive and hateful society, joy is an audacious form of resistance. Today on the show, we're celebrating Pride in July. Host Ali Muldrow is joined by two guests in the studio, Alexandria Delcourt and Sean O'Brien. They tell stories about LGBTQ Wisconsin, what's hopeful and harmful in our political moment, and how not to let fascism rain on your Pride parade. They reflect on Pride events last month, including the state's first two spirit pow wow that Delacourt profiled for Our Lives magazine. O'Brien says that he's seen a growth in Pride festivals in small towns all over Wisconsin, debunking the idea that queer folks aren't welcome except in metropolitan areas. Meanwhile, policies related to healthcare and education make it hard for people just to be people in Wisconsin. Some hospitals aren't providing gender affirming care right now, due to a Trump administration change in funding. Just this spring, the Watertown school board canceled a student performance of “A Mother of a Revolution,” an instrumental song that pays tribute to trans activist Marsha P. Johnson. A lack of education and understanding drives hate, and the antidote is advocacy and representation. There are three LGBTQ+ candidates running for state office this season. Alexandria Delcourt is a writer and editor based in Madison. She earned her MFA in fiction in 2014, taught English and Creative Writing at UW-Whitewater, co-produced the Moth StorySLAM, and now works as an editor for Our Lives. Sean O'Brien is the Policy and Advocacy Director at Fair Wisconsin, the state's only LGBTQ+ civil rights and political advocacy organization. He is also serving his first term on the Madison Common Council. Featured image of a Pride memorial outside The Stonewall Inn Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post We're Celebrating Pride All Year appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Dana Pellebon is in conversation with Lindsay Christians about local food and culture and her recent article for the Cap Times about local public art.  Christians reported on the Madison Public Art Project–an independent nonprofit–after a number of artists “expressed varying levels of frustration with the nonprofit, citing issues with micromanagement, condescending communication, poorly written contracts, lack of credit for their work and payment complications.” Conversations about equity, access, and pay can be hard for artists to have because they often are slow to raise issues out of fear that they won't get work. Christians also talks about the evolution of her writing and editing career and how food journalism is a positive and hopeful way to tell the stories of the diverse people in our community. Christians has watched the food cart culture in Madison expand beyond Campus Mall and sees it as a way for small-scale entrepreneurs to work out ideas.  Lindsay Christians is the food and culture editor at the Cap Times. She has been covering the arts in Madison since 2008. She currently writes a weekly food and culture newsletter with restaurant news, book recommendations and tips on what to do each week around the city.  Featured image of the public art project Cows on Parade in Madison via Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 2.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Stand Up for Public Art appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Last week, Madison's Office of the Independent Police Monitor released a new finding: that police violence played a role in the death of a man in custody in 2024, contrary to the county's medical examiner's autopsy report. To talk about the place of medical examiners in the criminal justice system, host Dana Pellebon is joined by scholar, Terence Keel, author of The Coroner’s Silence: Death Records and the Hidden Victims of Police Violence. Keel researches the relationships between medicine, science, race, and religion, with a focus on how the science of medicine in the US has been used to perpetuate racial injustice and inequity, especially when it comes to state monitoring and surveillance. He says that coroners are an overlooked piece in the criminal justice puzzle and that death investigation systems provide cover for violent state systems.  In 2013, the Death in Custody Reporting Act made it possible for Keel to look at the numbers. He found that in the twenty-year period after the Act, over 32,000 people were killed in police custody, leading him to argue that dying in custody has become the new capital punishment. They also talk about the history of the coroner role, one that dates back to the Colonial era, the rise of civilian oversight commissions, and the impact of coroner's reports on Black and Brown communities. Terence Keel is a professor of human biology, society and African American studies at UCLA. His latest book is The Coroner's Silence: Death Records and the Hidden Victims of Police Violence. Featured image of the cover of The Coroner’s Silence: Death Records and the Hidden Victims of Police Violence. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Dying in Custody Has Become the New Capital Punishment appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

A group of local historians are hard at work unearthing and preserving the rich histories of Madison's neighborhoods. Using maps and oral histories, Make History Madison is a crowd-sourced, place-based public history initiative that encourages people of all ages to contribute photos, research, testimonials, and observations about the places in Madison that matter to them. On today's show, host Douglas Haynes speaks with four guests involved in the project, Martín Alvarado, James Levy, Angela Richardson, and John Wedge. As much as their work involves celebrating Madison's vibrant history, they also tell the painful histories of dispossession and displacement that are part of our shared past. Alvarado discusses the displacement of African Americans from the Greenbush neighborhood to Madison's South Side, and Richardson describes the experience of learning about the Shenk-Atwood neighborhood as a layer cake. You can learn about your building or block using archival tools at the Madison Public Library and their Living History collections. Alvarado says that small newspapers are a treasure trove of our ancestors' oversharing. Richardson describes the process as “collective remembering” and this work is an “antidote” to the Trump Administration's “airbrushed history,” says Wedge. As the contributions of Black, LGBTQ, and Indigenous peoples have been scrubbed from federal websites, the work of local historians to preserve the past is more important than ever. Ultimately, Make History Madison isn't just about documenting the past, but about using the past to engage with the present and the future, says Levy.  On Tuesday, June 23, 2026, Make History Madison presents Music Venues We Have Loved at The High Noon Saloon in association with WORT 89.9 FM and Madison Public Library. Martín Alvarado is a Community Engagement Librarian at the Madison Public Library and host of Global Revolutions on WORT 89.9 FM. James Levy is the founder and Executive Director of the Race and Place Coalition and the Whose Land? public history project. A scholar trained in African American history and former Associate Professor of History at UW-Whitewater, his projects employ oral history and collaborative community research to foster public dialogue about the connections between race and geography. Dr. Levy's current book project, forthcoming from the University of Wisconsin Press, is titled The Color of Farming in the Heartland: A History of Land and Race in Wisconsin since 1800. Angela Richardson is an artist, educator, and passionate “hyperlocal historian.” Her primary research focuses on the Schenk-Atwood neighborhood and Madison’s near east side. John Wedge is a historian, labor advocate, and public arts organizer. Originally from London, he has a Ph.D. in American History from the University of Illinois. He is Executive Director for WEAC Region 6, and singer, guitarist, and co-founder of northern soul/rock band The Periodicals. Prior to Whoseland.org and Make History Madison, he co-produced The Greatest War: World War I, Wisconsin, and Why it Still Matters. Featured image of the Make History Madison logo. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post You Can Make History with Make History Madison appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Esty Dinur celebrates Juneteenth, “America's second Independence Day,” with Dr. Timothy Golden. They talk about the symbolic importance of this federal holiday and how the US still struggles to make freedom meaningful for Black people. Juneteenth was made a federal holiday in 2021 after decades of campaigning by former teacher Opal Lee. Dr. Golden says that Juneteenth becomes “hollow” when we juxtapose the recognition of emancipation with Congress's inability to pass meaningful police and voting rights reform. The spirit of celebration is “neutralized” by the treacherous and tragic reality that enslaved Black people in Texas were kept enslaved after emancipation and the bad faith of our federal institutions who will not pass legislation that would support symbolic celebrations like Juneteenth.  In the wake of emancipation, Dr. Golden says that we think of freedom too narrowly. He points to the work of Reconstruction that was ultimately undercut in the way that racial terror continued under state law. He says that full democratic participation continues to be deferred for Black Americans because of mass incarceration and voter suppression. They also discuss Dr. Golden's experience as an actor, the “white gaze,” and the philosophy of Ida B. Wells.  Timothy J. Golden is Visiting Professor of Philosophy at Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA. His areas of philosophical specialization are Africana Philosophy (African American Social and Political Thought, Critical Race Theory, and Black Male Studies), Philosophy of Religion, and 19th and 20th Century European Philosophy. His books include Frederick Douglass and the Philosophy of Religion: An Interpretation of Narrative, Art, and the Political (Lexington Books, 2022), and Racism and Resistance: Essays on Derrick Bell’s Racial Realism (State University of New York Press, 2022). He is also a lawyer with more than 20 years experience concentrating in criminal defense, and he is an actor in local theater with solo performances in the stage plays Thurgood (portraying Thurgood Marshall) and How I Learned What I Learned (portraying August Wilson), and performances in  Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice (Shylock), The Winter’s Tale (Leontes, King of Sicily), and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Peter Quince).  Tim earned his Juris Doctor from the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University and his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Memphis.  Featured image of a Juneteenth parade in Denver, CO via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Celebrate Juneteenth, But Keep Working appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

