Shows
A Public AffairWisconsin Film Fest Preview Extravaganza
On today’s show, host Esty Dinur previews the Wisconsin Film Festival with four directors and the Festival’s senior programmer Mike King.
She speaks with filmmaker Tim Hunter, an American television and film director. His 1986 film River’s Edge won that year’s award for Best Picture at the Independent Spirit Awards. His film, Tex will air at the Wisconsin Film Festival on Saturday at 4pm at the UW Cinematheque. His narrative film, Returning to Earth will also play at that time, and his documentary, By Kevin Thomas will play on Sunda...2025-04-0456 minA Public AffairPoet Martín Espada Reads from Jailbreak of Sparrows
On today’s show, host Allen Ruff is joined by Martín Espada who has just published a new volume of poetry, Jailbreak of Sparrows. Espada is a longtime friend of WORT and former Madisonian. He reads from his collection on the air and discusses the supple power of language.
Ruff asks Espada about the importance of his father, Frank Espada, who was a civil rights activist, documentary photographer, and a leader in the Puerto Rican community in New York City in the 60s and 70s. Espada’s father plays an important role in his...2025-04-0353 minA Public AffairMoney Doesn’t Vote, People Do
Wisconsin’s Spring Election results are in, and host Ali Muldrow breaks down the results with Nick Ramos and Iuscely Flores. They talk about the role of big money in the Supreme Court election, the rise of constitutional amendments, and how fair maps are changing the terrain of Wisconsin’s electoral system.
Ramos and Flores reiterate the need to keep fighting for our democracy. As Ramos says, the beat goes on. This means listening to your neighbors. Flores says the work of organizing is the work of talking to each other. She adds that...2025-04-0253 minA Public AffairNews Roundup Call-In Show
On today’s show we take our cue from you, our listeners. Host Esty Dinur opens the phone lines to discuss current issues in national and state politics with callers. They cover the abduction of pro-Palestinian activists, Kristi Noem’s photoshoot in El Salvador, the importance of independent media, and more.
Wisconsin is under the microscope because of our state Supreme Court election next week. Billionaire Elon Musk promised voters money in exchange for their votes, but deleted a social media post saying he would “personally hand over” $2 million hours after he posted it. ...2025-03-2853 minA Public AffairDavid McNally Unpacks Two Months of the Trump Presidency
On today’s show, Allen Ruff speaks with David McNally about the first few months of the Trump Presidency. They talk about Trump’s real estate plans for Gaza, the attacks on universities, Tesla Takedown, and the model organizing of Ella Baker.
McNally has written about the “grifter capitalist,” a new iteration of the classic American figure of the con man. Grifter capitalists like Donald Trump tend to be connected with real estate and finance; they’re wheelers and dealers, self-promoters, and they don’t actually understand the modern global economy, says McNally.
For ins...2025-03-2753 minA Public AffairRace and Reproductive Politics with Annie Menzel
Continuing with host Ali Muldrow’s feminist book club series, on today’s show, Muldrow speaks with Annie Menzel, author of Fatal Denial: Racism and The Political Life of Black Infant Mortality. They discuss white racial innocence, the birth justice movement, and the history of obstetrics. Menzel diagnoses how white expertise and authority shape the world of reproductive health for mothers and birthing people.
Fatal Denial reframes the conversation about Black maternal health away from viewing Black parents as problems. Instead, as Muldrow asserts, the book makes clear that the conditions of Black Ameri...2025-03-2652 minA Public AffairRebroadcast: L’Eau Est La Vie Camp And Standing Rock
This week the climate advocacy group Greenpeace was ordered to pay $660 million in damages to Energy Transfer, the oil company behind the Dakota Access Pipeline. The protests against DAPL in 2016 and 2017 were organized by the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe and Indigenous water protectors. Greenpeace peacefully supported the protests but was charged with defamation by Energy Transfer.
Now, a North Dakota ruling in favor of Energy Transfer could have far reaching effects on first-amendment rights and is an alarming instance of a corporation using a lawsuit to intimidate activists. Greenpeace is appealing the verdict. ...2025-03-2551 minA Public AffairEngaging Youth in the Legislative Process
In a time when public trust in government is near historic lows, today’s show highlights regional efforts to revamp civics education. Host Douglas Haynes is joined by Kate Ullman and Adah Lambeck to talk about two initiatives to educate and engage young people in the political process. Ullman and Lambeck discuss how focusing on policies not “politics” is the key to engaging young folks. Lambeck says that young people are motivated by local issues that impact them, like gun violence.
The Legislative Semester is a nonpartisan civics and government curriculum that engages student...2025-03-2454 minA Public AffairColonialism and the Weather
On today’s show, Carlos Dávalos is joined by two atmospheric scientists, Mayra Oyola-Merced and Ángel Adames Corraliza from the Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. They discuss how weather systems differ across tropical and mid-latitude regions, how meteorological data is in question under the Trump presidency, and the politicization of weather agencies. And they advise people to pay attention to weather issues from around the world like the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC), the potential collapse of the rainforest, and the increasing number of aerosols in the atmosphere from...2025-03-2153 minA Public AffairThe Warfare State with Norman Solomon
On today’s show, host Allen Ruff speaks with journalist, media critic, author, and activist Norman Solomon about his article, “How the Warfare State Paved the Way for a Trumpist Autocracy.” Solomon says that so many military projects are being undertaken under the name of “defense,” but this is a smokescreen for vast amounts of spending that support the “warfare state.” He writes that “militarism has been integral to the rise of the billionaire tech barons who are now teaming up with an increasingly fascistic Donald Trump.”
When Trump first ran for president in 2015, he unders...2025-03-2052 minA Public AffairIs It Love or Unpaid Labor?
On today’s show, host Ali Muldrow speaks with Emily Callaci, author of Wages for Housework: The Feminist Fight Against Unpaid Labor. In it, Callaci writes about the second-wave feminist movement, Wages for Housework, and the important questions about unpaid labor, gender, economy, and social reproduction that it raised. Muldrow calls the book “immensely relevant for this moment.”
Callaci describes the 1970s as a time when social movements were focused on expanding people’s rights. But the Wages for Housework movement tried to address what they thought was a fundamental source of inequality: the econo...2025-03-1952 minA Public AffairWhite Supremacy in Law Enforcement
On today’s show, host Christina Lieffring, news and politics editor at Tone Madison, speaks with Mike German about his new book, Policing White Supremacy. German is a former FBI agent who worked undercover in white supremacist and militia groups, and his book documents the threat that violent far-right groups pose to the public and how the FBI ignores that threat.
White supremacy and white supremacist violence are foundational in the US, German says. Law enforcement agencies are more likely to focus on leftist social movements than white supremacists groups even though white supr...2025-03-1849 minA Public AffairWorking Shoulder-to-Shoulder with Immigrants
On today’s multi-lingual show, host Douglas Haynes checks in with two representatives from Voces de la Frontera and Voces de la Frontera Action, Wisconsin’s leading immigrants rights organization. Luis Velasquez and Nindik Figueredo discuss the daily realities of immigrants and migrants in Wisconsin. They share their stories of joining Voces and talk about the status of DACA and Assembly Bill 24 which, if passed, would force county sheriffs to work with ICE.
