Patti and guest co-host Chris Jones are joined by Mazie Stilwell, the new executive director of Progress Iowa, a statewide organization powered by a community of more than 100,000 progressives that is focused on research, education and advocacy.

Catch "Driving It Home with Patti Vasquez" weekdays from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/driving-it-home).

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Patti is joined by Stephen E. Kravit, Milwaukee attorney and former federal prosecutor. He discussed the controversial arrest of Circuit Court Judge Hannah Dugan in Milwaukee. Dugan was handcuffed by six agents from ICE and DEA. The agents sought to arrest an immigrant who was not armed and could have been apprehended earlier. Dugan, who opened a side door for the man, was charged with obstructing justice and harboring a fugitive. Kravit criticized the aggressive tactics, noting the lack of probable cause and the impact on Dugan's career and court operations. He highlighted the unusual nature of the case and the potential for a grand jury to dismiss the charges.

Catch "Driving It Home with Patti Vasquez" weekdays from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/driving-it-home).

And find the "Driving It Home (Full Episodes)" podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, YouTube, and Amazon.

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Patti Vasquez is joined by Denise Slipy, candidate for Minnesota State Senate District 6 in a special April 29 election. 

Slipy discussed her background and motivations for running. Originally from southern Indiana, she moved to Minnesota for better job opportunities and to escape economic oppression. She highlighted her commitment to community service and her frustration with the district's long-standing Republican rule. Slipy spoke about her platform on rural health care and fully funded public education and criticized her opponent for not showing up at a recent Q&A event.

Catch "Driving It Home with Patti Vasquez" weekdays from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/driving-it-home).

And find the "Driving It Home (Full Episodes)" podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, YouTube, and Amazon.

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Patti is joined by William He, 18-year-old founder and CEO of Dream for America, a national youth movement dedicated to identifying, educating and empowering students to promote liberal values. William founded Dream for America on July 4th, 2023, at just 16 years old, to counter right-wing groups like Turning Point USA. William highlighted the shift of young people to the right, citing a recent Yale poll showing 18- to 21-year-olds favoring Republicans by 12 points. "And that's young women plus-four and young men plus-20something," he told WCPT. 

He emphasized the need for a new strategy focusing on cultural identity and building what he called "a kind of social ecosystem" to attract and engage young people. Dream for America is planning to host its first conference, Democracy Fest 2025, in Washington, D.C.

Catch "Driving It Home with Patti Vasquez" weekdays from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/driving-it-home).

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Patti is joined by Nathan Taylor, executive director of advocacy and public engagement for Election Truth Alliance, a grassroots, nonpartisan organization dedicated to supporting election analysis, discussion, and peaceful action to highlight potential election manipulation, interference, and irregularities in election results. 

Catch "Driving It Home with Patti Vasquez" weekdays from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/driving-it-home).

And find the "Driving It Home (Full Episodes)" podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, YouTube, and Amazon.

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Patti is joined by Paul Rice, founder/former CEO of Fair Trade USA and author of “Every Purchase Matters.” He explained that fair trade involves a rigorous certification process for farms and factories, ensuring they meet social, environmental, and labor standards. Companies like Walmart, Whole Foods, and Patagonia pay a premium to fair trade farmers. Rice told WCPT that sustainable product sales are "accelerating under the Trump administration. We actually had a huge bump in sales of fair trade products during the first Trump administration, and I think that was due to the fact that so many people felt upset with what was going on and they were looking for ways to make a difference. And you don't have to wait four years to vote for change, right? You can vote for change today ... by picking a sustainable product that makes a difference in the life of another human."

Catch "Driving It Home with Patti Vasquez" weekdays from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/driving-it-home).

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Patti is joined by Dr. Robert Jury, associate professor at the Family Institute at Northwestern University, along with James Lenger of Theraplaying and Dr. Brian Cote, who is living with Parkinson’s Disease.

Catch "Driving It Home with Patti Vasquez" weekdays from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/driving-it-home).

And find the "Driving It Home (Full Episodes)" podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, YouTube, and Amazon.

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Patti is joined by comedian John Fugelsang, who promoted this weekend's NOT The White House Correspondents' Dinner pay-per-view event. He also talked about the legacy of Pope Francis (who died that morning), highlighting the late pontiff's adherence to Jesus's teachings and opposition to the death penalty, abortion, and anti-LGBTQ+ positions. He criticized the American right wing's hypocrisy and their misuse of religious texts, the Republican Party's exploitation of undocumented workers and their inconsistent stance on immigration. Fugelsang also took aim at Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.  

"He came out this week and decided to insult and smear every American adult and child who is living on the autism spectrum, and I mean smear them," Fugelsang told WCPT. "What RFK did was come out and tell every autistic person in the world that you are broken, something is wrong with you, clearly something went wrong that made you this defective thing you are, and we are going to spend a lot of taxpayer money to find out what went wrong with you so no one else could ever go wrong like you again. It was so evil. 

"And you heard what he said: these autistic people, they'll never play baseball, they'll never hold a job or go on a date. He's erasing all the autistic people who can do these things. You know what autistic kids will probably never really do? They're never going to behead a dead whale with a chainsaw or drag a dead bear cub through Manhattan or ruin Cheryl Hines' acting career."

 Fugelsang also promoted his forthcoming book "The Separation of Church and Hate."

Catch "Driving It Home with Patti Vasquez" weekdays from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/driving-it-home).

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Patti is joined by Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi, who discussed the importance of homeowners applying for the homeowners exemption, which can save them about $1,000 annually. He also highlighted exemptions for seniors, disabled veterans, and even World War II veterans, "not only if the people were still living, but the people who passed," Kaegi said. "It's also for the spouses of World War II veterans."  The deadline to sign up for exemptions is Monday, April 21.  

Kaegi spoke as well about the Circuit Breaker Property Tax Relief Act, a program designed to help homeowners who have seen their tax bills spike by 25 percent or more from one year to the next. The legislation has been filed in the Illinois legislature. He also mentioned Cook County legislation that would raise the senior freeze income threshold from $65,000 to $85,000.

Catch "Driving It Home with Patti Vasquez" weekdays from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/driving-it-home).

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Patti and guest co-host Terry Cosgrove are joined by Daniel Hornung, former deputy director of the National Economic Council. He discussed the economic impact of Trump tariffs, which he expects to incur annual price increases of $2,000 to $3,000 per family and potentially cause a recession. Hornung also criticized the Trump administration's government cost-cutting efforts being led by the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).  

"Unfortunately, I think the approach that they are taking is actually making government less efficient," he told WCPT. "And I think there's no better example than the fact that first they say they're going to cut, I think it was ($)2 trillion, and now we're down to ($)150 billion. That's probably not true, but just for the sake of argument, let's say they cut something like that. The personnel cuts they are making at the Internal Revenue Service are enough to basically entirely offset all of those cuts. And what I mean by that is they are slashing staffing at the IRS so substantially that economists who have looked at this say that enough wealthy people are going to feel that they don't need to pay their taxes that the government's actually going to be losing money because of DOGE."

Hornung also spoke about the "substantial" long-term harm of government cuts to a program like Head Start, "because those kids [will] grow up with less economic opportunity, less education, and really are put in a position where they have less opportunity for the rest of their lives," he said. 

Catch "Driving It Home with Patti Vasquez" weekdays from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. Central on WCPT (heartlandsignal.com/programs/driving-it-home).

And find the "Driving It Home (Full Episodes)" podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, TuneIn, iHeartRadio, YouTube, and Amazon.

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