LA’s Housing Crisis Hits A Boiling Point
Los Angeles’s Echo Park Lake is home to swan boats, running trails and space for members of it’s rapidly gentrifying community to gather during the pandemic. Up until last week, it was also home to over 100 people living in tents on the west side of the park. The encampment became the focal point of LA’s housing affordability crisis when the housed members of the Echo Park neighborhood called for it to be cleared. Guest: Benjamin Oreskes, metro report for the Los Angeles Times. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
1 Huhti 202124min
The Wedge Issue of Republicans’ Dreams
Most kids in the country aren’t back to school in any way we’d recognize as normal. Republicans have noticed. Now, they’re launching a few trial balloons this year to see if “reopen the schools” can become their next winning campaign slogan. Guest: Edward-Isaac Dovere, staff writer at the Atlantic. Read his story, “Democrats Are Failing the Schools Test.” Dovere is the author of the forthcoming book, Battle for the Soul: Inside the Democrats’ Campaigns to Defeat Trump. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
31 Maalis 202123min
Can a Highway Be Racist?
Houston residents and elected officials are trying to stop the largest urban highway project of their lifetimes -- one that would clear out more than 1,000 homes in primarily Black and Latin neighborhoods and, they say, introduce additional flooding and health risks. Now, residents have a powerful new ally in Washington: the Biden administration. The fate of I-45 may tell us something about what 21st-century infrastructure will look like. Guests: Tomaro Bell, Houston resident and community leader, and Oni Blair, executive director of LINK Houston. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
30 Maalis 202122min
Should Florida Cancel Spring Break?
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has become a Republican celebrity for his notably lax coronavirus policies, keeping the state mostly open during the pandemic. But in Miami Beach, tourists are using the lack of restrictions to their advantage, exposing the difficulty of managing a world that isn’t quite done with COVID-19, but desperately wants to be. Guest: Verónica Zaragovia, healthcare reporter at WLRN. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
29 Maalis 202120min
TBD | The AstraZeneca Saga
Back in April 2020, AstraZeneca was hailed as a frontrunner in the race to get an effective vaccine to market. A year later, after a series of trial pauses, communication blunders, and PR problems, the vaccine is on the cusp of FDA approval. By all accounts, the company succeeded in making a safe, effective vaccine. So why has there been so much confusion about its rollout? Guest: Peter Aldhous, science reporter at Buzzfeed News Host Lizzie O’Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
26 Maalis 202125min
One Colorado Man’s Crusade Against Gun Violence
Colorado Rep. Tom Sullivan counts the number of Fridays since his son was killed in the Aurora theater shooting in 2012. The latest mass shooting in Boulder, which left 10 people dead, was yet another reason Sullivan says he’s continuing his quest to curb gun violence in the state. Guest: Colorado State Rep. Tom Sullivan. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
25 Maalis 202124min
Migrant Families Are Still Being Separated
After four years of President Trump’s harsh immigration policies, many advocates for Central American migrants welcomed a change in administration. But after two months in office, President Biden has given a clear message to people arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border: “don’t come.” Still, thousands of people, including an increasing number of unaccompanied children, are making the trek and forcing Biden to face his first big immigration test. Guest: Adolfo Flores, national security for immigration correspondent at Buzzfeed. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
24 Maalis 202122min
One Month Without Water
Residents of Jackson, Mississippi, were left without water for weeks after a deep freeze hit the south, bursting pipes and forcing people to rely on bottled or collected rain water. But even though the water is back on, Jackson’s next water crisis might not be so far off. Guest: Nick Judin is a reporter at the Mississippi Free Press. Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
23 Maalis 202126min