Figueredo says she has been busy with community education projects because it’s more important than ever to inform and organi...2025-03-1754 minA Public AffairA Crisis of Conspirituality
From the high costs of insurance and issues of quality of care, the US’s healthcare system leaves a lot to be desired. Here in Wisconsin, the maternal mortality rate is higher for Black women than white women. And about one third of hospitals in the state are run by Catholic groups who can select which reproductive procedures they’ll provide based on the Catholic Church’s directives.
But instead of coming to the conclusion that we need more and better healthcare, too many folks seem to be eagerly abandoning evidence-based medicine for the lav...2025-03-1453 minA Public AffairCapitalism, Corporations, and Co-ops with Richard D. Wolff
On today’s show, host Allen Ruff talks about the state of the US in the world economy with economist Richard D. Wolff. They discuss the sweeping cuts in the federal workforce, how the US is isolating itself through Trump’s tariffs, the value of the dollar, Trump’s threat to Social Security, and the 2017 tax cuts to the rich that lead to the US government’s borrowing from corporations and the wealthy.
Wolff says that we’re seeing the end of the American Empire. From WWII to the early twenty-first century, the US enjoyed...2025-03-1354 minA Public AffairA Hopeful Conversation to End Gun Violence
In December the Madison community was rocked by a mass shooting at the Abundant Life Christian School. It was just one of 330 school shooting incidents in 2024, as documented by the K-12 School Shooting Database. On today’s show, host Ali Muldrow is joined by two gun violence advocates–Tyler Kelly and Darrell Lofton– to talk about their work to change the narrative about school safety and power.
Kelly and Lofton work for WAVE Educational Fund, and they’re planning a Day of Action on May 20, and urging folks to speak directly with their represent...2025-03-1252 minA Public AffairThe History of Mexican Rock and Roll
On today’s show we travel back in time with Dr. Julia Palacios, a scholar of Mexican music from the 50s and 60s. She joins host Carlos Dȧvalos to talk about the influence of US rock and roll on Mexican culture between 1955-1965.
They talk about the bracero program that sent Mexican workers to the US, a program that started during WWII and continued until 1965. It was this labor program that helped ignite a cultural revolution in Mexican music. As Mexican workers returned to the country, they brought with them rock and rol...2025-03-1154 minA Public AffairRolling Back Climate Regulations
You might have missed the Trump administration’s roll back of climate regulations in the flurry of executive orders and DOGE actions over the past few weeks. To get caught up, today host Douglas Haynes takes a comprehensive look at climate related actions on the federal and state levels. He’s in conversation with Marianne Lavelle of Inside Climate News and Brett Korte of Clean Wisconsin.
The Biden administration made historic investments in a clean energy transition via the Inflation Reduction Act, but what we’re seeing now is a historic disinvestment, says Lavelle...2025-03-1054 minA Public AffairA Genocide Generating World of Lies
On today’s show, host Esty Dinur is joined by Raz Segal, a professor of Holocaust and Genocide studies. They talk about the history of Zionism and how settler colonialism and white supremacy are linked. Segal describes how the Holocaust is weaponized to justify genocide and ethnic cleansing in his most recent article, “Settler Antisemitism.”
In the US, Jews who voice support of Palestinians and criticize the Israeli state are increasingly censored and called antisemites. Segal says that this is possible because since 1948, the political discourse has come to conflate Jews with the state o...2025-03-0753 minA Public AffairA Fun Hour with John Nichols
On today’s show, Allen Ruff speaks with John Nichols about the crucial work of independent media. At a time when publications like the Washington Post are being turned into what Nichols calls “a tribune for oligarchy,” it’s more important than ever to support your trusted local media.
Nichols and Ruff catch up about the first six weeks of the Trump presidency, including this week’s 99 minute-long address in which Trump singled out Social Security. They also hone in on the campaign finance system that allows the rich to buy political influence. Elon Musk...2025-03-0653 minA Public AffairA Project 2025 Update with Lisa Graves
Last summer Lisa Graves sounded the alarm about Project 2025, the over 900 page plan written by the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation that proposed to remake the US government. Now that Donald Trump is in the White House for a second term, he’s using Project 2025 as the blueprint for sweeping changes to governance and American society.
Lisa Graves joins host Ali Muldrow again to talk about where we stand: firings of national park rangers and other federal employees, locking the doors of USAID, and ripping away of foreign aid to Ukraine. They also discuss the tr...2025-03-0553 minA Public AffairThe Year 1999 Lives On
From Y2K and cable TV to pro wrestling and Jerry Springer, on today’s show we relish in all the lowbrow joys of the year 1999. Host Nate Carlin is in conversation with Ross Benes author of the forthcoming book, 1999: The Year Low Culture Conquered America and Kickstarted Our Bizarre Times. For Benes, low culture is mass produced entertainment that is both frowned upon and popular, epitomized by pro wrestling and its aesthetic called kayfabe.
No matter how you feel about Jerry Springer, Benes argues that his brand of sensational performance is still al...2025-03-0453 minA Public AffairIt’s Better to be Awake than Asleep
On today’s show, host Esty Dinur speaks with Bill Fletcher Jr about the Trump presidency, independent media, and settler colonialism. He says that the Trump Administration’s actions have been predictable, and we know this because his advisors are taking pages out of Viktor Orbán’s playbook.
Fletcher and Dinur talk about Elon Musk’s shift to the political right after 2020, ecofascism, Trump’s admiration of President McKinley, and the plans to turn the Gaza strip into a US development. In response to criticisms of “wokeness,” Fletcher says “it’s better to be awake than asl...2025-02-2854 minA Public AffairGet Busy with Acts of Repair
On today’s show guest host Bert Zipperer speaks with scholar and activist Bill Ayers. WORT News Director Chali Pittman also joins the conversation, and they talk about the presidential election and the ascent of Trumpism. Ayers says that though we’re at a precarious time, this isn’t the first frightening time. He follows Barbara Smith, who says that this is “just another day in the struggle.” They also talk about abolition, dignity, the need for people to stay engaged and get busy with acts of repair.
From the perspective of being a long-tim...2025-02-2754 minA Public AffairThe Art of Protest
On today’s show, host Carlos Dávalos is joined by Tony Castañeda and two Chicano artists who will be in Madison in just a few weeks. Dewey Tafoya is an artist and screen printer who makes art echoing the urban landscapes, cultures, and communities of inner city Los Angeles. Malaquias Montoya is a major figure in the Chicano Art Movement, and professor emeritus of Chicano studies at the University of California Davis. His silk screen posters are notable for addressing social justice issues like immigration, the Zapatista movement, and Palestine.
They talk...2025-02-2653 minA Public AffairRoundtable on Immigrant Dairy Workers in Wisconsin
On today’s show we focus on immigrant dairy farm workers in Wisconsin. Hosts Bert Zipperer and Pete Hardin are joined by three guests: Ruth Conniff, Armando Ibarra, and John Rosenow. They discuss the humanity of immigrant farmworkers, their struggles and their dreams, their kids who attend local K-12 schools, and their families in Mexico who depend on remittances. Conniff and Rosenow are part of a group called Puentes Bridges, which organizes trips to rural Mexico to connect rural farmers across international borders. Their most recent trip to Mexico is featured in the Wisconsin Examiner.
