The recent funding cuts to public media have resulted in claims that it is rural communities that will suffer most of all. Crystal and Scott delve into the world of rural public media, how it operates in rural Nevada, and what its end might mean. We cover the history of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB), National Public Radio (NPR), and the Public Broadcasting System (PBS), as well as how they compare to emerging media formats such as podcasting.
#ruralnevada #publicmedia #npr #cpb #pbs 

Redistricting has emerged as the hottest news topic over the last month, nationally and here in Nevada. Crystal and Scott talk about how redistricting, especially Scott’s recent involvement with a redistricting controversy in the city of Henderson, Nevada’s gerrymandered map, and what this might for a Nevada ballot question on an independent redistricting commission. We also look at the factors that led to the current tension between Texas and California, a bit of the history of redistricting and the failed efforts to maintain an idea of “congressional balance,” and trying to get to some solution to identifying the “communities of interest” that should be the basis of representation. 

#redistricting #Henderson #2020Census #FairMapsNevada #Elko #Pahrump

Guest Caleb Cage (Arc Dome Strategies and Nevada Battery Coalition) joins Crystal and Scott to discuss Nevada's emerging lithium industry. Caleb describes closing the Lithium Loop, where all aspects of the lithium industry--mining, processing, manufacturing, and recycling--are located entirely in Nevada. The Lithium Loop promises to liberate Nevada's economy from a reliance on only extractive or entertainment activities. Among the topics of discussion is what lithium mining might mean for rural counties, the advanced manufacturing benefits for Reno and Las Vegas, and how locating the lithium supply chain in the United States is a win for environmental and labor concerns. 

#LithiumLoop #LithiumSummitNV #mining #ruralNevada #CalebCage #775 Alive

Links:
Caleb Cage, President, Arc Dome Strategies: https://arcdomestrategies.com/
Nevada Battery Coalition: https://nevadabatterycoalition.com/
2nd Annual Governor's Lithium and Critical Materials Summit, September 18th-19th 2025, Las Vegas: https://secure.anedot.com/nevada-strategic-growth-initiative/elements-of-change-forum 

Will the Citizenship question be on the 2030 Census? The issue is back in the news, so Crystal gets up the nerve to ask Scott about the Census and his work on the 2020 Census. We discuss what the citizenship question might mean about political representation and federal funding for sanctuary states, as well as some common issues with the Census and whether alternatives are actually possible. 

 With the struggle of the Trump administration to cut off federal funding to Harvard continuing, Crystal and Scott look at the various dimensions of the issues, from Harvard's brand identity to its advising and consulting projects globally to how dependent even rural Nevada communities are on university research centers that are subject to little oversight. 

Crystal's recent visit to Tampa for the 2025 Turning Point USA Student Action Summit (SAS) left her shocked at both the interest in the Epstein files from Gen-Z and their growing power in politics. Crystal and Scott discuss whether Gen-Z will be more consistently engaged in politics than earlier young generations, what the absence of Gen-Zers in the rurals means, and also a little bit about the Nevada Republican Central Committee meeting in Winnemucca on July 12th. 

The story out of the Nevada State Legislature this year is Governor Joe Lombardo's new record of 87 vetoes. Since this podcast started with discussing the 2025 Legislative session, Crystal and Scott turn back to look at what happened and then discuss the increasingly active role of governors in American politics, from standing up to the federal government to becoming one of the most fertile recruiting grounds for presidential candidates. If the 50 states are laboratories of democracy, the governors are now playing lead scientists. 

The strike on Iran's nuclear facilities is one of the hottest stories at the moment. Crystal and Scott take a dive into the various controversies, including the war-making powers of the president, the role of media leaks, what Iran attempted to gain, and what the effects of the strike are likely to be. 

This episode covers the basics of the Big Beautiful Bill. Scott and Crystal talk about what is in the bill, what the bill hopes to accomplish and what the bill means to the overall Trump strategy. Plus, our hot take on whether are Elon and Trump's spat is real. 

Scott and Crystal discuss the anti-ICE riots in LA breaking out in early June 2025 in light of our earlier conversations on the culture of protesting (see Episode 004: The Culture of Protesting). We also talk about the differences between these riots and earlier riots in the 2020 "Summer of Love", the 1992 Rodney King Riots, and the 1960s riots in Watts and Detroit. The role of the military in the riots as well as what this might mean for the "California model" of politics is also discussed.