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This week on Mel & Floyd: Mel & ‘Pants brave the elements to deliver the goods while it's warmer on Mars!; Board of Peace or Legion of Doom?; Greenland or Iceland?; Study finds Americans pay 96% of tariff cost; in other news, water is wet; 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 Mark Chan on Unsplash Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The Nanny Car appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Today, host Esty Dinur is joined by Jennifer Loewenstein to debrief about the ongoing Israeli attacks on Palestine. They discuss what's happening in Gaza and the status of the ceasefire and Gaza “Board of Peace.” Loewenstein says that nothing has changed in Gaza since the ceasefire except the intensity of bombing, which has decreased, but not ceased. She describes the partitioning of Gaza into green and red “zones” and the “yellow line” that marks the line of Israeli occupation. Over two million Palestinians have been pushed into the “red zone” along the coast where they are living in non-winterized tents in conditions that Loewenstein calls “abject misery.” Meanwhile the Rafa crossing remains closed and Israel is planning concentration camps for Palestinians. Loewenstein says that the ceasefire and the creation of the “Board of Peace” have been successful in keeping what's happening in Gaza out of the news. She says that “it's scandalous that no Palestinians are on the Board and after two years of genocide that what's happening is a deeper entrenchment of the occupation.” They also discuss the role of gangs in the “red zone,” the deliberate targeting of journalists, and the wiping out UNRWA. Loewenstein says that what's happening in Gaza is an expression of Western imperialism and the expansion of Israeli hegemony around the Middle East. Jennifer Loewenstein is an American activist, journalist, and founder of the Madison-Rafah Sister City Project. Her work has appeared in academic journals such as The Journal of Palestine Studies, and she is a regular contributor to the CounterPunch magazine. Featured image of an aerial view of Israel's destruction of Rafa via UNRWA on Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post It's Still A Nightmare In Gaza appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Though Wisconsin hasn't been faced with the major ICE raids as we've seen in LA, Chicago, and Minneapolis, there is growing concern that ICE will arrive in Wisconsin. Governor Evers said this week that the state is preparing for this inevitability. To talk about ICE raids and the larger context of anti-immigrant sentiment in the US, host Allen Ruff is joined by Armando Ibarra.  Ibarra works with Voces de la Frontera, an organization with deep roots in Wisconsin. Founded in 1994, the organization responded to the displacement of people from NAFTA. Over the years Voces has helped more than 16,500 families create “family disruption plans” and has held “know your rights” sessions for more than 30,000 people across Wisconsin. Voces de la Frontera will be holding its annual assembly this weekend. Ibarra also discusses the US as a land of immigrants in a land of anti-immigrants, from colonization,  Westward expansion, and the Chinese Exclusion Act, to the present. Ibarra says that the US is no longer pretending not to be an empire, as we've seen with the Trump  administration's aggression in Latin America.  They also discuss the Supreme Court ruling that legitimizes racial profiling, the reframing of protest as “domestic terrorism,” the rise of state-sanctioned violence against immigrants, and the 287(g) programs that deputize local law enforcement to act as immigration agents. Voces organizes a 24-7 emergency ICE hotline at 1-800-427-0213. Armando Ibarra is a Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor in the School for Workers. He's the co-author of the award winning book, The Latino Question: Politics, Labouring Classes and the Next Left. Featured image of the mural “Labor Solidarity has no Borders” (1992) by Mike Alewitz 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 A Land of Immigrants or a Land of Anti-Immigrants? appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of Donald Trump's inauguration as the 47th president of the United States. In the past year, we've watched as Trump delivered on his campaign promises of “mass deportation now” with violent assaults on immigrant communities, most recently in our neighboring state of Minnesota. On today's show, host Ali Muldrow is joined by scholar Sara McKinnon to talk about what has been predictable and surprising about the Trump administration's immigration enforcement.  McKinnon says that the scale and speed of what has been put in place is unprecedented, from deportation flights, detention, to ICE raids. We've seen that ICE activity in city centers has become more visible, public, and long lasting, with sometimes months-long occupations and tactics that challenge what is lawful. The rhetoric that justifies mass deportation relies on a message of crime and criminality that has been popular with Christian nationalists. On Trump's first day in office, he limited the Refugee Resettlement Program from 125,000 recipients to 7,500, which will be available to white South Africans. They also discuss the power and authority of ICE to kill at will, as with the killing of Renee Good earlier this month, the exponential growth of ICE forces and detention centers, and the racially motivated fear of immigrants that the Right cultivates. Sara McKinnon is Professor of Rhetoric, Politics & Culture in the Department of Communication Arts, and Faculty Director of Latin American, Caribbean & Iberian Studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. McKinnon has published three books, including Gendered Asylum: Race and Violence in U.S. Law and Politics (University of Illinois Press, 2016), which examines the gender discourse that emerged in U.S. immigration and refugee law between the 1980 Refugee Act and 2014. Her current research explores the dynamics of human migration in Latin America and analyzes foreign policy relations and rhetoric in a transnational context. Additionally, she leads a collaborative project aimed at expanding legal information about US immigration and refugee programs, as well as legal counsel available to migrants across the Americas, helping them to explore options for safe migration and residence. Featured image 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 One Year of Immigration Enforcement on Steroids appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

This Thursday, January 22, is the 53rd anniversary of the passing of Roe v. Wade, which was overturned by the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in 2022. On today's show, host Dana Pellebon discusses abortion rights with two representatives from Free & Just, Veronica Ingham and Laurel Marcinkus. Free & Just is an organization working nationally to amplify the stories of everyday people and demonstrate the devastating consequences of abortion bans across the country. Free & Just was founded after the Dobbs decision as more and more people across the country started telling their abortion stories. Ingham says that storytelling is the most effective way to build support for reproductive rights, as she saw in her work in Ohio where the majority of people voted to protect reproductive rights. Now, there are over 300 abortion storytellers across 49 states, including 30 in Wisconsin. Marcinkus is one of those Wisconsin abortion storytellers. She shares her story of needing emergency medical care when she was pregnant with her daughter. Though her doctors recommended life-saving care, she had to wait hours before she could be induced. She lost her daughter and the situation further endangered her health.  Marcinkus's story is representative of what happens to pregnant people in the absence of Roe v. Wade. And there are more and more pregnant people dying who can't get the care they need, as a recent ProPublica article exposes. In Wisconsin, there are two “medical waste” bills moving through the legislature that would criminalize people who miscarry and do not “catch” their miscarriage and return it to a physician. Nationally, there are similar bills being proposed. They also discuss how the anti-abortion movement arose in response to the Civil Rights movement, how the Trump administration has effectively defunded Planned Parenthood through Medicaid cuts, and the misinformation about medical induced abortion. Even though there may be barriers to sharing abortion stories publicly, people can still find community by bravely sharing their experiences.  Veronica Ingham is the Managing Director for Free & Just, overseeing the team focused on protecting and expanding reproductive freedom and rights nationwide. Before joining Free & Just, Veronica most recently led the historic abortion referendum in Ohio as campaign manager, where Ohioans voted overwhelmingly to enshrine reproductive rights in the state constitution. Laurel Marcinkus is a Free & Just storyteller and advocate for reproductive freedom from Kenosha, WI. She’s a mom who was forced to wait hours for lifesaving medical care here in Wisconsin and now tells her story to spotlight the dangers of anti-abortion laws. Featured image of stencil reading “Defend Roe v. Wade” via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The Abortion Stories Behind Every Anti-Abortion Law appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

