Local Nation Podcast

An Interview with Josh McNeil, Executive Director of Conservation Voters of PA. As the Trump administration rolls back environmental protections at the nation level, some states will serve as bulwarks, enacting their own state level protections. Currently, Pennsylvania is not one of those states. Not by a longshot. Josh McNeil is working to change that. https://www.conservationpa.org/  

Elizabeth Fiedler was a respected reporter for Philadelphia public radio station WHYY. In 2017, she set her career aside to run for a State House seat in South Philly. Challenging an incumbent, and going up against Philly's entrenched Democratic machine, Fiedler won handedly. Not only that, but turnout in the district was as high as it had been in the last Presidential election. Amanda McIllmurray was at the helm of the campaign through that competitive May primary. We talk about the tactics and principles that led to Fiedler's win, and which may have led to such a stunning turnout for the district.

In episode 008 we took a look at the way state legislatures work. But when we only talk about the way institutions work today, it’s easy to accept that that’s how they were meant to be, or how they must be. Choices made in the past become caked on. They become indistinguishable from the institution itself. A look back can rid us of the assumption that history is a straight line, and that our institutions are always progressing. While they look very different from one another today, legislatures have gone through some key changes over the year. On this episode, we look back at a few of these evolutionary milestones, in an attempt to answer the question: are today's institutions where where we want to be?

Even with gerrymandering making some headlines, the states tend to get lost between local and national news cycles. And yet they are often pushing national policy conversations, and consistently influencing the daily lives of citizens. In the next three episodes, we attempt to give states their due. We kick off by considering why states are so relevant to both national politics and our daily lives. That, plus a quick look at what they're actually doing up there in that dome. Don't get caught watching the midterm elections go by this November, thinking they're not that important. Watch the states.

Every week a city employee or contractor comes and whisks your trash away to some far off place. But it turns out 'away' isn't that far, and it's filling up fast. Hear about one city's plan to curb their waste and litter problem.

A community leader, activist, and lifelong resident of Lancaster, PA talks about what he learned from his 2017 campaign to become the city's youngest mayor.

Hear from Bob Phillips, Executive Director of Common Cause, North Carolina, about gerrymandering in his state, and how it fits into the story that's playing out around the country. Plus, a quick primer on redistricting: what it is, what's it's supposed to accomplish, and how it got so (literally) twisted.

Human judgment is imperfect. Because of that, local governments are developing or purchasing risk and needs assessment tools to support decision making at various points throughout the criminal justice system. Can stats and computers help us make better decisions about punishment and rehabilitation? 

In this episode you'll hear from Dr. James Greiner, Professor at Harvard Law School and Faculty Director of Harvard's Access to Justice Lab. His work is devoted to advancing an evidence-based approach in US legal practice. We’ll talk about why law is decades behind medicine, and we’ll get into how that relates to the role of the District Attorney.

Today we talk about one of the most powerful figures in local government: the prosecutor. 

How do we boil down 90,000 local governments into some categories that make sense no matter where you live? And why does local government look so different from state to state and from place to place? In this episode, we start at the beginning, with a history and explainer of local government in America.