...2025-02-2554 minA Public AffairPublic K-12 Education Under Trump
Already strapped public schools are scrambling in response to a letter sent by the Department of Education on February 14. The letter threatened loss of federal funding if K-12 schools and colleges don’t stop “race-based decision-making” within fourteen days. Meanwhile, the Trump Administration has been threatening to disband the Department of Education. To talk about how to teach history and truth at a time like this, host Douglas Haynes is joined by Jesse Hagopian and Kimber Wilkerson.
They discuss the Trump Administration’s intimidation of educators, book bans, the #TeachTruth movement, and the federal g...2025-02-2454 minA Public AffairA Roundtable on Proposed Medicaid Cuts
Medicaid is a complex social safety net program that provides healthcare to over 79 million disabled and low-income adults and children. In Wisconsin, roughly 1 in 5 people were enrolled in these programs according to numbers from December of last year.
Despite the reach and popularity of Medicaid programs, Congressional Republicans are drafting a federal budget proposal that would slash up to $2.3 trillion to Medicaid funding. These cuts could result in 20 million people being dropped from healthcare. To make sense of what these proposed cuts would mean to Wisconsinites, host Sara Gabler is joined by three g...2025-02-2153 minA Public AffairFighting Corporate Power by Empowering Workers
Our guest today, Ric Urrutia, is an organizer, podcaster, artist, and co-host of the We Rise Fighting! Labor Podcast. He’s hosting a free workshop tonight at the Madison Labor Temple from 6-8pm on building worker power. The workshop will show participants how to read corporate documents and analyze corporate political contributions, and think critically about corporate investments.
Urrutia wasn’t always a labor organizer, but his awareness of class grew from watching his dad who worked at a seafood restaurant. Then, when he went to college, he learned not to be afrai...2025-02-2052 minA Public AffairLiteracy and the Ongoing Freedom Struggle
On today’s show, host Ali Muldrow speaks with Derek Black whose new book, Dangerous Learning: The South’s Long War on Black Literacy, traces Black literacy between the American Revolution and Reconstruction. For Black citizens, literacy was a weapon of empowerment and rebellion, while for whites, it was the only tool that could destabilize their grip on power. Derek Black says that the ghosts of this fight live on today.
Muldrow and Black talk about leaders like Denmark Vesey who inspired thousands of enslaved people in Charleston, South Carolina in the nineteenth cent...2025-02-1952 minA Public AffairReckoning with White Christian Nationalism
On today’s pre-recorded show, host Sara Gabler speaks with two journalists covering religion and American politics, Phoebe Petrovic and Sarah McCammon. Over the last year Gabler has been on this show to talk about her upbringing in a conservative evangelical community in the South. Today the show focuses on how the rhetoric of Christian nationalism is influencing US politics and the daily experiences of growing up as an evangelical.
Petrovic describes the rise of the Christian right and how white Christian nationalist rhetoric is influencing the Trump Administration. McCammon discusses the long an...2025-02-1853 minA Public AffairServing an Aging Population
In response to a caller request in January, today’s show focuses on issues that older adults face in Dane County and beyond. According to the Dane County Area Agency on Aging, the number of folks 65 years and older is forecast to grow by more than 30,000 in the next fifteen years. Statewide, the senior population is growing rapidly, especially in urban areas. Yet the number of licensed nursing beds and the available workforce for nursing homes is declining.
To talk about these issues, we’re joined by two guests, Jodie Castaneda and Addie Coste...2025-02-1754 minA Public AffairThe Crisis in Gaza with Ilan Pappé
On today’s show host Esty Dinur is joined by Professor Ilan Pappé, an Israeli historian, political scientist, and former politician. They talk about Mahmud Muna, the Palestinian book shop owner who, along with his nephew Amad Muna, was arrested by Israeli police and charged with “inciting and supporting terrorism” because they carried books by Noam Chomsky, Ilan Pappé, and others.
Pappé describes how Palestinians inside Israel are daily being harassed and terrorized by Israeli gangs. He says that the death tolls from these attacks are rising and the Israeli police seem to be encour...2025-02-1453 minA Public AffairAre we in a constitutional crisis?
Our guest today, Howard Schewber, says we aren’t yet in a constitutional crisis, but we are in the middle of a constitutional revolution. Trump’s barrage of executive orders is radical, according to Schweber, because it denies Congress the authority of its power over the president. He’s in conversation with Chali Pittman about the separation of powers, the courts, the administrative state, and all the changes that the Trump Administration is making, including a call to end birthright citizenship.
Schweber compares the Trump presidency to the Nixon years, and even to the ch...2025-02-1354 minA Public AffairThe Boom and Bust of Air Travel
Host Patty Peltekos starts today’s conversation by sharing all the ways people can have a miserable time traveling by air. From cancellations, delays, ever higher prices, cities losing air service, baggage fees, harrowing connections, and more, everyone has their own frustration with the airline industry. Our guest Ganesh Sitaraman, situates all these issues in the context of Congress’s bailout of the industry, economic policy, and US history to explain how we got here, and how we can fix it.
Sitaraman shares insights from his book, Why Flying is Miserable, including the reaso...2025-02-1152 minA Public AffairThe Corporate University under the Trump Administration
Last Week a Time Magazine poll of about 100 university presidents revealed that almost all of them believe that the Trump Administration is “at war with higher education.” From the attacks on DEI, student activism, and free speech, it’s easy to see why. All of this is also happening in the context of the increasing corporatization of higher education, in which administrators and politicians exert control through bureaucratizing higher education.
To talk about the corporate university under Trump, Douglas Haynes is joined by Becky Dolhinow, Mike Gavin, and David Schultz. They discuss the history...2025-02-1054 minA Public AffairBig Oil and the Climate Crisis with Rebecca John
In his first two weeks in office, Trump withdrew Biden’s “forever chemical reform plan,” sought to keep lead in Americans’ drinking water, and froze already allocated Inflation Reduction Act funds. Trump has also appointed chemical and oil industry insiders to the EPA, fired every scientist on two of the EPA’s most influential science advisory panels, and seems poised to attempt mass firings of EPA staff. And we just learned that 2024 was the hottest year on record, hotter than the previous record set in 2023.
To make sense of all these changes, we’re joined by...2025-02-0753 minA Public AffairThe Future of Labor Organizing with Dan Kaufman
Among the executive actions carried out on his first day in office, Donald Trump fired Jennifer Abruzzo from her post as General Counsel at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Two days prior to Abruzzo’s dismissal from her influential position, journalist Dan Kaufman wrote an article about her and the NLRB for the New York Review of Books.