This week on Mel & Floyd: Pants returns from his trip to … Stoughton?; A visit from “She who must be obeyed”; WORT needs new fund raising director; How to buy a Nobel Prize; All about Vidkun Quisling; A review of “Heated Rivalry”; Red hat stealing crows are murdering it; 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 Jamie Haughton on Unsplash Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The Primates Are Doing It appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Esty Dinur is joined by Alfred W. McCoy to talk about his latest book, Cold War on Five Continents: A Global History of Empire and Espionage, available from Haymarket Books. His book offers an intimate portrait of both covert operatives and antiwar activists, thus humanizing a history often told in impersonal terms of nuclear arsenals or diplomatic ententes. Turning away from the usual focus of the Moscow-Washington stalemate, McCoy looks at the regions of the world where the Cold War was actually fought, arguing that Southeast Asia experienced the worst of Cold War violence. From South Vietnam to the Middle East, to Africa and Latin America the major world powers fought surrogate wars amounting to 20 million deaths.  McCoy describes how the US spread its military around the world and operated covertly in Afghanistan, Angola, and elsewhere. He says that the first success of “the man on the spot,” Kermit Roosevelt Jr., was in Iran where he helped to install the Shah in “a spectacularly successful exhibit of regime change.” McCoy says that we're currently seeing a “radical shift in US geopolitical posture” moving away from “an international system of law and commerce to becoming a regional hegemony” as seen in what McCoy calls Trump's “tri-continental strategy.” Trump has decided to concentrate US power in the Americas, from Canada to Greenland and Venezuela. He says that Trump views oil and power as synonymous, but this is a miscalculation on Trump's part. McCoy sees the era of oil as over and the next horizon is in renewables and will be dominated by China.  Alfred W. McCoy holds the Harrington chair in history at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Since earning a history doctorate in 1977, his teaching and writing have focused on Southeast Asian history, modern empires, and the covert netherworld of syndicate crime and state security. Featured image of the cover of Cold War on Five Continents: A Global History of Empire and Espionage, available from Haymarket Books. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post From the Cold War to the Trump Regime's Geopolitics with Alfred McCo... appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On December 14, hard-right candidate José Antonio Kast was elected as Chile's president with over 58% of the vote. Kast built his campaign around the promise of expelling undocumented migrants and has been called the “Trump of Chile.” On today's show, host Allen Ruff is joined by journalist Nyki Duda to talk about the political history of Chile and what led to the election of Kast. Duda says that what makes Kast different from other far-right leaders like Trump or Bolsonaro, is that he developed his career within the institutional Right in Chile. His father was a member of the German Nazi Party who fled Europe to avoid accountability for his crimes. Kast's father established himself within the landed gentry outside of Santiago and, with Kast's brother, was involved in a series of murders around the 1973 coup. Kast's other brother was one of the “Chicago boys” who implemented neoliberalism in Chile. Kast has never renounced his family's crimes and is poised to be the most right-wing leader Chile has seen since the Pinochet dictatorship, says Duda. There was a time in the 90s when Chile was seen as a model of democracy and economic growth in Latin America coming off the repressive regimes of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. But that dream has not come to pass. Duda describes the legacy of Pinochet-era “anti-terror” laws and attempts to rewrite the dictatorship-era constitution and the media misinformation campaign against the draft of a new constitution that would have created plurinational status for Indigenous tribes and introduced rights of the environment.  Duda also discusses the 2019 student protests and the violent government backlash, including the case of Nicolás Piña.  Nyki Duda is an editor at Al Jazeera digital and researcher at Lead Stories. As a freelance journalist, she covers migration, social movements and far-right politics. Her writing has appeared in Truthout, Jacobin, In These Times and more. Featured image of José Antonio Kast from 2009 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0 CL). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The Run-up to the “Trump of Chile,” José Antonio Kast appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

At a time when it feels like our social fabric is being torn apart, today's show is about the power of art to pull people back together. Host Ali Muldrow is in conversation with Issis Macias, Lesley Numbers, and Emily Popp about the current exhibit at Art + Literature Laboratory, Pulling Together: Work from Madison's Roundhouse Studios. Roundhouse Studio houses 47 artists, and each of their studios is like a little train car, “chugging down the track” to affordable and sustainable art careers, says Popp. Roundhouse Studios opened in January 2025 as a collaborative project between Arts + Literature Laboratory and Apex Property Management to address Madison's critical shortage of affordable artist workspace. Popp says that the exhibit is a good display of the talent at Roundhouse, representing all different kinds of mediums. Even though everyone has the capacity to be creative, there are financial barriers to being an artist and our economy and culture make it hard for everyone to pursue the arts. Our guests debunk the myths about art being a solo, frivolous activity, and praise the ways that their colleagues at Roundhouse root for each other. They also talk about how motherhood is the inspiration for their artistic practices and why it’s so important to have studio space for their work. Numbers says that she first knew she was an artist when she was giving birth to her child. Macias says she turns to art for healing, and she embraces art as a refuge. She translates all kinds of emotions through vibrant colors and textures. They wind down the conversation by discussing the ways that their current political moment, including the killing of Renee Good last week by ICE, will impact their art.  Issis Macias is a self-taught artist and daughter of Mexican immigrants whose work explores the emotional spectrum of human experience through vibrant, intuitive abstraction. Born in Los Angeles and now based in Madison, Wisconsin, she began painting during a transformative period of motherhood and career transition amid the pandemic. Working with acrylic and oil pastels, Macias draws upon memory, intuition, and shared emotion to create her dynamic, layered compositions. She was named the 2025 Latina Artist of the Year and received the 2024 Micaela Salinas Artist Fellowship, sponsored by Latinos Organizing for Understanding and Development. Macias was also a 2023–2025 Bridge Work artist at Arts + Literature Laboratory, a 2023 Forward Art Prize finalist through the Women Artists Forward Fund, and is an active member of the Madison Art Guild. Her work is held in private collections across the United States, Mexico, and Europe. Lesley Anne Numbers is an artist, educator, mother and earth-tender, born and raised in Madison. She earned a B.S. in Art Education and an MFA in Printmaking, both from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her art practice is rooted in a sense of spirit, curiosity and love and her imagery is inspired by daily walks with her dogs, the living world, music, poetry and dreams. Currently, Lesley serves as Director of Youth Education at Arts + Literature Laboratory, creates art at Roundhouse Studio and helps run Polka! Press, a printmaking cooperative. Emily Popp is a fashion and costume designer, teaching artist, performer, and creator of the small handmade fashion brand The Popp Town Mall. Her artistic practice centers on the repurposing and transformation of found and secondhand materials. Emily's definition of fashion includes anything worn on the body. She considers fashion to be one of the most accessible art forms, a means of individual artistic and intimate expression shared daily.  Emily currently works as a costume designer for the University of Wisconsin Opera and as Director of Adult Education at Arts + Literature Laboratory. Emily holds a Master’s degree in Fashion and Textiles from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Post-Baccalaureate in Fashion from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.  Featured image from the Pulling Together exhibit, courtesy of Art + Literature Laboratory. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Mother Artists Unite! appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show host, Dana Pellebon is joined in the studio with long-time Madison leader, Anthony Cooper Sr. the CEO and Founder of Focused Interruption which provides community violence intervention and prevention in Dane County. Their work includes mentorship, trauma-informed care, and direct support to survivors of violence and individuals seeking a fresh start.  Cooper discusses how his experience of incarceration paved the way for the work that he's doing now with Focused Interruption and how he draws on his prior experience working for Nehemiah. He says that crisis intervention is important for everyone in the community, in addition to the victim and the perpetrator.  With Focused Interruption, Cooper works to address gun violence in a preventative way, though much of their work includes working with perpetrators of violence, navigating law enforcement and investigations, and community needs. This means pointing out challenges and moving toward repair in situations where “trauma is stacked on top of violence,” says Cooper. Community members are partners in this work, in helping the folks at Focused Interruption identify situations before they escalate.  They also discuss how important it is to show up in your community spaces in order to make a positive impact, what it would look like to have community rather than community policing, and how Focused Interruption takes care of its workers. Anthony Cooper Sr. is a dedicated and visionary leader, serving as the CEO and Founder of Focused Interruption, a pioneering organization specializing in community violence intervention and prevention in Dane County. His leadership is defined by a deep commitment to creating safer, more inclusive communities through innovative and compassionate approaches. Featured image of Anthony Cooper Sr. and Dana Pellebon in the WORT studio. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Anthony Cooper Sr. Paves the Way for Local Violence Intervention appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Last week the federal government reduced the number of vaccines it recommends for children in the US from 17 to 11. The CDC made these changes without the approval from a federal panel. On today's show, host Douglas Haynes takes a look at these changes and their implications for public health with two experts, Mary Hayney of the UW School of Pharmacy and Kia Kjensrud of Immunize Wisconsin.  They break down the latest 6 changes to recommendations for the HPV, Hepatitis A, Rotavirus, RSV, flu and covid, and Meningococcal vaccines. The difference is that now the CDC doesn't recommend these vaccines, they say “talk to your doctor about them” through a process known as “shared clinical decision-making.” From the point of a published vaccine schedule, the CDC's new recommendations make it appear as if these vaccines are optional, says Hayney. And the changes imply that there hasn't been shared clinical decision-making, though it is common practice already, says Kjenstrud. At the end of the day, there is no scientific basis for these changes and the majority of parents still want their children to be vaccinated, says Hayney. For those who are skeptical about vaccines, Kjensrud says that vaccines are under strict scrutiny. More than 200 groups have joined the American Association of Pediatrics in calling for oversight for these changes. The rationale from the Trump administration is that these changes are in line with other countries like Denmark that recommend fewer childhood vaccines. Hayney says that there are significant demographic differences–in terms of size and diversity– between these countries to make it hard to compare. In addition, universal healthcare covers all citizens in Denmark. They also discuss the trust that pediatricians build with the families they care for, how measles and the flu are deadly and preventable diseases, school attendance policies, the misconception that physicians are making money from these childhood vaccines, and how insurance policies will be affected by these new guidelines.  Mary S. Hayney is a Distinguished Professor of Pharmacy at the University of Wisconsin School of Pharmacy and a Master of Public Health Program Faculty Member at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health/ Her research lab studies vaccine responses in immunocompromised individuals. She teaches immunology topics at the School of Pharmacy, including the immunization course for pharmacy students. Kia Kjensrud has served as the executive director of the Wisconsin Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics since 2007. She is the interim director of Immunize Wisconsin, a statewide coalition supporting efforts around strengthening vaccination ecosystems at the local, regional, and statewide level. Featured image of a child receiving a vaccine. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The CDC Endangers Public Health and Abandons Science appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

