Connections Podcast

Republicans are rapidly preparing to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Donald Trump said this week that it would be replaced with a program that would cover all Americans at a lower cost. Assuming this is impossible, there are significant questions about what the replacement for the ACA will be. Our panel discusses what they know, what they don't, and what they think the big questions are regarding the next iteration of American health care. WXXI health reporter and producer Karen Shakerdge helps

Last May, RIT journalism professor Andrea Hickerson spent two weeks in Iraqi Kurdistan as part of a human rights delegation. This week, she published an op-ed explaining how that trip enhanced her view of the role of oil. Specifically, Hickerson says the trip has offered perspective on Donald Trump's choice of Rex Tillerson to lead the State Department. Tillerson is the CEO of ExxonMobile, a company that Hickerson says "has abdicated and exploited villages in Iraqi Kurdistan." Trump himself said

The Community Design Center is launching its 2017 Reshaping Rochester Series , with a call for more civic engagement. The new season of events is titled "Our City, Ourselves: Loving Where We Live." The first event focuses on how to bring the arts to where they're needed most, to revitalize neighborhoods. We talk about how the arts are impacting Rochester neighborhoods, and we look at a successful endeavor in another city. Our guests: Maria Furgiuele, interim executive director for the Community

Did BuzzFeed make a mistake by publishing the entire dossier of unverified links between Donald Trump and Russia? Editor-in-chief Ben Smith says no; he errs on the side of sunlight, and he views BuzzFeed as part of a new kind of media paradigm. But traditional journalists have said it was a reckless decision, a mistake. Our panel debates the decision, and the future of disseminating information. In studio: Tianna Manon , editor-in-chief of Open Mic Rochester David Riley , former government

Human trafficking is real, and it's here in Rochester. How can we spot red flags and potential victims? Our panel discusses misconceptions and realities regarding human trafficking. How does it start? Who is targeted? We also preview local events -- including the "Human Trafficking: A Rochester Problem Too" conference at St. John Fisher College -- and discuss an acclaimed novel called Little Peach. The author, Peggy Kern, will be part of a panel discussion in Rochester that will include

County legislator and former police chief James Sheppard is running for mayor of Rochester. Sheppard said this weekend that Rochester has no real leadership, and he wants to change that. We talk about his motivations for running and his plans for governing the city.

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 Dunning-Kruger Effect; Fake news and the current media landscape; How standardized tests are created, and the pressure that results for students and teachers; Light rail, and how transportation relates to poverty in Rochester; How music can be a form of political speech.

Author Seth Godin points out the following: "The bestselling novel of 1961 was Allen Drury's Advise and Consent. Millions of people read this 690-page political novel. In 2016, the big sellers were coloring books." Godin writes that there has always been broccoli and candy when it comes to culture... but what happens if everything becomes candy? What happens if all we read is click-bait? Heck, Godin notes that even Bravo and the History Channel have reality dating competitions. He urges us to

Robert F Kennedy, Jr. has become one of the leading opponents of vaccines in the country, and he met with Donald Trump this week. Kennedy emerged from the meeting and declared that Trump was putting him in charge of a commission on "vaccine safety and scientific integrity." Trump himself has said and tweeted many things about vaccines that are flat-out wrong. And even the Cleveland Clinic is backtracking after one of its doctors used the Cleveland Clinic platform to publish an anti-vaccine

When the RPO performs Shostakovich's fifth symphony later this month, they will be performing one of the legendary examples of music as political speech. Stalin thought it was a tribute to his regime; almost certainly, however, Shostakovich had threaded a musical needle and was signaling his solidarity to a suffering public. That got us thinking: what are some other examples of music as political speech? It spans genres, and it's not always as effective as the creator of the music hopes. Finally