June is a high milk production month called “the flush” by dairy farmers. On today's pre-recorded show, hosts Bert Zipperer and Pete Hardin of The Milkweed highlight the Dairy Month. They break down cheese consumption trends, the history of the dairy industry in the state, and hear from two Wisconsin dairy farmers, Jan Shepel and Adam Faust.  Shepel and Faust say they wish more people understood how hard they work. They share stories of the highs and lows–the droughts and floods–that they've seen over the years and how they've given names to their cows. The Wisconsin dairy industry contributes $50-55 billion to the economy annually but sits at a historic low of 5,000 dairy farms in the state.           They also dive into the role of cooperative creameries, the trend of cross-breeding beef and dairy cows, consumer demand for dairy protein in the form of whey and cottage cheese, and the rise of cheese prices.  Featured image of dairy cows in Vernon County, Wisconsin via Flickr (CC BY 2.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Honoring Dairy Month with a Farmer Roundtable appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

If you have ever been asked “What's your sign?” you have Linda Goodman to thank—or blame. She was America's first New Age celebrity, and today host Ali Muldrow is joined by her biographer, Courtney Ann LaFaive, to talk about her legacy. They discuss LaFaive's new book, Follow the Signs: Searching for Linda Goodman, America’s Forgotten Astrology Queen. Linda Goodman was a literary celebrity publishing accessible books on astrology and relationships, like Love Signs, a massive volume about heterosexual coupling. LaFaive discovered Goodman's books as a teenager, decades after Goodman was popular, and found in them a way to “decode the mysteries of adulthood.” She learned to understand how people have different relationships to their inner world and how to understand intimacy and connection. She also gained a language for compatibility in relationships and a feminine knowledge counter to patriarchy. Through the language of cycles, LaFaive says you can find a more feminine way of thinking about how life unfolds, returning to face challenges again and again.  LaFaive says that astrology is both scientific and quasi-religious: it's something that can be seen scientifically through astronomy and people relate to it through faith. It's also political and Goodman's story is a cautionary tale for how our society deals with misinformation and illusion. In writing this book, LaFaive fell out of love with Linda Goodman but still strove to tell a compassionate story.  LaFaive will give a reading next Tuesday, June 23 at 6pm at A Room of One's Own.  Courtney Ann LaFaive is the author of Follow the Signs: Searching for Linda Goodman, America’s Forgotten Astrology Queen published by the University of Iowa Press in May 2026. She is a native of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, and teaches creative writing at the University of North Dakota. Featured image of the cover of Follow the Signs: Searching for Linda Goodman, America’s Forgotten Astrology Queen. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Decoding the Mysteries of Adulthood through Astrology appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Dana Pellebon is in conversation with Dr. Mary Fariba Afsari about her new memoir, Labor: One Woman’s Work. Dr. Afsari is a child of Iranian immigrants, a working mother, and the founder of a mobile health clinic, bringing reproductive healthcare to rural patients in the Pacific Northwest. In 2015, Dr. Afsari literally mobilized her practice to meet women where they are. Her clinic on wheels–FemForward Health–travels throughout rural Oregon because too many of these communities lack full-scale OB-GYN services. Dr. Afsari says that people have started driving to find her because they've been recommended by word of mouth. It's a sign of how broken the healthcare system is that a mobile RV clinic is providing better care than industrial medicine to women of color and rural women. Post Dobbs, Dr. Afsari says the fight for reproductive justice is more important than ever.  Dr. Afsari's memoir chronicles her career serving women like her grandmother who died of a pregnancy related complication. She says she wants readers to get a sense of the range of experiences she has from obstetric emergencies to joyous births. They also discuss Dr. Afsari's philosophy of meeting patients with curiosity, how race plays a central role in whether a woman will survive a pregnancy, the lack of gender-affirming care, and the criminalization of OB-GYNs post Dobbs.  Residents of Dane County may be aware of a similar service providing  mobile forensic nurse exams. Mary Fariba Afsari, DO, is a board-certified OB-GYN and the founder of FemForward Health, a mobile women’s health clinic in Portland, Oregon. She completed her medical school at Touro University college of Osteopathic Medicine, her Obstetrics and Gynecology residency at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine and holds an MS in Health Communication from the Tufts University/Emerson College joint program. Dr. Afsari is a passionate advocate for healthcare equity and reproductive justice. She speaks widely on the intersections of medicine, identity, and systemic healthcare reform. Her debut memoir, Labor: One Woman’s Work, was published by Avid Reader Press in April.  Featured image of the cover of Labor: One Woman’s Work. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post One Mobile Clinic Practices Reproductive Justice in Rural Areas appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Last night Russia killed 11 civilians and attacked a historic cathedral in Kiev. On today's show, guest host Yuri Rashkin is in conversation with journalists Zarina Zabrisky and Jason Jay Smart, as well as politician Lev Parnas to talk about Russia's ongoing war on Ukraine and the status of support for Ukraine in the US. Zabrisky is a war correspondent currently living in Kherson, a city with more than 250,000 people located in an active “red zone.” She documents the phenomena of “human safari” drone strikes in which Russian troops use small drones equipped with cameras to identify targets. Zabrisky says that even though the people of Kherson experience violence on a daily basis since the start of the war, the city is still their home and they have complex reasons for staying. The people of Kherson have responded to Russia's use of fiber optic drones by covering parts of the city in fishing lines.  Smart says that Russia's attacks on churches, like the one bombed last night in Kiev, is a strategy of destroying symbols of the shared history between Russia and Ukraine. He's noticed that Russia has shifted its language around Ukraine from being a place that has “gone astray” to one that is full of “heathens.” This religious rhetoric is helping Moscow attract far-Right US agitators like Candace Owens and perpetuate an idea of Russia as a Christian nation upholding the faith. Zabrisky and Smart say that Ukraine is far from achieving peace and safety. But Smart predicts a paradigm shift in Russia in the near term.  Parnas joins the conversation to discuss the “love fest” between Washington and Moscow and the status of support for Ukraine within the Trump administration. He also discusses his role during the first Trump administration and what he predicts from Todd Blanche as Attorney General. Featured image of a street in Kherson destroyed in a Russian attack in 2024 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0).  Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post A Kaleidoscopic View of Ukraine at War appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Donald Trump continues to boast that he will bring about the fall of Cuba, and Marco Rubio continues to assert that Cuba poses a national security threat. On today's show, host Esty Dinur is in conversation with Marc Becker about the latest signs of US aggression toward Cuba.  Becker says that Trump is “turning the screws” on Cuba via more blockades on petroleum and more sanctions on select members of the Cuban government. This leads pundits to say that a US military attack on Cuba is inevitable, but Becker says the conclusion is not inevitable. On the ground, the US blockades are causing diesel fuel shortages leading to lack of sanitation services. There's also mass hunger and energy shortages and the infant mortality rate is rising. This is all adding up to a crisis point.  