Kaufman joins guest host Chali Pittman today to discuss Abruzzo’s legacy, Elon Musk, and the future of the NLRB. They dive into the creation of this important entity with the 1935 National Labor Relations Act...2025-02-0654 minA Public AffairResponding to Trump’s Immigration Policies
The last few weeks have been harrowing for immigrants in the US. People in our community and across the country are worried about being detained or deported as Donald Trump tries to make good on his campaign promise of “mass deportations.” Although today a federal judge blocked Trump’s executive order to end birthright citizenship.
Host Ali Muldrow is joined by two guests today to talk about the threats that immigrants face right now and how people are organizing in opposition to ICE raids and more. Melissa Sanchez has been reporting on Nicaraguan communi...2025-02-0553 minA Public AffairDPI Superintendent Candidate Interviews
In Wisconsin’s February 18 primary, voters will get to choose from three candidates for State Superintendent: Jeff Wright, Jill Underly, and Brittany Kinser. The two candidates who receive the most votes will be on the ballot for the general election on April 1.
The State Superintendent runs the Department of Public Instruction, or DPI, a massive organization in charge of assessing, licensing, and distributing funds for Wisconsin’s 421 public school districts, running parental choice programs, the Wisconsin Educational Services Program for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and the Wisconsin Center for the Blind and V...2025-02-0452 minA Public AffairCivil Service Cuts and the Rise of Musk
It’s been a crazy week for the roughly 2.4 million civil servants of the nation’s largest employer: the federal government. From the Trump Administration’s so-called “deferred resignation” gambit to get federal workers to resign, to a lockout of all USAID staff, to a purge of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion workers, the Trump Administration is wreaking havoc among federal employees.
To make sense of all that’s happening, host Douglas Haynes is joined by Bob Hennelly, who says that neither is Elon Musk an elected official and nor is the Department of Government E...2025-02-0354 minA Public AffairThe Future of Gun Regulation under Trump
Madison was in the national limelight after the shooting at Abundant Life Christian School last December, in which a student and teacher were killed. Then, earlier this month, President Trump pardoned around 1500 insurrectionists, some of whom face illegal gun charges. Today’s guest, Will Van Sant, is an investigative reporter covering gun violence and gun laws, and he puts these events in context with each other.
Van Sant says that though Trump has yet to take any particular action on gun regulation, it is expected that he will follow the gun lobby in der...2025-01-3153 minA Public AffairAnalyzing the ceasefire, with Mouin Rabbani
We’re two weeks into a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which so far has allowed half a million displaced people to return to what’s left of their homes in the northern Gaza Strip. The first phase of the ceasefire involves an exchange of hostages and prisoners, hundreds of humanitarian aid trucks a day, and the retreat of Israeli forces from populated areas.
Negotiations on stages two and three of the ceasefire still have yet to come. Phase two would bring discussions on a more durable ceasefire, more hostage exchanges, and a comple...2025-01-3050 minA Public AffairSupporting Black Men’s Health with Aaron Perry and Dr. Alvin Thomas
Our two guests today take a holistic view of Black men’s health, from physical to mental health. After being diagnosed with diabetes, Aaron Peery took up the challenge of competing in an Ironman competition as a way to prioritize his own physical health. But this activity transformed his life beyond his physical health; it taught him to trust other people to help him achieve what he didn’t trust himself to achieve.
Dr. Alvin Thomas shares his professional knowledge about mental and behavioral health. He challenges his patients to take small steps like g...2025-01-2954 minA Public AffairHow to Leave Budget Culture Behind
On today’s show we hear from personal finance author and journalist, Dana Miranda, on how to live a “budget-free” life. Guest host Richelle Wilson speaks to Miranda about her new book, You Don’t Need a Budget.
For those of us who aren’t billionaires, wealthy, or even middle class, the standard advice on money management is irrelevant. The prevailing advice is to get more money and keep it. And to do this you must be restrictive, disciplined, and always feel guilty for having “wants.” This is how the logic of capitalism shows up in pe...2025-01-2853 minA Public AffairIs Craft Beer in Decline?
From the closing of the 157-year-old Leinenkugel’s flagship taproom in Chippewa Falls to the closure of small taprooms like Herbiery in Madison, our guest today, Chris Drosner, takes stock of the state of the craft beer industry in Wisconsin. In his recent “Year in Review” for the Wisconsin State Journal, he says that closures are outpacing openings. The craft beer industry bubble was bound to burst, and this, says Drosner, places it more in line with standards in other industries. Some people feel very connected to specific beers and this can drive sales, but at the...2025-01-2754 minA Public AffairRemembering Native children who died at boarding schools
On today’s show, guest host Sara Gabler speaks with two Washington Post journalists about their investigation into deaths at Indian boarding schools from 1828-1970. In 2021 the US Interior Departments released a report initiated by Secretary Deb Haaland that documented that more than 400 schools existed, and it was the first report ever to do this. 11 boarding schools operated in Wisconsin.
Dana Hedgpeth and Sari Horwitz, along with a team of reporters, scholars, and photographers, built on the federal report and set out to document how many children died or were sexually abused in th...2025-01-2453 minA Public AffairJennifer Loewenstein on ceasefire and Trump foreign policy picks
On today’s show, host Allen Ruff speaks with Jennifer Loewenstein about the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and the details of the agreement. Loewenstein discusses the phases of the agreement and what has yet to be agreed upon as well as how the Trump administration and the President’s foreign policy picks will affect the ceasefire’s efficacy. President Trump’s nominees for various foreign policy positions are what Loewenstein describes as “Christian Zionists” who will apply “biblical mythology to our foreign policy.”
Loewenstein describes the history of destruction in Palestine, colonialism in the region, and he...2025-01-2352 minA Public AffairHow to be a Practical Radical with Stephanie Luce
On today’s show guest host David Aherns speaks with Stephanie Luce about her new book, co-written with Deepak Bhargava, Practical Radicals: Seven Strategies to Change the World. Luce describes organizing as an ecosystem of strategies instead of a zero sum game of winners and losers. She follows the example of past campaigns like the abolitionist movement and the Occupy movement. The book came out a class Luce and Bhargava teach to labor organizers across the country, and Luce says that protests need organization and that practicing collective care is a key part of good or...2025-01-2253 minA Public AffairMigration is not a Threat
The relationship between Mexico and the United States is one of the most dynamic and multidimensional relationships of our time, says guest host Carlos Dávalos. He is in conversation with Dr. Lucía Melgar about the history of this relationship and key issues in the present like security and the economy as well as stories that the US media doesn’t focus on.
Throughout the conversation, Dávalos and Melgar insist that migrants have a net positive impact on the US economy and culture. Migrants pay taxes and contribute to Social Security and o...2025-01-2100 minA Public AffairToday’s fake news becomes tomorrow’s fake history
Host Esty Dinur has been speaking with Project Censored editors since 1997. Our guests today, Mickey Huff and Shealeigh Voitl, talk about how the media landscape has changed and how Project Censored has adapted to the digital world, news deserts, conglomeration and more. They say critical media literacy is essential to democracy and a pillar of the work they do at Project Censored, including in their new book, State of the Free Press 2025.
