Podcasts about wort fm

This week on Mel & Floyd: Pet portrait night; Ironically named “Department of Justice” planning to send out 1,000 election monitors; GOP presidential hopefuls; USS Abraham Lincoln fallout; Meta's days in court; Data confirms BMW drivers are the worst; ABC sues FCC; Darth Vader supports Flock cameras; And other random topics; Notice something missing?  For the complete Mel and Floyd Experience, buy the CD “The Very Best of James Brown” and play it on your Hi-Fi while listening to this podcast!  Or listen live at 89.9 FM or wortfm.org/listen-live/ every Friday from 1 to 2 PM Central Time. Photo courtesy Nanang Adi on Unsplash Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Jackhammers Are Great! appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

This week on Mel & Floyd: “Melon Floyd?”; Some ICE agents are racist??; AI claims gravity will disappear???; White House endorses supposed anti-autism drug; Portland goats use mass transit; What's with the Waymos?; King Tut's spare underwear supply; And other random topics; Notice something missing?  For the complete Mel and Floyd Experience, buy the CD “The Very Best of James Brown” and play it on your Hi-Fi while listening to this podcast!  Or listen live at 89.9 FM or wortfm.org/listen-live/ every Friday from 1 to 2 PM Central Time. Photo courtesy Bill Nino on Unsplash Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Darwin's Favorite Plant appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Tony Castañeda is back as host of the Thursday edition of the 8 O'Clock Buzz.  He's joined by a fired-up Matt Rothschild, former Executive Director of the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign, and Charley Preusser, editor of the Crawford County Independent, to talk about the recent Democratic primary in Wisconsin. Tony's guests think there was unfair meddling by the Democratic Party establishment with the defeat of Francesca Hong in the governor's race and Emily Berge in Wisconsin's 3rd Congressional District.  But Hong herself seems committed to helping fellow Democrats in the upcoming election Francesca's grass-roots campaign and message of expanded healthcare for all, a moratorium on data centers, breaking up big Ag, and an economic justice bill of rights was appealing to voters across the state.  And her graciousness in an excruciatingly close defeat is to be admired.  Hopefully David Crowley, the winning Democratic candidate, has taken notes.  The most surprising result of the primary election wasn't the razor-thin governor's race, but that fact that hundreds of thousands of voters seem to think that Trump acolyte, Tom Tiffany, is qualified to be the next governor of Wisconsin.  Now that's scary. Image by Samilustrando from Pixabay Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Lessons From the Democratic Primary appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Restaurants are gathering places where culture is preserved, where entrepreneurs can chase their dreams, and where communities can celebrate and invest in one another. On today's show, guest host Enjoyiana Nururdin celebrates Black restaurateurs with Camille Carter, the president and CEO of the Madison Black Chamber of Commerce, and Nisa Carter, the owner of Sista's Chicken and Fish. They discuss what it's like to own and run a restaurant in Madison and celebrate Black Restaurant Week, which runs until Sunday, August 16.  Madison was the first city in the nation to host a Black Restaurant Week, and this year marks the 11th iteration highlighting the longstanding and new staples of the Black culinary scene. Camille Carter gives advice on how entrepreneurs can get started, practice patience, and channel their ambitions into strong, fair contracts. She says there's a need for greater access to capital and financial education for new Black entrepreneurs.  Nisa Carter describes how she started catering for church picnics and family get-togethers before she started a food truck during the pandemic. Now, her restaurant, Sista's Chicken and Fish, has a brick and mortar location on South Park Street. They specialize in soul food, but around Madison there's a diversity of Black restaurants who serve everything from hot dogs to fine dining. Nisa Carter says the future of Madison's Black culinary scene will be found in food trucks.  Featured image of the logo for Madison's Black Restaurant Week.  Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Come Hungry to Black Restaurant Week appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Today on the Too Turnt Up Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Tara Wilhelmi featuring Jackie Brodean, Miss LaVerne Buchanan joins us to talk health and her story, going deep on the community, all the way to what's going on around town, and more! Coming up next week in Penn Park, Ju-Ju's (Julian Walters) 6th annual back to school Block Party Weekend 8/13-16, and FOSTER's 18th annual Back to Skool Bash on Saturday (rain location, West High School): https://www.facebook.com/jujusblockparty/ and https://www.facebook.com/FosterDaneCounty  And Thee Chakari Jamboree at High Noon on 8/20: https://high-noon.com/event/thee-chakari-daezhare-jamboree/  Get out for some R&B: TK late night DJs at 11 every Friday and Saturday: https://www.tavernakaya.com/tkevents  R&B Thursdays at Buraka featuring DJ Money R&B Tuesday at Fyah Side every-other week: https://fyasydekitchen.com/events  Madison's coming back with DJs 10-1 on Fridays: https://www.madisonsdowntown.com/event-list  Check in with Urban League at https://ulgm.org/calendar/ and https://ulgmhub.org/calendar/  for info on resume and job seeking workshops, banking workshops, home ownership clinics, information on Expungement, childcare assistance, fatherhood support, healthcare administration, food safety and trades training, and more! Listen in Madison at 89.9FM or online anywhere at wortfm.org.  Support your community radio with a donation online at wortfm.org! Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Sharing the Ups and Downs appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Dana Pellebon is in conversation with Meghan Randolph and Isabel Nesseim about the new production of Trevor: The Musical. Randolph is the executive director of Music Theatre of Madison and Nesseim is an undergraduate studying musical performance and the actress playing Diana Ross in Trevor.  Music Theatre of Madison (MTM) is celebrating 20 years with the production of Trevor at the Overture Center. Randolph says they caught the theatre bug at a young age before starting MTM at 23. While most community theatre work is unpaid, Randolph made sure that changed with MTM. MTM chose Trevor: The Musical for this season because they wanted to center youth, especially LGBTQ+ youth. The play was inspired by The Trevor Project, a suicide prevention and crisis response line for LGBTQ+ youth. The lead character Trevor loves Diana Ross, experiences bullying and comes to love themselves, saying “What if weird is only different? What if different isn't wrong?”  Featured image from Trevor: The Musical. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post New Musical Centers LGBTQ+ Youth appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