They also discuss tourism apartheid, humanitarian flotillas, and China's increasing influence in Cuba. Becker says that the crisis raises a fundamental question: how much of the revolutionary aspirations do Cubans give up for the revolution to survive? And if you've given up everything that the revolution promised, do you give up on it? Marc Becker is professor of history at Truman State University. He studies the Latin American left with a particular interest in race, class, and gender within popular movements in the South American Andes. Among other works, he is the author of Contemporary Latin American Revolutions (Rowman and Littlefield, 2022); The CIA in Ecuador (Duke University Press, 2020); The FBI in Latin America: The Ecuador Files (Duke University Press, 2017); and Indians and Leftists in the Making of Ecuador’s Modern Indigenous Movements (Duke University Press, 2008. He has served on the executive committees and has been web editor of the Peace History Society (PHS) and Historians for Peace and Democracy (H-Pad). Becker is currently working on a project on Philip Agee and the CIA in Ecuador in the early 1960s. Featured image of a map of the 1962 US blockade of Cuba via Wikimedia Commons. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The Crisis in Cuba Jeopardizes Revolutionary Aspirations appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Today is the first day of the largest FIFA World Cup in history. And this weekend, the UFC is staging a cage match on the White House lawn to celebrate President Trump's birthday. Guest host Norman Stockwell takes a close look at these two events with sports writers Dave Zirin and Adam Szetela.  Zirin's latest article for The Progressive chronicles Donald Trump's influence on the World Cup tournament. He argues that the World Cup is no stranger to authoritarian governments, from Russia to Qatar and that Trump is using the event to stage his own authoritarianism. From travel advisories, Trump's threats against Iranian players, $5700 tickets, and the climate of ICE abductions, Zirin says that this World Cup is a “joyless” one. Szetela discusses how Donald Trump championed the UFC in the early 2000s such that now the sport has become synonymous with right-wing politics. One of the things that makes the UFC different from other sports leagues is that the fighters aren't unionized, meaning that many UFC athletes make as little as $3000 a match. Though it might be tempting to say that mixed martial arts appeal exclusively to the raw and ruthless violence of the MAGA crowd, Szetela says that the sport has a wider popularity. Zirin and Szetela also discuss their latest book projects.  Adam Szetela earned his Ph.D. in English from the Department of Literatures at Cornell University. Before that, he was a visiting fellow in the Department of History at Harvard University. He is the author of That Book Is Dangerous! (MIT Press) and writes for The Washington Post, The Guardian, Newsweek, and other publications. Dave Zirin writes about sports for The Nation and The Progressive and hosts the Edge of Sports podcast and “Edge of Sports with Dave Zirin” on The Real News. He is the author of The Kaepernick Effect: Taking a Knee, Changing the World and the forthcoming The People’s Historian: The Outsized Life of Howard Zinn. Featured image of an MMA cage via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Blood Sports on the White House Lawn appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

WORT 89.9FM Madison · The Line Between Recreation and Medication is Finer than You Think Today Professor Nicholas Powers joins Ali Muldrow in a conversation about his new book, Black Psychedelic Revolution. Psychedelics such as LSD and ketamine are beginning to gain popularity as increasing evidence supports promising treatments of psychological conditions, trauma, and changing one's autobiographical narrative. They also heard from callers who shared transformational personal experiences while using psychedelics. What is the difference between recreation and medication? Powers suggests that the line may be finer than you think. The idea is that recreational activities like art, poetry, or even psychedelic drugs can be healing. Powers also noted that the most safe way to have a psychological experience is in a controlled and safe environment with a guide. If a person is in a state of trauma or depression, the chemicals from these drugs might lead to a further inability to cope once the trip is over, and that is when these drugs can become addictive. However, Powers emphasized that it's the prior state of trauma that creates the addiction rather than the drug itself. Powers said that the way these psychedelic drugs work is by inhibiting the ego, which leads to questioning core beliefs and the stories you were told about your life. This is why after a psychedelic trip, people often change their previously held beliefs. It is also why people tend to change their beliefs the most during college. During the transition period between being reliant on your parents and becoming an independent adult, young people question the stories that they were told. Powers encourages this kind of discussion in his college classrooms and asks his students to try to find the truth in their experiences. Additionally, there is a surge in the glamorization of drugs and removing the stigma associated with them. Drugs such as ritalin or adderall are given to children at younger ages reducing the stigma for using drugs to treat mental health, but there is still a sense that they are necessary. Powers says there is a delicate balance between maintaining a healthy skepticism about the medical industry without denying its benefits entirely. He encourages people to always think about who is profiting, whether from criminalizing marijuana or giving ritalin to four year olds. The discussion ended with the positive experiences that can come from having a controlled psychedelic experience. Some examples included helping alcohol addiction, understanding the core reasons why a marriage ended, finding peace and answers within the counterculture of the 1960s, and becoming a more compassionate person.  Nicholas Powers is an Associate Professor of English at SUNY Old Westbury. Powers has presented talks and reports from the Psychedelic Renaissance since 2017. He has written for numerous psychedelic publications from Lucid News to Double Blind. Alongside published articles, he has given talks at Naropa University and Chacruna. Powers has published three books with Upset Press. The first is a book of poetry, the second a mix of reportage from disaster zones, protests, and Burning Man. The third is a political vampire novel. He regularly attends Wild Seeds Writers Retreat and Cave Canem Black poetry workshops. Powers lives in Brooklyn with his son. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The Line Between Recreation and Medication is Finer than You Think appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

WORT 89.9FM Madison · We Need Nutrition Security, Not Just Food Security Today host Douglas Haynes is joined by Kris Tazelaa of Second Harvest Food Bank, and Melissa Bublitz professor of human ecology at UW Madison. Second Harvest Food Bank of Southern Wisconsin distributes 26 million pounds of food to over 300 partners and programs, including local food pantries, mobile food pantries, youth programs, and many more.  The language around access to food centers on “food insecurity,” but the conversation often omits the need for healthy food. Bublitz highlights the importance of nutrition security, an effort to provide communities with not just food to survive, but the food necessary to thrive. One of the ways Second Harvest is addressing nutrition security is by partnering with local farmers to provide fresh, local and nutritious food. The majority of the 16 counties that Second Harvest serves are rural, so Second Harvest Food Bank buys excess food from farmers to make sure the local producers also have the support they need. The fresh food is often distributed the very next day. For a lot of families, there is a patchwork of sources necessary to get the food they need. Rather than going to the grocery store for everything, they rely on state programs, local food pantries, and FoodShare (SNAP) benefits. Although SNAP is a critical lifeline for many people, it is intended to be supplemental, and has not kept up with the rate of inflation. The program is not enough to provide everything, but Bublitz and Tazelaa said it is still the most efficient way to address food insecurity while also improving the local economy. For every SNAP dollar spent, $1.60 is created in the local community.   There are myriad sources of mental and physical stress on families without food security. There is still a stigma attached to swiping the green SNAP card at the grocery store and shopping at local food pantries. Many people in small communities travel 20-30 miles away to avoid being recognized by neighbors at their local pantries. There is the added stress of government paperwork and figuring out eligibility for food programs. Bublitz and Tazelaa reference feeling “hangry,” emphasizing the importance of being fed to increase your quality of life and reach your highest potential, and how nutritious food will make a world of difference. Kris Tazelaa is a Wisconsin native who has been with Second Harvest Foodbank of Southern Wisconsin for nearly 15 years, currently serving as the organization’s Media and Public Relations Manager. Melissa G. Bublitz, Ph.D. is the Liz Kramer Professor of Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the School of Human Ecology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her research focuses on understanding and influencing consumer behavior to promote the well-being of individuals and families as well as in the communities where they live and work. Her research studies food and nutrition access, social entrepreneurship, sustainability,  and public policy to increase consumer well-being. Utilizing qualitative and participatory research methods, her research is characterized by a strong commitment to creating real-world impact and is often conducted in partnership with social impact organizations. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post We Need Nutrition Security, Not Just Food Security appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's pledge drive edition of A Public Affair, host Esty Dinur is in conversation with former host, Zoltán Grossman about grassroots resistance to creeping dictatorship in the US and the resilience of Indigenous communities around the world. They dedicate the program to the memory of Dr. Al Geddicks, who Grossman calls “the quintessential scholar-activist.” He was the driving force behind the anti-mining movement and author of Resource Rebels.  They discuss where Grossman finds hope, including in the backlash against ICE raids and detention centers. He says that there is a growing break in the longstanding bipartisan consensus for military and intelligence spending, even though the Senate passed the ~$70 billion budget reconciliation package for immigration enforcement. He calls this “anti-weaponization” fund another form of “internal repression” that will fund paramilitary militias.  Grossman is also optimistic about ecological and Indigenous resilience in Western Washington where he lives and teaches. He describes the wins for resource co-management and resistance to US military interventions, and why these actions seem more possible in Washington than they do in Wisconsin. They also discuss Palestine, Grossman's Hungarian lineage, and the fall of Viktor Orbán. Note: This pledge drive interview was edited to remove parts of the show dedicated to station fundraising. We thank our listeners for their generous support. Zoltán Grossman has since 2005 been a Professor in Geography and Native American ​ Indigenous Studies at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, and previously taught at UW-Eau Claire.  He earned his Ph.D. in Geography and Graduate Minor in American Indian Studies at UW-Madison in 2002. He is a longtime antiwar, antiracist, and environmental organizer, and was a co-founder of the Midwest Treaty Network in Wisconsin.  He is a past co-chair of the Indigenous Peoples Specialty Group of the American Association of Geographers. He was co-editor of Asserting Native Resilience: Pacific Rim Indigenous Nations Face the Climate Crisis (Oregon State University Press, 2012). He is author of Unlikely Alliances: Native Nations and White Communities Join to Defend Rural Lands (University of Washington Press, 2017). Featured image if the removed Glines Canyon Dam in Washington via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).  Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Grassroots Organizing Works with Zoltán Grossman appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

From the first Piggly Wiggly to automated self-checkout machines, the supermarket is a microcosm of modern food systems, labor, and the idea of convenience. On today's pledge drive edition of A Public Affair, host Bert Zipperer speaks with Ann Larson about her book, Cleanup on Aisle Five: Essential Work, Poverty Wages, and the View from Behind the Supermarket Register. Larson got a job at a supermarket at the outset of the COVID pandemic after spending a few years on the margins of the professional class in New York City. She worked for over a year at a grocery store before leaving and writing her book. Her main takeaway from that experience is that there is no such thing as unskilled labor. Supermarket cashiers, like herself, need patience, technical and communication skills, product knowledge, and more. They're also likely to develop repetitive stress and muscular-skeletal disorders, workplace injuries that increasingly go un-investigated due to cuts to OSHA. The second lesson of Larson's book is that all laborers have dignity. When workers–like cashiers–are underpaid, they become devalued. In our culture, status is tied to pay, but Larson wants to bust the myth that so-called “low-skilled” workers deserve low pay. She says that unfortunately we seemed to have quickly forgotten the lessons about essential work that the pandemic taught us.  From her time cashiering, Larson saw the supermarket function as a community space where people could escape from the heat or cold, for example. But it's also a place of precarious labor. On top of that, the shift to self-checkout machines in the name of “convenience” shifted labor from their employees to their customers. They also discuss the issue of Piggly Wiggly, the lack of unionization among retail workers, and the need to enforce anti-trust laws.  Note: This pledge drive interview was edited to remove parts of the show dedicated to station fundraising. We thank our listeners for their generous support. Ann Larson's writing on education, debt, and low-wage work has appeared in The New Republic, The Chronicle of Higher Education, Fast Company, and The Nation, among other publications. She is coauthor of Can't Pay Won't Pay: The Case for Economic Disobedience and Debt Abolition and is a fellow with the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. She lives in Salt Lake City, UT. Featured image of the cover of Cleanup on Aisle Five: Essential Work, Poverty Wages, and the View from Behind the Supermarket Register. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post There's No Such Thing As Unskilled Labor appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's pledge drive edition of A Public Affair, host Ali Muldrow is in conversation with scholar Tara Mulder about her new book, A Womb of One’s Own: Lost Histories of Childbirth in Ancient Rome. Mulder tells the story of birth from pre-conception to post-partum based around women's stories of trying to get pregnant, of being pregnant, of terminating pregnancies, and beyond. Her book is an alternative history of Rome–which is typically centered around war, death, and sex–through childbirth. Mulder combed through primary texts for pieces of birthing stories and investigated funerary inscriptions, medical tools, and magical amulets to form a composite story of birth in ancient Rome. She found that abortion isn't a modern phenomena but a part of the reproductive experience common in the ancient world. Yet it was during this period that the narrative that women are wicked or vain for having an abortion emerged, and the same language that is deployed today. Prior to this point, pregnancy was seen as healthful and the domain of women, and afterward pregnancy was medicalized under the purview of men.  Though at the population level, birth has gotten better since ancient times, it would be wrong to attribute that progress to tools. Instead, improvements in medical care non-specific to childbirth have revolutionized healthcare broadly, from germ theory to the regular use of antiseptics. And still, Milwaukee has one of the worst maternal and infant mortality rates in the world. They also talk about the role of capitalism and private equity in determining how hospitals treat pregnancies and the safety of homebirths and midwifery. Note: This pledge drive interview was edited to remove parts of the show dedicated to station fundraising. We thank our listeners for their generous support. Tara Mulder is Assistant Professor of Classical and Ancient Near Eastern Studies with affiliation in Gender and Women’s Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. As the daughter of a homebirth midwife, she has assisted in more than two dozen births. Featured image of the cover of Tara Mulder's book, A Womb of One’s Own: Lost Histories of Childbirth in Ancient Rome. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The Story of the Roman Empire through Childbirth appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's pledge drive edition of A Public Affair, host Dana Pellebon is in conversation with Rev. Staci Marrese-Wheeler and Rev. Tim Schaefer about the phenomena of white Christian nationalism and how their congregations are choosing to follow a table-flipping Jesus. Rev. Schaefer is part of a coalition of clergy in Wisconsin working against Christian nationalism. He says that this political ideology gets framed in theological terms by a small group of people who interpret scripture in a narrow way in order to uphold their power and control. Rooted in white supremacy, Christian nationalism threatens democratic norms and threatens churches because it doesn't allow for pluralism in either space, says Schaefer. Rev. Marrese-Wheeler says that this ideology is rooted in fear and a scarcity mindset, but she follows Christian teachings of abundance. She pastors a small, progressive congregation where people have been exposed to justice-framed understandings of the Gospel. “Patriarchy is baked into church DNA,” says Marrese-Wheeler, though there have been denominations that ordain female clergy. Schaefer says that he brings feminist, womanist, and queer theologies into his sermons, following the model of a social-justice, table-flipping Jesus.  “More and more, faithful people are being asked to create more power and more wealth for people who don't follow Jesus,” says Marrese-Wheeler. Instead, she looks to Christian traditions in Central America and Africa that preach community instead of individualism. Note: This pledge drive interview was edited to remove parts of the show dedicated to station fundraising. We thank our listeners for their generous support. Rev. Staci Marrese-Wheeler (She/Her) is Pastor at Common Grace. Staci is an ordained pastor of the Moravian Church of North America. Staci has an undergraduate degree in Education and a Masters of Divinity from Moravian Theological Seminary in Bethlehem, PA. She has served on the eastside of Madison for 17 of her 33 years in ministry. Staci’s role at Common Grace is  called “Community Development Pastor.” She also serves as Co-Director of the Eastmorland Community Center on the east side of Madison. Rev. Tim Schaefer has served as pastor of First Baptist Church since November 2020. Prior to relocating to Wisconsin, he served as Minister to Youth at Royal Lane Baptist Church in Dallas, TX, where he was ordained in early 2019. Tim holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from Boston University and a Master of Divinity degree, as well as, a degree certificate in Gender and Sexual Justice from Brite Divinity School at Texas Christian University. In addition to his pastoral role, Tim co-founded and continues to co-lead the Wisconsin Coalition for Religious Freedom, a broad collective of Wisconsinites dedicated to disrupting the rise of white Christian nationalism in our state. Featured image: of Christian LGBTQ pride flag with cross hanging in a Metropolitan Community Church via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0).  Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Following a Social-Justice, Table-Flipping Jesus appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

