Crosscut Talks

Catch up on every session, featuring speakers such as Malcolm Gladwell, Lindy West and Ta-Nehisi Coates, on our weekly festival podcast. This year's Cascade PBS Ideas Festival has officially wrapped. But the insightful conversations that took place on May 4, 2024, are coming soon to a podcast app near you.  To help launch this season of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast (formerly Crosscut Talks), host Paris Jackson sat down with events director Jake Newman to chat about this year's approach to the festival, some of the luminaries who attended and what we can expect to hear in the coming weeks.    In this short kickoff episode, Newman points to a few guests he'll be eager to hear from, including author and podcaster Malcolm Gladwell, historian Heather Cox Richardson, writer Ta-Nehisi Coates and CNN international correspondent Nada Bashir.  A new episode of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast will air every Monday, beginning May 13.  --- Credits Host: Paris Jackson Producer: Isaac Kaplan-Woolner Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd --- If you would like to support Cascade PBS, go to cascadepbs.org. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Cascade PBS.

The television host shares his ideal last meal and serves behind-the-scenes details from Nickelodeon and the Food Network. Marc Summers, best known for his role as host of the 1980s Nickelodeon game show Double  Dare and host of the Food Network's Unwrapped, actually launched his career doing magic tricks. Summers shared this fun fact, and a whole lot more, with Rachel Belle, host of Your Last Meal — a James Beard Award finalist for Best Podcast — during a live taping at the Crosscut Ideas Festival in May.  Another fun fact: Your Last Meal is now a Crosscut podcast! New episodes will be released every other Thursday. Learn more, listen and subscribe here.  For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, Belle and Summers dig into the actor's lifetime love of show business, how he snagged the job hosting the beloved Nickelodeon show (plus what that legendary slime was really made of), and why Summers decided to share his OCD diagnosis in the late 1990s.  This conversation was recorded May 5, 2023. --- Credits Host: Paris Jackson Producer: Seth Halleran Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

Research shows the drugs can be effective in treating depression and substance-use disorders — but there's still much we don't know. Psychedelics are moving back into the mainstream. According to a growing body of medical research, psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin and ketamine can have a profound impact on people struggling with mental health conditions, including depression, post-traumatic stress and substance-use disorders.  As a result, legal barriers are beginning to fall away. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has designated psilocybin as a “breakthrough therapy,” for example, accelerating its path to approval, and recently released draft guidance for all clinical trials with psychedelic drugs.  For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, we listen in on a conversation among science journalist and author Carl Zimmer, palliative and rehabilitative care physician Dr. Sunil Kumar Aggarwal and University of Washington psychiatry professor Dr. Nathan Sackett about the rapidly emerging field of psychedelics in psychotherapy. They discuss these drugs' specific effects on the brain, explain their use in clinical practice and in current research and explore some of the bigger questions raised — from the challenges of practicing medicine in a legal gray area to the nature of human consciousness.  This conversation was recorded May 6, 2023. --- Credits Host: Paris Jackson Producer: Seth Halleran Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

Pollution, habitat loss and climate change all threaten wildlife and their ecosystems. Conservationists discuss what we can do to help. Wildlife numbers are plunging worldwide. From toxic waste to invasive species, deforestation to rising temperatures, threats to the survival of our planet's millions of plants and animals are causing scientists to warn of a sixth extinction. It's estimated that roughly a third of the world's species have become endangered or gone extinct in the past 500 years. And as the climate crisis continues to escalate, many more will be forced to adapt. For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, environmental journalist Michelle Nijuis, Conservation Northwest senior policy director Paula Sweeden and National Wildlife Federation chief scientist Dr. Bruce Stein unpack the reasons we're facing such a crisis and what we can do to mitigate it. The panelists' proposed solutions range from federal legislation to backyard gardens—and ultimately make the case that the biodiversity crisis is inextricable from the climate crisis. This conversation was recorded May 4, 2023. --- Credits Host: Paris Jackson Producer: Seth Halleran Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

Following the failure of the Washington Recycling and Packaging Act, experts and a key lawmaker discuss next steps. Plastic is everywhere. It's in our refrigerators, in our oceans and even in our bloodstreams. And wherever there are plastics, there are questions over what to do with them.  In Washington state, as in most other places, the answer has been to recycle them whenever possible. In 2011, Washingtonians recycled 56 percent of recyclable materials, but since then there's been a decline. Now the state recycles about 49 percent. For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, we listen in on a conversation from the Crosscut Ideas Festival about plastics and the challenges to recycling. Seattle Times environment and climate editor Ben Woodard leads the conversations with Washington state representative Liz Berry, Ocean Nexus Center director and anthropologist Dr. Yoshitaka Ota and Zero Waste Washington executive director Heather Trim. The panel discusses why those numbers have dropped, as well as China's role in recycling, the equity issues surrounding the practice and legislative efforts to hold producers of goods accountable by having them pay for recycling services. This conversation was recorded May 6, 2023. --- Credits Host: Paris Jackson Producer: Seth Halleran Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

The climate leaders share why individual responsibility and corporate accountability aren't mutually exclusive — and how daily habits can aid the planet. The impacts of climate change are everywhere, often making headlines. Yet most Americans don't know what climate change really is, or don't think it will harm them ... until it does.  For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, we are listening in on a conversation about the challenges in communicating about climate change impacts and finding solutions with climate scientists Heidi Roop and environmental strategist Jamie Stroble.  During the Crosscut Ideas Festival in Seattle, the two climate leaders discussed tangible solutions we can all participate in, and how climate scientists must recognize that facts and figures don't change minds, but human connection can. Roop and Stroble also discuss the longstanding inequities and structural barriers that result in disproportionate impact on marginalized communities, and how young people's activism provides some hope for the future.  This conversation was recorded May 6, 2023. --- Credits Host: Paris Jackson Producer: Seth Halleran Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

Nobel Prize-winning scientist Jennifer Doudna discusses how the technology she helped advance is treating diseases and raising ethical dilemmas. Gene editing is a game-changer for humanity. From health on individuals to the fate of the planet, the possible impacts of the technology are something previously found only in science fiction. But as with all scientific advancements that supercharge human capabilities and power, the technology comes with ethical questions. These possibilities and questions are at the core of this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast.  We're listening in on a conversation between Nobel laureate and University of California Berkeley chemistry professor Jennifer Doudna and New York Times columnist and science writer Carl Zimmer as they discuss one of these technologies, CRISPR.   Doudna, who won the Nobel for her work with gene editing technology, explains the fundamental science behind CRISPR, how it's now being used by scientists to treat a wide range of diseases from HIV to sickle cell anemia, and where it might go from here. This conversation was recorded May 3, 2023. --- Credits Host: Paris Jackson Producer: Seth Halleran Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