This week on Mel & Floyd: FLOYD IS HERE!  Saga too!!; The tale of Floyd's sheds; ICE assaults; A bear eviction in California; A flock of gay rams in England?; Soccer surpasses America's pastime; Uri Geller offers trump an island; McRib or yoga mat?; “Little Elvis” in the movies; Chimpanzee fashion statements; Monkey mayhem in a Tennessee music store; 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 Alan Hardman on Unsplash Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Not Enough Pastrami on the Top appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On Wednesday, ICE agents in Minneapolis shot and killed Renee Nicole Good. Hours later, immigration officials raided a high school in the same city; and in Portland, ICE shot two additional civilians. In response, the Trump administration has been blaming the victims and promoting new expansive definitions of “terrorism” to silence dissent. To talk about this, host Esty Dinur is joined by independent journalist, Ken Klippenstein. They unpack Trump's recent national security directive which lists new identifiers of “terrorism” including expressing feelings that are anti-Christian, anti-capitalist, or anti-traditional family values (similar to this bill in Wisconsin). Klippenstein says that if you look at polling, these feelings are expressed by millions of voters. The effect of this directive is “bringing what was the global war on terror home,” by making enemies of American people. Attorney General Pam Bondi's expanded these qualities of “terrorism” to include anti-Ice sentiment.  Klippenstein says we have to understand that federal law enforcement has been instructed to view impeding ICE actions as terrorism, and there's no precedent in the US for this. Trump and Bondi's directives create a psychological environment in which ICE agents can view their fellow citizens as combatants. It's a world based in fear, one that MAGA supporters have been primed to accept as the dominant narrative by the media.  They also discuss the unpopularity of the Democratic Party and how top Democrats in Washington aren't in touch with rank and file voters. Klippenstein says we should be skeptical of calls for impeachment of Kristi Noem and alarmed by Bondi's directive to the FBI to offer cash bounties for “radicals.” Ken Klippenstein is an American journalist who previously worked at The Intercept before announcing his decision to go independent, believing the move necessary in order to report critically on national security. Soon after going independent, Klippenstein published the JD Vance Dossier, a hacked document numerous major media organizations — the very ecosystem he just left — refused to publish. Before The Intercept, Klippenstein was The Nation magazine’s DC correspondent. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin. Featured image of a group in Minnesota protesting ICE in 2018 via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The Global War on Terror Comes Home appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Allen Ruff is joined by Stephen Zunes to talk about his recent article in The Progressive, “The Real Reason Trump Invaded Venezuela: It's not drugs, democracy, or even oil. It's power.”  Following the US's abduction of Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, Zunes breaks down the Trump administration's motivations for seizing the state leader and Trump's vision for the US in the Western Hemisphere. He says the Trump administration is telling a number of lies to justify their actions: calling Maduro a narco-terrorist despite that no fentanyl comes from Venezuela, that Maduro stole “our oil” despite Venezuela nationalizing its oil in the 1970s, and more.  Zunes puts these lies in the context of international law, the Monroe Doctrine, Venezuelan opposition to Maduro, and the US military's recent boat-bombing campaign. He says that the US will control all of the oil from Venezuela for the foreseeable future, but “Trump plans to take control of the oil personally and stash the cash in offshore accounts.” Dr. Stephen Zunes is a Professor of Politics and International Studies at the University of San Francisco, where he served as founding director of the program in Middle Eastern Studies. Featured image of Nicolás Maduro at a meeting in Geneva in 2015 via Flickr.  Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The Monroe Doctrine Rises Again in Venezuela appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

