There is exactly one other American city crazy enough to attempt anything like what Boston did with The Big Dig. That city is Seattle, and they are not done tearing down highways. 

Guests: Joshua McNichols, Greg Nickels, Cayce James, José Manuel Vasquez

Recorded live with KUOW at the Seattle Public Library.

Archival audio courtesy of the Seattle Municipal Archives

How did the Austin City Council find themselves locked in a ‘death match’ over what to do about Interstate 35? Two councilors and two journalists talk through the fraught politics of so-called highway caps. 

Guests: Megan Kimble, Nathan Bernier, José “Chito” Vela, Mike Siegel

Recorded live at the KUT Festival in Austin, TX.

Once the highway is gone, can the divisions these structures created actually be healed? Can the people on either side become neighbors again? Rochester, NY is trying to answer that question.

Guests: Erik Frisch, Brian Sharp, Shawn Dunwoody, Suzanne Mayer

Recorded live at the WXXI studios in Rochester, NY.

Is it possible to re-write the Interstate map and send highways around cities instead of through them? Syracuse, NY is doing just that. 

Guests: Marie Therese Dominguez, Lanessa Owens-Chaplin, Joe Driscoll

Recorded live in partnership with WRVO and the Syracuse Museum of Science and Technology.

What to do with the BQE? It’s a one of a kind highway in desperate need of repair, but no one can agree how to fix it. 

Guests: Polly Trottenberg, Lara Birnback, Stephen Nessen

Recorded live at WNYC’s Greenspace.

Archival audio courtesy of Municipal Archives, City of New York.

Every American city is divided by crumbling old highways. Every city is trying to figure out what to do with them. But even if the problems with these structures are obvious, the solutions are not – often they are contentious. Welcome to The Big Dig Highway Teardown Tour.

In The Cult Queen of Canada from CBC’s Uncover, a tiny Saskatchewan town faces a surreal crisis when a cult leader calling herself “The Queen of Canada” occupies an abandoned school. As neighbours turn on each other, a retired teacher leads resistance in a story about what happens when online extremism spills into the real world. Hosted by Rachel Browne.

Crime. Investigation. Revelation. Uncover brings you explosive, high-caliber true crime year-round. From CIA mind control to serial abuse, mysterious disappearances to wrongful imprisonment.

More episodes of The Cult Queen of Canada are available wherever you get your podcasts, and here: https://link.mgln.ai/CQOCxCF

—

When I decided to take on the story of the Codfather, I realized it was a little more true-crime than anything I had done before, and so it was important to me that we do true crime in a way that served a larger purpose. That there was a point to it all besides just people breaking the law and getting caught. And for me, one of the models of that kind of storytelling is the CBC’s Uncover. It’s an ongoing feed that has released just a stunning run of highly original and intensely engaging crime stories that also help us understand our world. They have a new series out this spring so we wanted to feature an episode of that here.

It’s called ‘The Cult Queen of Canada.’ It’s set in a small prairie town of 120 people in Saskatchewan, which becomes the unlikely home base for a cult leader known as the “Queen of Canada.” In the series, journalist Rachel Browne uncovers how online extremism bleeds into everyday life and divides this small town. It’s a story about polarization, power vacuums, and what happens when a small community becomes the testing ground for extremism.

In the 1980s, six women on an island off the coast of Massachusetts began selling lobster rolls as a church fundraiser. Today, people travel by car, boat, and plane just to taste these hallowed summer treats. 

Today we bring you an episode from one of our favorite food podcasts, “The Sporkful”, in which host Dan Pashman travels to Martha’s Vineyard to uncover Grace Church’s secret recipe. Plus, Daniel Gritzer from Serious Eats breaks down the science of why frozen lobster might be better than fresh.

https://www.sporkful.com/the-secret-to-grace-churchs-lobster-rolls/

Find more from The Sporkful, wherever you listen to podcasts or at www.sporkful.com

---

We talked a lot this season about fish: the cod, the haddock, the flounder. We heard about monk fish and grey sole, hake and halibut. But if you’ve ever spent a summer in New England, you know that if there is one food we take more seriously than our fish, it’s our shellfish. 

So today I’m excited to bring you an episode from one of my favorite podcasts – The Sporkful – in which host Dan Pashman travels to Martha’s Vineyard to uncover the secret recipe of his favorite lobster roll. Plus, Daniel Gritzer from Serious Eats breaks down the science of why frozen lobster might be better than fresh.

As always, Dan and the team have a special knack for telling stories about food that also help you understand the world. You can find all their work wherever you are listening right now, just search for “The Sporkful.” And please enjoy: The Secret To Grace Church’s Lobster Rolls…

Buying fish can be a puzzling process. It comes frozen and fresh, wild and farmed, from many different countries, and with all kinds of ratings and labels. So what does it all mean?

For this bonus episode to “Catching The Codfather,” Ian sits down with a legend of New England seafood, Roger Berkowitz, to talk about his life in fish buying and what he’s learned along the way. 

Major sponsorship for “Catching The Codfather” is provided by Roger’s Fish Co.

John Vecchione represented a group of fishermen who challenged government regulations all the way to the Supreme Court. Together, they helped overturn the decades-old “Chevron Doctrine,” which has been cited thousands of times in federal court rulings. But Vecchione is not done, and you might be surprised to learn what regulations he is challenging next. 

For a very different take on the future of regulation after the fall of the Chevron Doctrine, check out this article from climate reporter Molly Taft: The Koch Brothers Are Getting What They Wanted: The Supreme Court Is Gutting Environmental Protections