Shows
A Public AffairYoung Wisconsinites Claim Constitutional Right to Clean Environment
In recognition of the urgency of the climate crisis, groups of young people around the country are taking their concerns to court. In places like Montana and Hawaiʻi, they’re winning lawsuits and forcing states to address greenhouse gas emissions and more. In late August, fifteen youth in Wisconsin filed a lawsuit against the Wisconsin Public Service Commission and the state legislature. To talk about their lawsuit and others like it, host Douglas Haynes is joined by two lawyers helping the youth bring their case to court, Tony Wilkin Gibart of Midwest Environmental Advocates and...
2026-02-1653 minA Public AffairHow Veterans Can Reduce Polarization
On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes is in conversation with Chris Purdy, the Founder and CEO of the Chamberlain Network, an organization dedicated to mobilizing veterans to protect democratic values and institutions. They discuss the changing civilian-military relations in the second Trump presidency, the tradition of the military as an apolitical institution, and the militarization of ICE.
Purdy is himself a veteran and says his story is an American one: his family migrated to the US due to violence in Belfast and he joined the army to serve his country. He’s noti...
2026-02-0952 minA Public AffairMicrocolleges Build Resilient and Responsible Students
On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes is in conversation with Jacob Hundt of Thoreau College in Viroqua and Grace Greenwald of the Springboard Foundation. They explore how the growing microcollege movement is becoming the antidote to the crisis in higher education. Contrary to the transactional, consumer-oriented nature of traditional education, microcolleges are place-based with small student bodies where students’ education includes manual labor and community building.
Founded in 2015, Thoreau College offers immersive gap year programs, internships, and short courses for young adults that integrate academic studies, hands-on manual work, wilderness expeditions, arts and c...
2026-02-0254 minA Public AffairSNAP Whiplash and the Rollercoaster of Poverty
About 42 million people relied on federal food aid last year. That includes about 700,000 Wisconsin residents. Last month the Trump administration announced that it would not fund SNAP benefits starting in November because of the government shutdown. Though Congress voted to reopen the government and though a federal appeals court ordered the Trump administration to release SNAP funds, there’s much uncertainty about what is going to happen and when.
To talk about food insecurity and the status of SNAP funding, host Douglas Haynes is joined by two local food pantry leaders and a na...
2025-11-1052 minA Public AffairICE Raids Terrorize Citizens and Immigrants Alike
On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes speaks with Nicole Foy, a reporter with ProPublica, about her recent reporting on ICE sweeps and the growing number of US citizens who are being detained by federal immigration agents. Her story on the abuses these citizens face while federal custody spurred Congressional democrats to announce a joint-investigation last week.
Foy found that more than 170 citizens (a likely undercount) have been detained by immigration agents, 50 of whom were detained because of questions about their citizenship. But the other 130 and more people were detained after protests on ac...
2025-10-2754 minA Public AffairFinding Respite While Caregiving: A Wisconsin Roundtable
Across the country, there are more than 5 million paid caregivers and more than 50 million unpaid folks who care for their family members and friends. Yet the US faces a crisis in caregiving that includes a shortage of paid workers to meet the growing need and unpaid caregivers are feeling burned out. A recent PBS documentary, screened at UW-Madison, explores the challenges and joys of this work.
To talk about caregiving, aging, and community support, host Douglas Haynes is joined by four guests, Dr. Sue Wenker and Dr. Jennifer Timm from the UW Madison...
2025-10-2000 minA Public AffairSustainability is the Quiet Infrastructure of Life
Host Douglas Haynes regularly features ecology and environment stories on this program, stories that you may not hear often in other media. Today we continue that theme, highlighting grassroots climate leaders and the work of independent media organizations like Grist. Our guests are Jess Stahl, the Project Director of the Grist 50 and Deneine Christa Powell, one of the leaders featured on the list working toward community-based climate solutions.
Grist is a nonprofit independent media company covering the climate. Their work focuses on climate impacts and solutions. The Grist 50 is a reader-nominated list of l...
2025-10-0650 minA Public AffairFacts and Feelings are Both Needed to Fight Climate Change
Last week in New York City, tens of thousands of people gathered for Climate Week, which was observed here in Wisconsin with a march at the state capitol. Despite the Trump administration’s anti-science and pro fossil fuel agenda, many people remain committed to the fight against ecological disaster. On today’s show, climate scientist Kate Marvel takes up this fight, saying that the knowledge that climate change isn’t a mystery helps her stay grounded and motivated so she can focus on solutions.
Marvel tells host Douglas Haynes about her new book, Human...
2025-09-2952 minA Public AffairA Successful College Should Not Look Like A Country Club
As the fall term kicks off, we’re ready to get a unique perspective on the value of a college education with the editor of the Washington Monthly which just released its 20th anniversary college ranking issue. Paul Glastris tells host Douglas Hayes that he and his team rank schools on what the schools do for the country and hope to change how families, policy makers, and higher education officials imagine the purpose of a college degree.
Higher education excellence is not catering to the wealthy, but meeting the needs of the average stu...
2025-09-1552 minA Public AffairDo you know the birds in your backyard?
Learning about your local environment is a great way to feel more at home. That’s the message that Madison Public Library’s latest Naturalist in Residence Andrea Debbink wants folks to understand. Debbink tells host Douglas Haynes about her love of black walnut trees and Starkweather Creek, recommends children’s nature books, and advises listeners on how to get to know your local birds.
The Naturalist in Residence program is an inventive and creative approach to connecting residents of Dane County with the diverse ecologies of the county. Debbink themed her residency as “At H...
2025-09-0852 minA Public AffairImmigrants Are the Backbone of the Food System
Farmworker Justice estimates that 45% of farm workers are undocumented immigrants, and these workers, along with other immigrant farm workers, make up the backbone of our food system. Yet the Trump administration is cracking down on immigrant laborers, resulting in 1.2 million immigrants leaving the labor force this year. Our two guests today, Alba Velasquez and Darin Von Ruden are experts in the US food system, and they tell host Douglas Haynes that they’re concerned about the rising fear they see in immigrant communities in California and Wisconsin.