If you're not hungry already, today’s show is bound to whet your appetite. Host Ali Muldrow speaks with local foodie, Lindsay Christians, about all the good eats of 2025. They talk about what bars, cafes, food carts, fast casual chains, and bakeries closed and opened in 2025, and what they're looking forward to in 2026. There's a lot of promise on the horizon: from the opening of Ahan's new companion bar across from their current location on Willy St., Ledger Coffee Roaster's new location on Winnebago St., Baked Lab's new brick and mortar in Atwood, and Hot & Spicy's new, larger location next door to Viet Hoa Market. And Christians breaks down the desert spots–by desert variety, no less–that she's looking forward to. They also talk about food journalism, what goes into writing a food review, and why Christians avoids takeout food. Lindsay Christians is the food and culture editor at The Capital Times in Madison, Wisconsin. She is the author of two books, “Madison Chefs: Stories of Food, Farms and People” and “The Osteria Papavero Cookbook: Recipes from the Italian shack and beyond” with Francesco Mangano. Featured image of a festive meal at a restaurant via Rawpixel. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Spicy in the Cinnamon Kind of Way appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Today is the deadline for candidate filings in the state of Wisconsin. To break down the races in this busy election year, host Dana Pellebon speaks with three powerhouse local journalists, Christina Lieffring, Enjoyiana Nururdin, and Faye Parks.  There was a general sense of surprise and excitement at the number of contested races. Nururdin says that she's noticed more people wanting to be active at the local level, including with the school board and Dane County Board. And Parks has noticed people getting engaged on topics like housing, school referendums, and other issues that affect their daily lives. Lieffring says that when things are going well, people tend to ignore local government, but things aren't going well right now.  Change is on the horizon in the city of Madison as a number of Common Council seats are up for grabs as the city adjusts to its new staggered terms. And in Dane County there are more unopposed races. Nururdin wants to see more debate and constituent feedback about Dane County Board positions, but this is challenging because newsrooms struggle to devote a lot of time and energy to smaller races, says Lieffring. The Governor's race may be the hottest line on the ballot with a large primary field of Democratic candidates but only two Republican contenders. Nururdin says that people want to see candidates who are active in the community, not just at press opportunities. And Lieffring wants to see the candidates go beyond political slogans.  Christina Lieffring is Tone Madison's Managing Editor, a free-wheelin' freelancer, and lifelong Midwesterner. Enjoyiana Nururdin is a Madisonian and the local government reporter at the Cap Times Newspaper where she covers the ins and outs of City Hall and politics in Dane County. A graduate of UW-Madison’s School of Journalism and Columbia University in New York, Enjoyiana brings experience covering homelessness, government transparency and uplifting community voices in her work. Faye Parks is the Producer of WORT’s 6pm Local News. Featured image of a person voting via Pexels. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Local Journalists Weigh-In on Upcoming 2026 Elections appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Corn, extreme heat and the military, and skiing are all subjects featured on Floodlight, an independent, nonpartisan newsroom that investigates the corporations and political interests stalling climate action. On today's show, host Douglas Haynes speaks with Dee J. Hall, an award-winning Wisconsin journalist and Editor in Chief of Floodlight. Hall says that her work at Floodlight strives to be “locally relevant and nationally resonant.” They talk about Floodlight’s mission, impact, and recent notable stories, including the essay, “Corn's clean-energy promise is clashing with its climate footprint.” Currently 40% of corn grown in the US goes to producing ethanol for fuel. But researchers are finding that the continuous growth of corn for fuel has caused an explosion of nitrous oxide emissions in the upper Midwest that comes from the continuous application of nitrogen fertilizer. Hall says “we've traded one issue (carbon) for another (nitrogen).”  Another Floodlight story on climate change's impact on winter activities. 2025 was the third hottest year on record and the effect is being felt in people's daily lives, including during ski season. In the next 25 years, projections suggest that ski seasons could shrink by another 3 months.  Hall also speaks to the state of climate journalism today and the challenges of doing climate journalism during the second Trump administration. She says the administration often doesn't respond to requests for comment, or when they do, their responses are disrespectful. They also discuss the importance of “official” perspectives, the distinction between “objectivity” and “fairness,” and how the rise of non-profit newsrooms is changing the face of journalism.  Dee J. Hall is the Editor-in-Chief of Floodlight. Before joining Floodlight, Dee was the managing editor of Wisconsin Watch, a nonprofit investigative news outlet based in Madison and Milwaukee that she co-founded with her husband, Andy. In her more than 40 years in journalism, Dee has won more than three dozen state, regional and national awards for her reporting. During her eight years as Wisconsin Watch’s managing editor, Dee edited and reported more than 70 award-winning projects. Dee previously reported for the Wisconsin State Journal and the Arizona Republic. Featured image of the Granite Peak Ski area in Wisconsin 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 Climate Journalism Thrives In Nonprofit Newsrooms appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

This week on Mel & Floyd: Luke sits in for ‘Pants and Saga visits; Real life midwestern horror movie experiences; Creationist “thinking” and catching measles at the Ark Encounter; Yellow brick road at bottom of ocean??; The real reason trump hates windmills; More guns than Bibles?; 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 Mikhail Preobrazhenskiy on Unsplash Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The Road to Atlantis appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

In 2025, the state of Montana voted for Trump by nearly 20 points. But Montanan's support for the president is waning because of the administration's policies on public lands. To unpack the effects of DOGE cuts to public land agencies, host Esty Dinur is joined by journalist Cassidy Randall, author of a recent article, ‘I Didn't Vote for This': A Revolt Against DOGE Cuts, Deep in Trump Country.  Randall says that the DOGE cuts that started last February are bad for public lands beyond the national parks. In Montana, people use public lands for recreation and public land agencies engage in wildfire mitigation and habitat restoration. Ranchers rely on grazing allotments because most ranches aren't big enough to graze all their livestock. In Project 2025 there are plans to sell off and privatize private lands. Randall says that if you hollow out the agencies that manage them, it becomes an excuse to sell them off. “When we lose these places, they're gone forever.” Though Montana leans conservative, the people are pro-environment, and the right to a “clean and healthful environment” is written into the state's constitution. And young people are winning climate lawsuits based on their constitutional rights. On top of the DOGE cuts, people in Montana are concerned about tariffs and the Trump administration's relationship with Argentina.  They also discuss how the ultra wealthy are turning to Montana as their playground, the crisis of rural hospitals in the state, and healthcare affordability.  Cassidy Randall writes on adventure, environment, and the West. Her award-winning journalism has appeared in Rolling Stone, National Geographic, the New York Times, Vanity Fair, Outside, and Men's Journal, among others; and her latest book, Thirty Below, was named one of The Washington Post's Noteworthy Books of the Month and won the Banff Mountain Grand Prize. Featured image of a sign for the Pryor Mountain Range in Montana via the Bureau of Land Management on Flickr (CC BY 2.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The Fight for Public Lands Could Rewire Montana's Politics appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, guest host Bert Zipperer speaks with dairy journalist Pete Hardin. They recap the big stories in the agricultural industry over 2025, in an extension of their coverage on their weekly feature on WORT, The Milkweed.  Dairy and cheese production is quintessentially Wisconsin, since the time that settler farmers brought their herds to regenerate the land cleared of forests by an earlier generation of settlers. Hardin calls Wisconsin's dairy industry the greatest non-extractive economic development of the state. Now, dairy is a $50-60 billion dollar industry, with celebrated small producers like Cedar Grove and large producers like BelGioioso.  But the cheese market is terrible right now, says Hardin. Since 2024, prices have declined 30-35%. On top of declining gains for producers, immigrant farmworkers are being targeted by the Trump administration, despite the foundational role they play in the nation’s agricultural sector. The agricultural sector as a whole is struggling, from the ravages of the avian flu to the Trump administration's tariffs that hit the soybean market hard. And then there are the lawsuits against Monsanto and Bayer, the producers of the carcinogenic herbicide called glyphosate or Roundup, that the Trump administration wants to overturn. In this market, Hardin says that he's worried about hungry farmers and hungry consumers. Featured image of the Old Country Cheese plant in Cashton, Wisconsin via Rawpixel.  Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Hungry Farmers and Hungry Consumers appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