The cover of the State of the Free Press 2025 is a revisioning of the famed painting of “Washington Crossing the Delaware.” It de...2025-01-1753 minA Public AffairCommon Council check-in with Alder Madison
On today’s show host Ali Muldrow is joined in the studio by Alder Sabrina Madison to talk about updates on the Madison Common Council. They talk about mental health, New Year’s resolutions, self-care, practicing love, and working toward equitable development in Madison. They also cover what it’s like to work in a dysfunctional environment, supporting survivors of harassment and domestic violence, accountability, and the prevalence of domestic violence in our community.
At yesterday’s Common Council meeting, community members turned out to ask the Council to fund the ice rinks. Muldrow...2025-01-1552 minA Public AffairEnbridge Protesters and Listener Call-in Special
On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes opened up the phone lines to hear from our devoted listeners about what topics they want to hear more about in 2025. You told us you want to hear more about the upcoming Wisconsin Supreme Court elections, local transportation, issues older adults face, international news like Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and more.
You also told us you really cared about our coverage of environmental issues, including the effects of the climate crisis and the harms of the fossil fuel industry.
Several guests joined us from t...2025-01-1300 minA Public AffairLocal and International climate and justice activists unite
This weekend is the Building Unity conference at the Wisconsin state capital. Today’s guests are speakers, organizers, and participants in the conference. First, we’re joined by Canadian climate activist, Olivier Huard, who talks about cross-national organizing and the work of the Antigone Collective, a group of climber-activists.
As wildfires burn in LA and an Enbridge Line 6 oil spill pollutes our neighbors in Jefferson County, Huard insists on making the connection between fossil fuels and climate change. He says that Canadians are frustrated with Big Oil’s increasing influence in government. Next, Rebecc...2025-01-1054 minA Public AffairJimmy Carter’s Legacy with Stephen Zunes
President Jimmy Carter’s funeral is today, and to commemorate his presidency, host Allen Ruff is joined by Stephen Zunes to take stock of what is remembered and misremembered about President Carter. They take on the challenge of critically assessing the legacy of a former president as most media tend to overlook the low points of Carter’s time in office.
They discuss how Carter inherited the presidency at the height of US imperialism with limited foreign-policy experience, propping up dictatorships, including his role in East Timor, Morocco, and Turkey. Ruff and Zunes then...2025-01-0952 minA Public AffairAn Obit Special: People We Lost in 2024
On today’s show, we pay tribute to and appreciate a few Madisonians who passed away last year. Each one contributed to our community and lifted us all up. Over the hour, meet various people and WORT volunteers who we lost in 2024.
Dr. Gloria Sarto was the char of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Wisconsin and the first female President of the American Gynecological and Obstetrics Academy.
Frank Emspack was an organizer, teacher, and advocate for the working class. WORT listeners may know...2025-01-0834 minA Public AffairWill corporations outlive democracies?
On today’s show, guest host Bert Zipperer speaks with Ciara Torres-Spelliscy about her new book, Corporatocracy: How to Protect Democracy from Dark Money and Corrupt Politicians, out now from NYU Press. Professor Torres-Spelliscy says that “corporations have existed far longer than democracies” and that more people should be concerned about the US’s privately funded campaign finance system.
She says “dark money” means money that is spent in American elections that the public can’t tell the source of. Money becomes dark money when corporations (or billionaires) legally launder money through opaque non-profits (ty...2025-01-0754 minA Public AffairCivil Eats year in review with Margo True and Lisa Held
In 2024 host Douglas Haynes tackled issues of wetlands, school lunches, sandhill cranes, and more. On today’s show, he brings his focus on local food ways and the environment into the New Year. Haynes is joined by two journalists from the non-profit digital news site, Civil Eats, to talk about the best of their reporting on food systems and agriculture from last year. “Food touches every aspect of our lives,” says editorial director Margo True. And Civil Eats strives to bring local perspectives and experiences of food policy, farming, health, and climate to the national conver...2025-01-0654 minA Public AffairPlutocracy with Maureen Tkacik and then Indigenous Cooking with Nico A...
On today’s two part show, host Esty Dinur kicks off the hour with journalist Maureen Tkacik, Senior Fellow at the American Economic Liberties Project and the Investigations Editor at The American Prospect. They discuss Tkacik’s recent piece for the Prospect, the assassination of CEO of UnitedHealthcare Brian Thompson, and the billionaire impact on the the 2024 election.
Then Esty speaks with Cherokee chef Nico Albert Williams about indigenous cuisines ahead of Williams’s four dinner residency at Seven Acre Dairy Co. in Paoli next week. Tickets for the dinner series can be found he...2025-01-0353 minA Public AffairA Retrospective on 2024 with Norm Stockwell
On his first show of the year, host Allen Ruff speaks with The Progressive publisher Norman Stockwell about the year in review and what’s to come in the 2025.
They highlight the 2024 political landscape, including Joe Biden’s decision not to run for re-election, Donald Trump’s assassination attempts and Trump’s re-election. Stockwell emphasizes ongoing crises such as race, union decline, and economic inequality. They also reflect on Jimmy Carter’s legacy, including his human rights agenda and the Carter Center’s impact. The conversation concludes with hopes for progressive initiatives and concerns abo...2025-01-0252 minA Public AffairThe Sound of the Driftless, The Voice of Monona, and The Low Power to ...
On this special New Year’s Day edition of A Public Affair, host Sara Gabler speaks with three radio professionals about the vital role that local radio plays in our democracy from Chicago to Viroqua and with Madison and Monona in between.
Lumpen Radio Director and Executive Producer Stephanie Manriques joins us from the Bridgeport neighborhood in Chicago. Lumpen, WLPN-LP 105.5FM, is a nonprofit community radio station operated as part of the Public Media Institute. You can listen to Lumpen in Chicago or anywhere from their website, lumpenradio.com.
Programming & Ope...2025-01-0153 minA Public AffairRev. Dr. Carmen Porco on 50 years of low-income housing advocacy
Earlier this year, Reverend Dr. Carmen Porco announced his retirement after 50 years working in low-income housing. Over his expansive career, he has served as CEO of Housing Ministries of American Baptists in Wisconsin, Executive Director of HUD Housing for American Baptist Homes of the Midwest, and President of Porco Consulting. He ran several low-income housing centers and founded educational centers in Madison and Milwaukee and developed the Wisconsin Anti-Poverty Model, an innovation in low-income housing that allows residents to live with dignity and hope for a better future.
Today the Reverend joins host...2024-12-3153 minA Public AffairJazz on Vinyl: Improvised Music, Birth of the LP, and the Vinyl Reviva...
During this A Public Affair-Madison Book Beat crossover episode, host Andrew Thomas and producer Jade Iseri-Ramos bring you a 2-hour jazz on vinyl special. The show kicks off at Lola’s Hi/Lo Lounge with interviews with Strictly Discs’ general manager and new record buyer Evan Woodward and owner Rick Stoner who offer insight on modern day vinyl buying and the vinyl revival that began in the 2010s.