The Yahara Lakes define this region where people flock to the water year-round for recreation. But algae blooms, Madison's continued growth, and the warming planet are changing the makeup of our waterways. On today's pledge drive edition of A Public Affair, Douglas Haynes is in conversation with James Tye of Clean Lakes Alliance and Jake Vander Zanden of the Center for Limnology about the 2025 State of the Lakes report, the annual checkup of the Yahara watershed. The central issue facing the Yahara lakes is phosphorus. A single pound of phosphorus can lead to 500 pounds of algae, leading local groups to double their efforts to remove phosphorus from the waterways. The issue of phosphorus is compounded by other factors like microplastics and climate change. The Center for Limnology also tracks chlorophyll, water clarity, zooplankton, and animal and fish populations, including the invasive spiny water flea. This is the 15th year of the State of the Lakes report, and Tye says that next year they will include information on the number of acres of cover crops, rain gardens, and green roofs in order to show how what we do on land is connected to the health of our waters.  Note: This pledge drive interview was edited to remove parts of the show dedicated to station fundraising. We thank our listeners for their generous support. James Tye is the Founder and Executive Director of Clean Lakes Alliance. His connection to the lakes runs deep, as he grew up swimming, waterskiing, and sailing on Lake Mendota. As a lifelong Madison resident, he has seen many changes in the Yahara lakes over the years, and is excited to have the opportunity to work on their behalf. Jake Vander Zanden is professor of Integrative Biology and Director of the Center for Limnology at UW-Madison. His research focuses on the threats to healthy lake ecosystems. He works on Wisconsin lakes, as well as lakes and rivers around the world. Jake has trained scores of graduate students and postdoctoral researchers in his 25 years at UW-Madison. Featured image of a algae bloom via Flickr (CC BY 2.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Phosphorus, That's What's in the Lakes appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Esty Dinur asks listeners to pick up their phones and share their thoughts on local and global issues. We hear from folks who are staying aware and vigilant about international news, finding hope and comfort in making your own food, the Democratic primary for governor, and the value of collective self-determination.  Featured image of a bright blue phone via Pexels. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Open Line with Esty Dinur appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Bert Zipperer is in conversation with Elie Mystal, The Nation's justice correspondent and columnist, about the Supreme Court's recent decision in Louisiana v. Callais that gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Mystal says the “most important legislation in US history” that ended 100 years of apartheid is now “effectively dead.” The Voting Rights Act didn't deliver a post-racial utopia, but it was “the start of the American experiment” for Black people, says Mystal. And it has been successful at increasing Black representation in government: before 1965 there were 4 Black members of Congress and that number grew to 9 in 1969 and 67 today. But a certain cadre of white people don't support this, including Chief Justice John Roberts, who argued against the 1982 voting rights expansion that defined racism by a law's effects not intent. The ruling in Louisiana v. Callais rolls it all back, requiring lawyers to prove intentional discrimination, something that is near impossible to do. Mystal calls the gerrymandering in Louisiana “surgical discrimination” because white democratic neighborhoods were not gerrymandered, but Black democratic neighborhoods were. They also discuss how blue states are trying to “fight fire with fire,” how the Trump administration wants to destroy federalism, how the Callais decision could affect the midterm elections, and how to fix democracy with more democracy. Elie Mystal is The Nation's justice correspondent and a columnist. He is also an Alfred Knobler Fellow at the Type Media Center. He is the author of two books: the New York Times bestseller Allow Me to Retort: A Black Guy's Guide to the Constitution and Bad Law: Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining America, both published by The New Press. He also writes the newsletter “Elie v. U.S.” Featured image of the signing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 via Wikimedia Commons. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The Voting Rights Act is “Effectively Dead” appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Next Tuesday, April 7 is the Spring Election in Wisconsin. On today's show, host Ali Muldrow is in conversation with two local election officials: Madison City Clerk, Lydia McComas, and Dane County Clerk, Scott McDonell. They talk about absentee and early voting, voter turnout, and the vicious environment around elections created by the Trump administration. McDonell says that Madison is the gold standard for early voting in the state. That's because the city has made early voting available at libraries even at night and on the weekends. He says that this measure has increased voting by 3-4%, especially engaging the casual voters out there. He's noticed an increase in-person early voting this year, closer to pre-pandemic levels. McComas discusses the quick turnaround between the Spring Primary in February and the Spring Election in April and all the work that her office does to make this quick transition seamless. She says that no matter how you cast your ballot, it will be counted in Madison and that she's working to rebuild trust after 193 ballots went uncounted in 2024.  They reassure listeners that our local elections are safe and secure, despite the erosion of trust in voting that the Trump administration has fostered. And they talk about efforts to help students engaged in voting, how they have been threatened at their jobs, increasing access to voting for the elderly and eligible voters in Dane County jails, and the importance of showing gratitude to poll workers. If you want to find your polling place, register to vote, or learn what's on your ballot, go to myvote.wi.gov.  Lydia McComas is Madison's City Clerk. She graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in political science. She holds a graduate certificate in election administration from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. Her previous role was as Voter Engagement Division Manager with Hennepin County in Minnesota. Scott McDonell has served as the Dane County Clerk since he was first elected in 2013. In 2014, McDonell became the first clerk in Wisconsin to issue a same-sex marriage license, and he is the only clerk in the country to oversee two presidential recounts in 2016 and 2020. Featured image of a polling sign courtesy of WORT. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Thank Goodness for Local Election Clerks appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Dana Pellebon is in conversation with Madison Common Council District 14 Candidates, Kate Blood and Noah Lieberman. District 14 encompasses parts of South Madison and is currently represented by Alder Isadore Knox Jr. The candidates speak about their priorities for their district, what they'd like to see in Madison, and how to reduce racial disparities in the city. Next Tuesday, April 7 is Election Day. Find out what's on your ballot here.  Common Council District 14 Candidate: Kate Blood Kate Blood says that she decided to run for office when a housing development was proposed in her neighborhood without the input of her Latinx neighbors. She supports restorative justice, restorative courts, and using diversion programs to keep people out of jails and prisons. Blood says that reducing racial disparities in Madison should start with supporting our students. That means reevaluating discipline formats using deescalation protocols. She says that fully funding the CARES program is a long-term investment in our community.  Kate Blood worked for WHEDA and the DOA providing affordable housing around the state. She now works as a chaplain.  Featured image: remix of a photo of Kate Blood with the Madison City Council district map by Sara Gabler/WORT. Common Council District 14 Candidate: Noah Lieberman Noah Lieberman is running for Common Council because local government is where community is put into practice, from parks and libraries to good roads and transportation. He wants to create home ownership opportunities for Black and Brown residents of his district to help address long-term racial disparities in the city. He also supports state-level changes to the minimum wage and wants to see the city build up tenants' rights in order to stop predatory landlords who he says are an impediment to making the city affordable. Noah Lieberman is a stay at home dad. He previously served as vice chair of the Dane County Democratic Party, helping to recruit and support progressive candidates around the county. He also served as chair of Madison’s Landlord Tenant Issues Committee. Featured image: remix of a photo of Noah Lieberman with the Madison City Council district map by Sara Gabler/WORT. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Common Council District 14 Candidates: Kate Blood and Noah Lieberman appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