In 2025, a record $60 billion was invested in building AI data centers around the world, many of them in the US and Canada. Proposals for data centers are popping up across Wisconsin, in Mount Pleasant, Menominee, Beaver Dam, Dane County and beyond. These “hyperscale” complexes use anywhere between 5-50 megawatts of power and take up hundreds of acres of land. To talk about the growing opposition to AI data centers across the nation, host Douglas Haynes is joined by three guests: Michael Greif of Midwest Environmental Advocates, Mitch Jones of Food & Water Watch, and Ed Morganroth, Jr. of the group, No Data Center DeForest. People are increasingly concerned about data centers’ energy and water consumption, land use, noise pollution, and e-waste as well as the societal impacts of AI products like deep fakes. To educate legislators about the growing opposition, Food & Water Watch organized a letter to Congress calling for the halt of construction of data centers. Jones says that the fight is happening in every state and their letter creates a national umbrella for these groups to unify their message. So far over 250 organizations have signed on.  Many are concerned that the financial benefits of these data centers are flowing to Silicon Valley and out of local communities. And the public is largely being kept in the dark about how much electricity and water these data centers would eat up. This fall, Midwest Environmental Advocates took legal action to get the city of Racine to respond to Milwaukee Riverkeepers’s record recquest for the projected water consumption of a Mount Pleasant data center.  They were at first told that water use is a “trade secret.” To date, the public doesn't know how much electricity will be used at the data center that Alliant Energy and Meta are building in Beaver Dam. Morganroth says that at a time when Wisconsin is losing agricultural land, his group would rather see new housing and job-creating business in his community rather than a data center. Our guests also talk about the active role that electric companies are playing in the construction of data centers, the tax breaks that these companies are getting from the state of Wisconsin, and the AI bubble.  Michael Greif is a Legal Fellow at Midwest Environmental Advocates, where his work has focused on legal pathways to safeguard Wisconsin's air, water, and climate, including advocating for public disclosure of the water and energy use of hyperscale data centers. Michael is a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley School of Law and lives in Madison. Mitch Jones is the Managing Director of Policy and Litigation at Food & Water Watch. He has worked on federal policy for over 20 years. He leads the organization's work on federal and state policy as well as their sibling organization’s political program. Ed Morganroth, Jr. is a resident of DeForest, WI and member of the No Data Center DeForest group. Featured image: aerial view of the Google Data Center in Council Bluffs, IA via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Who Bears the True Cost of So-Called Artificial Intelligence? appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

This week on Mel & Floyd: Flooding in the Smarty-cave?; Who will Esty fight first?; Plans for NYC mayor's inauguration; Can chatbots change people's political opinions?; Tales of A.I. videos; Check out Mel guest hosting “Who Cooks For You” along with his trusty sidekick on 12/26 via the WORT archives page [we can't put the music in the podcast]; 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 Designecologist on Unsplash Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Tyranny Is Booming! appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

In this archival show from January 1, 2001, A Public Affair host Esty Dinur speaks with Professor Avraham Balaban about the truth on growing up on a kibbutz. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post From the Archives: Growing up on a Kibbutz appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On this special live Christmas Eve edition of A Public Affair, host Ali Muldrow is joined by Bianca Martin,  the host of the podcast, City Cast Madison. They're leaning into the festive season with loved ones, uplifting non-traditional ways of celebrating, and swapping favorite winter movies, like The Chronicles of Narnia and The Family Stone.  The winter is a time to hibernate and try out traveling wood fire saunas and other cozy spots in Madison. They also share recipes that they make for friends and discuss how to celebrate solo. We listen to Olivia Dean's version of the classic “The Christmas Song” and Bianca sings Joni Mitchel's “River.” Featured image of Bianca Martin and Ali Muldrow. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Growing Our Hearts and Healing the Grinches appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

WORT 89.9FM Madison · Wisconsin DHS Breaks Ranks with CDC on Hepatitis Vaccine Dr. Ryan Westergaard(Photo courtesy University of Wisconsin Department of Medicine) Back in June, U.S. Secretary of Health Robert Kennedy, Junior abruptly dismissed all of the members of the Center for Disease Control's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, and installed a new panel of vaccine skeptics.  The medical community responded with dismay, warning that the new appointees could upend decades of scientific consensus about vaccinations.  Those warnings were proven justified on December 5, when the reconstituted ACIP voted 8-3 to end the CDC's 30-year old recommendation that all infants receive the Hepatitis B vaccine.  Here in Wisconsin, the Department of Health Services has broken ranks with the CDC and continues to recommend the Hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth.  Dr. Ryan Westergaard, Chief Medical Officer for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services joined Monday Buzz host Brian Standing to explain the decision. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Wisconsin DHS Breaks Ranks with CDC on Hepatitis Vaccine appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

WORT 89.9FM Madison · The Absence of Reality E. Hughes(photo courtesy ehughesbooks.com) At the end of  Lewis Carroll's 1871 children's novel, “Through the Looking Glass,” Carroll's heroine, Alice, asks her cat, Kitty, an important question about her recent escapade across a giant chessboard: “Now, Kitty, let’s consider who it was that dreamed it all. …You see, Kitty, it must have been either me or the Red King. He was part of my dream, of course — but then I was part of his dream, too! was it the Red King, Kitty?”  The idea that we are all living in a dream, known as the “simulation hypothesis,” dates back to ancient Chinese, Indian, Greek and Aztec philosophy, but received new life in 2003 when Nick Bostrom argued that we were all living in a giant computer simulation.  E. Hughes has built a career not only as a poet and science fiction author, but also as a philosopher of metaphysics.  Her new book “The Absence of Reality: Aphorisms and Observations on the Nature of Reality and Existence” explores this idea.  E. Hughes joined the Monday Buzz on December 22, 2025. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post “The Absence of Reality” appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

WORT 89.9FM Madison · Cheshire Cat Comedy Sends Out 2025 With a Laugh Well, 2025 has been, to put it mildly, quite a year.  With everything that has gone on since January, many of us could use a decent laugh.  Madison troupe Cheshire Cat Comedy has just the medicine you need with two upcoming shows: “Year in Review” on Boxing Day, December 26 at the Forward Club at Breese Stevens Field and an “Ugly Sweater Party,” the following day on December 27th at the Hotel Indigo.  Cheshire Cat Comedy impresario Sasha Rogers joined Monday Buzz host Brian Standing on December 22, 2025. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Cheshire Cat Comedy Closes Out 2025 with a Laugh appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