Two experts in immersive technologies may disagree on what the metaverse will look like, but they do agree that it is going to change society.   The metaverse may very well be the future. Before we get there, though, it is probably necessary to establish what exactly the metaverse is. That, it turns out, isn't so easy.  For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, we listen in on a conversation between Carnegie Mellon University professor Jesse Schell and Wedbush Securities managing director Michael Pachter, who discuss recent developments in metaverse technologies and how the public views these developments.  In this conversation with journalist and author Steven L. Kent during the Crosscut Ideas Festival in Seattle, the two also spar over what exactly the metaverse will be, and share how much further they believe the industry needs to evolve to truly see the metaverse reach its full potential.  What they agree on is that the metaverse will be able to bring us closer together, but also risks pulling us further apart. This conversation was recorded May 2, 2023. --- Credits Host: Paris Jackson Producer: Seth Halleran Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

The Washington Post tech industry analyst discusses how America's major tech companies are grappling with government regulation and a public that has fallen out of love.  Tech companies aren't the shiny new players in the world economy anymore; they are core pillars of that economy and primary drivers of our culture.  They are also feeling a little old, says Washington Post tech industry analyst Will Oremus, and are now beset by lawmakers who would like to regulate them and users who have fallen out of love with them.  For this episode of the “Crosscut Talks” podcast, Oremus and Lizzy O'Leary, host of Slate's “What Next: TBD,” dive into the tech industry's midlife crisis and discuss how companies like Microsoft, Google and Facebook are cutting back by laying off workers in an effort to slim down and stay relevant. The two revisit what made these tech giants powerful, the tactics they used to get there and how backlash started nearly 10 years ago. And they discuss what the future could hold as these companies attempt to grow and remain dominant. This conversation took place May 3, 2023.  --- Credits Host: Paris Jackson Producer: Seth Halleran Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

The Edmonds-born record-breaker muses on the game's transformation and reveals behind-the-scenes secrets. Jeopardy! is an American institution, a television game show that for decades didn't really change all that much. But in recent years the syndicated staple has undergone some relatively seismic shifts.  For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, we listen in on a conversation with Ken Jennings about the longstanding legacy of the American game show, his fascination with trivia as a child and how he went from computer programmer to 74 consecutive wins on Jeopardy! to being the current co-host. In this conversation with journalist Peter Kafka from the 2023 Crosscut Ideas Festival, Jennings also discusses how the show has changed since his time as a contestant.   Kennings says Jeopardy! now benefits from social media, where there is a thriving community of fans and prospective contestants. But he also says the game show is dealing with present-day challenges in an entertainment world more and more dominated by streaming platforms. This conversation took place May 6, 2023.  --- Credits Host: Paris Jackson Producer: Seth Halleran Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

The former presidential candidate believes he knows what is wrong with American politics and shares why his new party is a solution. When Andrew Yang ran for the Democratic nomination for president in 2020, he did so with hopes of changing the conversation. He left the race despondent, he says. But now he is back with a new party and a renewed sense of purpose.  For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, we listen in on a conversation with the entrepreneur-turned-politician in which he discusses his political journey, his role in creating a new third party, the Forward Party, and his hopes for the future of American politics.  In this May 6 conversation from the Crosscut Ideas Festival, Yang explains his new party to Crosscut executive editor David Lee and reveals what he believes is a practical approach to working across the aisle to fix America's problems.  Yang also shares why he ran for president on solutions he believes can work, such as aUniversal Basic Income, and why he believes re-energizing voters who feel powerless may be the only way for us to move forward as a country. This conversation took place May 6, 2023.  --- Credits Host: Paris Jackson Producer: Seth Halleran Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

Former congressman Will Hurd says his party needs to stop election denial and start appealing to voters that have lost trust in the party. As the 2024 presidential election approaches, the Republican Party and its voters have a major decision to make about the future of the party. With former President Donald Trump running for another term, there is a likelihood that the party continues on the trajectory set under his presidency. But there is also the possibility of a break from that path. For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast we listen in on a conversation with Will Hurd, a former Republican congressman and former CIA officer who is advocating for a kind of Republican reboot. In conversation with political commentator Brandi Kruse, Hurd put forth a formula for repairing his party and regaining the trust of more voters. One key, he said, is that conservatives must be unafraid to disagree. This conversation took place May 2, 2023.  --- Credits Host: Paris Jackson Producer: Seth Halleran Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, advocates are pushing back to assure that people still have access to reproductive care. Last June the Supreme Court transformed the landscape of reproductive rights overnight when it overturned Roe v. Wade, leaving the power to determine the legality of abortion to individual states. For many the decision also signaled a need for a new abortion underground. For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, we listen in on a conversation about this new landscape featuring Kelsea McLain, deputy director of abortion advocacy and reproductive justice organization the Yellow Hammer Fund, and Judith Arcana, a member of Chicago's pre-Roe underground abortion services organization the Jane Collective. The two women share their personal abortion stories with journalist Megan Burbank, and they discuss the history of abortion and misconceptions about reproductive rights, as well as the legal challenges facing organizations and individuals who support a the rights of individuals to make their own choices about reproduction. The current landscape of reproductive rights has become highly politicized, but these panelists offer a framing that suggests more complexity than what's been normalized. This conversation took place May 5, 2023. Read Megan Burbank's article about the Jane Collective here. --- Credits Host: Paris Jackson Producer: Seth Halleran Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

Three advocates weigh in on the rising threat of the synthetic opioid — and what policymakers can do to fight it. Seattle is in the midst of a fentanyl crisis. Of the 310 overdose deaths recorded in the city in 2022, more than half were from the powerful synthetic opioid. And we are not alone. For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast we are talking about the crisis afflicting cities across the country with three advocates for public health and safety. Journalist Andrew Engelson speaks about the rising threat of fentanyl with Brad Finegood of Public Health for Seattle and King County; Darcy Jaffe, senior vice president of safety and quality for the Washington State Hospital Association; and Julian Saucier, who works to support organizations and coalitions impacted by the criminal justice system. The trio challenges listeners to think of the issue as a health crisis rather than a matter of morality. And they identify three key areas policy-makers and the government should be focused on to help bring it to an end. This conversation took place May 6, 2023.  --- Credits Host: Paris Jackson Producer: Seth Halleran Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

