Nellie Gorbea spent eight years as Rhode Island’s Secretary of State, earning a stellar reputation for her work in cybersecurity, staunch advocacy for voting rights, dedication to improving civics education, and working with businesses throughout the state. She joins me as we discuss a variety of issues, from her time as Secretary of State, her new role at the Pell Center at Salve Regina University, attacks on voting rights, and how her native Puerto Rico is recovering from a series of devastating hurricanes.

Archie Calise has been in the car business for years  -- in finance, sales, and management. He's also an antique car collector. We touch on all aspects of the industrry. How it's changing, the future of electric cars, buying styles, whether to lease or buy, and more. 

Robert L. Carothers came to the University of Rhode Island, in the worst of times, and when he left 18 years later, URI and the state of Rhode Island were much better for his having been there. We catch up with Bob Carothers, as he now contemplates a second retirement, this one from College Unbound, which has and is transforming the lives of individuals, many of whom would otherwise likely face a lifetime of despair. Bob Carothers – educator, university president, poet, and lawyer.

University of Rhode Island Economist Len Lardaro, author of a montly Rhode Island economic index, believes there is a 60 percent chance of what he calls a "vanilla" recession in 2023 asnd 70 percent in 2024. In this interview he touches on immigration and its impact on employment, the economic importance of affordable housing, and lack of in-house due diligence in state government.

Terry Schwadron has been watching the evolution of journalism since he was first hired as a reporter at the Providence Journal in 1971. He's lived the changes as a senior editor and eventually deputy managing editor of the Los Angeles Times, and then as a senior editor for some 17 years at the New York Times., where he directed News Technology for 1,200 reporters, editors, photographers, and web producers.. "Retired," he writes frequently  for various publications about current events. 

Legendary Blues Artist James Montgomery and the Beehive Queen Christine Ohlman, the voice of the Saturday Night Live band for three decades, joins me in a look at the state of the blues, their own careers, and the importance of music as a voice during cataclysmic events.

We caught up with Darrell West, a vice president and director of Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution and asked him if Democracy is on trial. We touch on the courts, the January 6 Commission, campaign finance among a number of issues. West, who has authored more than 20 books holds the Douglas Dillon Chair in Governmental Studies and is Co-Editor-in-Chief of TechTank at Brookings. Before coming to Brookings, he was the John Hazen White Professor of Political Science and Public Policy and Director of the Taubman Center for Public Policy at Brown University. He won numerous awards, including the American Political Science Association’s Don K. Price award for best book on technology (for Digital Government) and the American Political Science Association’s Doris Graber award for best book on political communications (for Cross Talk). His Brain Gain book won the ForeWord Review Book of the Year for political science and his Billionaires book won the ForeWord Book of the Year Silver Award for political science, 

The way Colin Blunstone tells it, he just happened to be sitting in the right seat in class when a classmate leaned over and asked him if he had a guitar … and it wasn’t long before Blunstone, Rob Argent and their friends were performing as a teenage band called the Mustangs. Realizing that the name belonged to another group, Blunstone says they settled on the Zombies, and as they say, the rest is history. Blunstone, now approaching 77 reflects on a career that’s spanned nearly six decades, induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame … and the music he and the Zombies continue to create.

The word theatre comes from the Greeks. It means the seeing place. It is the place people come to see the truth about life and the social situation. - Stella Adler

 Viewed as perhaps Rhode Island's premier arts’ organization, Trinity Repertory Company is among the only surviving repertory companies in the nation. Curt Columbus is Trinity's longtime artistic director and shares his perspective why Trinity has survived as a repertory company when other have not, the state of the arts, and the importance of depicting on stage “the truth about life, and the social situation.”

Keri Anne O'Donnell just loved to dance. "She was the one," says her dance instructor, "who got the moves right." At 15 she had a passion for the performing arts - dance, singing or acting.. But on a summer's morning, on her way to the beach with her sister Elyse and some friends, the tire blew on the car in which they were riding. A tragic accident, in which all  were seriously injured. Keri did not survive. But, according to her dad, comedian Frank O'Donnell, Keri lives on through the scholarship fund they created some 12 years ago. They have awarded  more than 200 scholarships, worth tens of thousands of dollars, to aspiring performing artists, O'Donnell says,. "It's great to see these kids continuing to follow their passion in the performing arts. In a way they are keeping Keri alive, at least her spirit is alive," The latest project for the Keri Anne O'Donnell Memorial Scholarship Fund is a Kalendar, a month long event. Learn more about it here, or at Kerisfund.org.