We then turn to a conversation with Eastman School of Music musicologist Darren Mueller about his recent book, At the Vanguard of Vinyl: A Cultural Hist...2024-12-301h 44A Public AffairProject 2025 and The Impact on Broadcasting
President-elect Trump says he hasn’t read Project 2025, but several of the picks for his administration wrote parts of the document. That includes his nomination for chair of the Federal Communications Commission Brendan Carr. Carr, who has served as a member of the FCC since 2017, wrote the portion of Project 2025 that addresses the FCC.
On today’s show, host Esty Dinur talks with WORT’s News, Talk, and Public Affair Director Chali Pittman about the broad scope of Project 2025 broadly. They dive deep in how the agenda could impact broadcasting and WORT’s future.2024-12-2753 minA Public AffairWhat the Data Tells Us About the State of Prisons in the U.S.
The United States incarcerates more people than any other independent democracy in the world. The Prison Policy Initiative, a Massachusetts-based advocacy and research organization, has recently released it’s top 12 reports form 2024. On today’s show, spokesperson Wanda Bertram joins host Allen Ruff to discuss this, the most incarcerated nation and what is sending and keeping people in prisons.
Image by Tung Lam from Pixabay
Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate hereThe post What the Data Tells Us About the State of P...2024-12-2653 minA Public Affair2024 at the Movies with Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece
On today’s holiday special, cohosts Richelle Wilson and Nate Carlin chat with Jocelyn Szczepaniak-Gillece about their favorite movies from the year, trends in film, and what the 2024 blockbusters say about our culture today.
[Films mentioned on the show today include: : Oddity, I Saw the TV Glow, Late Night with the Devil, Heretic, The Substance, Challengers, Conclave, Wicked: Part I, Inside Out 2, Moana 2, The Wild Robot, Memoir of a Snail, Flow, Wallace & Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl, Deadpool & Wolverine, Twisters, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice, Gladiator II, Mean Girls, Emilia Pérez, Hundreds of Beavers, Bad River, Jok...2024-12-2500 minA Public AffairMark Pomar on US Foreign Policy
On today’s show, host Yuri Rashkin speaks with Mark Pomar, a distinguished expert on US-Russia relations. They discuss the evolution of US public diplomacy, particularly in countering authoritarian regimes like Russia, and the challenges posed by Putin’s unpredictable behavior and the Ukraine war. Pomar highlights the importance of Voice of America (VOA) in providing balanced, factual news globally, despite budget cuts and potential changes under the incoming Trump administration. He emphasizes the need for media independence and the importance of international broadcasting in an era dominated by social media and disinformation.
Poma...2024-12-2353 minA Public AffairYou should know what is happening in Sudan
Due to ongoing fighting in the country, Sudan is experiencing the world’s worst displacement crisis and record levels of hunger. The war has pushed the country to the brink of collapse, and there is no end in sight. Escalating tensions have forced millions of families to flee their homes and has killed thousands. Outbreaks of measles and cholera continue to devastate Sudan’s population, and humanitarian aid has been curtailed by fighting, leaving most in dyer need.
Nisrin Elamin joins host Esty Dinur to explain what lead to the ongoing war and what...2024-12-2053 minA Public AffairThe Complicated History and Practice of Tribal Enrollment with Carrie ...
Between the 2000 U.S. Census and the 2020 Census, the number of people who checked the box for Native American or Alaska Native more than doubled. The increase can largely be attributed to self-identification and the fluidity of identity. However, only a fraction of those who identify as native are formally enrolled as a member of a federally-recognized Tribe. Today’s guest, Carrie Lowry Schuettpelz recently published book explores history of tribal enrollment and how sometimes-arbitrary rules impact people’s everyday lives.
Lowry Schuettpelz joins host Christina Lieffring to speak The Indian Card: Who Gets...2024-12-1951 minA Public AffairThis Touches Everyone
Following Monday’s shooting at Abundant Life Christian School, we grapple with happened, our role as community members in the media, and where we go next. Host Sara Gabler begins the show with Representative Mark Pocan. Pocan led a moment of silence in honor of the victims on the House floor on Tuesday. He tells WORT that the issue of gun violence must be addressed with policy change.
Gabler then speaks with WORT News Director Chali Pittman and reporter Christine Driscoll on what we know so far about the shooting and the shooter. Th...2024-12-1856 minA Public AffairEveryone Should Be Involved with Social Movement Organizing with Rafae...
More than 835,000 people have qualified and received DACA status–the 2012 Obama-era policy that protects young people from deportation. A survey from the Center for American Progress reports that more than 90% of DACA recipients are currently employed, and approximately 30% are first-time homeowners. Nearly all have graduate high school. However, right now, DACA recipients are in limbo, while we await a decision by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals. It is likely that the fate of DACA will be determined by the Supreme Court.
Today’s guest himself, is in that limbo. On today’s show...2024-12-1754 minA Public AffairBig Stories from 2024: Crawford County Independent & Kickapoo Sco...
On today’s show, we look back on 2024 by reviewing the biggest stories from our friends at small papers. First we talk to Charley Preusser and Gillian Pomplun from the Crawford County Independent & Kickapoo Scout. They tell Douglas Haynes about the history of the two papers and the biggest story in the region from the last several years: floods and the proposal to decommission flood control dams in the Coon Creek and West Fork Kickapoo watersheds.
Then, we turn our attention to the monthly Madison-based paper the Isthmus with editor Judy Davidoff. For the...2024-12-1653 minA Public AffairA Report from the West Bank, Then an Update on Syria
On today’s show, host Esty Dinur speaks with activist and longtime friend of the show Cassandra Dixon who just returned from the West Bank. They discuss the settler outposts in the area and violence facing Palestinians. They also discuss the realties facing olive farmers and shepherds in Masafer Yatta and how listeners can help.
On the second half of the show, Dinur is joined by professor Mohamad Bazzi to discuss the ousting of Bashar al-Assad and what that means for Syrians. Bazzi is the director of the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Ea...2024-12-1353 minA Public AffairEducator Labor with MTI’s Jeff Knight and Michael Jones
On Ali Muldrow’s last show of 2024, she speaks with representatives from the union that represents educators in the Madison Metro School District. Madison Teacher Inc. President Michael Jones and Executive Director Jeff Knight join the show to talk about the recent Act 10 decision and the quick appeal, the restrictions on collective bargaining that have been in place for the last 13 years, and the bright spots in their union organizing.
Photo by Kenny Eliason on Unsplash
Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here...2024-12-1153 minA Public AffairA Conversation with Susan Abulhawa
On today’s show, Susan Abulhawa, human rights activist and author of the international bestseller Mornings in Jenin, joins host Christa Bruhn to discuss her recent visit to Gaza and the dire conditions she witnessed and that continue. In the conversation, Abulhawa emphasizes the dehumanization of Palestinians by Western media and the influence of Zionists in shaping public perception and explains the need for greater international support and accountability for the Israeli government’s actions and the United States’ support of those actions.
Abulhawa also speaks about her organization, Playgrounds for Palestine, which aims t...2024-12-1052 minA Public AffairAct 10: What’s New and What’s Next
Last week, Dane County Circuit Court Judge Jacob frost struck down more than 60 sections of Act 10–the 2011 Wisconsin law that severely limits public employee unions. However, the implications of this ruling are complex, and it has already been appealed, making it too early for public employee unions to celebrate.