As the new technology proliferates, the founding CEO of the Allen Institute for A.I. discusses how — or even whether — it should be controlled. Artificial intelligence is everywhere. Companies are already exploring the many uses of AI and a number of tools are widely available for public use. We're seeing the benefits in the business world, from simple to revolutionary, but at the same time a host of critiques.  For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, we dive into the technological phenomenon with Oren Etzioni, founding CEO of the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, who spoke at the Crosscut Ideas Festival in May 2023.  Etzioni tells interviewer Chirag Shah, from the University of Washington's School of Information and Computer Science, that he doesn't want to rush sweeping new regulations, but says companies should adhere to current laws and regulators should focus on the enforcement of potential violations.  The bigger concern here, according to Etzioni, is what still needs to be done to prevent this kind of technology from getting into the hands of bad actors. To some degree, he says, it already is. This conversation was recorded on May 6, 2023. --- Credits Host: Paris Jackson Producer: Seth Halleran Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

Danni Askini of the advocacy group The Gender Justice League breaks down the misconceptions and myths surrounding gender-affirming care. Legislation seeking to limit the rights of trans people has been on the rise in state houses throughout the U.S. But why?  For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, we listen in on a conversation about the wave of proposals and laws that seek to curtail the ability of trans Americans to use the bathroom or participate in sports according to their stated gender, or receive gender-affirming care.  In this conversation from the Crosscut Ideas Festival, Gender Justice League co-executive director Danni Askini speaks with Jonquilyn Hill, the host of Vox's Weeds podcast, about the impacts of these Republican-led efforts on an already marginalized community.   Askini says the humanity of trans people needs to be at the center of the conversation and implores cisgender people to show up as allies in the fight for trans rights.  This conversation was recorded on May 6, 2023. --- Credits Host: Paris Jackson Producer: Seth Halleran Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

Three education experts discuss how young people can find postgrad success (and it's not a 'one-size-fits-all' approach). With high school graduation approaching, many young people across Washington state will be taking a big step toward adulthood. Whether they have all the information and encouragement they need to make a decision that is right for them is less certain. For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, we listen in on a conversation about the education-to-work pipeline with education advocates from throughout state, including Seattle Public Schools, Washington STEM and the state superintendent's office. Speakers Kelvin Dankwa, Angie-Mason Smith and Rebecca Wallace detail the challenges facing students in the talk, which took place during the Crosscut Ideas Festival in early May and was moderated by Angela Jones of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Wallace, from the office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, suggests that there needs to be a better effort made to let students know that there are multiple pathways to success after high-school graduation, that the idea of 'one-size-fits-all' is failing students and their families. The panel also discusses "adult bias in education” and how it affects students' belief in what they can achieve after high school. This conversation was recorded on May 4, 2023 at the Crosscut Ideas Festival in Seattle. --- Credits Host: Paris Jackson Producer: Seth Halleran Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

The Washington congressman said a Ukrainian offensive could beat Moscow's forces back and have them at the bargaining table by the fall.   When Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022, the conventional wisdom in both Russia and throughout the West was that it would be a short war and that Ukraine would succumb to the overwhelming military force being directed by Moscow. More than one year later, the war is still raging and the outcome is far from certain.     Yet, Rep. Adam Smith believes he can now see an end in sight and that it will be Russia on its heels in the end. During an appearance for the Crosscut Ideas Festival in early May, the congressman who represents Washington's 9th district, and who is the Democrats' ranking member on the House Armed Services Committee, said that he believed the path to a negotiated peace could begin as early as this fall.    For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, we listen in on Rep. Smith's conversation with Seattle University associate professor Connie Anthony as they discuss the conflict in Ukraine, as well as other pressing topics in the arena of foreign affairs.     Smith offers up a defense of the United States involvement in the war and also provides some insight into brewing tensions with China.     This conversation was recorded on May 3, 2023 at the Crosscut Ideas Festival in Seattle. --- Credits Host: Paris Jackson Producer: Seth Halleran Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

A year after his release from prison, the former president's ex-fixer talks about the unprecedented case. Having completed a three-year sentence for his role in a hush-money scheme for then-presidential candidate Donald Trump, Michael Cohen has a lot to say about his former boss.  One month after the Manhattan District Attorney indicted the former president for his role in that same scheme, Trump's former lawyer and fixer took the stage at this year's Crosscut Ideas Festival to talk about his early support for Trump and his fears about another term for the 45th president.  For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, we listen in as Cohen speaks with journalist Joni Balter about the numerous criminal investigations against Trump, as well as the civil case being brought by author E. Jean Carroll that, at the time, was yet to be decided.  In the days after this May 6 conversation, that case was decided by a federal jury that found Trump liable for battery and ordered the president to pay Carroll $5 million. Cohen discusses what else could be in store for the president and the country. This conversation was recorded on May 6, 2023 at the Crosscut Ideas Festival in Seattle. --- Credits Host: Paris Jackson Producer: Seth Halleran Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

The former Attorney General discusses how voting rights laws and Supreme Court term limits could preserve American democracy. Few people in the United States have more experience at the intersection of the rule of law and the world of politics than Eric Holder.  As the U.S. Attorney General during the presidency of Barack Obama, Holder was responsible for applying the rule of law to cases that were politically charged, from immigration to counter-terrorism to same-sex marriage. And he landed in the middle of numerous political firestorms.  Now, nearly a decade after his departure from office, Holder has his attention focused on another place where law and politics intersect: the ballot box.  For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, Holder sits down with Crosscut managing editor Mark Baumgarten to discuss the numerous threats he sees to American democracy, including the right to vote, the belief that voters should be able to make an informed decision and the expectation that everyone's vote count. And whether he would have brought charges against former president Donald Trump in the Stormy Daniels case.  This conversation was recorded on May 6, 2023 at the Crosscut Ideas Festival in Seattle. --- Credits Host: Paris Jackson Producer: Seth Halleran Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

Amicus host Dahlia Lithwick and Brennan Center president Michael Waldman discuss SCOTUS's history and coming decisions. Though its mythology says otherwise, the U.S. Supreme Court is not a static institution. As its justices have slowly turned over, the Court's ideological makeup and the nature of its decisions have changed. So too has the public's perception of the Court. For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, we're listening in on a conversation between Dahlia Lithwick, the host of Slate's Amicus podcast, and Brennan Center president Michael Waldman about how the Court has transformed in the past century. Lithwick and Waldman dig into the Court's past, present and future, connecting the dots from its long history to its current state and examining questions of its legitimacy and popularity, especially when it comes to Americans with more progressive politics. As author of the forthcoming book The Supermajority: How the Supreme Court Divided America, Waldman has no illusions about the Supreme Court's ability to rise above politics. In fact, he tells Lithwick, “We are in a great fight for the future of American democracy,” in part because of the partisanship he sees on the Court. This conversation was recorded May 6, 2023.   --- Credits Host: Paris Jackson Producer: Seth Halleran Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