As a new wave of ICE rai...
2025-09-0153 minA Public AffairAltruism, the Antidote to Loneliness
Cruelty and selfishness feel endemic to US politics and mass media. But today’s guest, Nicole Karlis, offers a strong antidote to the cruelty and loneliness of modern life by championing acts of altruism. Her new book, Your Brain on Altruism, tells compelling stories and synthesis scientific research about the power–and health benefits–of helping others.
Karlis wants readers to know that self-care is more than fitness and individual consumption. Self-care can be serving others around us, and the scientific research backs up the idea that service to our communities decreases stress and im...
2025-08-1800 minA Public AffairFood Programs Scrounge While ICE Feasts
The opaque realm of federal food and agriculture policy impacts all of us, from the farmers who grow our food to the folks who help get it to our tables. Today, host Douglas Haynes welcomes investigative reporter, Lisa Held, back to the show. She says that food policy is important all the time because it is never just one thing. It affects everything from rural communities and the environment to hunger, wellbeing, and immigration.
Held works for Civil Eats, an award winning news site that is dedicated to critical thinking about the American...
2025-08-1153 minA Public AffairDisability Activists Find Joy and Pleasure in Community
On the heels of the 35th anniversary of the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Disability Pride Month, guest host Dina Nina Martinez-Rutherford hosts a roundtable on the intersection of race, gender, and disability with Nicki Vander Meulen and Dr. Sami Schalk. They talk about disability and education, evaluate how Madison is doing in terms of accessibility, and discuss how to find pleasure in life.
Last month Congress passed the budget reconciliation bill which includes dramatic cuts to Medicaid. Vander Meulen says that she’s trying to channel her energy int...
2025-08-0600 minA Public AffairHow to Inoculate Young Men Against Fascism
Fascism wouldn’t exist without young men promoting and spreading this far-right ideology. Today’s guest, Craig Johnson, tackles how to intervene before young men get swept up in the contemporary fascist movement. He joins guest host Christina Lieffring today to discuss his new book, How to Talk to Your Son about Fascism.
Though people argue about the definition of fascism all the time, Johnson says that there are two major differences between fascism and mainstream conservatism: fascists don’t play by the rules and they don’t care about law or established norms. Th...
2025-08-0551 minA Public AffairFormer police chief says we can’t have masked police
According to a new analysis from the ACLU of Wisconsin, 13 of Wisconsin’s 72 sheriff’s departments have signed cooperative agreements with federal immigration authorities. Under these agreements, they will help ICE identify and deport undocumented residents housed in local jails. Today’s guest, David Couper, predicts that up to 80% of Wisconsin sheriffs will eventually sign on. He joins host Esty Dinur to talk about ICE and democratic policing in Madison.
Couper says the city needs to continue fighting for “democratic policing,” a practice that includes being fair in the use of force, obeying the law wh...
2025-08-0153 minA Public AffairAn Imbalanced Bill
On July 4, Donald Trump signed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” into law. The 900+ page bill increases tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations while reducing healthcare and food assistance spending. Our guest today, Liz Pancotti points out a number of other, overlooked line-items in the bill, like the $325 million direct handout to Elon Musk and the elimination of a tax on firearms. She joins host Allen Ruff to talk about her recent article for Rolling Stone, “Trump’s Big Bill Will Make Americans Uninsured Again.”
What has been truly shocking to many is the fact t...
2025-07-3150 minA Public AffairThe Time For Change
In April of this year La Crosse, Wisconsin elected its first Black, gay mayor. Mayor Shaundel Washington-Spivey joins host Ali Muldrow to talk about his journey to becoming Mayor and what he hopes to achieve while in office.
Mayor Washington-Spivey got his start working in public schools and shares what it was like to work in education during COVID. His background working with youth has influenced his approach to politics, saying that he understands why young people want to see change and see it quickly. He predicts more young people running for office...
2025-07-3052 minA Public AffairThe Impact of CPB Funding on Community Radio
Last week, Trump signed a bill to cut over $1.1 billion dollars of federal funding to the Corporation of Public Broadcasting (CPB). The cuts were presented as attacks on NPR and WPR stations, but community radio stations are being painfully impacted by the cuts as well. Joining our show today is Jessie Dick, station manager for WXPR in the Northwoods of Wisconsin, Karl Halbeck, the manager of WOJB community radio on the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe reservation, and Nathan Moore, manager of WTJU in Virginia, and a board member of the National Federation of Community Broadcasting.
...
2025-07-2800 minA Public AffairColonialism and Ecocide in Bastar and Kashmir
On today’s two-part show, we get updates on issues facing the Indigenous peoples of India and Kashmir. Host Esty Dinur is joined by advocates Lokita Singha and Apekshita Varshney to talk about the violence being done to the Adivasi people and their mineral rich lands and by anthropologist Ather Zia who discusses the state of colonialism in Kashmir.
The Adivasi people make up about two-thirds of the population of Bastar, India. They are one of the most ancient tribal populations and they follow communitarian and sustainable practices, says Singha. They live in a...
2025-07-2500 minA Public AffairJoan Walsh Discusses the Cruelty of “Alligator Auschwitz”
The new detention center in the Florida Everglades is called “Alligator Alcatraz.” Florida’s governor Ron DeSantis worked with the federal government to create the tent-based camp that can hold a projected 3,000 detained migrants at the price tag of $450 million a year. Today, host Allen Ruff is joined by journalist Joan Walsh to talk about her recent piece in The Nation, “The Abominable Sadism of Alligator Auschwitz,” in which she draws the comparison between the new camp and the Holocaust.
The goal of “Alligator Alcatraz” is not just confinement but suffering, says Walsh. This cruelty is...
2025-07-2452 minA Public AffairIs it Satire or Reality?
Today, host Ali Muldrow is joined by comedian Andrew Wegleitner to talk about how comedy is more important than ever. Wegleitner has been doing stand up for 15 years and got his start right here in Madison, WI. He’s coming back to town to record his debut comedy special on August 3 at the Bur Oak as part of Madison Comedy Week.