This week on Mel & Floyd: Hubert Humphrey's history; Quantifying “his” awfulness; Dr. Oz says the testicles are extra; Mar-a-lago face; Australia DOES SOMETHING after mass shooting; High fat cheese fights dementia?; Vintage tips for housewives; Bird beaks evolved during pandemic; 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 Tabrez Syed on Unsplash Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Truth Has No Value appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Esty Dinur is joined by scholar Marc Becker to talk about the Trump Administration's rapidly escalating attacks on Venezuela. He puts the strikes on boats allegedly trafficking drugs in the context of Venezuela's oil economy and Latin American politics. Venezuela is considered to have the world's largest oil reserves which leads many mainstream news sources to call the country the wealthiest in Latin America. But Becker says that wealth is poorly distributed. Under the presidency of Hugo Chávez, Venezuela was successful at redistributing that oil wealth. However, the US has worked to remove Chavez and more recently Nicolás Maduro from power. Even the media circulates narratives that these left-wing leaders have “illegitimate” power.   They also talk about how the US embargo has had a catastrophic effect on the Venezuelan economy, how the US might be gearing up for attacks on Cuba, Chinese policy in Latin and South America, and the Ineligibility of María Corina Machado in the recent Venezuelan elections.  Marc Becker is professor of history at Truman State University. He studies the Latin American left with a particular interest in race, class, and gender within popular movements in the South American Andes. Among other works, he is the author of Contemporary Latin American Revolutions (Rowman and Littlefield, 2022); The CIA in Ecuador (Duke University Press, 2020); The FBI in Latin America: The Ecuador Files (Duke University Press, 2017); and Indians and Leftists in the Making of Ecuador’s Modern Indigenous Movements (Duke University Press, 2008. He has served on the executive committees and has been web editor of the Peace History Society (PHS) and Historians for Peace and Democracy (H-Pad). Becker is currently working on a project on Philip Agee and the CIA in Ecuador in the early 1960s. Featured image of a mural outside a Venezuelan state-owned oil and gas company from 2009 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 Oil Motivates US Attacks on Venezuela appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

More than 3,800 Starbucks baristas have joined a nationwide strike since mid-November. They're demanding increased staffing, more predictable hours, and better wages. To talk about the exploitation of service workers like baristas, host Allen Ruff is joined by Annie McClanahan who says that the struggle of Starbucks workers to get a fair contract is very common across low-wage service work. More than 80% of the nation's workforce is in the service sector. It's made up of doctors, lawyers, and restaurant workers, all united in the ways that their labor can't be scaled up, automated, or outsourced. McClanahan describes how this sector also includes 75% of the folks earning minimum wage or sub-minimum wage, folks who are more likely to live below the poverty line and less likely to be protected from maximum hour or minimum wage protections. Because service work doesn't produce a “product” in a classical sense and because this labor is often racialized and feminized, service work is excluded from labor reforms and regulations.  McClanahan outlines a few ways that service workers become prey to “super-exploitation” – through intensifying and surveilling technologies and through the informalization of policies and contracts. The result is that service workers get stuck in what McClanahan calls “reproductive rifts” where people who deliver groceries can't afford groceries, or people who provide childcare can't afford their own childcare.  McClanahan says that conceptualizations of capitalism that are tied to industrial manufacturing are complicated by the rise of the service sector, which requires a different relationship between wages and technology. They also talk about the outsized influence of the National Restaurant Association and the difference between gig work and the service industry, namely that gig workers aren't paid hourly but through wage algorithms that are black boxed. Gig work draws on traditions of tipped work but adds to it forms of technological exploitation from wage algorithms and GPS systems, management by app, and the targeting of migrant workers for this kind of labor.  Meanwhile, rank and file Starbucks workers are making demands. And McClanahan says that service workers are drawing on tactics of domestic worker unions that aren't just about wages, but about rent control, mutual aid, and more.  Annie McClanahan is an Associate Professor of English at University of California, Irvine. She writes about U.S. popular culture, political economy, and contemporary capitalism and is the author of Dead Pledges: Debt, Crisis, and 21st Century Culture. Her second book, Beneath the Wage: Tips, Tasks, and Gigs in the Age of Service Work, is forthcoming in 2026. Featured image of Starbucks workers rally and march in 2022 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 From Tips to Gigs to the Picket Line appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

WORT 89.9FM Madison · The Tragic Repetition of School Shootings This week marks the 1-year anniversary of the shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School in Madison. Meanwhile the search for the Brown University shooter is ongoing. To talk about these events and the ongoing crisis of school shootings across the US, host Ali Muldrow is joined by Dr. David Riedman who tracks these shootings and the online communities that foster gun violence. Dr. Riedman takes an evidence-driven approach to the study of school shootings. He's tracked 3,400 shootings back to the 1960s, including 226 of which were deliberately planned. He says there are some common denominators when it comes to shootings: the vast majority are committed by a current or recently former student who has likely experienced abuse in their home, has easy access to a gun, and has shown signs of distress, like leaving weapons out, leaving out maps of their schools, and making shrines to previous school shooters. These realities may run counter to the desire to view school shooters as deranged, lone-wolf outsiders. Instead, Dr. Riedman calls the majority of school shootings “violent public suicides.” They also talk about the stereotype that public and urban schools are more dangerous than private, rural, or suburban schools, even though the majority of school shootings occur in small suburban communities and rural schools. Dr. Riedman advises that parents be educated about past school shootings in order to spot signs that kids are becoming radicalized by online communities like the True Crime Community (TCC) and Groyper movement, led by white nationalist influencer, Nick Fuentes. Meanwhile young people in Wisconsin have been calling for better mental health resources and better gun storage laws. Dr. David Riedman is the founder of the K-12 School Shooting Database and hosts the podcast Back to School Shootings. Featured image of students from Des Moines Public Schools participating in the National School Walkout to end gun violence in 2018 by Phil Roeder on Flickr (CC BY 2.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The Tragic Repetition of School Shootings appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

WORT 89.9FM Madison · One Man Stalled Healthcare Expansion for New Moms Currently, Wisconsin and Arkansas are the only two states that have not expanded healthcare coverage for new moms. On today's show, host Dana Pellebon speaks with ProPublica reporter, Megan O'Matz, about her investigation into Robin Vos's rejection of postpartum Medicaid expansion in Wisconsin.  Even though there is bipartisan support in the Wisconsin legislature to expand Medicaid coverage for up to a year for low-income new moms, Robin Vos has blocked a bill that would do just that. O'Matz reports that Vos broke with other anti-abortion members of his party and that this decision is timed with the overturning of Roe v. Wade. She calls it hypocritical not to give new moms healthcare past two months and claim you're “pro-life” because the early months after birth are a vulnerable period when parents often need ongoing medication and treatment. O'Matz also tracks the influence of business interests on Vos's decision, including the Uihlein family's financial contributions to the Republican Assembly Campaign Committee.  They also talk about O'Matz's most recent article on Sen. Ron Johnson's support of a discredited Wisconsin doctor whose new book on chlorine dioxide–a bleaching agent used as a disinfectant and deodorizer–spreads misinformation. Sen. Johnson has written a blurb on the book's dust jacket and has joined the doctor on panels on vaccine skepticism even though chlorine dioxide is not a drug or a medicine approved for therapeutic use. O'Matz says that we're in a place where people don't trust the CDC and that studies cited in Dr. Kory's book are not scientifically rigorous. O'Matz says that she got her start in Florida, where open records laws support journalists' work of keeping elected officials accountable. However the newspaper industry has been contracting over the years due to influence from media conglomerates. She's now with ProPublica, a nonprofit, independent newsroom that seeks to deliver a level of accountability to readers by reporting on how people with power use it. They rely on open records, data, and fact checking to foster reader trust. Megan O'Matz is a ProPublica reporter covering issues in Wisconsin and throughout the Midwest. She has been with ProPublica since 2021 and writes about voting processes in Wisconsin, a swing state, as well as stories about family court, prosecutorial blunders and predatory lending. She has also worked at the South Florida Sun Sentinel. She and her colleagues were finalists for the 2006 Pulitzer Prize for stories about widespread fraud in federal disaster aid programs after a series of devastating hurricanes. She also shared in the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for reporting on the failures of school administrators and police officers in connection with the Parkland school shooting. Featured image of a pregnant person holding their belly via Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post One Man Stalled Healthcare Expansion For New Moms appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

