Live-Streamed Supreme Court Arguments Offers Clues to a Long-Running Mystery (0:31)

Guest: RonNell Andersen Jones, Lee E. Teitelbaum Endowed Professor of Law, University of Utah

The US Supreme Court wrapped up two weeks of live-streamed arguments on Wednesday. Justices and lawyers all dialed in to speak by phone. Anyone who wanted could listen to the audio live. Both are firsts for the nation’s highest court and led to some surprising moments. Like when a toilet could be heard flushing. Was it one of the Supreme Court justices? We’ll probably never know. On a more serious note, the notoriously silent Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been positively chatty throughout these phone conference sessions. What’s up with that?

Pulitzers Posthumously Honor Groundbreaking Investigative Reporter Ida B. Wells (19:50)

Guest: Michelle Duster, Author, Speaker, Professor, Columbia College Chicago

Nearly a century after her death, Ida B Wells has been awarded a Pulitzer Prize Special Citation “for her outstanding and courageous reporting on the horrific and vicious violence against African Americans during the era of lynching.”

Music Festivals Are Moving to Minecraft (37:12)

Guest: Max Schramp, Marketing Lead, Open Pit

The band American Football had a concert about a month ago. . . but not in real life, because of social distancing. It was in Minecraft – the video game. Thousands of people attended and the concert raised a bunch of money for COVID-19 charities.

The Hilarious World of Depression: Come for the Laughs, Stay for Honest Insight (50:37)

Guest: John Moe, Host and Creator of "The Hilarious World of Depression" Podcast and Book

A person with depression talking to other depressed people about depression does not sound like the kind of podcast that would find an audience. But if some of the people talking about their depression on the podcast are either famous or really funny – preferably both – you’ve got a hit.

Free Family Dinner With Homework Help From Teachers. It’s the Homework Diner. (1:28:44)

Guest: Deanna Creighton Cook Organizer of the Homework Diner Program in Albuquerque, NM. 

Were these normal times and schools in session, there would be free family dinners happening in middle school cafeterias around the country, billed as “Homework Diners.” Parents come with their kids. Teachers sit alongside offering homework help. Volunteers serve a hot meal. Deanna Creighton Cook developed the Homework Diner concept for own kids’ school in Albuquerque, New Mexico.