Wegleitner talks about how he got his start in comedy, doing stand up at The Pub and Comedy on State. He says that Madison has a very welcoming scene for new comedians. Ne...
2025-07-2352 minA Public AffairAre our voting rights being protected by the SAVE Act?
On today’s show, guest host Dana Pellebon breaks down a piece of legislation called the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act with two immigration experts, Cecilia Gillhouse and Huma Ahsan. The SAVE Act would require that voters provide proof of citizenship in order to register to vote. The purpose of this law is to prevent undocumented immigrants from voting and eliminate voter fraud.
It is already against the law for non-citizens to vote in federal and state elections and voter fraud is rare. These facts lead our guests to discuss the ideological re...
2025-07-2250 minA Public AffairGenocide is an absolute line
“No tragedy is too great to shrug away now,” amidst our “every growing tolerance for calamity and violence,” writes Omar El Akkad in his new New York Times bestseller, One Day, Everyone Will Always Have Been Against This. On today’s show, El Akkad joins host Douglas Haynes to talk about his new memoir, which weaves the personal essay with cultural critique in order to grapple with the US’s support of Israel’s slaughter and starvation of civilians in Gaza.
The purpose of literature is to bear witness, says El Akkad, especially at a time when...
2025-07-2153 minA Public AffairThe Past and Future of Madison Transportation
On today’s show, guest host Grant Foster interviews Tom Lynch, the recently retired Director of Transportation for the City of Madison. They take a deep dive into transportation policies like Vision Zero, the history of Madison’s transportation department, and what could come next for the BRT line.
Lynch served as Madison’s Director of Transportation for several decades. He describes how his job was created in the 80s, but due to some city drama, the role was empty for 30 years. Before he retired, Lynch gave a presentation to the Madison Common Council...
2025-07-1753 minA Public AffairHunger Makes Everything Harder
Recent cuts in state and federal budgets are leaving local food banks and food assistance organizations concerned about accelerating food insecurity. On today’s show, guest host Jonathan Pollack speaks with local non-profit leaders Michelle Orge of Second Harvest, Jackie Anderson of Feeding Wisconsin, and Ellen Carlson of WayForward Resources about food insecurity in Southwest Wisconsin.
The guests describe an uptick in people accessing their services. There’s been a 13% rise in people considered food insecure in Southwest Wisconsin, says Orge. She describes how Second Harvest responded during COVID, a time when they need...
2025-07-1548 minA Public AffairA Proven Model of Universal Childcare Exists
Since Governor Evers signed off on the new state budget, childcare advocates have voiced alarm at the lack of support for childcare in the budget. Though the state budget allocated over $360 million to help address the childcare crisis, the organization Wisconsin Early Childhood Action Needed (WECAN) says that “we were asking for the bare minimum, and somehow we got less.” Less than one-third of the allocated funds will go directly to keep childcare providers operating, and this funding will only last for one year.
This is a topic we’ve been following on this pr...
2025-07-1453 minA Public AffairTrading Civil Liberties for Fascism
On today’s show host Esty Dinur speaks again with Col. Lawrence Wilkerson about the decline of the American empire. Wilkerson says that on both the global and domestic fronts, the nation is doing very badly.
We’re less secure and safe than we’ve ever been in a general sense. In a national security sense, we’re doing better than ever, but there’s one major exception: nuclear weapons. The US has destroyed every nuclear treaty created during the Cold War and he worries about how the nation may deploy them again as it loses...
2025-07-1154 minA Public AffairSurprised by the Speed of Trumpism
On today’s show, host Allen Ruff speaks with longtime friend of the show Matt Rothschild who has been sounding the alarm about Trump since his first term as president. Recently he’s had speaking engagements across Dane County to talk about the dangers of MAGA and Trumpism.
Rothschild says he can smell a fascist a mile away, and he’s frustrated by the willful minimization and normalization of Trump and MAGA. When mainstream media outlets say that Trump doesn’t have a worldview, Rothschild offers a correction: Trump has a worldview, and it’s a ra...
2025-07-1051 minA Public AffairState and Federal Budget Debrief with Rep. Hong and Angela Lang
In the early morning of July 3, Governor Evers signed the two-year Wisconsin state budget after months of debate about funding for education, childcare, and more. The next day, President Trump signed into law the Big Beautiful Bill, which guts Medicaid and will result in the transfer of wealth from the poorest to the richest Americans. At the state and national levels, the quality of our healthcare, childcare, and education system is in jeopardy, and to break down how these budgets will impact folks in Wisconsin and across the country, host Ali Muldrow is joined by...
2025-07-0953 minA Public AffairBeyond Firearms: Reimagining the Defense of Marginalized Communities
In a September 2024 presidential election debate, Kamala Harris said, “Tim Walz and I are both gun owners.” Nationally, democrats are becoming gun owners at a higher rate than conservatives. To talk about spiking demand for gun ownership and gun education, especially among queer-centered self-defense organizations, guest host Matvei Mozhaev is joined by Youtuber, Tacticool Girlfriend.
They talk about what self defense and protection mean within marginalized communities in the US. Tacticool says that US gun culture is too driven by consumption, and not driven enough by safety, including environmental safety, and suicide prevention. And...
2025-07-0851 minA Public AffairYou Can’t Have Your Meat and Your Conscience Too
On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes is joined by philosopher and writer, John Sanbonmatsu to talk about his book, The Omnivore’s Deception: What We Get Wrong about Meat, Animals, and Ourselves, published last month from NYU Press. Sanbonmatsu says that there’s a better way to be on this planet than approaching animals with dominion and violence.
Sanbonmatsu felt compelled to write this book after studying the politics of the Left and reading works like Peter Singer’s Animal Liberation, in which Singer says we have to take animal suffering into account...
2025-07-0753 minA Public AffairMiddle East Expert puts US Bombing of Iran in Perspective
Norman Stockwell sits in for Allen Ruff today to debrief with Annelle Sheline of the Quincy Institute. They talk about Trump’s decision to bomb Iran and the history of the US’s intervention in the Middle East that got us here today.
Sheline says Israel and the US’s bombing of Iran caught Iran off guard because Trump seemed to be engaged in good-faith negotiations. The diplomatic process broke down even though Tulsi Gabbard testified that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon.
