No Political Bias, But Mistakes Were Made, in FBI’s Initiation of Russia Probe (0:33)

Guest: Ryan Vogel, JD, Director of the Center for National Security Studies, Utah Valley University

The Trump Administration has maintained for some time that all of the investigations into the President and his campaign have been politically motivated –starting with the FBI investigation into possible collusion with Russia, which morphed into the Mueller Investigation. So, the Department of Justice had its independent inspector general look into how that all went down and whether it was driven by anti-Trump bias within the bureau. Today, that report is out, and it finds that no, the FBI’s investigation was not driven by some deep state conspiracy against President Trump. But the inspector general’s report also criticizes the FBI of omissions, inaccuracies and sloppiness in the way it gathered information and obtained a warrant to monitor a former Trump campaign adviser.

An Unlikely Wildlife Sanctuary in Chernobyl (18:21)

Guest: James Beasley, PhD, Associate Professor of Wildlife Ecology and Management, University of Georgia

The Chernobyl Nuclear Plant meltdown in 1986 is the worst nuclear disaster in history. Everyone within a 19-mile radius of the plant was evacuated and today that area remains off-limits to human inhabitants. But non-human inhabitants are welcome. And in fact, they seem to be thriving. University of Georgia wildlife ecologist James Beasley tracks animal populations inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and has found even a few endangered species are doing well there.

Paying Gang Members in Boston to Stay in School (36:49)

Guest: Mark Culliton, Founder and CEO of College Bound Dorchester

In Boston, a small group of youth –less than one percent of the total population –is responsible for the majority of shootings –more than 75 percent. So a nonprofit program called Boston Uncornered is taking a laser-like approach to getting those young people off street corners and into school. Most are gang members. Boston Uncornered pays them cash to turn their lives around. The program is run by a nonprofit called “College Bound Dorchester.”

Christmas Tree Farms are Slowly Going Away, but Demand is Consistent (50:42)

Guest: James Farmer, Professor, O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University

Are you a cut-your-own Christmas tree at the farm kind of family? Or do you run to the Home Depot on Christmas Eve just hoping to find something decent you can decorate before Santa arrives? Unless something changes, we may all soon be stuck buying trees from a tree lot or big box store. Christmas tree farms are in decline, for a variety of reasons that James Farmer has studied.

For the First Time Ever, You’ll Be Able to Fill Out the U.S. Census Online (1:05:17)

Guest: Victoria Glasier, Chief of the Statistics in Schools Program, U.S. 2020 Census Bureau; Erika Becker-Medina, Chief of the Decennial Communications Coordination Office, U.S. Census Bureau

2020 is nearly here, can you believe it? And since it’s the start of a decade, 2020 also means another U.S. Census, where the government tries to count every person in the country. With more than 300 million of us, it’s a mammoth task. And for the first time ever, we’ll be able to fill out the Census questionnaire online. Welcome to the 21st Century, eh?

Understanding Immigration’s Impact on Support for Trump in 2016 (1:19:33)

Guest: Gregory A. Huber, PhD, Professor of Political Science, Yale University

From the first speech of his Presidential campaign, Donald Trump invoked the threat of immigration as a key message. Candidate Trump kept up with that rhetoric right through the campaign –and into his first term as President. How much did hostility toward immigrants drive President Trump’s support among voters? Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania, UC-San Diego and Yale University wondered if the clearest evidence of this might be found in neighborhoods that have had the largest influxes of migrants in the last decade. Were those voters more likely to respond to the Trump campaign’s immigration rhetoric?