Connections Podcast

On Tuesday, Monroe County passed a new law with the goal of protecting bicyclists. The 3-Foot Passing Law, also known as “Carrie’s Law,” requires drivers to keep a distance of at least three feet when passing a cyclist. It’s named after Carrie Ray, a 46-year-old teacher from Clarkson who was struck and killed by a truck while cycling in 2019. How will the new law be enforced? How do local cyclists feel about it? We talk about bike safety and bike culture in Monroe County with our guests: Jesse

25 years have passed since HIV therapies were approved for people living with the virus, but people who are HIV positive are often excluded from cancer clinical trials. Why is that? Writer Tim Murphy explored that question, and argues that not only is the practice discriminatory, but it's putting lives at risk. We talk with him about what he learned. Our guests: Tim Murphy , contributing editor for the Body Pro Ariela Noy, M.D. , attending physician and member in the Department of Medicine

In a new piece for the Atlantic, Dr. Lucy McBride addresses burnout, and makes the case that the term should be used beyond the mental and physical fallout one may experience from work. She writes, "As a primary-care doctor, I'm witnessing the physical-health toll of collective trauma -- high blood pressure, headaches, herniated discs. And this has been before many people have returned to the office or resumed their pre-pandemic schedules." McBride joins us for the hour to discuss why she thinks

What is the status of Rochester's Out Alliance? In a recent piece for CITY Magazine, editor Dave Andreatta does a deep dive on the current state of the organization, which has been largely dormant for the past year. As Andreatta reports, the public face of the organization exists mostly in the form of periodic posts on its social media accounts, but it has no programming and no employees. How did it get to this point? The answer to that question is complex. We discuss the past, present, and

What does immigration and refugee policy look like under the Biden Administration? Sometimes, there’s an assumption that policies change from administration to administration, but people who are closer to the reality on the ground find that that’s not always the case. Why is that? We discuss the state of immigration and refugee resettlement under President Biden. Our guests: Lisa Hoyt , director of refugee and immigration services at Catholic Family Center Getachew "G-G" Beshir, refugee

Local climate activist Sue Hughes-Smith handily won the Democratic primary for County Legislature in the 14th District. She has been working in climate change activism and education for years, and if she wins the general election in November, she'll move into a new role where she'll have a hand in creating climate legislation. This hour, we discuss the state of the climate crisis on global, national, and local levels, and what Hughes-Smith and other activists would like to see in terms of

Recently, Dr. Scott Gottlieb, former commissioner of the FDA, said parts of the U.S. could experience "very dense outbreaks" of COVID-19 due to the Delta variant. He said those outbreaks would be hyper-regionalized, affecting areas with low vaccination rates. Rural communities in parts of New York have low vaccination rates, compared to neighboring counties. In Allegany County, for instance, just 35 percent of the population is fully vaccinated. This hour, we're joined by the co-leaders of the

After missing a year due to the pandemic, the organizers of an international wine conference in the Finger Lakes have decided to bring it back. It appears to be the first worldwide wine conference that is returning in-person since the pandemic hit. The organizers believe that vaccination rates and infection rates have paved the way for a return to semi-normalcy -- and this event puts the Finger Lakes in the world spotlight, with some of the top wine producers coming from Europe. We discuss how

Former New York State Teacher of the Year Christopher Albrecht has written a new book. "The Rediscovery of Hope and Purpose" will be released on July 12. It includes Albrecht's interviews with a number of people about how they have discovered hope and purpose in their lives, including late author Beverly Cleary. We preview the book with our guests: Christopher Albrecht , author of "The Rediscovery of Hope and Purpose," 2018 New York State Teacher of the Year, and fourth grade teacher at the Fred

Summer Book Week concludes with an hour devoted to books for young readers. Our guests: Leslie C. Youngblood , Rochester-raised author of “Love Like Sky” and “Forever This Summer” Colleen Hernandez, teen and creative experiences librarian at the Webster Public Library, and co-director of the Greater Rochester Teen Book Festival Renata Corrado-Green, rising sophomore at Brighton High School Mackenzie Reed , author of “An Arsonist’s Guide to High School” This hour also includes conversations with