Iran was enriching uranium for civilian purposes, somethin...
2025-07-0354 minA Public AffairA Win for Reproductive Freedom in Wisconsin
This morning the Wisconsin Supreme Court ensured access to abortion care in the state by ruling that an 1849 law banning abortion cannot be enforced. This news comes on the heels of the three-year anniversary of the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the US Supreme and in the same week as the US Congress could vote to defund Planned Parenthood. To talk about the status of reproductive rights, host Ali Muldrow is joined by Analiese Eicher of Planned Parenthood, Wisconsin.
Eicher says that people are feeling this as a victory of reproductive freedom a...
2025-07-0253 minA Public AffairWhen progressive ideas about government became anti-American
Many people conflate the anti-communist Red Scare of post-World War II America with the Hollywood blacklists portrayed in movies and TV shows or, particularly in Wisconsin, with McCarthyism. Today, guest host Christina Lieffring speaks with Clay Risen about his new book, Red Scare: Blacklists, McCarthyism, and the Making of Modern America, in which he shows that the movement was much bigger than one industry or one man. The Red Scare was the first time there was a large-scale conspiratorial fear of the federal government such that progressive ideas became un-American.
Risen says that...
2025-07-0152 minA Public AffairRural Communities in Alaska Face Down Climate Change
Last week huge swaths of North America experienced record high temperatures, and the Alaskan arctic is warming three times faster than the rest of the globe. To talk about the ways that climate change is affecting rural communities in Alaska, host Douglas Haynes is joined by ProPublica and KYUK journalist, Emily Schwing, about her recent article, “Newtok, Alaska, Was Supposed to Be a Model for Climate Relocation. Here’s How It Went Wrong.”
Schwing says that there are over 140 communities in Alaska like Newtok facing coastal erosion, permafrost deterioration, and the implosion of infras...
2025-06-3053 minA Public AffairAddressing Housing from the Ground Up
On today’s show, host Carlos Dávalos speaks with scholar, Danny Parker, about her on-the-ground research on unhoused folks in Madison. Often we’re presented with a very top-down picture of civic infrastructure, but Parker reports from the front lines and focuses on the lived realities of the most vulnerable in our communities.
Parker’s early ethnographic work took place in Madison. She spent years sitting on sidewalks with unhoused people, eating and going to the hospital with them, and watching how the world responded to the people she was with. Based on her...
2025-06-2752 minA Public AffairThis War is about Oil
Political geographer and activist, Zoltán Grossman joins Allen Ruff to talk about the Israel-Iran-US war. They move beyond the mainstream media narratives and sanitized versions of history used to justify the US’s military engagement in the region. Grossman reminds listeners that 1953 was the beginning of the antagonism between the US and Iran and that the oil industry has always driven the US’s involvement in the Middle East.
Grossman also describes the development of anti-Muslim sentiment in the US, especially after 1979 and how this ideology has been used to sell the publi...
2025-06-2653 minA Public AffairLessons from Youth Poets
Young people are too often victims of our broken criminal justice system. 1 in 14 US children either has or has had a parent behind bars. And too often their teachers, administrators, guidance counselors, and even their own friends routinely overlook or stigmatize these young people as troubled, or trouble.
To talk about the experiences of youth impacted by the justice system, host Ali Muldrow welcomes back to the show Victor Trillo Jr. and Amy Friedman, to talk about the collection, Home and Away.
They talk about the profound hopefulness of youth artists i...
2025-06-2553 minA Public AffairThe Ongoing Violence of US Empire
On today’s show, host Sara Gabler speaks with Stephen Zunes and Negin Owliaei about the rapidly developing situation in Iran. On June 13 Israel launched an unprovoked attack on Tehran and only days ago President Trump ordered the bombing of three locations in Iran. Even if (as of this morning) the nations have reached a possible ceasefire, Israel and the US’s escalation of force will have long consequences for Iranian civilians and so much more.
Zunes describes the situation and how decades of US meddling in Iran got us here. He’s confide...
2025-06-2452 minA Public AffairState Budget Roundtable with Jessie Opoien and JR Ross
Every two years, Wisconsin goes through a grueling budget setting process. Last week, the GOP-led Joint Finance Committee cancelled their meeting despite the looming June 30 deadline for the next state budget. To make sense of the situation, host Douglas Haynes is joined by two veteran journalists, Jessie Opoien and JR Ross.
Issues like childcare and education are front and center for state lawmakers and for Wisconsin residents. Opoein says that spending for the UW System is a sticking point on both sides of the aisle. The proposed $87 million cut isn’t enough for some...
2025-06-2353 minA Public AffairHow Banality Enables Evil
On today’s show, host Esty Dinur speaks with two guests about Israel’s actions against Palestinians and now Iran. First, we’re joined by scholar Elizabeth Minnich who explains her philosophical study of banality and her new book, The Evil of Banality: On the Life and Death Importance of Thinking.
Studying under Hannah Arendt, Minnich watched the public’s confused reception of Arendt’s concept of the “banality of evil.” It was hard for people to accept that mundane actions could be monstrous. So Minnich strove to expand the definition of banality.
Now, Min...
2025-06-2053 minA Public AffairAnalyzing the LA protests with Truthout reporter Schuyler Mitchell
Today’s show breaks down the recent events in LA, from the growing impunity of ICE and the National Guard to the increasing authoritarianism of the Trump administration. Host Allen Ruff is joined by Schuyler Mitchell to talk about her recent piece in Truthout.
Mitchell describes witnessing 2020 Black Lives Matter protests in LA following the murder of George Floyd. At the time, the Governor and Mayor authorized the deployment of National Guard troops, and these troops, along with local law enforcement, responded to peaceful protesters with force. Since then, the city has paid out...
2025-06-1952 minA Public AffairAdding Tears to the Sparkle of Pride
On today’s show, host Ali Muldrow celebrates Pride month with two guests in the studio: Alder Dina Nina Martinez-Rutherford and Alder Sean O’Brian, who both serve Madison’s east side. They highlight the important work of LGBTQ+ leaders at a time when attacks on queer and trans folks are being promoted by the Trump administration.