The early education program, Head Start, serves roughly 12,000 children in Wisconsin and about 800 in Dane County. On today's show, host Douglas Haynes speaks with Jennifer Bailey, executive director of Reach Dane and president of the Wisconsin Head Start Association, about proposed federal cuts to and looming deregulation of this program.  Head Start is a comprehensive early childhood program that serves pregnant people and kids ages 0-5 years. It's unique because of its wraparound services, from mental and physical health to family services. Bailey says that when parents are doing well, kids will do well. So they support parents to reach their goals, like getting a GED, finding stable housing, or going back to school.  Head Start is a federal-to-local program that also serves the most vulnerable families, those at 100% of the poverty level. Bailey says that she's seen a rise of unhoused families in Madison and the kids who make it into Head Start “are living in trauma.” Reach Dane serves more unhoused children than any program in Wisconsin.  The Head Start program has faced other proposed cuts and challenges during the second Trump administration. About half of the regional offices have been closed, including one that served Wisconsin. And the recent proposed changes to the program would compromise the standards that have been put in place by many providers. New provisions would raise child-staff ratios and mandate English-only instruction, even though low child-staff ratios and multilingual education are supported by decades of research. They also discuss the broad-scale childcare crisis especially in rural areas, what Bailey envisions for a brighter future, and how people can leave comment on the proposed federal changes. Jennifer Bailey is the executive director of Reach Dane in Madison which provides early childhood services to over 800 underserved children in Dane and Green Counties. Featured image of children in a Head Start program via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Deregulating Head Start Will Harm Wisconsin Families appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

WORT 89.9FM Madison · Follow the Money: Primary Eve Michelle Ellinger Linley Follow the Money is a periodic deep dive into the campaign finance reports for candidates seeking office in Wisconsin.  On Friday, August 7, candidates for Wisconsin Governor filed the last of their campaign finance reports before the partisan primary on Tuesday, August 11.  Joining us once again with all the twists and turns is self-described campaign finance nerd Michelle Ellinger-Linley. Featured image: pile of cash (Photo by 401(K) 2012, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons) Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Follow the Money: Primary Eve appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

