Last week a Wisconsin state legislature study committee held their first meeting to look at the University of Wisconsin school system. The committee will meet over the next few months before publishing their findings later this year.

Here to discuss the committee’s work is Representative Alex Joers, a democrat from Middleton who is serving on the committee, and Professor Neil Kraus, who works at UW-River Falls and has written a book about neoliberalism in higher ed.

In their discussion of the new committee, they touch on the way students and staff have been excluded from serving on the committee, how the rhetorics of austerity persist despite a large state budget surplus, and how the findings of the committee are likely to be skewed under the current Republican leadership in the legislature.

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NFT’s helped break the glass ceiling for digital art, says investigative journalist Zachary Small. And at the very center of the fast and loose history of NFTs, crypto, and high art, that Small captures in their recent book, Token Supremacy: the Art of Finance, the Finance of Art, and the Great Crypto Crash of 2022,  is an age old question of the value of art–perhaps the very meaning of value itself. 

On today’s show, guest host Nate Carlin talks with Small about the financialization of art and how speculation has always existed in this very decentralized and unregulated world. When crypto and NFTs entered the scene, some of the tools born in the traditional art market were filtered through Silicon Valley’s techno-optimism. And in this brave new mysterious world, some speculated that humans may just become gods.

In their conversation, Carlin and Small touch on the fame of Vera Molnár, algorithmic art, Justin Sun, collectability, the Bored Ape Yacht Club, shams and scams, and the crash of FTX that brought the world to a stumbling halt.

Image courtesy of Penguin Random House.

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Today on A Public Affair, host Allen Ruff opened up the phone lines to WORT listeners. Folks called in with comments about whether Biden should be the Democratic nominee for president or whether he should drop out of the race. Callers shared their opinions on the privatization of public services, the climate crisis, and how the Democratic party should address these pressing issues. 

Thank you to all 18 of our callers!

Image courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. 

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What unites the collaboration between Michael Jordan and Nike, Barack Obama’s meteoric ascent to the White House, and Kendrick Lamar’s historic 2018 Pulitzer Prize win? Hip hop culture.

That’s according to Dr. Todd Boyd in his new book, Rapper’s Deluxe: How Hip Hop Made the World. Rapper’s Deluxe is a collection of major moments in hip hop and American history that highlights the genre’s expansive influence on the world’s cultural canon.

Host Ali Muldrow and Dr. Boyd talk about Lauryn Hill’s critical acclaim and commercial success, gender and respectability politics, hip hop’s influence on fashion in iconic moments like Nicki Minaj and Anna Wintour seated next to each other at a fashion show, and much more. 

Dr. Todd Boyd is the Katherine and Frank Price Endowed Chair for the Study of Race and Popular Culture and Professor of Cinema and Media Studies in the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts. He has appeared in numerous award winning documentaries and has written over one hundred articles, reviews, and more. A media commentator, author, producer, consultant and scholar, Dr. Boyd is an intellectual and creative force who transcends boundaries and defies conventional categorization.

Image courtesy of Phaidon. 

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Delegates from across the country will head to Milwaukee next week for the Republican National Convention, where the GOP will officially anoint Trump and adopt a party platform.

Meanwhile here in Madison, we’re fresh off a visit from President Biden, even as the whispers of discontent with the President as a presidential contender continue to swirl since his performance during the first debate. 

On today’s show, Chali Pittman talks with John Nichols who says that Biden’s campaign is too “cautious” and “stage managed.” Nichols says this approach won’t cut it this time, but also says that the dial is pointing toward Biden staying in the race.

In their conversation, Nichols unpacks the ongoing concerns and nuances of the calls for Biden to step down as a candidate. And he previews what to expect from the upcoming RNC, including much theater and opulence as well as the Republican party avoiding mentioning Donald Trump’s recent convictions.

John Nichols is a political correspondent, associate editor of The Capital Times, and national affairs correspondent for The Nation. You can follow him on X @nicholsuprising. 

Image of Milwaukee via Wikimedia Commons.

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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 the Dane County Regional Housing Strategy. Olivia Parry, a Senior Planner at Dane County says that “unstable homes make unstable communities,” and Dane County has a history of segregated housing that exacerbates housing inequities in the present.

Becky Binz, the Housing and Equitable Development Planner for the city of Sun Prairie, says that in her community people who want to can’t afford to live in Sun Prairie and that social services organizations are seeing an uptick in requests for assistance.

Alex Allon, the Community Development Director for the Village of DeForest says that folks in his community are making trade offs in order to afford rent. One local food bank serves 800 families who experience food insecurity, in part from the rising price of housing. That’s in a community with a total population of about 11,000 people.

To address housing affordability, communities are changing their zoning restrictions, using affordable housing funds, increasing the number of units, and creating incentives for developers to meet communities’ goals. 