The Spring Primary election is next Tuesday and on today's show, Sara Gabler is in conversation with Madison Metropolitan School District School Board Seat 7 Candidates, incumbent Nicki Vander Meulen and challenger Dana Colussi-Lynde. They speak about their priorities for the school district, how they would address opportunity gaps, safe learning environments, literacy rates, student enrollment in the district, and more. School Board Seat 7 Candidate: Nicki Vander Meulen Nicki Vander Meulen is seeking a fourth term on the school board. She says that Madison is a “property rich but tax poor district” and that the current state funding formula has created two separate school systems for public schools and charter schools. She would like greater transparency when it comes to funding and at the same time better compensation for veteran teachers so that their talents stay in the district.  Serving students with disabilities is a top priority for Vander Meulen, who says that having the opportunity to attend public schools changed her life. She wants to see K-3rd grade classrooms capped at 23 students and more partnerships with community organizations who could provide tutoring to MMSD students. Equitable staff compensation, tutoring, keeping police out of schools, and addressing the culture of bullying would all contribute to reducing the opportunity gaps and declining enrollment in the district, Vander Muelen says. Nicki Vander Meulen is a juvenile attorney and member of the Madison Board of Education. When Nicki was elected in 2017, she became the first openly autistic school board member in the United States. Featured image of Nicki Vander Meulen. School Board Seat 7 Candidate: Dana Colussi-Lynde Dana Colussi-Lynde comes from a family of educators, and she's running for school board because she's concerned about the state of our democracy. She says her background in information technology has prepared her to address process improvement and assess the effectiveness of student technology use.  She points to the unfavorable data on student technology use and test scores and supports the “bell to bell” cell phone ban in the district.  She is also concerned about the educational opportunity gap and would like to see partnerships with the Goodman Center, NAMI, and other organizations to support students' wellbeing. She wants to see students graduating at their reading level and an increase in apprenticeship programs so students can be future-ready when they leave the school system. Dana Colussi-Lynde was born in Madison and raised in the Madison area by two teachers before graduating from Madison West High School. She then went on to Madison College for a degree in Information Technology, leading to a 25-year career in IT leadership, analysis and process improvement. She was a board member of New Leaders Council, a progressive leadership organization, for two years following their institute in 2019. She has also volunteered for Courage Plus and Planned Parenthood along with canvassing for local and national political campaigns. She was recently endorsed by the Wisconsin State Journal, Dane Dems and Wisconsin Muslim Civic Alliance and designated as a Mental Health Now Candidate. The school board would be her first, but hopefully not her last, public service role. Featured image of Dana Colussi-Lynde. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Madison School Board Seat 7 Candidates: Nicki Vander Meulen and Dana C... appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Esty Dinur is in conversation with four guests–Joe Bates, Matthew Borke, Rob Lee, and Gracie Waukechon–who are fighting against the reroute of the Enbridge Line 5 pipeline around the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa reservation in northern Wisconsin. Enbridge has begun construction on the reroute though the legal battle has not been fully resolved. Joe Bates discusses how he uses his drone to observe the construction. He's captured footage of the new easement where Enbridge plans to use horizontal directional drilling to install the new pipeline. Matthew Borke says that what we're hearing from the Trump administration is a forked-tongue message. He encourages folks to stay informed about the legal proceedings.  Gracie Waukechon says that this issue is personal. In light of the threat that the pipeline poses to the lands and waters of the region she says, “I feel as if my future has been taken away from me.” She's also worried about the future of resistance in light of a contract that Ashland County officials signed last month for policing protests.  Rob Lee talks about how Enbridge is starting to break ground on construction of the reroute, but it's not a foregone conclusion that they will get final approval. He reminds listeners that the oil that passes through Line 5 passes from Canada and back to Canada, which should concern people across the political spectrum.  Joe Bates is a Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa tribal elder and water protector.  Matthew Borke was raised in southern Michigan and graduated as a Chef from Northern Michigan University's Culinary Arts program. Matthew has been organizing for the complete shutdown of Enbridge Line 5 since 2017 locally, nationally, and internationally. Rob Lee is a Senior Staff Attorney at Midwest Environmental Advocates. His work spans a wide range of environmental and public health issues. His areas of focus include PFAS contamination, oil pipelines, Clean Water Act compliance, wetlands and waterways, the Great Lakes, Wisconsin's Public Trust Doctrine, hazardous substances, mining, and open government. Gracie Waukechon/Meyāwāēw (May-yow-way) is a member of the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa and a Menominee Descendant. She resides near the Menominee Reservation with her family. Gracie is a student at the College of Menominee Nation and interns at the Sustainable Development Institute. Featured image of the proposed Line 5 reroute via the Wisconsin DNR. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The Fight Over Line 5 Is Far From Over appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, guest host Bert Zipperer is in conversation with scholar Gianni Cicali about the famous children's play Pinocchio and how it speaks to the vital importance of the arts during times of national crisis, from the 1930s to today. Next month marks the 200th birthday of Pinocchio's creator, Carlo Collodi. They discuss the 1930s Federal Theater Project production of Pinocchio. The play was produced by Yasha Frank with the children theater division of the WPA. The program employed people who were unemployed during the Great Depression and offered low-cost tickets so more people could access the theater. The FTP production of Pinocchio played nationwide for two years and on Broadway until June 1939 when Congress and the House Unamerican Activities Committee killed the production. Gianni Cicali is a specialist in the history of Italian theater (Renaissance, Baroque and 18th-century). He holds an Italian “laurea vecchio ordinamento” (M.A. equivalent) and doctoral degrees from both Italy (Università di Firenze) and Canada (University of Toronto). His interests focus on Italian theater, opera and culture from the 15th to the 18th century; Renaissance and Baroque religious theater; cinema; migrations to the Americas of Italian theater professionals (19th-century New Orleans). Featured image: of a photo from the Federal Theatre Project's production of Pinocchio via Library of Congress. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Public Theater in Times of National Crisis appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