On today’s show, Douglas Haynes speaks with two guests about what the potential end of Act 10 could mean for public sector workers unions in Wisconsin and public services in the state. First he speaks with Jon Shelton, Vice President of Higher Education of the...2024-12-0900 minA Public AffairFighting Against Oil Pipelines with Paul DeMain and Greg Mikkelson
Last month the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) announced the decision to issue Enbridge Inc a wetland and waterway permit with hundreds of conditions to replace a segment of its Line 5 liquid petroleum pipeline in Ashland and Iron counties. This happened while the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians has two legal cases against Enbridge.
On today’s show, host Esty Dinur speaks with folks with long histories fighting against oil pipelines. Paul DeMain (Skabewis) joins the program to discuss the dangers Line 5 poses to Lake Superior an...2024-12-0654 minA Public AffairSenator Chuck Chvala on the 2024 election
On today’s show, host David Ahrens speaks with former Wisconsin State Senator and Democratic Caucus Leader Chuck Chvala. They discuss the outcome of the 2024 presidential election and the Democratic Party’s failure to address economic concerns effectively and the overuse of emotional ads on both sides. Chvala suggests Democrats should shift their focus to working-class issues and set a consistent agenda.
Chuck Chvala is a former Wisconsin state law maker representing Dane County. He served in the state assembly for two years before being elected to the Wisconsin Stat Senate in 1985. He was...2024-12-0552 minA Public AffairHumanizing Political Issues to Counteract Divisive Rhetoric with John ...
On today’s show, friend of the station John Nichols joins Ali Muldrow to talk about the currently political climate and discuss where we go from here. They get into the impact of campaign finance, the role of media in holding power to account, and what’s at stake in the upcoming Wisconsin Supreme Court Race.
John Nichols is associate editor at The Capital Times, national affairs correspondent for The Nation, and author of more than a dozen books, including It’s OK to Be Angry About Capitalism (co-authored with Senator Bernie Sanders). You can follo...2024-12-0453 minA Public AffairRobert Creamer on Progressive Campaigning
On today’s show, host Nada Elmikashfi speaks with Robert Creamer about his book Nuts and Bolts: The Formula for Progressive Electoral Success. Creamer cut his organizing teeth on Saul Alinsky’s campaign in early 1970s Chicago. Creamer is the founder of the Illinois Public Action, and is the co-founder of Democracy Partners, a political consulting firm still guiding progressive campaigns across the country.
Creamer and Nada talk about progressing campaigning, the 2024 presidential election, and what young progressives should be prepared for.
Robert Creamer is an American political consultant, community organizer, and...2024-12-0352 minA Public AffairWhat to Know About the US Bill Threatening Nonprofit Status
On today’s show, journalist Isaiah Thompson and Associate Professor of Law Maryam Jamshidi join host Douglas Haynes to discuss HR 9495. The bill, passed by the US House of Representatives, would allow the Treasury Secretary to strip nonprofits of their status if deemed to support terrorism. It has faced significant opposition, particularly from Democrats, and will likely fail to pass this session. However, our guests say it will be back next term and be met with a different Senate majority.
Experts Jamshidi and Thompson explain the implications of the bill for civil society an...2024-12-0254 minA Public AffairThe State of U.S. Empire with Col. Lawrence Wilkerson
On today’s show we’re joined by Col. Lawrence Wilkerson, a self-identified Republican who was awakened to the “imperial hubris” of the United States after 9/11. He has since criticized aspects of US foreign policy, especially the Iraq War, and is in favor of holding military officials accountable. Col. Wilkerson and host Esty Dinur talk about the role of APAC in US foreign policy, how big oil shapes US wars from Iraq to Ukraine, the ongoing genocide in Gaza, and the threat of Trump’s Christian nationalist cabinet picks.
Lawrence B. Wilkerson is a retir...2024-11-2953 minA Public AffairAnnual Fireside Chat with Will Williams
We’re joined today by Will Williams for the 13th (or is it the 15th) annual fireside chat with host Allen Ruff. They reflect on the changes they’ve seen in the last few years,including the recent presidential election, and they discuss the settler colonial history of Thanksgiving. From the first official Thanksgiving in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1637 to President Abraham Lincoln’s declaration of Thanksgiving as a federal holiday in 1863 in the middle of the Civil War, the holiday has always been intertwined with warfare and conquest. Callers chimed in to share their...2024-11-2853 minA Public AffairPolitics before Turkey with the DSA
On the day before the Thanksgiving holiday, today’s guests are prepared to talk politics. Host, Ali Muldrow is joined by three representatives of the Madison area Democratic Socialists of America: Liz Bynum Sorrell, Halsey Hazzard, and Adithya Pugazhendi. They talk about all the hot issues that you may or may not be ready to chat about with your friends or family tomorrow, from the presidential election, to Gaza, and local school board elections. The DSA representatives shared their campaign, Free School Meals for Madison, that aims to address food insecurity and food debt within MM...2024-11-2753 minA Public AffairReducing the dangers of herbicides with sauerkraut
Today’s guests talk about the value of quality organic sauerkraut, soil quality, and human health ahead of next week’s Acres Eco-Ag Conference held in Madison. At issue is the dangers of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Roundup. Glyphosate inhibits the effective uptake of various minerals that are essential for plant growth and it impairs the growth and quality of plants for subsequent years. But it is used in 90% of corn and soybean crops.
The effects of glyphosate on soil, plant, and animal health are well known, including causing cancer and other dise...2024-11-2653 minA Public AffairContradictions of US democracy and empire with Rebecca Nagle
On today’s show, award-winning writer Rebecca Nagle says that the legacy of colonization is a problem not just for Indigenous peoples but a problem for US democracy. In her conversation with host Douglas Haynes, she highlights the tension between the US imagining itself as a democracy versus acting like an empire. The history of Andrew Jackson ignoring the US Constitution is a key example of this, and the subject of her new book, By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land out now from HarperCollins. In it, Nagle untangles th...2024-11-2554 minA Public AffairPushing Forward: Organizing in a Post Trump Reelection US
On today’s two part show, Esty Dinur speaks about what can be done to strengthen movements around immigration and other social justice issues. First Dinur speaks with photojournalist David Bacon who has a long history of documenting and fighting for immigrant rights. Bacon’s most recent piece in Dollars and Sense is Domestic Workers: A New Face of Solidarity. He joins the program to discuss what needs to be done to protect the most vulnerable.
Then Dinur speaks with organizer Nicole Carty about her recent article for the Intercept titled How to Forti...2024-11-2254 minA Public AffairThe criminalization of climate change protest with Stan Cox
In a piece titled Outrageous Anti-Protest Laws Can’t Silence the Climate Movement: But Will U.S. Protesters Face Even Greater Peril in 2025?, Stan Cox writes that since 2016, 21 states have passed a total of 56 laws criminalizing protest or dramatically increased the penalties for acts of resistance and civil disobedience. He notes that all the states adopting such anti-protest laws had Republican-majority legislatures. In light of these laws, and a return of a Trump presidency imminent, host Allen Ruff speaks with Cox about the threat to free speech.