WORT 89.9FM Madison · Alan Robinson on Aftermath of Corey Ruiz Memorial Alan Robinson(photo courtesy Madison 365) At 5:00 a.m. on Tuesday, August 4th, City of Madison workers began dismantling an ad hoc memorial encampment at the site of the July 22 shooting of Corey Ruiz by a Madison Police officer.  The action came as a surprise to protestors, since previous conversations with city officials left organizers with the impression that they had time to wind down the encampment.  Barricades were removed, personal items and food thrown into garbage trucks.  When people objected, police in riot gear moved in.  At least 22 people were arrested, and police injured Police Independent Monitor Airaemique Glass when she attempted to obtain an officer's badge number.  Alan Robinson, racial equity activist and columnist for Madison 365 joined Monday Buzz host Brian Standing on August 10, 2026. Featured image: Corey Ruiz Memorial (photo by Brian Standing) Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Alan Robinson on Corey Ruiz Memorial Aftermath appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

 WORT 89.9FM Madison · R&D Gallery Provides DIY Exhibit Space We all know, or maybe we've played in, a garage band.  Something about that large expanse of concrete and high ceilings just begs to be used for something more fun than parking a car.  If not a band stage, how about an art gallery? Texas transplants Abby Johnson and Austin Swearengin have done just that, periodically converting their apartment's 5-car garage into R&D Galleries, a space for temporary exhibits of new works.   Their next exhibit “Hard Country, Fine Grain” goes up on Saturday August 15th and comes down the next day – so you only have this weekend to see it.  Abby Johnson and Austin Swearengin joined Monday Buzz host Brian Standing on August 10, 2026. Featured image: R&D Galleries. (Photo courtesy R&D Galleries) Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post R&D Gallery Provides DIY Exhibition Space appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