As WORT celebrates its 50th birthday this year, we've been reflecting on what the last half-century has meant to our community. But on today's show, host Douglas Haynes asks, what will the next 50 years look like? He's joined by the next generation of radio leaders, Olivia O’Callaghan and Daniel Stein from WSUM and Ted Hyngstrom from the Daily Cardinal who produces the weekly feature, Cardinal Call, on WORT. Record numbers of UW Madison students are signing up to volunteer at WSUM, say O'Callahan and Stein. There's interest from students wanting to play music on air and from listeners wanting to engage in digital content, like DJ spotlights and vinyl takeovers. Hyngstrom speculates that there's such a demand for radio because it's easy to consume, you can just put on your headphones and get music or news on demand. There may be something to the generational generalizations about Gen Z-ers ditching the algorithm in favor of analog media, from cassettes to radio. O'Callahan says it's rewarding to be a part of a medium with a long history. And Stein says that even if the medium is an old one, people are consuming radio content in very 21st century ways, by listening on apps, by setting reminders for their favorite shows, replaying favorite shows, and listening on the go.  Stein says that “radio is a big market for people who are looking for an itch that's not already being scratched.” Whereas AI is zapping people's creativity, people tune into WSUM or WORT “because they want to hear something authentic.” College Radio and community radio are shaping local culture, and that work excites these three students. Hyngstrom says that the work of “making something” motivates him, like an art form would. He's driven to work on human-centered stories shaped by expert knowledge, like the Daily Cardinal's recent AI issue. O'Callahan says that getting to know show hosts contributes to the intimacy of the listening experience of radio. She got connected to college radio as a way to meet people, and now she's getting professional experience by applying classroom work in a real-world capacity. And from multimedia content to dynamic programming, our guests envision a bright and innovative future for radio. Ted Hyngstrom is the producer of Cardinal Call, a collaboration between WORT and UW-Madison student newspaper “The Daily Cardinal.” As Podcast Director, he has overseen a comprehensive overhaul of how the Cardinal approaches audio journalism, working to integrate podcasting and audio journalism into the newsroom while simultaneously supporting multimedia storytelling. Academically, Ted is a sophomore Honors college student at UW-Madison studying Journalism and Political Science. Someday, he hopes to work as a local news multimedia journalist. Olivia O’Callaghan is a junior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison studying journalism and sociology. She joined WSUM Student Radio her freshman year, and worked as a Traffic Director in 2024 before being elected to serve as Station Manager for the 2025 calendar year. She hosts a music show at 10pm on Wednesday nights called “Kitchen Sink.” Daniel Stein is the Program Director at WSUM where he oversees the content broadcast on their FM and online signals, develops show schedules for nearly 200 active members, and enforces federal broadcast regulations. Featured image of a soundboard at a college radio station 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 College Students Say Radio Still Has a Lot to Offer appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

This week on Mel & Floyd: Mr. Smarty-Hat?; Rockin' John's REAL voice; A Catholic Church's Nativity display near Boston “evoking a dialog”;  Supreme Court deciding if “independent agencies” are actually independent; China's trade surplus tops 1 $Trillion; White House attempts to ban sign language at press conferences; 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 Fábio Alves on Unsplash Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post I'm Not A Hat! appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Esty Dinur is joined by Ojibwe elder, Great Grandmother Mary Lyons, who recaps what happened at the United Nations Climate Conference of Parties (COP 30) in Belém, Brazil last month. The gathering of world leaders and representatives of international organizations happens every year to address the climate crisis. This year, over 50,000 people from 193 nations gathered with at least 5,000 Indigenous participants, who Lyons says were intentionally left out of decision making conversations.  Though the conference was marketed as the Indigenous people's COP, Lyons says that it was difficult for Indigenous leaders to get access to the badges that would give them access to the conferences meetings and negotiations. There was also a large military presence that Lyons says was so different from past events. Lyons and others were trying to send the message that there is great danger to the planet, but “we were met with closed ears.” There were some good outcomes of the COP30, like the land tenure commitment, Brazil's recognition of ten Indigenous territories, and the tropical forest forever facility. These will be good outcomes if they are acted upon.  They also discuss the protection of waters of the Earth, the wealth of decision makers, and the lack of leadership on the climate emergency from the US federal government. Lyons says that she considers all children of the world her grandchildren and is concerned with the future of the whole planet and population. Great Grandmother Mary Lyons is an Ojibwe elder from Minnesota. She is also an author, humanitarian worker, wisdomkeeper, knowledgeholder, recovery and culture speaker, UN Elder Observer, and spiritual guide. Featured image of one of the buildings at the COP 30 in Belém, Brazil from UNclimatechange on Flickr (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Indigenous Voices Speak Out at COP 30 appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