The host of the New York Times podcast discusses the ways modern politics have transformed the media landscape. For many American news consumers, Michael Barbaro's voice is a defining element of the modern era. As a host of the New York Times podcast The Daily, Barbaro speaks to an audience of more than 3 million listeners, delivering insights into the biggest national and international stories. That success wasn't guaranteed. When Barbaro and the rest of the team behind The Daily started it in 2017, they were introducing a novel way to experience the news: hearing from reporters about their stories and how they reported them, or directly from the people in the middle of the stories.  For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, Crosscut Now host Paris Jackson talks with Barbaro about the reasons that formula produced one of the most influential and impactful news sources today.  In this conversation, recorded April 25, 2023 as part of the Crosscut Ideas Festival, Barbaro shares his thoughts on the responsibilities and challenges of this kind of platform during such a tumultuous time, with distrust in the media at an all-time high. This conversation was recorded April 24, 2023. Watch the video of the interview here.  --- Credits Host: Paris Jackson Producer: Seth Halleran Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

The author and doctor explains how treating the mind and the body as one can help stop humanity from sleepwalking to extinction. Deepak Chopra has a lot of thoughts on the state of our mental health, and they start with the idea that mental health is not a singular thing that resides in our heads. It is, rather, a problem of the mind and the body. Chopra is a prominent figure in the alternative-medicine world who is, by turns, a practicing physician, a philosopher and the author of 93 books. His latest is Living in the Light: Yoga for Self-Realization. In this, the first episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast's fifth season, PBS NewsHour co-anchor Amna Nawaz speaks with Chopra about his new book and his prescription for the mental health crisis in America and around the globe.  Multiple times Chopra returns to the idea that human beings are sleepwalking to our extinction.  But he also offers a tangible prescription for hope, one that he believes every person can incorporate into their daily routine. This conversation was recorded April 19, 2023. Watch the video of the interview here.  --- Credits Host: Paris Jackson Producer: Seth Halleran Event producers: Jake Newman, Anne O'Dowd Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

Science can't fully explain what life is. Three experts try anyway in a conversation about life, death and our desire to push back the expiration date. Talking about life and death is tricky for anyone, even scientists. Despite considerable research over the course of generations, scientists still don't fully understand what life is, what death is or even what separates the two.  But where science lacks understanding, there are theories and questions about what makes something alive and how to keep living things from aging. And there are intriguing thoughts on the ethics of efforts to prolong life. These are the questions at the heart of this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, featuring Andrew Steele, author of the book Ageless: The New Science of Getting Older Without Getting Old, and Carl Zimmer, who writes the New York Times column Matter and is the author of Life's Edge: The Search for What It Means to Be Alive. Led in conversation by University of Washington doctoral candidate Halli Benasutti, these two experts discuss life, death, aging and consciousness. And while they may not be able to arrive on concrete definitions of these elusive concepts, they certainly have very interesting insight into each. --- Credits Host: Mark Baumgarten Producers: Sara Bernard, Brooklyn Jamerson-Flowers Event producers: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

Happiness takes work. The host of The Happiness Lab podcast shares what social science says about making that work more manageable. Happiness can feel fleeting in even the best of times. In the midst of a pandemic shot through with personal and social upheaval, maintaining a sense of joy or contentment can be especially challenging.  As if that weren't difficult enough, human intuition often fails at identifying what, exactly, will bring happiness. But according to professor Laurie Santos, the social sciences can help.  As a cognitive scientist and psychology professor at Yale University who launched the popular class Psychology and the Good Life and  hosts the podcast The Happiness Lab, Santos has a firm grasp on the science of feeling good. In this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast she discusses how scientific study has helped shed common misconceptions about what makes people happy and identifies practices that can lead to happier lives, including daily behavioral changes, larger structural changes in our lives and mindfully balancing happiness with our negative emotions.  --- Credits Host: Mark Baumgarten Producers: Sara Bernard, Brooklyn Jamerson-Flowers Event producers: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to funding our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

A decade of advancement by private companies run by billionaires has transformed how humanity is approaching the final frontier.  Some of the biggest news in recent space exploration has revolved around billionaires. Last year, for instance, both Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson actually traveled into space. Those very high-profile – and very brief – journeys were a result of the relatively recent push by private companies to join Earth's more technologically advanced nations in reaching toward the heavens.  Blue Origin, SpaceX and Boeing have all played a major role in recent developments in space technology and even NASA's Artemis mission, which is aimed at putting a woman and person of color on the moon, is outsourcing aspects of the mission to private companies. The story of space exploration is a long, methodical and somewhat slow-moving one – in relation to the news cycle at least. But recent developments from private companies and nations have been coming relatively fast. For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, two authors who have been keeping an eye on the skies over the last decade discuss how these relatively new players are approaching the space race and how the nations who have been in the race for decades are responding. --- Credits Host: Mark Baumgarten Producers: Sara Bernard, Brooklyn Jamerson-Flowers Event producers: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to funding our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

The city's arts industry is returning to some semblance of normalcy. During a live Civic Cocktail event, four leaders survey the damage done and chart a path forward. In the spring of 2020, many artists and arts organizations were already struggling to maintain a place for themselves in Seattle. The future of creative expression in the city was uncertain, but the challenges were well-defined. Then the pandemic hit and scrambled everything. Audiences shifted to experiencing their arts and entertainment through screens as artists pivoted to a new digital reality. Many arts organizations, meanwhile, had to rely on philanthropy, government assistance and their own creativity to survive.  Now, as a vaccinated and exhausted world presses on through year three of the pandemic, the arts are in the midst of a slow return to venues across the city. But the world that artists and arts organizations are encountering is very different from the one they faced when the arts shut down two years ago.  For this episode of the Civic Cocktail podcast, we speak with four community arts leaders – Arté Noir founder and president Vivian Philips, Museum of Museums founder and director Greg Lundgren, Artist Home founder and owner Kevin Sur, and Northwest Folklife managing director Reese Tanimura – about the state of the arts now. They share their experiences leading organizations and businesses through the pandemic, outline new challenges of this late-pandemic era and offer prescriptions to keep the arts alive in Seattle.  This conversation was recorded on July 13, 2022. Civic Cocktail is a production of Seattle City Club and Crosscut. To receive future conversations like this one in your podcast feed earlier, subscribe to the Civic Cocktail podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon, Podbean, or wherever you listen. --- Credits Host/podcast production: Mark Baumgarten Event production: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara Video production: Stephen Hegg