This week on Mel & Floyd: Mel returns & SmartyPants unplugs; The emperor's new hairpiece; Marine One comes close to delivering free beer day; Springfield's landscape of desolation; New Jersey sues Amazon; Heroin dealers are capitalists too!; And other random topics; Notice something missing?  For the complete Mel and Floyd Experience, buy the CD “The Very Best of James Brown” and play it on your Hi-Fi while listening to this podcast!  Or listen live at 89.9 FM or wortfm.org/listen-live/ every Friday from 1 to 2 PM Central Time. Photo courtesy Zoe Richardson on Unsplash Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The Old Lip Stick & Pig Thing appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show we're continuing our coverage of the police killing of Corey Ruiz. Producer Sara Gabler speaks with scholar and activist, Dr. Amadi Ozier. They talk about how the vigil at Baldwin and Willy Street served as a site of community and mutual aid, what leadership looks like in decentralized movements, how autonomous zones occupy space, and how people can get involved no matter their risk tolerance.  You can find Ozier's writings about the Corey Ruiz vigil and other community-led movements at her Substack. Amadi Ozier is an assistant professor of English at UW-Madison and a community builder with Madison Tenant Power in Madison, WI. She has previously worked with the Crown Heights Care Collective, which Ozier co-founded in 2022, and the Crown Heights Tenant Union in Brooklyn, NY. Their political priorities include housing and healthcare, including abortion access. Ozier's scholarly research explores black identity, humor, and the black middle class. Featured image from the vigil to Corey Ruiz, courtesy of Maria Segura/WORT. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post From the Corey Ruiz Autonomous Zone to Accountability appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On the 81st anniversary of the US's nuclear attack on Hiroshima, host Bert Zipperer is in conversation with Mari Faines of the Bulletin of The Atomic Scientists and Steve Leeper of Physicians for Social Responsibility. They discuss all the human, ecological, and moral harms perpetuated by powers committed to a nuclear status quo. Faines writes, “There is no question the nuclear status quo upheld since 1945 is rooted in colonial systems of power and White supremacy that started centuries ago. But nuclear security scholarship that explicitly makes this connection and examines the harm resulting from this socio-political, cultural, economic, and ecological history is still incredibly limited.” Faines draws connections between militarism and justice movements and says that our current moment requires an intersectional approach to crises, local and existential.  Leeper advocates for a “peace culture” as opposed to the “war culture” he sees as driving nuclear proliferation and Trump's MAGA movement. The path of peace, says Leeper, leads to universal health and well being, and that goes for all humanity and the non-human world. He will be speaking at a Lanterns for Peace event tonight, sponsored by Physicians for Social Responsibility. They also discuss the doomsday clock that is currently set to 85 seconds until midnight, how there's no such thing as a small nuclear weapon, nuclear power, and how to change the kitchen table conversation about nuclear weapons.  Mari Faines serves as a Board Fellow for the Bulletin of The Atomic Scientists. Just prior, Faines served as a strategic advisor and policy expert at the U.S. Department of State working on AUKUS, the trilateral security agreement between Australia, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Prior to joining the State Department, she spent five years in the United Kingdom completing graduate work in Peace and Security studies, while working as a project manager for an international solutions corporation. Upon returning to the United States, she continued working at the intersection of nuclear nonproliferation policy and social justice issues. Faines has written for a multitude of publications and was a former podcast host. She remains engaged in global policy issues by volunteering with various advocacy organizations and has been recognized for many of these contributions over the past decade. Faines holds a Master's of Science (MSc) from SOAS University of London and a Bachelor's from Colgate University. Steve Leeper has spent about half of his 78 years in Japan. He began working as UN representative of Mayors for Peace in 2002. This led to his appointment in 2007 as chairman of the Hiroshima Peace Culture Foundation. He stepped down in 2013 to be a professor at Hiroshima Jogakuin University. He shifted from professor to visiting professor in 2015. He is co-founder of Peace Culture Village in Hiroshima and PEAC Institute in Montclair, NJ, Detroit, MI, and Atlanta, GA. He is a recipient of the Academia Prize from Kyoto University, the Tanimoto Peace Prize (Hiroshima's highest peace award), and an honorary doctorate from Hiroshima Jogakuin University. His publications include Hiroshima Resolution (bilingual), Nihon ga Sekai wo Suku (Japanese), Hiroshima wo Tsutaetai America-jin (Japanese), and Kakuheiki Haizetsu e no Michi (Japanese). Featured image of the aerial view of the flash of light from the Able Day explosion over Bikini Lagoon in 1946 via National Archives. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post There's No Better Time to Abolish Nukes appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Today on the Too Turnt Up Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Tara Wilhelmi featuring Jackie Brodean, Chakari Daezhare and Eric Hall join for some serious talk about community in light of the police killing two weeks ago and the city's forcible removal of protesters and clearing of the encampment and memorial on Willy St.  In the second half, talking about Eric's mentorship program, “The Boys Club” at Sun Prairie Westside Elementary, and Chakari's upcoming Jamboree at High Noon on August 20th!  Reporting on the city's clearing of the encampment and memorial on Willy St from Chali Pittman at Isthmus: https://isthmus.com/news/news/Madison-clears-willy-street-encampment/ More information and tickets to Thee Chakari Jamboree at High Noon on 8/20: https://high-noon.com/event/thee-chakari-daezhare-jamboree/  Coming up next week, Ju-Ju's (Julian Walters) 6th annual back to school Block Party Weekend 8/13-16: https://www.facebook.com/jujusblockparty/  Get out for some R&B: TK late night DJs at 11 every Friday and Saturday: https://www.tavernakaya.com/tkevents  R&B Thursdays at Buraka featuring DJ Money R&B Tuesday at Fyah Side every-other week: https://fyasydekitchen.com/events  Madison's coming back with DJs 10-1 on Fridays: https://www.madisonsdowntown.com/event-list  Check in with Urban League at https://ulgm.org/calendar/ and https://ulgmhub.org/calendar/  for info on resume and job seeking workshops, banking workshops, home ownership clinics, information on Expungement, childcare assistance, fatherhood support, healthcare administration, food safety and trades training, and more! Music from today's show: https://spinitron.com/WORT/pl/22819865/Tuesday-8-O-Clock-Buzz  Listen in Madison at 89.9FM or online anywhere at wortfm.org.  Support your community radio with a donation online at wortfm.org! Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Don't Let Them Write the Narrative appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Many in Madison woke up to the news today that Mayor Satya Rhodes-Conway ordered the removal of the encampment at Baldwin and Willy Street. On today's show, we hold space for the community to respond to this action as well as dispel misunderstandings about protests over the last week and a half. Host Dana Pellebon opens up the phone lines to hear from WORT listeners and then speaks with Myra McNair about how to heal in community.  Pellebon describes competing ways of looking at the situation, from those who view economic disruption as a movement tactic to those who view economic disruption as an attack. She clarifies several rumors, like one circulating that the city was financing the encampment, which it was not. Just like the Occupy movement changed the nation's conversation about wealth, so too can other movements move the needle on justice. One thing people can do is ask, why aren't there spaces for people to get the help they need? Myra McNair discusses how people can maintain their mental and physical health after facing personal and communal trauma. She encourages people to find an activity that brings them peace, whether that's being in nature or engaging in advocacy. In response to police violence, it's hard for people to find healing because responsibility and accountability aren't fully addressed by institutions and entities who cause harm. McNair says we need permanent monuments and memorials for Corey Ruiz and Tony Robinson. At the end of the day, McNair says “we heal in community.” You can reach out to your elected officials with concerns here.  Myra Renee McNair is the founder, owner, and visionary behind Anesis Therapy and host of the podcast Making Progress. Featured image of Willy Street from July 25, courtesy of Sara Gabler/WORT. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Holding Space for Healing in Community appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