In the news this week, the President's birthday was added to the list of free entry days at the National Parks, meanwhile Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Juneteenth were removed from the list. On today's show, host Allen Ruff is joined by activist and scholar Nicholas Powers to talk about the Trump administration's attacks on Black history and his latest article for Truthout, “Black History Has the Power to Ignite Movements. That's Why the Right Fears It.” Powers says that the Trump Administration is waging attacks on Black history at three levels: the economic, the cultural, and through voting rights. The closed doors of the African American History Museum in DC are both a symbolic and material closing off of Black history and culture. And that's added to the mass firings of more than 300,000 Black employees from their federal positions. The Trump administration is also criminalizing the teaching of Black history in schools. Attacking school curriculum gives permission to conservative activists who are now rewarded for promoting greater and greater acts of racism. The softening or erasing of the historical reality of American slavery and racism creates what Powers calls “a cartoon image of the nation,” one in which the US is presented as a nation always living up to its values. In Black history, Powers says, there is an opposing grand narrative to the American Dream, that of the American nightmare. He says we need a vision of “American realism” that is taught by Black history: that Black Americans belong here through their blood sweat and tears and that we're all equal in the eyes of god. Moreover, Black history has a transformative effect, empowering people to see more clearly the strategies and tactics that Black people used to gain greater freedom. Powers previews that there's another social movement, another wave, on its way to counter the reactionary work of the Right. When it arrives, we should add ourselves to it so that it becomes stronger.  Nicholas Powers is the author of Thirst, a political vampire novel; The Ground Below Zero: 9/11 to Burning Man, New Orleans to Darfur, Haiti to Occupy Wall Street; and most recently, Black Psychedelic Revolution. He has been writing for Truthout since 2011. His article, “Killing the Future: The Theft of Black Life” in the Truthout anthology Who Do You Serve, Who Do You Protect? coalesces his years of reporting on police brutality. Featured image of the facade of the National Museum of African American History and Culture by Ron Cogswell via Flickr.  Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post The Transformative Power of Black History with Nicholas Powers appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Ali Muldrow speaks with Dionne Koller about her new book, More Than Play: How Law, Policy, and Politics Shape American Youth Sport. As a former athlete who signed her kids up for youth sports, Koller says she wrote the book to make the experience of youth sports more acceptable and accessible. Koller says that physical and emotional abuse are issues across sports, not just in the high-profile abuses in women's gymnastics. That's because hierarchies fuel our current approach to youth sports, hierarchies like parent-child and coach-athlete relationships. In both instances, kids aren't given rights. And this is a very American problem, as the US is the only nation not to sign on to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.  Our youth sports culture has internalized the idea that being yelled at and playing through pain are good for “character development,” despite all data to the contrary. And kids are harmed when their parents and other adults get swept up in the positive and negative emotions that come from competitive play. Koller says that we've given sports sponsors and coaches both social and policy gatekeeping authority and there's not enough regulation when it comes to youth sports.  We should have some minimum safety standards for youth sports, like coach background checks and other health standards. She observes that legislators are trying really hard all of a sudden to keep trans girls out of youth sports; meanwhile these same legislators aren't supporting the enforcement of Title IX regulations.  And they also discuss the emphasis on winning at all costs, the rise of youth sports gambling and AAU sports, the nefarious history of the term “student-athlete,” and how overtraining kids leads to preventable injuries. Koller wants to imagine sports as an equalizer, as athleticism has been a vehicle for upward mobility in the Black community. She says there's a lot more romance we can get out of youth sports, we just have to open doors and make youth sports more accessible.  Dionne Koller is Director of the Center for Sport and the Law at the University of Baltimore, where she also serves as a law professor. In 2021, she was appointed to co-chair the Commission on the State of US Olympic and Paralympics. She also has served as chair and a member of the executive board for the Sports Law Section of the Association of American Law Schools (AALS), is a member of the United States Anti-Doping Agency's Administrative Review Panel, and serves on the editorial board for the International Sports Law Journal. A graduate of Harvard Law School, Koller was awarded the AALS 2024 award for significant contributions to the field of sports law. Featured image of the cover of More Than Play by Dionne Koller.  Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Aren't Youth Sports Supposed to be Fun? appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Dana Pellebon is joined by Dane County Human Services Director, John Schlueter, to help listeners understand the breadth of the largest department in our county. Schlueter is a long-time Madison resident whose service to the community began with volunteering at Centro Guadelupe and the Dane County Humane Society. After graduating with a degree in social work, he worked in human services and the Social Security Administration before taking his new position with Dane County. He says that he sees his new role as an opportunity to give back to the community and guide the department through challenges posed by the federal government. This year, departments across Dane County faced structural deficits requiring reductions across the board. The Human Services budget looms at over $300 million and funds housing, mental health services, and so much more. Schlueter praises the work of the Needs Network and Sunshine Place and the spirit of volunteerism that they foster.  However, the uncertainty created by funding cuts by the federal government is causing real problems for local leaders. It becomes difficult to anticipate or brace for changes, as with the recent back-and-forth over SNAP benefits. Schlueter is bracing for the new federal Medicaid requirements that will roll out in 2027, which he says will make it even more difficult for people to qualify for healthcare. Despite the hardships that so many across the county are facing, the Human Services Department is able to keep serving the diverse needs of its constituents because it is currently not required to strike DEI language from its programs. John Schlueter is the recently appointed head of the Dane County Department of Human Services. He brings his experience running large organizations, commitment to volunteerism, and service to drive compassionate and responsive service delivery. Dane County Human Services provides a vast array of programs that help our community thrive from children living with disabilities, or those in foster care, to young people finding a way forward on the path to meet their own goals, to employee training, job support, and housing, and those working through behavioral health or substance abuse, to the residents at our county-run nursing home who have some of the most complex care needs for the aging population, and so much more. It takes the entire community to do this work in the best of times.  As we face challenges in the years to come, John invites the entire community to get involved, join him and the expert team, partners, and clients working daily toward a community where each person is thriving. Featured image of the Dane County Human Services logo.  Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post What Does the County's Human Services Department Do? appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On today's show, host Douglas Haynes takes an inside look at innovative local efforts to teach young people through urban agriculture. Our guest is Brian Emerson of Rooted, a local nonprofit developing community connections through agriculture and food access.  Emerson comes from a long line of growers and says a lot of gardening is about paying attention. When he moved to Madison he got a plot at the Eagle Heights community garden where he learned from the international students and their families about growing in all kinds of ways. He's built a career around teaching others how to grow their own food for their families and for their communities.  At the Madison School Farm, Emerson runs programs for local schools, primarily field trips at the farm. Students get a full sensory experience of the garden, help out with garden chores, and cook a meal together. He says that kids love working with soil and that this year he's had a 90% success rate at getting kids to eat raw okra. They also gain valuable social-emotional skills from working together in the garden. He wants to partner with more school districts and create more opportunities and connect more small farms to grow food for schools. Emerson also works at the Grow Academy, a juvenile facility part of the Wisconsin Department of Corrections. He shows the kids in the program about how to read a seed packet and troubleshoot common gardening issues in order to foster a sense of peace and personal agency.  Brian Emerson is the Director of Urban Agriculture Education at Rooted. He is a native of Cedar Rapids and now is a Northside Madison resident. After graduating from the University of Iowa he worked with the USDA-NRCS on various mapping and watershed projects. Since 2004 he has been with the UW Madison trialing fruits, flowers, and veggies. Most recently, he served as Trial Manager for the Seed to Kitchen Collaborative in the Urban and Regional Food Systems program. In his free time, Brian works in his community coaching, teaching horticulture, and running a small urban farm. Featured image of urban agriculture via Rawpixel. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post Teaching Kids a Love of Growing Food, Even Okra appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

This week on Mel & Floyd: IRS agents to review Only Fans content; Punching wax in San Antonio; And other random topics. The post That Socket Is Very Tender appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Esty Dinur speaks with Kamau Franklin about organizing against the militarized law enforcement training center called “Cop City” in Atlanta, the assault of and targeting of Black communities by police, and more. The post “Cop City”: The Problem of Police Violence in Atlanta and Beyond appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Peter Kornbluh discusses the historic 1975 expose of the CIA, “Alleged Assassination Plots Involving Foreign Leaders" and the attempts to halt its circulation. The post Exploding Seashells and Poisoned Cigars: Assassination Plots of the CI... appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Journalist Nell Bernstein discusses the youth and families leading the charge to close youth prisons and end the dehumanization of incarceration.  The post Incarcerated Youth Move the Needle on Justice appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

To talk about COP 30 and the decades-long campaign by the fossil fuel industry to spread climate disinformation, host Douglas Haynes is joined by two experts, Kathy Mulvey of Union of Concerned Scientists and Geoff Dembicki of DeSmog.  The post Climate Disinformation Spans the Globe (Still) appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

This week on Mel & Floyd: What SmartyPants is thankful for; Cryptocurrency as money laundering tool; And other random topics. The post Butter versus Margarine appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

In this prerecorded conversation from late July 2025, host Esty Dinur follows up with Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, a trauma surgeon who visited Madison to report on his work in hospitals in Gaza. The post A Trauma Surgeon's Report From Gaza appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

On this Thanksgiving Day edition of A Public Affair, Allen Ruff is joined by our traditional Thanksgiving guest, Will Williams, to reflect on perennial issues like colonialism, militarism, and racism. The post Annual Fireside Chat with Will Williams appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Carlos Dávalos is in conversation with journalist Carlos Pérez Osorio who sailed with the Global Sumud Flotilla as a journalist last summer. The post Reflections on the Global Sumud Flotilla appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

Whether you're hosting a large party at your home or visiting family or friends, you can still practice self care and set boundaries, says guest April Kigeya. The post April Kigeya Knows How to Survive the Holidays appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.

This week on Mel & Floyd: Monarchical envy; A discussion of vintage monster movies; And other random topics. The post It's A Number Two! appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9.