Author Pamela Paul recalls what the world was like before it was connected — and how privacy and personal memory have transformed since. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the internet was there to help much of humanity keep going while maintaining a social distance. The transition was not seamless, but the interconnected world that had been taking shape in the decades prior made it possible for many people's work and social lives to continue, if in a radically altered manner. But while the internet has made this new normal possible, it has come at a cost. For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, author Pamela Paul tallies those costs, not just since the pandemic but in the decades before.  In this interview from the 2022 Crosscut Festival, Paul discusses her book 100 Things We've Lost to the Internet, in which she documents a history that younger generations may barely remember – if they recall it at all. Baby Boomers, meanwhile, will find in Paul's work a nostalgia trip through a time when privacy and individual memory remained more intact.   As a member of Gen X, Paul delivers a perspective from somewhere in between. While there was no internet during her childhood, she witnessed its transformative powers as it became central to her life. --- Credits Host: Mark Baumgarten Producers: Sara Bernard, Brooklyn Jamerson-Flowers Event producers: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to funding our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

The legendary journalist, who helped change the industry with his reporting on Watergate, talks about how journalism changed his life. Carl Bernstein is best known as one half of the investigative team that broke the Watergate scandal, which eventually led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. Fifty years later, it is still regarded with reverence by both those who practice journalism and those who consume it. That is partially because the story of that reporting is dramatic, enough to fuel a bestselling book and hit film. But mostly the reporting on Watergate continues to resonate because it so clearly changed the course of American history. In the parlance of newsrooms, what Bernstein and his reporting partner, Bob Woodward, did at the Washington Post in the early '70s was high impact journalism.  None of that is news to anyone. But that isn't the story Bernstein shares in this episode of the Crosscut Talk podcast. Instead, he tells the story that came before the story, of his earliest days in a newsroom, at the Washington Star, in the early '60s.  It's the subject of his recent memoir, Chasing  History: A Kid in the Newsroom, and it's a jumping-off point here — in this interview with University of Washington professor Matthew Powers — to talk about the evolution of the journalism industry, the public's regard for the news and what it means to search for the truth.  --- Credits Host: Mark Baumgarten Producer: Sara Bernard Event producers: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to funding our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

The New Yorker staff writer says human ingenuity may offer some solutions to the planet's biggest problems. The relationship between humanity and nature is complicated. People are a part of nature, but at the same time they are a force that acts upon nature … and usually to the detriment of the rest of nature.  Climate change is the most high-profile example of this interaction, but there are many other ways that human beings degrade the living world, from ocean acidification to the proliferation of plastics to the role that modern civilization plays in spreading pathogens. The extent of the destruction wrought by humanity has been amplified by human ingenuity to what could be called an unnatural degree. But what if humanity could use that ingenuity to do the reverse, to mend the damage done.  That is the topic of this episode of Crosscut Talks, featuring author Elizabeth Kolbert and Grist staff writer Lizzy O'Leary discussing the intriguing technologies that may help heal nature and the likelihood that they will protect the planet from the worst ravages of climate change. --- Credits Host: Mark Baumgarten Producer: Sara Bernard Event producers: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to funding our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

Salmon in the Pacific Northwest have been on the decline. Two advocates tell how breaching the dams along the river could restore the population.  Salmon are integral to Pacific Northwest culture and have been for a very long time. Many generations before images of salmon filled Seattle gift shops, Native tribes relied on the fish for sustenance, and they still do today. But the salmon populations that return to the rivers here during their spawning runs are a fraction of what they used to be, and they appear to be sliding toward extinction.  In recent years, a movement to reverse that depopulation has gained steam. It has  focused on the dams along the Snake River, which stand as a major obstruction to the salmon. But the dams have also served as sources of hydroelectric power, which is something else that has more recently become woven into the culture of the Pacific Northwest. So removing those dams is no easy task.  For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, retired environmental journalist Rocky Barker sits down with two people who would like to see those dams breached — Dr. Helen Neville and Washington Environmental Council CEO Alyssa Macy — to talk about what is at stake and where the movement stands now. --- Credits Host: Mark Baumgarten Producer: Sara Bernard Event producers: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to funding our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

The food that Americans eat says a lot about the political culture they live in. An expert panel discusses what the country's diet is telling us now.  Food is something that human beings think about every single day. It is the most intimate way we engage with the outside world – by ingesting parts of it – and the need to eat requires us to make choices. What makes it onto our dinner plates, then, says a lot about who we are and what we value, in a nutritional sense as well as a social sense.   To a certain extent, this perspective has become widely accepted. The rise of organic foods in the grocery aisle and farm-to-table on restaurant menus speaks to this kind of understanding. But the system that's delivering that food to our plates is so much more complex than a label. And that's what this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast is about.  We invited two people who think a lot about food to share what they see when they look at our food systems. Eddie Hill is a co-founder of the Black Food Sovereignty Coalition and director of the Black Farm Bureau. Robert Paarlberg is the author of Resetting the Table: Straight Talk About the Food We Grow and Eat. In conversation with Grist staff writer Kate Yoder, they tangle with the food system's  biggest problems, discuss whether a focus on local and organic foods are actually solving some of those problems and share what they see as the best course toward a healthier future for everyone. --- Credits Host: Mark Baumgarten Producer: Sara Bernard Event producers: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- If you would like to support Crosscut, go to crosscut.com/membership. In addition to supporting our events and our daily journalism, members receive complete access to the on-demand programming of Seattle's PBS station, KCTS 9.