Muldrow opens the show by talking about how in this political climate, Pride feels full of conflicting emotions. It calls for people’s most exuberant selves, but there’s no crying in glitter. Martinez-Rutherford says there’s a lot of cr...
2025-06-1852 minA Public AffairYouth-Centered Spaces Are Missing in Madison
On today’s show, guest host Sabrina Madison speaks with two local leaders, Justice Castañeda and Rosa Thompson, about an issue that many folks overlook: the lack of teen-centered spaces in Dane County, especially for Black youth. They talk about what would be possible if youth were centered in the design and programming of public spaces. Because we close schools during the summer and community centers don’t stay open late, youth don’t have many places to go. What they need are spaces where they feel safe, that have robust programming, mentorship, and care fo...
2025-06-1752 minA Public AffairFostering Food Justice and Outdoor Education
The Annual Nourishing Minds, Sustaining Futures Summit will take place this Wednesday, June 18. Now, in its third year, the program aims to foster food justice and food education in schools and is open to the public. Host Douglas Haynes speaks with three of the organizers–Allison Pfaff Harris, Sonya Sankaran, and Kathy Oker–about the event’s speakers, workshops, and the importance of environmental education.
There’s a lack of equity in outdoor education and within outdoor spaces more generally, says Oker. She wants to help all people repair their relationship with the natural w...
2025-06-1652 minA Public AffairLA Stands Up for Immigrants’ Rights
Today’s guests give an on-the-ground perspective on the ongoing ICE raids in Los Angeles. Bill Gallegos and Aquilina Soriano Versoza highlight the work of immigrant rights activists and protesters who have taken to the streets to oppose Trump’s sending of 200 National Guard soldiers and 700 Marines to LA.
Soriano Versoza describes how the raids are being executed without warrants and how ICE is showing up in places where they know immigrants live and work and making arrests without probable cause. As of Wednesday, there were over 300 confirmed disappearances, and legal advocates are being...
2025-06-1353 minA Public AffairHow Aid is Being Weaponized in Gaza
On today’s program, Allen Ruff speaks with friend of the show, Mouin Rabbani, about Yasser Abu Shabab, the continuing genocide in Gaza, the chaos created by US-backed aid organizations, and Israel’s military and political interventions in surrounding states like Syria, Yemen, and Iran.
Rabbani describes how the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a joint US-Israel project, is weaponizing aid in order to gain control over the distribution of supplies. The GHF’s former leader, Jake Wood, was an exorbitantly paid US mercenary and well known Christian Zionist, resigned last month saying the organization couldn...
2025-06-1200 minA Public AffairA Safe, Decent, Affordable Home for Everyone
On today’s show, host Matvei Mozhaev speaks with Maria Foscarinis, a principal architect of the 1987 McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, the first major piece of federal legislation to address homelessness. They discuss her recent book, And Housing for All: The Fight to End Homelessness in America, which details the impact of homelessness on people’s lives and argues that ending homelessness in the US requires the recognition of housing as a basic human right.
Foscarinis discusses the last four decades of the homeless crisis in the US. She started her career when Regan came...
2025-06-1151 minA Public AffairWhat’s in Madison’s Water?
On today’s show, host Greg Michaud interviews Joe Grande, the Water Resources Manager at Madison Water Utility. They discuss what’s in Madison’s drinking water, how consumers can have confidence in their tap water and stop buying bottled water, and what Madison Water Utility does to determine if water is meeting standards, as is disclosed in the recent Annual Drinking Water Quality Report.
Grande describes how Madisonians get their tap water, which typically is sourced from 1-3 of Madison’s 20 wells. To produce their annual report, the Utility samples roughly 27,000 times over the...
2025-06-1100 minA Public AffairAI Data Centers are Coming to Wisconsin
On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes unpacks the future of AI in the state of Wisconsin. He’s in conversation with Brett Korte who describes why big tech companies are looking to Wisconsin as the future home of their data centers. Wisconsin happens to be water rich, and these data centers require water. But Korte says that Great Lakes water is governed by compacts with lots of stakeholders, making water harder to access. Korte adds that data centers require rezoning, so there’s room for community action. Nevertheless, there’s been widespread support for these ce...
2025-06-1052 minA Public AffairMedia in the time of the American Empire’s Decline
On today’s show, economist Richard D. Wolff joins host Esty Dinur to talk about the state of the American empire and the state of independent media. We’re also joined in the studio by Norman Stockwell who reiterates that funding independent media is as important as ever in light of potential cuts to the Corporation of Public Broadcasting. Wolff says that we’re living through the decline of the American Empire and that decline is gathering speed. He says that we can’t accept that what has happened to every other empire won’t happen her...
2025-06-0653 minA Public AffairTrue Community is a Subversive Thing
Today we turn the tables; Allen Ruff sits in the guest seat to talk about his life and times. Ruff has been hosting the show for over 20 years and logged over 1000 hours of tape over that time, many of which you can find on the WORT website. Guest host, Bert Zipperer, interviews Ruff about what brought him to Madison, how he developed his subversive analysis, and the early days of WORT.
In this rare interview, Ruff opens up about how his youth amidst working class radicals in New Haven and later education at A...
2025-06-0553 minA Public AffairBuilding Symbiotic Relationships with Beavers
In Wisconsin we don’t have a shortage of beavers, despite over hunting and over trapping in the nineteenth century. But their resurgence isn’t without friction, especially as development encroaches on their environments. On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes is joined by journalist Bennet Goldstein whose recent reporting covers the ways that people are living with beavers and learning how to mitigate floods and drought from them.
Goldstein describes how human-built dams were constructed around Wisconsin in the early twentieth century to mitigate floods in the very hilly Driftless region. An increa...
2025-06-0253 minA Public AffairThe Crises of Regional Colleges and Universities
On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes is joined by journalist Molly Parker to talk about the erosion of educational access in rural areas, the value of regional universities, and Parker’s recent article for ProPublica, “A University, a Rural Town and Their Fight to Survive Trump’s War on Higher Education.”