There was once a time in the US when public banks were the norm; but now the financial landscape is dominated by large retail and commercial for-profit banks. On today's show, guest host Zoe Sullivan is in conversation with Don Morgan and Oscar Perry Abello about the benefits of public banking for local communities and small and medium-sized businesses, especially when it comes to supporting communities that have historically been discriminated against and that may not have much collateral or credit history. Morgan describes the services that the Bank of North Dakota provides, including novel ways of responding to natural disasters and other crises. For instance, they have a Farm Financial Stability Program for row-crop farmers who have been struggling due to extreme flooding, high input costs, and low commodity prices.  Abello discusses how public banks support housing initiatives. He says that so much of construction lending is done by local and regional banks who are the institutions that people turn to when they want to build affordable housing or build on vacant lots. However, access to community banks is limited. Abello says there are 4,000 community banks out there, but only 3% of those banks are run by Black, Latinx, or Native American owners. They also talk about how public banks would respond to a national banking crisis, crypto currency, address community needs quickly and nimbly, how they're different from postal banking. Morgan says that “behind strong communities are strong community banks.” And Abello adds that “banking is too important to leave to the bankers.” Don Morgan is the CEO of the Bank of North Dakota. Oscar Perry Abello is a journalist covering alternative economic models and policies across the United States and the author of The Banks We Deserve. He is currently the senior economic justice correspondent for Next City, an independent, not-for-profit, online publication covering cities from the lens of social, racial, and environmental justice.  Featured image of a piggy bank. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Banking Is Too Important to Leave to the Bankers appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Dana Pellebon is in conversation with District Attorney Ismael Ozanne about his office and the new community court that will help reduce racial disparities and recidivism in Dane County.  DA Ozanne has a long history in Madison, from playing soccer at UW-Madison to overseeing the report on racial disparities commissioned by Governor Doyle. He says that in a city with a growing population and growing law enforcement, there aren't enough public defenders to represent the community. His office has 30 total prosecutors, but there should be 1 prosecutor for every 10,000 residents. Many of these positions are funded by the state, but others like the Victim Witness Program and Crime Response Program are funded by the county. DA Ozanne discusses how these offices work together and how they will connect to a new initiative out of the Community Justice Council (CJC). The CJC was created in 2008 and now works to take criminal justice decisions out of the criminal courts.  The CJC is composed of major criminal justice leaders and aims to make evidence-based improvements and expand restorative courts with the goal of slashing recidivism rates, like similar programs in New York City and Chicago did. However, laws in Wisconsin mean that community courts have to take place in a courthouse, not in a more relaxed community setting. The new community court will be led by Circuit Judge Nia Trammell. District Attorney Ismael Ozanne is a lifelong resident of Madison, Wisconsin. He received his law degree from the UW Madison Law School in 1998 and was appointed as the Executive Assistant for the Department of Corrections (DOC), the largest cabinet agency in the state, by Governor Doyle in 2008. In 2010, he was appointed by Gov. Doyle to Dane County District Attorney and is the first African American District Attorney in Wisconsin's history. Featured image of District Attorney Ismael Ozanne. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post A New Community Court is Coming to Dane County appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

The Spring Election is two short weeks away and on today's show, host Douglas Haynes is in conversation with Madison Metropolitan School District School Board Seat 6 Candidates, challenger Daniella Molle and incumbent Blair Mosner Feltham. They speak about their priorities for the school district, how they would address opportunity gaps, safe learning environments, public funding for schools, student enrollment in the district, and more.  School Board Seat 6 Candidate: Daniella Molle Danielle Molle's educational journey began in public schools in Bulgaria before she attended public universities in the US. She has worked as an education researcher for 15 years with an emphasis on the needs of multilingual students. For the past five years, she has worked as a research partner to districts across the country that are changing their systems to advance equity in schools. Molle says there hasn't been someone on the School Board with a background in language development; and in a district where a quarter of the students are bilingual, the School Board needs to understand their experience. She is concerned about the adoption of new math and literacy curriculums and how they would address opportunity gaps. She also discusses her perspective on restorative justice practices and ballot referenda.  Daniella Molle is an education researcher at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has two children in the Madison schools, one at Hamilton Middle School and one at West High School. She volunteers weekly in a math classroom at Cherokee High School, and is a parent representative on the district’s Advanced Learning Advisory Committee. Professionally, she worked with Madison teachers for a decade as a researcher and as a teacher supervisor.  Featured image of Daniella Molle. School Board Seat 6 Candidate: Blair Mosner Feltham Blair Mosner Feltham has been a teacher since 2010 and says you can't produce curriculum unless you've been in the classroom. She wants to keep her seat on the School Board so she can see her vision of a stable future for the district in practice. She is the first Board member to run for reelection to Seat 6 in more than 10 years. Mosner Feltham says the district needs collaboration with political leadership to address opportunity gaps. The school district provides transportation and food banks, but she wants to think bigger about how affordable housing and healthcare are other barriers that affect students' opportunities. Recently, she worked with the School Board to pass a resolution to advance safe firearm storage. She also discusses student cell phone use and state funding formulas.  Blair Mosner Feltham is a classroom teacher, a mom to two MMSD students, and has been serving on the MMSD Board of Education since 2023. She is the only serving Board member and the only candidate who is a public school teacher. Over the last 15 years, she has taught in public schools in 4 districts and two states, including for 7 years in MMSD, mostly at West High School, where she also served as a union rep for many years.  Featured image of Blair Mosner Feltham. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Madison School Board Seat 6 Candidates: Daniella Molle and Blair Mosne... appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

With so much carnage in the news cycle, it's easy to overlook the wellbeing of the world's rainforests like the Amazon, the “lungs of the planet.” On today's show, host Esty Dinur is in conversation with Laurel Sutherlin of the Rainforest Action Network about the importance of protecting this precious resource from deforestation caused by industrial agriculture.  Sutherlin says that the world's rainforests are integral to global climate and the products that are being consumed in the US are destroying them. He wants more people to understand that deforestation is the second leading cause of the climate crisis and that's being driven by industrial agriculture like palm oil plantations. This is also a human rights story, says Sutherlin, as rainforests around the world are home to Indigenous peoples. The Rainforest Action Network works to hold the companies extracting resources and violating the human rights of Indigenous peoples accountable. Sutherlin says that the countries driving deforestation will often set up shell companies to shield themselves from accountability.  From March 21-18, the Palestinian-led Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement is calling for a boycott of Chevron. Sutherlin says that Chevron is a “poster corporation” for the destruction of the rainforests. In Ecuador they left hundreds of open pit oil pools throughout the rainforest, polluting drinking water and food sources. They also talk about the link between war and climate change, the shining examples of Indigenous leadership and climate activism, National Oreo Day in opposition to the Mondelēz International corporation, and the health of rainforests from Sumatra, to Borneo and the Congo.  Laurel Sutherlin is the Director of Strategic Communications at Rainforest Action Network, where he has worked on international conservation and human rights campaigns for over 15 years. Laurel also sits on the board of Directors of a bioregional, forest protection group in Oregon called the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center (KSWild). He is a lifelong birder, naturalist and outdoor educator. He currently lives in Kingston, in the Hudson Valley of New York State, where he hosts a weekly live radio talk show program called Nature Nuggets. Featured image of a palm oil plantation in Indonesia. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Deforestation Won't End Because of Good Corporate Hearts appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Allen Ruff is in conversation with Peter Kornbluh of the National Security Archive, an expert on US-Cuba relations. White House threats to Cuba are making the daily news, and just this week, President Trump said he plans on “taking Cuba in some form” and doing anything he wants with it.  Kornbluh sketches the US's long antagonism toward Cuba. He says the seeds of the current situation are in the early twentieth century, when the US “appropriated” Cuba's war of independence against Spain and into a neocolonial relationship with Cuba with the Platt Amendment. Kornbluh reminds listeners that March 20 is the 10th anniversary of President Obama's historic trip to Havana.  Currently the crisis of the Cuban electrical grid is taking a humanitarian toll and the lack of fuel is impacting all areas of life on the island. Kornbluh says that Trump “needs to stop suffocating Cuba.” But Trump's “imperious attitude” makes it hard for diplomacy to proceed. He effectively created what Kornbluh calls a “sphere of intimidation” in Latin America where other countries are concerned if they could be the President's next target.  