The iconic environmentalist discusses the history of climate change and climate denial, as well as the challenges and opportunities the future holds. It's been more than 30 years since Bill McKibben wrote The End of Nature, an essential text in the fight against climate change. And in many ways the world has changed dramatically in that time. But while the possibilities of avoiding the worst impacts of climate change have decreased, the audience for work like McKibben's has grown.  When McKibben was first writing about the effects of humanity on the natural world, climate change was still something of a niche category of news. It is only in the past couple decades, as its impacts have become devastatingly apparent, that the story of our rapidly changing planet has become central to everyday life.  For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, which was recorded as part of the 2022 Crosscut Festival, Bill McKibben shares his perspective on this current state of the climate fight with Grist climate reporter Shannon Osaka.  McKibben discusses the history of climate change and climate denial that have led to this point, as well his outlook for the future that may be more dire than it was 30 years ago, but remains unwritten. --- Credits Host: Mónica Guzmán Podcast production: Mark Baumgarten Event production: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara Audio support: Sara Bernard

At a live Civic Cocktail event, Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson and an expert panel discuss the Supreme Court's decision to end federal protection for abortion. Roe v. Wade established the right to a safe and legal abortion nationwide. Its reversal means that each state in this extraordinarily divided country of ours will need to decide for itself whether to keep abortion legal, ban it or severely limit it.  Washington state decided decades ago that abortion access would remain in the state even if Roe fell. But the impact of this decision extends far beyond access.  What changes lie ahead for clinics and service providers as demand grows from other states? Will legislators reinforce Washington's laws as other states rewrite theirs? And what should Washingtonians know about the broader implications to their rights going forward?  For this episode of the Civic Cocktail podcast, Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson, Planned Parenthood regional CEO Rebecca Gibron and State Senator Manka Dhingra attempt to answer those questions. This conversation was recorded on June 22, 2022. Civic Cocktail is a production of Seattle City Club and Crosscut. To receive future conversations like this one in your podcast feed earlier, subscribe to the Civic Cocktail podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon, Podbean, or wherever you listen. --- Credits Host: Mónica Guzmán Podcast production: Mark Baumgarten Event production: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara Audio support: Sara Bernard

The actor and the engineer discuss solutions to the water crisis. Access to clean water is a major issue across the globe. According to a 2020 report from the World Health Organization and UNICEF, 771 million people lack access to safe drinking water.  This issue has also brought together two unlikely partners, engineer Gary White and actor Matt Damon, in the creation of the nonprofit water.org. Their goal is to help bring an end to this global need in their lifetimes.  For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, White and Damon describe what drew them to this work while laying out the problem as they understand it.  In this conversation with Dr. Leah Stokes from the 2022 Crosscut Festival, they also detail how their efforts to facilitate the financing of solutions has made clean water available to more than 40 million people and tell the story of how their work has impacted those who previously spent hours each day securing clean water. --- Credits Host: Mark Baumgarten Producer: Sara Bernard Event producers: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph

The author of So You Want to Talk About Race discusses how the conversation around race has evolved since the Black Lives Matter protests of 2020. The murder of George Floyd by Minneapolis police in the spring of 2020 fueled a nationwide conversation about race. It drew hundreds of thousands of protesters into the streets, elicited commitments from businesses to do better when it comes to equity and sent books that tangled with systemic racism, white supremacy and the experience being Black in America up the bestseller lists.  But two years on, where has all that conversation and commitment led us? And where do we go from here? That is the topic of this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, which features a conversation with author Ijeoma Oluo, whose book So You Want to Talk About Race was central to many of the conversations happening in 2020. In this talk with Seattle Times journalist Naomi Ishisaka, which took place in early May as part of the Crosscut Festival, Oluo offers a clear-eyed appraisal of the state of race in the country right now.  Her assessment may not come as a surprise to anyone who has been tracking the faltering efforts to rethink policing in America, the continued inequities in our health care system or the backlash against educators who acknowledge the role that white supremacy plays in our history and culture. But, in addition to seeing things as they are, Oluo also shares what she believes it would take for them to truly change in a meaningful way. Credits Host: Mark Baumgarten Producer: Sara Bernard Event producers: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph

Two labor journalists discuss what the Great Resignation, union organization and hybrid models mean for the future of work. ork is a huge part of American life. For most people, it takes up more than a third of their days, at least. And it provides the paychecks that meet their everyday needs. And in America it also provides health insurance. Then, of course, there is the fact that a person's identity is tightly aligned to what they do when they are on the clock. So when the pandemic came and upended work, it really disrupted so much more. The reverberations have been significant and include the so-called Great Resignation and newly energized movement toward organized labor. Management, meanwhile, is trying to figure out how to return to some form of normalcy, or whether that is even possible.  All of these issues are of high interest to the journalists appearing on his episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, Eyal Press and Sarah Jaffe. Both have been studying labor in America since before the pandemic and have recently authored books on different aspects of work in America.  In this conversation with This Changes Everything host Sara Bernard they explore what the recent disruption has revealed about work in America and whether our current moment is a transformational one. --- Credits Host: Mark Baumgarten Producer: Sara Bernard Event producers: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph

The Fred Hutch scientist was one of the first people to explain COVID-19 to the public. Thousands of Twitter followers and a MacArthur grant later, he reflects on what he learned. In many ways, the world is swimming in information about the pandemic. Two-plus years after the virus was first detected in the United States, the COVID-19 dashboard has become, and remains, a fixture in many Americans' lives. There is still room for more information that would help the public in its battle against the virus, but the need is nothing compared with the early days of the pandemic.  Those early days are where Trevor Bedford found a new role for himself as a science communicator. A professor in the vaccine and infectious disease division of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Bedford was busy at the start of the pandemic. In addition to his day job, he used Twitter to deliver a steady stream of information on the new threat to a public desperate for it. Bedford continues to inform the public, now with more than 400,000 Twitter followers and a MacArthur “genius” grant to his name.  For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, reporter Hannah Weinberger speaks with Bedford about how his particular experience with this difficult period has impacted the way he thinks about his work, communication and the pandemic. --- Credits Host: Mark Baumgarten Producer: Sara Bernard Event producers: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph

The pandemic presented new challenges to U.S. health care. Two experts discuss where the system failed, as well as the advancements spurred by the virus. For more than two years now, talking about health care in the United States has really meant talking about COVID-19. And yet, health care is so much more than a single virus. And while much of the country watched the dashboards showing the peaks and valleys of COVID infections, hospitalizations and deaths, there were many other statistics that shifted into the background, as stress and delay warped the health care system.  It wasn't as if that health care system was perfect in the first place. The pandemic has both exposed and intensified existing problems in our hospitals, including access for some Americans and deep inequities when it comes to race. The pandemic also created new problems, including shortages of supplies and equipment early on, and now, as the country presses through a fourth virus surge, shortages of hospital staff.  While much of the country attempts to move past the pandemic, the health care industry has no such luxury as health care professionals face continued challenges posed by the virus. For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, recorded in early May during this year's Crosscut Festival, journalist Will Stone interviews two of those professionals, Amazon Chief Medical Officer Vin Gupta and Washington Hospital Association CEO Cassie Sauer, about the past two years of sustained stress on the health care system, examining the cracks it has exposed, as well as some silver linings.   --- Credits Host: Mark Baumgarten Producer: Sara Bernard Event producers: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph

Enjoy this short excerpt of Crosscut's newest podcast title, which features host Brooklyn Jamerson-Flowers touring the places that have fostered Seattle's Black artists. Every episode of the Black Arts Legacies podcast explores the history and ongoing impact of an art spaces in Seattle, the stories of each built around the voices of the artists who claim these places as critical to their development and experts who understand their deep history. The podcast is part of Black Arts Legacies, a major multimedia project from Crosscut also featuring profiles, original photography, and videos all about Black arts and artists in Seattle.  Subscribe to the Black Arts Legacies podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or Google Play.