Parker describes her experience of going to college at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale and how this was an adventure for her as a young person from a rural environment. Schools like SIU are affordable and allow students to be closer to family. Th...
2025-05-2652 minA Public AffairGuaranteed Income Helps People Put One Foot Forward
On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes speaks with Dr. Michelle Robinson about the Madison Forward Fund 2.0, which was recently unveiled by the Foundation for Black Women’s Wellness. The guaranteed income program will focus on maternal-child health and support 42 families, each getting $500 a month for 12 months. This program builds off of the Madison Forward Fund that ran from 2022 to 2023.
Robinson provides insightful context on the history of income inequality, the interacting realities of racial and gender-based inequity, and the fact that there is precedent for these kinds of programs in our existing publi...
2025-05-1953 minA Public AffairRebroadcast: Status of Childcare in Wisconsin
Today’s show is rebroadcast of a show from April 28.
On April 17, a record breaking number of child care advocates marched on the Wisconsin state capital and sent a message to legislators that the state needs to invest $480 million in childcare. According to the Institute for Research on Poverty, without this investment, 1 in 4 childcare providers in the state could shut down.
To shed light on these changes, host Douglas Haynes is joined by Corrine Hendrickson and Ruth Schmidt, two child care professionals and advocates. Schmidt says that Wisconsin is one of six...
2025-05-1254 minA Public AffairThe Miraculous and Disastrous with Author Tamara Dean
The Kickapoo River Valley is one of Wisconsin’s most beloved landscapes. On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes speaks with author Tamara Dean about this magical region and the miraculous, disastrous, and difficult changes she observed while living on the land. Her new book, Shelter and Storm: At Home in the Driftless, is a collection of essays about what she learned from moving to this area in the early 2000s.
When she and her partner purchased a farm in the Driftless, she had many goals: of becoming an organic farmer, creating a poll...
2025-05-0552 minA Public AffairClimate Art with TetraPAKMAN
In the spirit of Earth Day, today’s show features an artistic wake-up call about the climate emergency. Host Douglas Haynes is joined by Madison artist, TetraPAKMAN, to talk about his role as artist in residence at the Madison Public Library. His current installation “Wake Up!” and exhibit “Doing Something” are on display at the Central Library through this week.
They talk about the meaning of “hacking,” the role of humor in communicating difficult subject matter, the recyclability of tetra pak material, and how people are manipulated by corporations and the media about what’s actually...
2025-04-2152 minA Public AffairUSDA Ends Farm to School Programs
Last month the USDA eliminated two programs that help schools, child care centers, and food banks buy food from local farms. This cut erased more than $1 billion in support, and a USDA spokesperson said these programs “no longer effectuates the goals of the agency.” Now, school districts and local organizations are scrambling to save these programs.
To talk about school nutrition and farm to school programs, host Douglas Haynes is joined by Erica Krug, the Farm to School Director at Rooted, Kaitlin Tauriainen, the President of the School Nutrition Association of Wisconsin, and Jenni...
2025-04-1454 minA Public AffairWhat we lose when schools close their doors
In June the UW–Oshkosh, Fox City Campus will close for good. It will join 5 other associate-degree granting UW campuses that have closed since 2023. These closures are mandated by Universities of Wisconsin President, Jay Rothman. And these closures have locked out non-traditional students from higher education and the cost of this will stretch across generations.
To talk about the impact of these closures, host Douglas Haynes is joined by Ken Brosky, who directed the documentary, Closure: The Dismantling of Wisconsin’s Colleges. They talk about the mission of the University of Wisconsin colleges inclu...
2025-04-0753 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 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 AffairImmigration to Whitewater Under the National Spotlight
On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes welcome back ProPublica journalist Melissa Sanchez to discuss her recent piece “What Happened in Whitewater.” The piece, which Sanchez wrote with Maryam Jameel, dives into the stories of some of the hundreds of people seeking asylum in Whitewater, Wisconsin. Sanchez and Jameel highlight the influx of immigrants, driven by political instability and economic hardship in Nicaragua, and their transition from rural farm work to urban factory jobs. Sanchez tells A Public Affair about the detailed the challenges faced by immigrants and the strain on local government. In light of the...
2024-11-1154 minA Public AffairHow did we get here: School Budgets and Referendums
Wisconsin school districts are spending $3,200 less per student per year, adjusted for inflation, than in 2010 due to outdated funding systems and legislative failures. Because of this, voters in 122 districts across Wisconsin are facing ballot questions asking to raise property taxes. On today’s show, Dr. Julie Underwood and Dr. Christopher Saldana join host Douglas Haynes to discuss the financial struggles of Wisconsin school districts. They discuss the impact of revenue limits, declining enrollments, and the shift of funding to private schools. The conversation highlights the dilemma for taxpayers who support public schools but struggle with ris...
2024-11-0454 minA Public AffairFree and Robust Discussions in an Environment of Learning
College Uncovered, from GBH News in collaboration with The Hechinger Report, is a podcast that pulls back the curtain on higher education and expose problems and struggles facing students, administrators, and professors living and working on campuses today. The podcast is on their third season. On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes speak with hosts Kirk Carapezza and Jon Marcus. They highlight the disproportionate impact of closures on rural areas, the debate over student loan debt forgiveness, and the politicization of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. They also touch on the importance of civil dis...
2024-10-2854 minA Public AffairSchool lunches could be a learning experience for students
It’s National Farm to School Month and National School Lunch Month. In Wisconsin that means that some students are participating in the Great Apple Crunch and folks are advocating for healthy school meals. Here in Madison, a local campaign is trying to get free school meals for all MMSD students.
To talk about the ways that educational and agricultural programs meet, host Douglas Haynes speaks with Dr. Jennifer Gaddis and Dr. Sarah A. Robert. Their edited volume, Transforming School Food Politics around the World, is available for open access from MIT Press. Th...
