8 O'Clock Buzz

Today on the Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Sikowis (in exile), talking about Pipelines…

Cultural Specialist and founder of Four Seasons Camp, James Northrup III from Fond Du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa joins to talk about the work they are doing at the camp to resist Line 3 in Minnesota.

Photo from Facebook

Today on the Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Sikowis (in exile), talking about Pipelines…

Executive Director of Science and Environmental Health Network Carolyn Raffensperger joins to talk about how the law relates to Line 3, Keystone XL, Dakota Access Pipeline and Line 5, and how we got ourselves in this mess.

Photo from Wikimedia Commons.

According to the Pew Charitable Trust, two thirds of all eligible voters in the United States cast a ballot in the November 6, 2020 elections. That makes 2020 the highest-turnout election since eligible voter percentages were first calculated in 1980.  Remarkable as that is, especially during a global pandemic, that statistic pales in comparison to many other nations around the globe, which routinely see turnout of 75% and beyond.  Digging deeper, the Pew study found that turnout increased most in states that expanded voter access to mail-in or absentee ballots.  The common-sense takeaway?  Make it easier to vote and more people will.  State legislatures have taken notice.  According to the Brennan Center, since last November, state ldolegislators have introduced 125 bills to limit voter access and 541 bills to expand voter access.  Georgia, controlled by Republicans, recently passed one of the more restrictive bills.  Doug Hess is a Professor of Political Science/Policy Studies at Grinnell College.

 

On March 11, President Biden signed House Resolution 1319, the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, which provides nearly two trillion dollars in federal aid for relief and recovery from the COVID-19 global pandemic.  The bill includes direct payments to states, counties and local governments throughout the nation.  What does this mean for Wisconsin?  Well to answer that question, we turn now to the nonprofit Kids Forward, which, under various names, has been analyzing the Wisconsin state budget since 1881.  Tamarine Cornelius, a Kids Forward Research Analyst joins us once again with the details.

In a nod to the ongoing economic turmoil wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service delayed the income tax filing deadline from April 15 to May 17.  In his statement, IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said the IRS “wants to do everything it can to help people in these tough times.” If the IRS were serious about helping people, it could, as most other countries do, simply eliminate the need to file taxes at all.  This doesn’t mean eliminating the income tax. Instead, the government could simply send individuals a bill  — or a check.   Beverly Moran is a Professor Emeritus of Law at Vanderbilt University and an expert on the U.S. taxation system.

 

Featured image: Tax Calculations

stevepb, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

 

Christopher Pevey Harry is Assistant Dean of Pre-College Programs at UW–Madison. He describes Badger Precollege as a mini-university for students ages 5–18. The program works with 1,200 to 1,500 students from around the state each summer. The UW Madison Badger Precollege Summer Scholars application deadline is April 30. For information and to apply, visit precolloge.wisc.edu

Kristin Brey is a digital producer, comedian, and creator of As Goes Wisconsin, a daily series of social media videos that break down Wisconsin news with a comedic twist. A Madison native, Kristin spent 17 years accumulating experience in Hollywood, Silicon Valley, and Brooklyn before moving back to Wisconsin in 2020 to help get out the vote.  Her main goal with all the content she creates: make the super complicated, super not.

Photo courtesy of asgoeswisconsin.com

Today on the Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Dr. Damita Brown (in exile)..

Local entrepreneurs Kaba Bah and Jerreh Kujabi join us to talk about their plans to open an African grocery in the former Visions building and bringing food to a food desert on the Northeast side.

Photo by Stella Tzertzeveli on Unsplash

Today on the Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Dr. Damita Brown (in exile)..

A.D. Carson, PhD, award-winning hip-hop artist and assistant professor of Music at University of Virginia joins us to talk about race, music and arts, his new album, “I used to love a dream” and his outstanding rap dissertation, “Owning My Masters: The Rhetorics of Rhymes & Revolutions.”

Today on the Tuesday 8:00 Buzz with Dr. Damita Brown (in exile)..

Master gardener and outdoor enthusiast Emily Ford, the first Black person to through hike the Ice Age Trail in the winter joins to talk about her awesome accomplishment, the beauty of nature in all seasons, and the trials and tribulations of spending nearly 3 months with yourself outdoors in Wisconsin in the winter.

Keep up with Emily on Instagram

Photo by Emily Ford