A panel of experts discusses similarities and differences between anti-democratic developments in Russia and the U.S.  There is a lot to be said about authoritarians right now. Most notably, president of Russia Vladimir Putin has been waging a war in Ukraine that is upending the global order while suppressing dissent at home.  Even before his attempted conquest of Kyiv, though, Putin's authoritarian rap sheet was plenty long, replete with intercontinental election meddling and persecution of his political opponents. And the Russian leader is only one of a crop of authoritarians throughout the world. And then there is the creeping authoritarianism in the United States, most visible in an anti-democratic insurrection by supporters of now-former President Donald Trump on January 6, 2021.  For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, journalist David Corn explores these threads with an expert panel including U.S. intelligence expert Rebekah Koffler, professor of history Ruth Ben-Ghiat and professor of government Steven Levitsky, all of whom have written recent books that, in one way or another, track the rise of strongmen and their threats to democracy. --- Credits Host: Mark Baumgarten Producer: Sara Bernard Event producers: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph

After taking over for her progressive predecessor, Davison discusses how her office will navigate prosecution and public safety. When Ann Davison was elected Seattle city attorney last November, it flew in the face of the city's progressive reputation. Electoral races in the city are nonpartisan, but Davison's identity as a Republican was well-known, and her platform was firmly tough on crime. Her election was a kind of backlash to the backlash.  Just a year before, in the wake of the 2020 protests over racist policing, Seattle leaders were seriously entertaining the idea of defunding the police. Back then, the idea of a Republican overseeing misdemeanor prosecutions in the city was unthinkable. But in November, Davison defeated a candidate who embodied activist opposition to status quo law enforcement, and in January she replaced a 12-year incumbent who was proudly progressive.  In the months since, Davison has been actively retooling how the city handles misdemeanor cases, while the concerns over public safety that helped get her into office have continued to grow. She has also made news for a recent decision to dismiss thousands of backlogged misdemeanor cases. For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, journalist Joni Balter talks with Davison about how, exactly, she is reshaping the office she inherited, why she dismissed those cases and when voters can expect to see the impact of her leadership. --- Credits Host: Mark Baumgarten Producer: Sara Bernard Event producers: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph

At a live Civic Cocktail event, panelists discussed how city law enforcement might navigate short-term solutions and systemic reforms. What does it mean to be safe in Seattle, to be shielded from danger or threat so you can live your life fully, without fear, no matter where or who you are?  It's a big question, as Seattle wrestles with rising crime, an overwhelmed police department, a strained legal system and neighbors fed up and frustrated by everything from distrust around racial disparities to what feels like inaction, bordering on neglect. All with this nagging sense that, after the reckonings of the past few years, we're still not seeing the bigger picture.   For this episode of Civic Cocktail, host Mónica Guzmán explores how we define and address public safety over the course of two conversations with four guests close to the issue.  The show begins with three local leaders whose community advocacy gives them each a critical lens on what public safety is all about. Then, Guzmán sits down with the man in charge of the most powerful local institution officially charged with supporting safety in our city, Seattle Police interim Chief Adrian Diaz. This conversation was recorded on May 19, 2022. Civic Cocktail is a production of Seattle City Club and Crosscut. Subscribe to the Civic Cocktail podcast now to receive future conversations in your podcast feed earlier.  --- Credits Host: Mónica Guzmán Podcast production: Mark Baumgarten Event production: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara Video Production: Stephen Hegg Audio support: Sara Bernard

King County outreach leaders say an approach informed by lived experience can help solve the worsening crisis. In January, the King County Homeless Authority issued a report stating that more than 40,000 people had experienced homelessness in the county in the past year. It was a much larger number than any previously reported, in part a result of using new methodology, but it was not necessarily surprising.  Now seven years after the city and the county declared a state of emergency to help address homelessness, the problem has become so widespread in the greater Seattle area that it is nearly impossible to ignore. It can also seem nearly impossible to address in a meaningful way.  For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, we listen in on a conversation with three people who are nonetheless attempting to do just that: King County Regional Homeless Authority CEO Marc Dones, outreach provider Karen E. Salinas and the CEO of the Racial Equity Action Lab, Lamont Green. In conversation with Crosscut city reporter Josh Cohen, these three outreach leaders discuss why the homeless population has grown so large, where leadership has gone wrong in the past and how an approach informed by the lived experience of those living in a state of homelessness could help them get things right. --- Credits Host: Mark Baumgarten Producer: Sara Bernard Event producers: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph

The state's top education official and a Seattle teacher's union leader discuss lessons learned and the path forward. Concern over America's students predates the pandemic. Education — and public education, especially — is always in some form of crisis for someone. Gaps in student opportunity and achievement, for instance, existed long before anyone had heard of COVID–19. What the pandemic did, though — and this is a well-worn idea for anyone who has been tracking reports or has parented a student through this period — is that it made the problems in America's schools impossible to ignore. And it also may have presented some solutions.  Those persistent problems and unlikely solutions are the subject of this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, which features Washington state's superintendent of public instruction, Chris Reykdahl, and Uti Yamassee Hawkins, vice president of the Seattle Education Association, which represents the teachers in the state's largest school district.  In their conversation with Crosscut news editor Donna Blankinship, which took place on May 3, 2022, as part of the Crosscut Festival, both draw on their perspectives as leaders, as well as their classroom experience, to help examine an education system at a crossroads.  --- Credits Host: Mark Baumgarten Producer: Sara Bernard Event producers: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph --- Notes If you enjoyed this conversation, you'll want to listen to the latest season of This Changes Everything, a six-episode examination of the impact of the pandemic on public education in Washington state, told through the experiences of students, teachers and families. Search "This Changes Everything" on your podcast player or listen to all episodes here. 