2024-10-1454 minA Public AffairSandhill Cranes: Population Boom and Agricultural Impact
In early August, the 2024 Legislative Council Study Committee on Sandhill Cranes, met for the first time. The committee is tasked with recommending legislation to manage the sandhill crane population. They have heard reports on the crane population, reviewed damage claims, and explored mitigation options. The options include treating seeds to prevent cranes from eating them, paying farmers for lost crops, and allowing a crane hunt. The Cap Times reports that the yearly damage caused by sandhill cranes is estimated at $1.6 million.
On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes brings the conversation to the air...
2024-09-2354 minA Public AffairAppreciating the Waubesa Wetlands with Cal DeWitt and Ben Albert
The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources calls the Waubesa Wetlands “one of the highest quality and most diverse wetlands remaining in southern Wisconsin.” This nature preserve, just south of Madison, is the location and subject of the new documentary film An Invitation to Wonder: Waubesa Wetlands.
Wetland scientist and UW-Madison Professor emeritus Calvin “Cal” DeWitt has lived on the edge for the marsh for more than 50 years. In An Invitation to Wonder, filmmaker and DeWitt’s grandson Ben Albert brings rich images and striking sounds scapes together with a story of intergenerational discovery. On today’s...
2024-09-1653 minA Public AffairImmigrant Laborers take on Tyson Foods
Venceremos is a group of workers who are using theater and art to educate Tyson Foods workers about their rights. On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes speaks with journalist Alice Driver about these workers and their struggle for better safety conditions in Tyson meat packing plants in Arkansas.
Driver started her reporting on Tyson workers during the pandemic. At that time she noticed that workers who had lung injuries from chemical accidents were more vulnerable to COVID infection and death. Driver learned that workers in these plants face other health and safety th...
2024-09-0953 minA Public AffairLabor Organizing in Higher Ed with Jon Shelton and Daniel Levitin
“I’m profoundly motivated this Labor Day,” Jon Shelton tells A Public Affair host Douglas Haynes. Shelton, Vice-President for Higher Education of the American Federation of Teachers-Wisconsin, joins the program to discuss the labor movement in Wisconsin’s public universities. We also hear from Daniel Levitin, co-president TAA-Madison, the labor union representing all graduate student workers at UW–Madison.
They have this conversation in light of a recent regent vote to lay off 32 tenured-faculty at UW-Milwaukee, the creation of new protest guidelines for UW-Madison, and five UW campuses shutting down.
Photo by Jonah Br...
2024-09-0254 minA Public AffairThe Surprising Depth of Human-Insect Relationships With Heather Swan
On today’s show host Douglas Haynes sits down with Heather Swan to talk about her new book “Where the Grass Still Sings: Stories of Insects and Interconnections.” Heather Swan is a poet, writer, and lecturer in the University of Wisconsin – Madison’s English Department. Her book tells stories of human-insect connections through the lens of science and art, with a focus on the way we can connect across species.
Heather talks about the way insects have been categorized as pests, how honeybees and other pollinators are a great on-ramp to considering the larger wor...
2024-08-1952 minA Public AffairGardening with All Your Senses: A Conversation with Alex Booker
On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes takes a field trip to speak with Alex Booker at Badger Rock Urban Farm. Booker is the Madison Public Library’s naturalist in residence. The theme of his residency, Find Your Way Back to Nature, focuses on ways to reconnect with the ecosystems that surround us. Naturalist programming includes nature walks, tea blending, flower arranging, sound baths, and more.
Booker walks Haynes through the farm, from the food forest to the chicken coup. They chat about using all your senses when you garden, how to make pesto...
2024-08-1253 minA Public AffairDestination MMSD with Joe Gothard
“I want destination Madison to also be destination MMSD,” says new Superintendent Joe Gothard. He joins host Douglas Haynes today to talk about his vision for Madison Metropolitan School District, Wisconsin’s second largest school district which serves over 26,000 students.
Gothard returned to Madison last spring to take on this new role as Superintendent. The role comes with its challenges including a decline in student enrollment, a budget shortfall, and achievement gaps.
Their conversation touched on MMSD’s 10 community schools, the role of public schools in supporting youth mental health, school safety, an...
2024-08-0553 minA Public AffairThe Potential Impacts of Two Proposed Constitutional Amendments
Voters will see two proposed constitutional amendments on their upcoming August 13 primary ballot. To talk about what these proposed amendments mean and their potential impacts, host Douglas Haynes talks with Bill Davis of the River Alliance and Eileen Newcomer from the League of Women Voters. They say their organizations are opposed to both amendments because they would inhibit the governor from responding to emergencies like public health crises or natural disasters.
Newcomer says that the first proposed constitutional change stems from lawmakers wanting a more active role in how federal funds are dispersed, p...
2024-07-2954 minA Public AffairCultivate a Great Garden in Southern Wisconsin
Getting a start in gardening can be a daunting process. In today’s show, host Douglas Haynes sat down with Lisa Johnson, a horticulture educator at UW’s Dane County Extension, and Nicholas Leete, Community Gardens Network Director at Rooted Wisconsin to share some gardening tips and tricks here in Southern Wisconsin.
The conversation covers how to get started gardening in Wisconsin, what fruits and vegetables are doing well this year, and what a changing climate means for the region. The guests also talk about the pests that come with a wet spring, new...
2024-07-2253 minA Public AffairWhat is Dane County’s Housing Strategy?
Housing is the biggest issue facing communities across Dane County. Families are locked out of home ownership, lower- and middle-wage workers commute throughout the county increasing their transportation costs and employment turnover, older adults who can no longer maintain their homes have limited options, lower income households are increasingly sharing rental spaces, evictions are on the rise and so is homelessness.
To talk about what Dane County is planning to do about the housing crisis, host Douglas Haynes talks with three staff and committee members of the Dane County Housing Advisory Committee about...
2024-07-0854 minA Public AffairThe Consequences of Line 5 to Public Health and the Environment
The movement to shutdown Line 5 in Wisconsin has been growing since the Bad River Band of Lake Superior Chippewa won a federal court case against Enbridge in 2023. That ruling requires Enbridge to decommission the segment of Line 5 that passes through the Bad River Reservation.
Tribal members and many locals in Ashland and Bayfield counties want the pipeline shutdown entirely, in opposition to Enbridge’s proposed reroute that would still be located in the Bad River watershed. According to Elizabeth Ward, the rerouted pipeline would lock us into a fossil fuel future that would on...
