Connections Podcast

Last week, there was a meeting at the White House between the president's top economic adviser and a group of prominent Republicans proposing a carbon tax. The group, which includes three former Cabinet secretaries, calls itself the Climate Leadership Council. The members say that with Republicans controlling the White House and Congress, it's time for the party to get serious about climate change. They say their idea for a carbon tax is a way to return all revenue raised to the taxpayer. They

New rules for youth sports were recently introduced with the goal of mandating rest and reducing injuries. The New York State Public High School Athletic Association has approved rules that limit pitch counts for modified, freshman, junior varsity, and varsity athletes. U.S.A. Football, the national governing body for amateur football, created a new format called "modified tackle" that reduces tackling and pileups. This comes after declining participation among young athletes, whose parents

What is a Sanctuary City? Next week, Rochester City Council will take up legislation related to Rochester's status as a "Sanctuary City." But what, exactly, does that mean? We explore the impact for refugees, and the possible impact related to federal funding and support. Our guests: Jackie Ortiz , member of Rochester City Council KaeLyn Rich , director of the Genesee Valley Chapter of NYCLU Carly Fox, senior worker rights advocate at the Worker Justice Center of NY Brian Curran , corporation

President Trump has given the green light for two major pipeline projects: Keystone and the Dakota Access Pipeline. At the White House, Trump said he hasn't heard one complaint or received one dissenting phone call. Our guests discuss the challenge of protesting a project when the president claims their voices don't exist. In studio: Michael Galban, curator and historian at the Seneca Art & Culture Center at Ganondagan Sue Hughes Smith, co-leader of the Rochester People's Climate Coalition

Betsy DeVos has been confirmed as the new Secretary of Education. What does that mean for our public schools? We reached out to many local school leaders to join the discussion; most declined. Our panel discusses the issues they see as most in play during the Trump administration. Note: there are school-choice advocates who are not in positions of public school leadership, and we'll be inviting them to join us in the coming days, too. In studio: Steve Uebbing , professor of educational

This coming Friday is Black Lives Matter Day in the Rochester City School District. RCSD says the mission is to create "a day of education, dialogue and action that will actively engage a significant number of educational communities throughout Monroe County in activities that support understanding the affirmation of black lives." The Rochester Board of Education and the RTA supports this programming, but participation by individual teachers is optional. We discuss it with our panel: LoWan Brown

Weekend Connections is a collection of some of the most noteworthy moments from the week on Connections with Evan Dawson. This episode includes conversations about: The new documentary, I Am Not Your Negro; If altruism is truly possible; How advancements in trauma care are saving more gunshot victims; Near-Earth Objects, and trusting experts in the sciences.

Once again, the fate of 200 white deer near Seneca Lake is up in the air. The deer live on a fenced property of roughly 7,000 acres, which spent years as a controversial munitions storehouse for the military. Last year, a local businessman submitted the winning bid to develop the property while protecting the deer. But now there are complaints about the process and the future of the site. We explore what's going on, and what will happen to these rare animals, with Dennis Money of Seneca White

The Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra has unveiled their 2017/2018 season . We sit down with Ward Stare and Jeff Tyzik to listen to some music and discuss how they put together the lineup. It's designed to appeal to all audiences and all ages, a crucial factor for the survival and growth of orchestras.

We talk about urban rebirth in upstate cities. Arian Horbovetz is a photographer and writer who has been traveling across the state to highlight the positive aspects of cities that may get a bad rap. He writes about his visits in his blog, The Urban Phoenix . We talk to Horbovetz about what he learned from his travels to Utica, Troy, Rome, Binghamton, and more.