WORT 89.9FM Madison · A Brief History of the Independent Police Monitor Former City of Madison alder and longtime police oversight activist Rebecca Kemble sat down with Monday Buzz host Brian Standing to discuss the tortured history of the Office of Independent Police Monitor and the Civilian Police Oversight Board. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post A Brief History of the Madison Office of the Independent Police Monito... appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, guest host Patty Peltekos is in conversation with Andrew Flachs, author of the new book, Feeding the World as if People Mattered: How Small Farms Produce Value Beyond Yields. They discuss the importance of small-scale diversified farming and how to get to a world where small farms matter. Globally, agriculture remains a sector where suicide is prevalent, says Flachs. That's because farming isn't just a profession; in many places around the world, including in Wisconsin, the family farm is a home, a place of generational ties. Flachs writes about India, where generations of farmers struggled for the right to land against legal codes that prevented them from owning their own.  In India, small family farms are threatened by the rise of genetically modified cotton seed, called Bt cotton. As the growth of this variety of cotton has spread and the imperative to increase production has ramped up, more and more small-scale farmers have stopped growing their own subsistence or trade gardens. The result has been a “cotton glut,” because overproduction has produced more cotton than can be spun into thread. Instead, Flachs advocates for diversified organic cotton farms.  Flachs also studies farming in Bosnia where he has seen people sustain their gardens, their farms, in the face of extreme violence. He says “if you want to know how to survive the end of the world, you have to talk to Bosnian grannies.” Food security is tied to biodiversity, and surviving isn't just about botany, but about preserving lifeways. Flachs says that there's a problem with a system that prioritizes an economic imperative to produce a single crop rather than to work to sustain and reproduce diverse lifeways.  Andrew Flachs is an associate professor of anthropology at Purdue University, a father of two children, and a semi-retired musician. His writing on sustainable farming has appeared in scientific venues including American Anthropologist, the Journal of Peasant Studies, and the Journal of Ethnobiology, as well as in public-facing venues like The Conversation, Salon, and National Geographic Magazine. His 2019 book Cultivating Knowledge discussed genetically modified and organic cotton farming in India. Featured image of the cover of Feeding the World as if People Mattered: How Small Farms Produce Value Beyond Yields by Andrew Flachs. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Small, Diversified Farms Should Be The Future appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

WORT 89.9FM Madison · Pressing Issues: Printmaking as Social Justice Katie Koca Polite – assistant curator and publications specialist. With prints from the Works Progress Administration (WPA). (Photo by L. Brian Stauffer) During the Great Depression in the 1930s, workers from all industries suddenly found themselves without a job.  In response, U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's New Deal program created institutions like the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Works Progress Administration and the Public Works Administration to put people to work on projects that would benefit the public.  In addition to civil engineering projects focused on employing workers in construction, factory work, office work and forestry, the Roosevelt Administration also paid attention to another group whose work had disappeared: artists.  In 1935, the Works Progress Administration established the Federal Art Project, which employed as many as 10,000 visual artists and craft workers.  On September 8, the Chazen Museum of Art will open a new exhibit, “Pressing Issues: Printmaking as Social Justice in the 1930s,” featuring works by Federal Art Project artists.  Kathryn Koca Polite curated the new exhibit, and she joined the Monday Buzz on August 2, 2026. Featured image: Chet La More, Civilians, ca. 1937. Lithograph. Allocated by the US Government, Commissioned through the New Deal art projects, 1943-4-231. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Pressing Issues: Printmaking as Social Justice appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

