8 O'Clock Buzz

Viki Berenson and Ed Blume, representatives from “Safe Skies Clean Water Wisconsin” talk about the effects, implications, and progress on F-35 fighter squadron in Madison. They will be sponsoring defense analyst Pierre Sprey at the First Unitarian Church on January 17th, at 6:45.

For the 6th year in a row, a group of writers, directors, and actors will meet at the Bartell Theater on December 30th — that’s later today — to pick names and writing challenges out of a hat. Just 24 hours later, on the last night of the year, the show hits the boards in front of a live — and possibly rowdy New Year’s Eve audience.  That’s the Ball Drop Blitz, a co-production of Mercury Players Theater and Know Better Productions. Simone La Pierre is in charge of this madness, and she joined the Monday Buzz just a few scant hours before the clock starts ticking.

The history of the law has seen a gradual expansion of the concept of “rights.”  People without land, prisoners of war, slaves, women and children were all once seen as “chattel,” or subhuman property, with none or few of the inherent rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness enjoyed by full citizens.  The next legal and ethical frontier may well be the rights of animals, the mobile, sentient creatures with whom we share the Earth, and sometimes, our homes and lands. David Favre has taught law at Michigan State University since 1976, where he is the Nancy Heathcote Professor of Property and Animal Law.

One-third of all hospitals in Wisconsin are associated with the Catholic Church.  That’s the highest percentage in the country. Catholic hospitals are subject to the Ethical and Religious Directives written by the U.S. Council of Catholic Bishops.  Some of these directives are benign, such as requirements for service to the poor, but some, such as prohibitions against contraceptive surgery or abortion, can affect the quality of care to patients.  The Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism has published a series of stories on the impact of Catholic religious edicts on medical care. Parker Schorr is a public affairs reporting fellow with the Capital Times, and is currently interning with the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism.

Ever since it moved from New Haven, Connecticut to Winnebago Street in Madison in 2016, the Arts and Literature Laboratory has sparked Madison’s Schenk-Atwood Neighborhood’s culture scene with a variety of gallery exhibits, musical performances, microcinema screenings, classes and workshops.  In the fall of 2019, Arts and Literature Laboratory announced that it was cementing its presence on Madison’s east side with a move to city-owned space at East Main and Livingston Street. The move will quadruple the space available for programming for the nonprofit, and allow it to expand its offerings.  Jolynne Roorda, Executive Director for Arts + Literature Laboratory and Rita Mae Reese, Literary Arts Director joined Monday Buzz host Brian Standing on December 23, 2019.

On December 18, 2019, the U.S. House of Representatives voted 230-197 to charge President Donald Trump with abuse of power, and voted 229-198 to charge the President with obstruction of Congress.  After the vote, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi delayed transmittal of the articles of impeachment to the U.S. Senate — ostensibly to make sure the Senate conducts a fair trial. Majority Republicans and minority Democrats in the Senate, as well as the White House all continue to wrangle about how the Senate trial will be conducted:  will there be witnesses and testimony, or will it simply be a show trial and a rubber stamp by the Republicans to acquit? Joining the 8 O’Clock Buzz once again to help us sort this all out is University of Wisconsin Political Science Professor Eleanor Neff Powell.

Lower courts make many times more decisions every year than the Supreme Court, and these have immense effects on state residents. Douglas Keith, Counsel at The Brennan Center for Justice, talks to Jan about a recent study analyzing the millions of dollars of “dark money” going into these state-wide elections, who benefits, and what can be done to make judges impartial.

Over 1 million people in Wisconsin need literacy improvement, according to Michele Erikson of Wisconsin Literacy. Their group provides training and education for 72 literacy groups in the state, and are working on “plain language” for medication labeling, dyslexia programs, literacy and “numeracy” education, providing vouchers for GED testing, and more.

It’s been seven weeks since the Washington Nationals defeated the Houston Astros in the 2019 World Series.  Baseball’s spring training is still two months away, but the hot stove league — offseason free agent signings and trades — are in full swing.  But for baseball addicts, some of the biggest news has taken place far from the waiver wire and free agent market. Here to talk a little offseason baseball is DJ Day Later.

Last time we spoke with Sergio Gonzalez was in April of 2018, about the future of sanctuary cities.  At the time, Sergio was finishing up his dissertation at the University of Wisconsin here in Madison.  Since then, he has received his doctorate, and has now relocated to Milwaukee, where he is teaching Latinx history at Marquette University.  On December 16, 2019, Sergio joined Monday Buzz host Brian Standing with a report from Wisconsin’s largest city.