Peter Kornbluh is a Senior Analyst at the National Security Archive. He currently directs the Archive's Cuba and Chile Documentation Projects. He was co-director of the Iran-Contra documentation project and director of the Archive's project on U.S. policy toward Nicaragua. From 1990-1999, he taught at Columbia University as an adjunct assistant professor of international and public affairs. Featured image of the Cuban flag.  Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The Economic Warfare That's Suffocating Cuba appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Esty Dinur is in conversation with writer Hooman Majd about the escalating Israel-US war on Iran and how these countries are expanding the war to Lebanon, the Gulf States, and beyond. Majd describes the constant barrage of bombs on Tehran, how Israel is displacing Lebanese people, and that the death toll is growing. This week, Iranian leaders marched in the streets of Tehran projecting unity and defiance as the war reaches two weeks.  Majd says there's no sign that Israel or the US are going to end the war, and there's no sign that Iran is going to surrender or negotiate a ceasefire. Despite Trump's claims that he would pick the next leader of Iran, Iranian leadership appointed Mojtaba Khamenei as the country's new Supreme Leader.  They also discuss the restrictions on foreign journalists in Iran, how the attacks on Iran come on the heels of Trump's assault on Venezuela, how fundamental religious figures are shaping the war, and the creation of a new refugee crisis in Lebanon and this crisis could spread to Iran if the US deploys ground troops. Hooman Majd is an Iranian-American writer, and the author of three books on Iran, including the New York Times bestseller The Ayatollah Begs to Differ. His new book, a memoir, is Minister Without Portfolio: Memoir of a Reluctant Exile. Majd has also written for The New Yorker, GQ, Newsweek, The New York Times, The New Republic, Time, Vanity Fair, The Financial Times, Foreign Policy, Foreign Affairs, Politico, and Interview Magazine, among others. He is a contributor to NBC News. He has published short fiction in literary journals such as Guernica and The American Scholar. He lives in New York City. Featured image of a protest against US war with Iran from 2020 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Analysis of the US-Israel War on Iran with Hooman Majd appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

The state of Wisconsin has a constitutional obligation to provide equal opportunity for a sound basic education and adequate and reasonably uniform funding of our public schools. But for decades, the state hasn't provided sufficient funds to school districts or distributed those funds fairly. That's why a group of five school districts have filed a lawsuit against the Wisconsin legislature–the topic of our show today.  Guest host Bert Zipperer is in conversation with Jeff Mandell, Julie Underwood, and Heather DuBois Bourenane to break down the reasons for the lawsuit and how the state can better serve its 421 school districts.  Shortfalls in state funding have left many school districts using ballot referenda to increase their spending limits. Mandell points out that referendums were once used for capital expenses but now are increasingly applied to operational costs. He says this isn't how the system is designed to work. Bourenane calls it a “disequalizing way to fund public education,” that further divides the “haves from the have nots.”  But you can't talk about the school finance system without talking about vouchers, “because they suck so much money out of the landscape,” says Underwood. Mandell clarifies the lawsuit isn't against voucher schools, but legislators need to reckon with the reality that the state is now funding voucher/independent schools to the tune of over $700 million a year. Some municipalities, like Green Bay and Eau Claire, have started to publish how much of residents’ property taxes go to voucher schools.  Underwood says public education is at the heart of our democracy, and we need adequately-funded public schools to create an informed citizenry who can participate in public debate.  Jeff Mandell is a co-founder of and General Counsel at Law Forward, a nonprofit law firm dedicated to protecting and strengthening democracy in Wisconsin. Jeff has nearly twenty years of experience in complex litigation and appellate advocacy, and is widely recognized as one of Wisconsin's leading experts in constitutional litigation and election law. Julie Underwood has focused her career on issues involving public school law and policy, as General Counsel for the National School Board Association and former Dean of the School of Education at UW-Madison. Heather DuBois Bourenane is the Executive Director of the Wisconsin Public Education Network, a public education advocacy group that shares resources, ideas, and actions that support the public schools at the heart of our communities. Their annual Summer Summit will be held this year in Superior, Wisconsin. Featured image of a child exploring library bookshelves via Rawpixel. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Meeting the Constitutional Obligation to Public School Students appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Ali Muldrow is in conversation with two of the editors of We Are Each Other’s Liberation: Black and Asian Feminist Solidarities, Rachel Kuo and Jaimee A. Swift. They discuss the challenging, contemplative, and moving essays that chart the long history of Black and Asian women in coalition and how these communities have, at times, been pitted against each other. The editors emphasize the intersection of disability justice and abolition in framing the collection to help readers analyze systems and relationships of power. Swift says that the book came about as she was watching Black women become the victims and survivors of COVID at the same time as anti-Asian hate crime was spiking around the country. Kuo says that the international solidarity movements of the 60s and 70s brought people together based on their shared relationship to power and shared analysis of US empire, capitalism, patriarchy, and racism, not especially their shared identity. Swift says “we need each other to challenge oppressive systems.”  They also talk about the need for cop-free communities, coalition politics, the exhaustion of movement work, and how to build real joy without losing the seriousness of the fight.  Rachel Kuo is an assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and cofounder of the Asian American Feminist Collective, which engages intersectional feminist politics grounded within Asian diasporic communities. Jaimee A. Swift is the creator and executive director of Black Women Radicals, dedicated to uplifting and centering Black women and gender-expansive people's radical activism in Africa and in the African diaspora. Featured image of the cover of We Are Each Other’s Liberation: Black and Asian Feminist Solidarities, available from Haymarket Books.  Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Black and Asian Feminists Imagine A Better World Together appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, we're flipping the script. Producer Sara Gabler interviews Monday host, Douglas Haynes, about his new book, Teaching Toward Slow Hope: Place-Based Learning in College and Beyond.  If you listen to this show regularly, you know that Haynes is a Professor of English and cares deeply about the state of higher education in Wisconsin and beyond. His book is an ode to the hopeful and resilient educational practices at work across the Midwest in places like UW-Madison, UW-Milwaukee, UW-Oshkosh, Northland College, and Kalamazoo Valley Community College.  As college students experience rising rates of mental health disorders, food and financial insecurity, and eco-anxiety, some educators are turning to place-based learning to prepare students for a changing world. Whether through urban mapping projects, culinary and food share programs, or novel interdisciplinary outdoor learning cohorts, the classes Haynes' profiles are prioritizing deep listening, reciprocity, collaboration, and embodied cognition. And they're successful and popular.  Haynes shares anecdotes from his research into the five place-based learning projects in the book and how they are changing students' lives by reducing the separation between education and ordinary life, combining disciplines from the humanities to the sciences, centering Indigenous knowledges, and taking students emotional needs as seriously as their intellectual ones. Contrary to the extractive model of education which treats students like consumers and parades AI as the next horizon, place based learning is human-centered and teaches students the crucial skills of relationship building, resilience, and self-efficacy.  Teaching Toward Slow Hope: Place-Based Learning in College and Beyond will be published tomorrow by Johns Hopkins University Press.  Douglas Haynes teaches environmental humanities, creative nonfiction and poetry writing at the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh. He's also written a poetry collection called Last Word and a nonfiction exploration of inequality and the climate crisis called Every Day We Live Is the Future: Surviving in a City of Disasters, about two Nicaraguan families' quests to reinvent their lives in Managua, one of the world's most disaster-prone cities. Featured image of the cover of Teaching Toward Slow Hope. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Healing the Crisis of Isolation in Higher Ed appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.