Image courtesy of Dane County.

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On June 28 the US Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 vote that the enforcement of laws in the city of Grants Pass, Oregon that punished homeless people for sleeping outside did not violate the Constitution’s 8th amendment prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment.

In the majority opinion, which included all six conservative justices, Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote that the causes of homelessness are many and “so may be the policy responses required to address it.” In a dissenting opinion, Justice Sonia Sotomayor criticized what she called the majority’s misprioritization of the needs of local governments over the safety of vulnerable homeless populations.

Guest host, Jess Miller, speaks with two guests about this decision and what it means for folks experiencing homelessness in Dane County where 737 people were experiencing homelessness on a single night in January of this year. That’s up 18% from 2023. 

Eric Tars is the Senior Policy Director for the National Homelessness Law Center. He says that policing and criminalization don’t solve homelessness. Rather, an approach that includes universal housing, repairing existing housing programs, eviction prevention, and supportive services is the route to moving folks out of homelessness and into stable housing. 

Andrea White, is a social justice advocate who works at Madison’s YWCA. She is a member of the Homeless Services Consortium of Dane County. Andrea says that the more advocates in the community the better. The more people talk to their neighbors and alders, the greater the impact they can have educating people about homelessness.

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The local partisan primary election is coming up on August 13, 2024. On the ballot are constitutional amendments, state legislative races, and the race for Dane County Executive–for a seat recently vacated by longtime Executive Joe Parisi. In our last episode speaking with candidates for Dane County Executive Chali Pittman is joined by Regina Vidaver. 

Vidaver shares that her top priority for the county is housing. And, if elected, she plans to implement all 17 strategies in the recently released Regional Housing Strategy published by Dane County. That includes increasing affordable housing funds and creating affordable transportation. Vidaver’s background as a medical researcher shapes her approach to problem solving. She takes a hypothesis based approach to addressing policy issues like childcare and the food ecosystem. 

Regina Vidaver was elected to Madison’s Common Council in 2021. She represents District 5 that includes midtown and the near west side–from the stadium to Hilldale. Before being elected as alder, she served on a variety of councils, committees, and work groups, including the Madison Food Policy Council, the Regional Agriculture and Food Sovereignty Work Group, and the Madison Metropolitan School District Advanced Learning Advisory Committee. Professionally, Alder Vidaver oversees statewide chronic disease and cancer prevention programs for the Wisconsin Department of Health Services Division of Public Health.

Photo courtesy of Chali Pittman/WORT.

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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 only exacerbate the impacts of climate change we’re already experiencing.

On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes asks Ward and two healthcare professionals about the health effects of Line 5. Abby Novinska-Lois and Jan Penn say that pipeline construction and pipeline ruptures are linked to impaired immune systems, negative neurological and reproductive impacts, as well as upticks in human trafficking, especially in Indigenous communities. 

These effects are well documented by communities in Wisconsin, as well as by folks in Minnesota, who have been reeling from the effects of an Enbridge reconstruction project since 2021.

The US Army Corps of Engineers are taking feedback on the proposed Line 5 reroute until August 4.

Abby Novinska-Lois is the Executive Director of Healthy Climate Wisconsin. Abby received her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science with a certificate in Environmental Studies from the UW- Madison, and has worked to reduce pesticide use in Wisconsin agriculture, among other advocacy projects before helping the Wisconsin Health Professionals for Climate Action become a nonprofit.

Jan Penn began nursing as an Ashland County Public Health Nurse in 1972 and moved into an Advanced Nursing role shortly after. Although she has now retired from her role as a Nurse practitioner after over 50 years of service, Jan carries on as a registered nurse and is an advocate for a healthy and vital community.

Elizabeth Ward is the Wisconsin Chapter Director of the Sierra Club, which works to ensure everyone has access to clean air, clean water, and public lands. Elizabeth works with hundreds of volunteers and leaders across the state. 

Various Tribal, environmental, and youth organizations gathered in Ashland, Wisconsin on June 4 to tell the US Army Corps of Engineers to deny Enbridge’s pipeline permit. Image courtesy of Devon Young Coupery.

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On today’s show, journalist Tamara Pearson talks about how private real estate companies are changing the landscape of Mexico and harming people and the environment along the way. She calls the rapid changes a new form of colonialism because these developers’ economic interests conflict with the needs of local Indigenous populations and migrant populations as well as the needs of the environment. In Pearson’s recent article, she adds that the real estate industry is using intimidation tactics to harm local communities.  

Tamara Pearson is a writer, journalist, and activist living in Puebla, Mexico. She is the author of The Butterfly Prison, and is currently working on her second novel. She also works with Central American migrants and refugees. Her writings can be found at her blog and on social media.

Photo of Puebla, Mexico courtesy of AdasArdor via Flickr.

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