 WORT 89.9FM Madison · Voices from the Corey Ruiz Memorial On July 22, 2026, a yet-to-be-identified Madison police officer shot 38-year old Corey Ruiz three times in the head, killing Ruiz on the spot.  Bystander video appears to show that Ruiz had already been subdued by three other officers when one officer fired his gun.  The incident occurred at the intersection of Madison's Williamson and Baldwin Streets, in the Williamson-Marquette neighborhood.  That neighborhood has seen more than its share of police violence, with Madison Police officer Stephen Heimsness shooting Paulie Heenan dead in 2012, officer Matt Kenny shooting Tony Robinson dead in 2015 and officer Hector Rivera shooting Michael Schumacher dead in 2016.  In the aftermath of the Ruiz shooting, friends, neighbors and activists have erected a Corey Ruiz memorial at the intersection where Ruiz died.  Williamson and Baldwin Streets remain barricaded, and an ad hoc village has sprung up at the site.  Tents provide food, shelter, mental health services, clothing swaps – even a beautician for neighborhood residents, many of whom are homeless.  When Monday Buzz host Brian Standing visited the Memorial on Sunday, August 2nd, many people were reluctant to speak to the media, citing poor experiences with coverage in the past.  Here's a sample of some of the folks who were willing to talk about their experience. All photos by Brian Standing Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Voices from the Corey Ruiz Memorial appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

WORT 89.9FM Madison · “You Are Sitting Here With Me” at Arts Lit Lab Noa Rickey(Photo courtesy artlitlab.org) In her book Syllabus, Richland Center, Wisconsin native comic book artist and University of Wisconsin professor Linda Berry asks the question, “What do ideas look like when they’re taking physical shape?” Through August 29th, Madison’s Arts and Literature Laboratory has an exhibit entitled You Are Here Sitting With Me: A Comics Show, featuring works that seek to answer Berry’s provocative question. Textile artist Noa Rickey recently earned a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Wisconsin School of Design, and is one of the featured artists in the Berry Inspired exhibit. Noah Rickey joined Monday Buzz host Brian Standing from Donegal, Ireland. Featured image: “Queerphoria” by Noa Rickey (Photo courtesy Noa Rickey) Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post “You Are Sitting Here With Me” at Arts Lit Lab appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

This week on Mel & Floyd: Mel and Floyd are both on assignment this week, so SmartyPants gets an assist from Luthor and Saga; The latest on WIlly Street; Friendship bracelets at Camp David; In Wisconsin it's illegal to bet on an election IF you vote; And other random topics; Notice something missing?  For the complete Mel and Floyd Experience, buy the CD “The Very Best of James Brown” and play it on your Hi-Fi while listening to this podcast!  Or listen live at 89.9 FM or wortfm.org/listen-live/ every Friday from 1 to 2 PM Central Time. Photo courtesy Tolga Ahmetler on Unsplash Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Caught in Cracker Barrel Purgatory appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

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.

Today on the Too Turnt Up Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Tara Wilhelmi, Rudy Scott, CEO of Abstract Global Entertainment joins us to talk about his new project to help people navigate the legal appeals system.  Also, Madison mainstay Clyde Gaines drops in to talk about the Next Level Park St. Music Fest, coming up this weekend to bring the community together. More on the Next Level Park Street Festival coming up 8/1 at the Labor Temple from Madison 365: https://madison365.com/park-street-music-fest-now-in-its-9th-year-returns-to-madisons-south-side-saturday/ More on Rudy's project, Pro Se Pathways to help people navigate the legal appeals process: https://prosepathway.com/ and Rudy's creative works: https://rudolphcollect.com/  Coming up soon: Chris Davis Jr Youth Basketball Camp Aug 8 at West High School: https://www.instagram.com/chrisdavisyouthcamp/  Ju-Ju's (Julian Walters) 6th annual back to school Block Party Weekend 813/-16: https://www.facebook.com/jujusblockparty/  Chakari Jamboree at High Noon coming up 8/20: https://high-noon.com/event/thee-chakari-daezhare-jamboree/  And Regular Shows: TK late night DJs at 11 every Friday and Saturday: https://www.tavernakaya.com/tkevents  R&B Thursdays at Buraka featuring DJ Money R&B Tuesday at Fyah Side every-other week: https://fyasydekitchen.com/events  Madison's coming back with DJs 10-1 on Fridays: https://www.madisonsdowntown.com/event-list  Check in with Urban League at https://ulgm.org/calendar/ and https://ulgmhub.org/calendar/  for info on resume and job seeking workshops, banking workshops, home ownership clinics, information on Expungement, childcare assistance, fatherhood support, healthcare administration, food safety and trades training, and more! Music from today's show: https://spinitron.com/WORT/pl/22786727/Tuesday-8-O-Clock-Buzz  Listen in Madison at 89.9FM or online anywhere at wortfm.org.  Support your community radio with a donation online at wortfm.org! Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post We The People Can Change This 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.