2024-07-0153 minA Public AffairGet to know WORT’s Summer News Collaborative Storytelling Fellows!
WORT’s Summer News Collaborative trains underrepresented journalists to become creators of and leaders in local media. The fellows in this first cohort will learn the basics of journalism, storytelling, and audio production, participate in field trips and workshops with guest speakers, and be introduced to a network of mentors in local media.
On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes interviews all of the Fellows about their backgrounds and what stories they want to tell on the radio.
WORT’s Storytelling Fellows:
Shyelle Aikens is...
2024-06-2454 minA Public AffairJazz Legacies: Viola Smith and Richard Davis
With the 2024 Madison Jazz Fest is in full swing, A Public Affair host welcomes some Madison locals to talk about two jazz legends with Wisconsin ties. First we talk with Dean Robbins about his new children’s book The Fastest Drummer: Clap Your Hands for Viola Smith! The book, which is illustrated by Susanna Chapman, offers a fun and bright biography of Smith, who started her nearly 100-year-long career at the age of 13 and is recognized as one of the few female professional drummers of the early twentieth century.
Then, Douglas is joined in...
2024-06-1054 minA Public AffairHow many hands touch your coffee before you drink it?
Maria Cleaveland, one of today’s guests, says “coffee is often touched by nine separate hands before you consume the product.” From the people who grew, picked, milled, prepared for export, exported, imported, roasted, sold, and finally brewed, so much tenuous labor happens before the first sip.
Inspired by Anne Connor’s recent article “Climate Solutions for the Future of Coffee” for Civil Eats, host Douglas Haynes speaks with a panel of guests about sustainability challenges as well as gender inequalities facing the coffee supply chain. Maria Cleaveland, Blanca Castro, and Amaris Gutierrez-Ray explain all...
2024-06-0354 minA Public AffairExhibit Shines a Light on Slow Violence as a Climate Justice Issue
“What is the climate justice issue in Milwaukee? It’s not an issue of an of a sudden disaster. It’s not a flood. It’s about slow violence,” says Arjit Sen. “It’s something that has been happening historically over time, in which Black and brown communities in Milwaukee are not just segregated, but they’re seen as lacking value.” An exhibit currently showing at the Milwaukee County Historical Society and running through June 1st aims to shine a light on slow violence and the resilience of Milwaukee communities. It is a project of the Humanities Act...
2024-05-2754 minA Public AffairMeeting MMoCA’s New Director Paul Baker Prindle
MMoCA’s new Director, Paul Baker Prindle has Madison roots. He worked at the museum store 25 years ago and attended both Edgewood College and UW–Madison. Now, as he steps into his new role at MMoCA, he joins host Douglas Haynes to talk about how to find joy in the experience of contemporary art.
During Baker Prindle’s first few weeks on the job, he’s been thinking about what it means “to museum.” He says that museums are buildings that have a community, and MMoCA has an important role to play in Madison’s vib...
2024-05-2052 min
An Arc Bender's Journal: The Last Will of Lucy SuttonAn Arc Bender's Journal with Douglas HaynesIn this episode of An Arc Bender's Journal: The Last Will of Lucy Sutton, we welcome guest Douglas Haynes, Vice Provost for Academic Personnel and Academic Programs for the University of California, Office of the President.
Tune in to this episode as Doug talks about:
* His current role at the University of California Office of the President
* His previous role at the University of California Irvine in DEI
* Helping people to thrive as a part of his mission
* Black Thriving Initiative
2023-05-1644 min
Bold Like Her PodcastSue Ellen Anderson-Haynes, Founder 360 Girls & WomenSue-Ellen Anderson-Haynes, is a mother, wife, co-author, health writer, recipe developer, health speaker, holistic plant-based women's health registered dietitian. She has been featured in multiple media outlets including Harvard Health Publishing, CNBC, SELF and Huffington Post. Anderson-Haynes is a dietitian of over 15 years with specialties in diabetes, weight management, girls and women's health, prenatal/maternal nutrition, vegan/vegetarian diet, integrative and functional nutrition and general health and wellness (cancer, heart disease, gastrointestinal disorders, etc). Sue Ellen founded 360Girls&Women® at 360girlsandwomen.com – a holistic health & wellness company for girls, whose mission is to pro...
2023-02-2129 min
Anchored hosted by Pastor Reginald W. Sharpe Jr.I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS SHIFT (1 KINGS 17:1-10 NLT) REV. DR. FREDERICK DOUGLAS HAYNES IIIThe Summertime Chi Vibes continue with Rev. Dr. Frederick Douglas Haynes III. He preaches from 1 Kings 17:1-10 NLT to proclaim I am sick of this shift. God uses tension to stretch you, but it will propel and shift you forward beyond what your mind can imagine. Just keep the faith and prepare for the shift.
2021-08-3049 min
Teaching in Higher EdInclusive Excellence, with Douglas HaynesDouglas Haynes shares about inclusive excellence on episode 338 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast.
Quotes from the episode
More universities and colleges across the country have articulated a real commitment to diversity in value statements, in offices and programs, and in initiatives and events. That’s a good start.
-Douglas Haynes
It is open to members of the campus community to learn together.
-Douglas Haynes
We’re going to confront anti-blackness as an institutional imperative.
-Douglas Haynes
Resources
UCI Offi...
2020-12-0337 min
Team HumanBryan Walsh "Avoiding Apocalypse" + Adrienne Haynes "Community Empowerment"Playing for Team Human today, former TIME International Editor, Bryan Walsh & attorney and business woman Adrienne Haynes.Bryan Walsh shares his thoughts on why the end of humankind seems inevitable and the ways we might avoid imminent crisis. In his new book, End Times: A Brief Guide to the End of the World, Walsh explores how the threats of asteroids, super volcanoes, nuclear war, climate change, disease pandemics, biotechnology, artificial intelligence, and extraterrestrial intelligence might actually be avoided through innovative news ideas and collective action.You can find out more about Bryan Walsh’s w...
2019-09-1854 min