Stan Cox is a senior scientist at the Land In...2024-11-2151 minA Public AffairThe Racialization of Latinx Students with Laura C. Chávez-Moreno
On today’s show, Dr. Laura C. Chávez-Moreno joins host Jade Iseri-Ramos to discuss her new book How Schools Make Race: Teaching Latinx Racialization in America. The book profiles a bilingual K-12 program and highlights how schools reinforce Latinx as a radicalized group. At the heart of Chávez-Moreno’s argument is the understanding that race is created to Otherize and oppress groups and that the construction of Latinx as a race serves to situate the group in a racial hierarchy. Chávez-Moreno argues that without intentional anti-racist and anti-race teaching, school programs centered around L...2024-11-2052 minA Public AffairREBROADCAST: Leaning into Vulnerability at American Universities
Originally aired on February 21st 2024, Professor Michael Bernard-Donals tells WORT that the conversation around precarity in higher education has become more common in recent years. “We’re talking about it in terms of the elimination of tenure protections or the threat of the elimination of tenure protections for faculty members,” he says. “That precarity is visible in terms of the job insecurity of non-tenure track faculty and instructional staff. It’s seen in the reach in from legislatures around the country, on what faculty members can teach, or what they can say in public spaces.”
Profess...2024-11-1951 minA Public AffairThe Role of Nonprofit Organizations and Community Collaboration to Add...
Construction of a new permanent men’s shelter on Madison’s Eat Side began earlier this year. The shelter, which is scheduled to open at the end of 2025, is one of several programs aimed at supporting a growing number of people experiencing homelessness. On today’s show, Douglas Haynes speaks with Karla Thennes, Executive Director of Porchlight, a nonprofit organization that is Dane County’s largest provider of low cost housing and homeless services and the organization that will operate the new shelter. Haynes is also joined by Alisha Henning, who’s Volunteer Coordinator with The Beacon...2024-11-1854 minA Public AffairA Conversation with Rami Khouri about Trump’s Re-election and th...
On today’s show, journalist and author Rami Khouri joins host Christa Bruhn to reflect on the impact of President Trump’s significant victory in the US presidential elections on American foreign policy and unfolding events in the Middle East. They discuss the current moment in the context of Rami’s extensive experience covering the region and how the situation on the ground could unfold under a Trump presidency.
Rami Khouri is a Distinguished Public Policy Fellow at the American University of Beirut, a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Arab Center in Washington, DC, an...2024-11-1550 minA Public AffairUnderstanding the City of Madison’s Referendum and Proposed Budg...
Early in-person voting begins today in Wisconsin, and we are just two week away from election day. Voters across the region will decided on state-wide referendums, and weigh in on school district and municipal levy increases.
On the ballot for Madison voters, is the question:
Under state law, the increase in the levy of the City of Madison for the tax to be imposed for the next fiscal year, 2025, is limited to 2.97%, which results in a levy of $296,149,162. Shall the City of Madison be allowed to exceed this limit and increase...2024-10-2252 minA Public AffairUnderstanding the MMSD Referendum Questions
Madison voters will encounter two referendum questions, one for facilities and one for operations, on the November 5th ballot. If passed, they would incrementally increase property tax over the next 4 years. By 2028, the average Madison property tax will be raised by more than $1,300. (That’s based on the average Madison home valued at $457,300.) The operations increase will be used in part to recruit and retain educators, invest in 4k programs, and support multilingual education. The increase for facilities will address the repair and remodel needs for aging school buildings and update technology in elementary and mi...2024-10-0852 minA Public AffairElection Coverage with Assembly District 47 Candidate Joe Maldonado
Assembly District 47 covers Fitchburg and parts of Southeastern Dane County, from Stoughton, McFarland, the towns of Rutland, Dunn, Dunkirk, Albion, and Pleasant Springs. It’s both urban and rural, with sprawling suburban subdivisions and dense apartment complexes.
Joe Maldonado is a candidate running to represent this area in the Wisconsin legislature. On today’s show, he speaks with host Carousel Bayrd about his priorities for the district. Maldonado currently serves on the Fitchburg City Council and has a background in youth development. He says he wants to be a voice for historically underrepresented and...2024-08-0652 minA Public AffairWisconsin Senate District 16 Candidates
On today’s show, longtime host Carousel Bayrd comes out of retirement to interview the three candidates for Wisconsin Senate District 16. The seat is currently held by Melissa Agard who is running for Dane County Executive.
Because of Wisconsin’s new legislative maps, District 16 now looks a little different and represents a diverse group of rural and urban communities. It includes Sun Prairie, Cottage Grove, parts of North Madison, Fitchburg, Cambridge, Fort Atkinson, Stoughton, and even parts of Dodge and Jefferson Counties.
Representative Melissa Ratcliff says that protecting abortion access is her to...2024-07-3052 minA Public AffairReal Life Parks and Rec: Celebrating Carousel Bayrd’s Last Show
After more than 10 years on A Public Affair, host Carousel Bayrd is stepping away from the show. To celebrate, we have a round table of colleagues and friends who work in different realms of local government. Analiese Eicher, Jenni Dye, and Ali Muldrow join Carousel to talk about the unique challenges they have each faced and why they keep showing up day after day.
Please email any parting messages for Carousel to talk@wortfm.org
Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here...2024-04-1054 minA Public AffairPledge Drive Special: Madison’s Favorite Foods
On Saturday, Morris Ramen, the beloved restaurant on King St, served it’s last bowl of ramen. Co-owners Francesca Hong and Matt Morris announced the closure on Instagram saying, “This has been the most difficult decision we’ve ever had to make and one we do not take lightly.” Host Carousel Bayrd waited in line on the 24th to get a table on their last day of service–it was so busy, that she didn’t get a seat. Instead, she talked to Francesca Hong on today’s show about the 7 years Morris Ramen fed Madison.
2024-02-2853 minA Public AffairRemoving the Uncertainty of Driving Electric: Wisconsin’s Chargi...
Last month, the state senate passed a bill that would unlock $78 million dollars in federal funding to expand the state’s electric vehicle infrastructure. The bill, which has bipartisan support is pending in the assembly.
Emma Heins, a Policy Manager from the Electrification Coalition says that this effort comes down to charging stations. “That’s what people need to get where they’re going, and to feel confident that they can take their EV across the state and across the country,” she tells Carousel Bayrd. Emma says charging stations in Wisconsin are currently concentrat...2024-02-0753 min
Conscious Sexuality DiariesConscious Sexuality Diaries with dr. Shanna Bayrd who had quite the journey... from abuse to working in a strip club to being a doctorIn this episode I talk with Shanna Bayrd, a naturopathic physician practicing in Phoenix Arizona in the United States. She’s in her thirties now and had quite the life journey. Right now she’s experiencing more and more true pleasure in her life, but this was different. From abuse to confusing messages about sexuality in her teens to a full explorative but numb era… listen to her interesting story here!
Shanna offers guided gemstone meditations for free on YouTube. Write "Guiding Elements Medical Center" into the YouTube search and get started if you want to know more a...2020-11-0752 min