Immigrating on Merits Rather than Family Ties

Guest: Kevin Johnson, Dean, Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o Studies, UC Davis School of Law

President Donald Trump unveiled the outlines of his plan last week. It includes more funding and more inspections to better secure the nation’s southern border. The big change President Trump is proposing, though, focuses on who can immigrate legally to the United States. The Trump Administration would like to see green cards awarded based on the skills an immigrant has to offer the US economy. Right now, the majority of green cards are awarded based on random lottery or family ties the person has in the US. 

A Major Extinction of Frogs and Other Amphibians Is Causing Alarm

Guest: Brian Gratwicke, Conservation Biologist at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute

A nasty fungus is wiping out frogs and salamanders globally. Recently-published analysis indicates this one fungus is the most destructive pathogen ever described by science.

The Best National Parks to Visit on the West Coast

Guest: Becky Lomax, Author of “USA National Parks: The Complete Guide to All59 Parks”

Summer is the most popular time to visit National Parks. The West Coast of the United States offers many different options for families, from hiking in the Redwoods to the legendary rock climbing in Yosemite. With so many different parks available, it is useful for families to know just what each one has to offer.

New Technology Helps Resettle US Refugees to Find Better Employment Opportunities

Guest: Karen Monken, Director of the Reception and Placement Program at HIAS

Those of us born in the United States are incredibly lucky. Around the world, people forced from their countries by war and poverty cling to the hope that they’ll somehow manage to be one of the roughly 25,000 refugees chosen to relocate in America each year. Just getting here is the dream. Often, they have no choice in wherein the United States, they’ll be sent. Those decisions are made by the handful of nonprofits in the US tasked with resettling refugees. One of them called HIAS has lately been experimenting with making those decisions using intelligent software.

How to Raise Successful People

Guest: Esther Wojcicki, Journalist, Educator, Author of “How to Raise Successful People: Simple Lessons for Radical Results”

The CEO of YouTube and the CEO of 23andMe are sisters. Their other sister is a pediatrician and professor at UC-San Francisco. Can you just imagine the questions their mom gets at dinner parties? What’s your secret? How did you raise such successful kids? Now, the world can read her secrets.

Hollywood and the Con Film

Guest: Kirsten Hawkes, ParentPreviews.com

Anne Hathaway and Rebel Wilson team up as con-artists in the new movie “The Hustle.” When I first saw that trailer I thought–wait, is this Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, but with women in the lead roles? And yep, that’s what it is.