Connections Podcast

On this Veterans Day, we hear the remarkable stories and sacrifices of three Afghan natives who served alongside U.S. troops in Afghanistan as interpreters. Their lives were threatened by the Taliban, and after great personal risk, they came to Rochester on Special Immigrant Visas. They share their stories. Our guests: Hanif Frotan, Afghanistan native who served alongside U.S. troops as an interpreter Tamim Azizi, Afghanistan native who served alongside U.S. troops as an interpreter Sami Skander

The election is over, but that doesn't mean the deep political divide in this country -- or, in many families -- has gone away. This hour, we talk with local people whose families have different political perspectives. They discuss how they navigate those differences in a productive way, and they share their recommendations for other families that are in similar situations. Our guests: Kit and Dave Miller Sheryl Gates Westerman

ROC the Future has released its annual "State of Our Children" report card . It tracks key measures of wellbeing of children and youth in the Rochester area. Our guests discuss what the data shows when it comes to education, health, and more, and their action items going forward. Our guests: Jackie Campbell , director of ROC the Future at The Children’s Agenda Shaun Nelms , chair of ROC the Future conveners Stephanie Townsend , director of research and analytics for ROC the Future

“Can your generation distinguish reliable from unreliable information on the internet? How much do you think that matters?” The New York Times recently posed those two questions in an article about news and media literacy. The focus was on young people, and the value of critical thinking skills. Should news and media literacy should be required courses in schools? How can people of all generations better distinguish between trusted sources and misinformation? Our guests weigh in: Peter Adams ,

Can we ever trust the polls again? That's what many Americans are wondering after the presidential election saw Donald Trump once again out-perform many of the expectations set by state and national polls. What went wrong? This hour, we talk to a pollster from Siena, a data analyst, and a professor who studies polling. They analyze the results and they explain how polling is done. They also discuss what kinds of changes might have to happen to make sure polls are still accurate enough to be

We recap what we know at this stage about the results of the election, and what we expect to see going forward. Our guests are local Democrats who discuss how their party has handled the election season: Elaine Spaull Larry Knox Nicole Hushla Re

A local man who was diagnosed with COVID-19 at the beginning of the pandemic is sharing his remarkable story. Jeff Reese spent 26 days in the ICU at Strong Hospital, where he suffered a collapsed lung, shock, and cardiac arrest. Reese's doctors say he was on high doses of sedation, pain medication, chemical paralytics, and received maximum support from a ventilator. Members of his medical team says they learned a lot about the virus during this time -- when reports from Europe and New York City

A new photojournalism course at RIT is exploring how to tell stories of addiction and recovery. Participants include photojournalism majors and people with personal experiences with recovery -- doctors, counselors, family members of people who have lost their lives to overdose, and people who are currently in recovery. You can learn more about the exhibition here . This hour, we talk about how the subject of addiction is covered -- and often stigmatized -- in the media and popular culture, and

President Trump improved on his margins with Latino voters from 2016. He did especially well in the American Southeast, surprising some Democrats. But this is not a surprise to many Latinos, who point out that their demographic is not monolithic in politics and values. We discuss what we can learn from this election. Our guests: Mercedes Vazquez-Simmons, community organizer with the Latino Voter Protection Group Anthony Plonczynski-Figueroa , founder of La Cumbre Peter Vazquez , candidate for

We hear from a second group of candidates, who weigh in on Tuesday night's election results. Our guests: Jeremy Cooney , candidate for the 56th Senate District Chris Missick , candidate for the 55th Senate District Zachary King , chair of the Monroe County Democratic Party Stephen DeVay , executive vice chair of the Monroe County Democratic Party Mark Johns , incumbent in the 135th Assembly District