For this episode we welcomed Professor Douglas Haynes into the studio at WDRT in Viroqua to discuss his beautiful new book Teaching Toward Slow Hope: Place-Based Learning in College and Beyond, published this spring by Johns Hopkins University Press. Douglas teaches English at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and also hosts the Monday sessions of "A Public Affair" on Madison's community radio station, WORT-FM.Teaching Toward Slow Hope traces how students and educators across the Upper Midwest are remaking college into a place for connection, meaning, and collective resilience. In the book, Douglas talks about his own teaching experiences at a regional public university and also shares four inspiring examples of place-based education at different colleges and universities in Wisconsin and Michigan, three of them public institutions. These stories and Douglas' reflections about the role of higher education in the lives of young people today make this book both moving and highly practical for anyone working on the revitalization of higher education, whether they are inside an existing organization or starting something new.Douglas Haynes is a nonfiction writer, poet, and teacher. In addition to Teaching Towards Slow Hope, his 2017 nonfiction book Every Day We Live Is the Future: Surviving in a City of Disasters is a cautionary tale of urban inequality and the climate crisis that recounts two Nicaraguan families' quests to reinvent their lives in Managua, one of the world's most disaster-prone cities. Douglas's essays and journalism have appeared in Orion, Longreads, Michigan Quarterly Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, The Progressive, Civil Eats, Boston Review, North American Review and dozens of other publications.Douglas grew up in Iowa and Illinois and studied at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Southern Illinois University Carbondale. He went on to study literature and languages in Germany, Ireland, and Guatemala while working as a dishwasher, farmhand, freelance writer, and English teacher. He returned to WI to teach English at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, as well as creative writing and environmental humanities.Teaching Toward Slow Hope - https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/53868/teaching-toward-slow-hope"A Public Affair" on WORT-FM - https://www.wortfm.org/tag/douglas-haynes/Douglas' Personal Website - https://www.douglas-haynes.com/Jacob Hundt & Grace Greenwald about microcolleges on WORT - https://rss.com/podcasts/thoreaucollege/2599918/Driftless Field School on WORT - https://www.wortfm.org/teaching-eco-literacy-in-the-driftless-bioregion/Northland Collaborative - https://northlandcollaborative.org/

WORT 89.9FM Madison · Mail-In Ballots Face Legal, Postal Service Hurdles Alex Shur (photo by Nicholas Wootton) In Wisconsin, if you vote at the polls and make a mistake on your ballot, you can tell the poll worker and they'll get you a new ballot.  If you're voting by mail, you get one shot, if you make a mistake – or if the candidate you voted for drops out before Election Day – too bad, so sad.  That's according to the latest ruling from the Wisconsin Election Commission, whose on-again, off-again decisions on the issue of vote spoiling seem primed to spark yet another legal challenge.  Votebeat Wisconsin's Alexander Shur joined Monday Buzz host Brian Standing on July 27, 2026. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Mail-In Ballots Face Legal, Postal Service Hurdles appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

WORT 89.9FM Madison · Healthcare Costs Upend Small Business Between 1987 and 2024, health insurance premiums in the United States rose by a staggering 1000% – almost four times the rate of inflation.  The 1.4 trillion dollars spent on premiums accounts for one in every five dollars spent in the U.S. economy.  With the expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act tax credits, much has been made of the impact on these costs on individuals.  But skyrocketing health care costs affect businesses as well – especially small businesses.  That's the focus of a recent series of articles entitled “Out of Pocket, Out of Reach” on StatNews.  Bob Herman is the Business of Health Care Reporter for Stat News, and he joined the Monday Buzz on July 27, 2026. Image courtesy, Our World in Data. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Healthcare Costs Upend Small Business appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

