cknowledging our dependence on the advances and innovation of science and engineering, on weather forecasting - to farmers, to businesses, to our health, to our daily lives, Bob and James Booth, CCNY professor, earth and atmospheric science, discuss the administration s plans to de-fund research and development, as not the best approach, noting a possible brain drain of skilled, educated scientists and technologists.]>

In just the past decade, the number of older adults - 65 and older - living in poverty in New York State has increased by 50%. Many face declining health, loneliness, cognitive decline, and at an increasing and disturbing rate - the impact of poverty. Adding to these hardships is the Trump administration’s threats to support systems: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid - so vital to an aging population.

Apprenticeships, known in many industries as on-the-job-training, can offer a distinct path to 21st century technology careers, providing access to some of today's good jobs and a middle class standard of living to a larger population. Jonathan Bowles describes the tech apprenticeship as a combination of education and hands-on training. There are not too many programs around - but numbers are growing!

David C. Baluarte discusses the need for trained public interest lawyers, noting the government’s violation of the rule of law: people sent to foreign prisons without due process, talk about getting rid of habeas corpus, a disregard for the Constitution; reminding us that these breach of rights can spread from a vulnerable population – and affect us ALL!

Barely into his second term, President Trump's actions have created chaos and fear for our democracy among government employees, immigrants, educators, businesses, the elderly - all of us - who look to the United States government for our security, and many, for health and financial support. We fear for our well-being and for our democracy.

In POLITICS - Part 2, author David Greenberg, “John Lewis: A Life,” reviews Lewis’s 34 long years of extraordinary service in Congress: his moral authority, principles, leadership, and support of interracial cooperation – the idea that we’re all in this together; we have to work together.

In Part 1, PROTEST of a 2 part conversation, Bob and David Greenberg, author of "John Lewis: A Life," discuss the high points of Lewis’s extraordinary activism – the sit-ins, the freedom rides, the March on Washington, Selma, Bloody Sunday, the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, and its effect on John Lewis and the civil rights movement.

Historian Eric Alterman loves footnotes and cares a lot about where information comes from. Concerned that bad information is crowding out good information-and that the GOP doesn't care, he is unwilling to simply accept what he's read or heard. Alterman urges students to think critically: to evaluate the quality of the source providing the information.

In January 2025, Donald Trump will be sworn in – again – as president of the United States, “with no guardrails..to protect American democracy.” Disturbed that “..the structure of our democracy could crumble,” Philip Lentz and Bob Herbert outline the challenges, decisions and lost opportunities that despite an appalling campaign, led to a Republican victory.

Bob Herbert outlines David Dinkins achievements - in a time of severe race-baiting - as New York’s first Black mayor. Describing Mayor Eric Adams’ bombastic-a cop "stark style,” Christina Greer outlines the markedly different times in America’s history in which each was elected.