Connections Podcast

Students in the Rochester City School District no longer see police officers in their schools. As part of the approval of the city’s budget in June, all 12 school resource officers were removed from RCSD campuses. The call to remove police officers from schools is being made by districts across the country; those calls escalated following the killing of George Floyd. Advocates for removal say officers make students feel unsafe and they can criminalize students – especially students of color.

The seventh season of PBS' "Finding Your Roots" with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. offers another series of compelling stories about well-known people tracing their family ancestries. The episode that airs tonight features music artist Pharrell Williams, who learns some painful truths about his ancestors. Like many African Americans, Williams was unable to find much information about his genealogy due to a dearth of records before emancipation. This hour, we talk with the lead genealogist from "Finding

What kind of effort do school districts make to teach Black history? The West Irondequoit School District is moving beyond the usual, often narrow approach. As part of a new video series through the Our Voices Project , students are educating their peers and the public about lesser-known Black historical figures. Do you know about the lives and legacies of Jeremiah Hamilton, Bass Reeves, Afeni Shakur, and Maria Stewart? You will with our guests: Jackie McGriff, director and producer for the Our

The organizers of a local educational opportunity are hoping to boost interest in the traditional trades. The field was one of the Landmark Society's previous "Five to Revive," and it has been working to create a pipeline for trades workers. A new partnership with SUNY Geneseo has been successful in that effort. The university now offers a three-part course series called "Historic Preservation and Rural Renewal." We talk to instructors and students about historic preservation and how they will

The music industry is attempting to relaunch after a mostly lost year due to the pandemic. Joywave's Daniel Armbruster joins us. He says that at any given time, roughly half of active bands are touring, and half are writing/recording. When restrictions lift, nearly all active bands will want to play live music. That will result in a glut, with not nearly enough venues to support the bands that want to play out or tour. What happens next? How many bands can survive this? Armbruster takes us

How do your store your data? Hard drives? The cloud? A local inventor says a device he created is indestructible and will make your data available in perpetuity. It’s called Totenpass, and it’s constructed from solid gold. Inventor Bruce Ha says not only can the device withstand fire and other natural elements, it also eliminates future dependence on the internet or the cloud when it comes to saving precious digital files. Ha has concerns about who owns content when it’s uploaded to the cloud or

A new presidential administration brings a new approach to dealing with Russia. We welcome a guest with decades of expertise in the subject: Randy Stone , director of the Skalny Center for Polish and Central European Studies at the University of Rochester

We have a conversation about women's health. First, students at the University of Rochester have created a noninvasive test to diagnose endometriosis - a painful chronic condition that is currently only diagnosed through surgery. We discuss how that test could change the lives of millions of women, and the latest in endometriosis research and treatment. We also discuss fibroids, noncancerous growths in the uterus. According to research published by the National Center for Biotechnology

Governor Cuomo is facing increasing criticism over the way the state has handled COVID-19 in nursing homes. Attorney General Tish James recently released a report indicating New York State has severely undercounted the number of nursing home deaths related to the pandemic. Advocates have been calling for change in nursing homes long before the pandemic, and now they feel that the door is finally open to achieve those changes. We discuss it with our guests: MaryDel Wypych, co-chair of the Elder

Leaders across the community are responding to Rochester Police Department officers handcuffing and pepper spraying a nine-year-old girl on Friday. The incident has brought more national attention to policing in Rochester. Reverend Lewis Stewart of United Christian Leadership Ministry and mental health advocate Melanie Funchess are among the leaders calling for comprehensive and culturally responsive mental health services, as well as for RPD to change its procedures involving minors. They join