 WORT 89.9FM Madison · “Kit” Delivers Street Poetry on Demand in London Erstwhile Monday Buzz producer and international roving reporter Nicholas Wootton is just back from a brief sojourn across the pond.  Nicholas sent us this postcard from London about a street poet for hire. (All photos by Nicholas Wootton) Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Postcard From London: Street Poetry on Demand appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

This week on Mel & Floyd: Fallout from Willy Street shooting; Madison behind the curve on body-cams; Where to see local Art(Paul); New nurses' union certified by NLRB; Another new Prime Minister; A surge in student loan defaults; Measles cases are surging too; Air pollution & socioeconomic status correlate with autism rates; NJ protects voter rolls; And other random topics; Notice something missing?  For the complete Mel and Floyd Experience, buy the CD “The Very Best of James Brown” and play it on your Hi-Fi while listening to this podcast!  Or listen live at 89.9 FM or wortfm.org/listen-live/ every Friday from 1 to 2 PM Central Time. Photo courtesy Ksenia Yakovleva on Unsplash Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Would You Like Another Pill, Darling? 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.

This week on Mel & Floyd: Breathing advice for Madison's worst air quality EVER;  A review of “his” speech; The internet doesn't know everything?; Rapper “Boosie” fails to obtain presidential pardon despite big payoff; Arnold Palmer's what??; How David Carr lined his pockets; Testosterone and the “warrior ethos”; Funding cuts lead to “butt covid”; A newly discovered monkey species and other primate news; Drug use at a Phish concert???; And other random topics; Notice something missing?  For the complete Mel and Floyd Experience, buy the CD “The Very Best of James Brown” and play it on your Hi-Fi while listening to this podcast!  Or listen live at 89.9 FM or wortfm.org/listen-live/ every Friday from 1 to 2 PM Central Time. Photo courtesy Malachi Brooks on Unsplash Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Good Job, Humans 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.

This week on Mel & Floyd: Saga fills in for the absent ‘Pants; House On the Rock – a natural mushroom trip?; A cross on the moon?; Uses for tungsten; Tales of cultural exchange; Mel regulating nuclear plants?; New UFO distractions released by Pentagon; Breaking: Cannibalism is bad; And other random topics; Notice something missing?  For the complete Mel and Floyd Experience, buy the CD “The Very Best of James Brown” and play it on your Hi-Fi while listening to this podcast!  Or listen live at 89.9 FM or wortfm.org/listen-live/ every Friday from 1 to 2 PM Central Time. Photo courtesy Barnabas Davoti on Unsplash Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Like Shaking Hands with a Golden Retriever 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.

This week on Mel & Floyd: A visit from Ruby; BIg giant slabs of content and wiener dog videos; Rampart reading disability on the Supreme Court?; Has Mitch McConnell stopped trading stocks?; A collapsing stage in DC; 90 mph on a unicycle??; Jefferson focused on the indictments; Missing giraffe found; And other random topics; Notice something missing?  For the complete Mel and Floyd Experience, buy the CD “The Very Best of James Brown” and play it on your Hi-Fi while listening to this podcast!  Or listen live at 89.9 FM or wortfm.org/listen-live/ every Friday from 1 to 2 PM Central Time. Photo courtesy Alex Guillaume on Unsplash Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Descendants of Convict Ducks appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

This week on Mel & Floyd: Mad magazine nailed it!; Jetsons vs. Flintstones; Goodie bags for South African immigrants; Too hot for climate change conference; Administration cracks down on [some] illegally retained classified documents; Plato's rules for wealth; Some Old Testament talk; And other random topics; Notice something missing?  For the complete Mel and Floyd Experience, buy the CD “The Very Best of James Brown” and play it on your Hi-Fi while listening to this podcast!  Or listen live at 89.9 FM or wortfm.org/listen-live/ every Friday from 1 to 2 PM Central Time. Photo courtesy Andrew Winkler on Unsplash Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Transported to the Waffle House [Again] appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.