Washington's attorney general discusses his post-Trump workload and the future of reproductive rights in the state. For many Americans opposed to the policies of then-President Donald Trump, the litigation brought by Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson was an essential part of their resistance. By the time Trump left the White House, Ferguson's office had won 50 out of 52 decisions in cases against the administration, a record highly touted at the time.  But with Trump's departure from the White House, Ferguson's star turn on the national stage has ended, for the time being. His work hasn't.  Under his direction, the Office of the Attorney General made headlines recently for successfully taking prescription opioid distributors to trial and for battling the Biden White House, which is challenging a state law that seeks to protect workers at Hanford. The office has also helped shape state legislation that impacts gun sales and police accountability.   This episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast features a May 7, 2022, conversation from the Crosscut Festival in which the attorney general spoke with former KIRO-TV journalist Essex Porter about the reasoning behind these decisions, as well as the possibility of the U.S. Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. --- Credits Host: Mark Baumgarten Producer: Sara Bernard Event producers: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph

For the first in a series of conversations with statewide leaders, the governor discusses how he has used his office to address mounting crises. For much of his three terms as governor, Jay Inslee has remained a relatively popular politician, a Democrat leading a blue state through an era of deep partisanship. More recently, though, his approval ratings have sagged under the weight of historic crises.  The COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, has become a defining event for the Democratic governor, who early on used his executive authority to issue some of the most severe restrictions in the nation, including masking requirements, vaccine mandates and business closures.  Now the governor finds himself at a crossroads where patience for such measures has waned, even as the virus remains a threat. Meanwhile, Inslee has mounted a full-throated defense of reproductive rights in the state and continued to trumpet climate policy he believes will stave off future disaster.  For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, the governor talks about all of these issues with KUOW's Bill Radke. The interview, which was conducted on May 7 as part of the Crosscut Festival, is the first of three with statewide leaders that we will be publishing over the next week. --- --- Credits Host: Mark Baumgarten Producer: Sara Bernard Event producers: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph

The New York Times journalist discusses how the 1619 Project has become a source text for America's racial reckoning — and the subject of major backlash. That slavery is a part of the American story is no secret. But until a few years ago, the question of how central slavery has been to American life has rarely been considered beyond academic circles.  That all changed with the publication of The 1619 Project, a work of journalism created by Nikole Hannah-Jones, the guest on this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast. Launched by the New York Times in 2019, the project puts Black Americans at the center of the American story, starting with the arrival of the White Lion, a ship that in 1619 carried captive Africans to the shores of what would become the United States.  The project has become a major text for the racial reckoning that has unfolded in the past few years, and it has been met with severe resistance from some quarters, and it's not done. Hannah-Jones published a book version of the project last fall and is currently at work on a documentary series based on the project.   In this conversation with University of Washington professor Christopher Sebastian Parker, which took place in early May as part of the 2022 Crosscut Festival, Hannah-Jones discusses the project's aims, what it has achieved and how she views the backlash it has received. --- Credits Host: Mark Baumgarten Producer: Sara Bernard Event producers: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph

The former Obama strategist and the Lincoln Project co-founder discuss upcoming midterm elections and the 2024 presidential race. The revelation that the U.S. Supreme Court may very well overturn Roe v. Wade this summer turned up the heat on what was already a period of intense partisan division in the United States. With continued fallout from the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection and the upcoming midterm elections, there is little indication that Democrats and Republicans will come together any time soon.  Still, while partisan rancor may pose a threat to American democracy, politicians in both parties are leveraging it in their own attempts to build support, raise money and get things done.  Former Republican strategist Rick Wilson and former presidential adviser Robert Gibbs are both familiar with the calculus involved in turning partisanship into political gain. But they are also aware of the threats that severe partisanship can bring.  For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, the two political strategists discuss the fight for Congress in 2022 and the White House, detail missteps in their own parties that helped create the current landscape and consider why some Americans may prefer authoritarianism to democracy. --- Credits Host: Mark Baumgarten Producer: Sara Bernard Event producers: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph

The New York Times columnist and popular podcast host discusses what he pays attention to and why. Ezra Klein makes a living paying attention. As a columnist for the New York Times and the host of the Ezra Klein podcast, he must decide what to focus his attention on, how long to focus it and when to move on. And, given the unforgiving churn of the modern newscycle, that is no small task. Klein's journalism is expansive enough to effectively respond to that news cycle. He delves into topics as divergent as white nationalism, science fiction, abortion rights and cryptocurrency. But he is no dilettante. Klein comes to each of these topics deeply researched and with well-developed ideas and questions. And when he really wants to understand something, he goes all in and takes his listeners with him. That was the case earlier this year when, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Klein decided to go deep into the conflict. Over the course of a few months, he committed 11 episodes of his hourlong interview podcast to the conflict, investigating numerous aspects of the conflict with expert guests. For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, recorded as part of the 2022 Crosscut Festival, we invited Klein to discuss the thinking that went into his coverage of the war in Ukraine and what understanding he gained from that deep dive. And because we couldn't focus all our attention on one thing, we asked him about the recent leak of a draft opinion from the U.S. Supreme Court and what hope there is for an end to the partisan rancor that defines our national conversation. --- Credits Host: Mark Baumgarten Producer: Sara Bernard Event producers: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph

In a conversation with the PBS NewsHour host, the president's chief medical adviser discusses recent data on the pandemic and the future of variants. At the beginning of the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, there are many things that public health officials know about the virus that they didn't know before: how it spreads, for one, and how effective vaccines are against many of the current variants. But there is still much that is unknown.  After a difficult winter dealing with the highly transmissible omicron variant, Americans are heading into another pandemic summer not knowing what new variants are around the corner and, ultimately, when the pandemic will shift into an endemic phase. As the chief medical adviser to the president and the face of the federal pandemic response, Dr. Anthony Fauci holds the unenviable role of guiding a politically fractured nation through this uncertainty. For this episode of the Crosscut Talks podcast, we are featuring the full interview between Fauci and PBS Newshour host Judy Woodruff, which took place on April 26, 2022, as part of the Crosscut Festival. In this conversation, Fauci discusses the possibility of new variants, the emergence of new therapies and the political divide that has been a defining aspect of the fight against the virus. --- Credits Host: Mark Baumgarten Producer: Sara Bernard Event producers: Jake Newman, Andrea O'Meara Engineers: Resti Bagcal, Viktoria Ralph