The President’s Tax Returns Stay Private, For Now (0:31)

Guest: Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, Professor of Law, Stetson University, Brennan Center fellow, author of “Political Brands” and “Corporate Citizen?”

Both President Trump and his critics are claiming victory in the US Supreme Court’s ruling on whether or not he can be compelled to release his tax returns.

 

Water Bills Around the Country Have Dramatically Risen in Recent Decades (20:36)

Guest: Roger Colton, Public Utilities Economics Consultant, Fisher Sheehan & Colton

How’s your water bill these days? On average, water bills in US cities have jumped a lot in the last decade. So much, so, that America is verging on a water affordability crisis. Is it because we’re running out of water? Or because of something else?

 

Soda Ads Skyrocket (36:42)

Guest: Jennifer Harris, Senior Research Advisor, University of Connecticut's Rudd Center 

Soda consumption has been steadily declining in the US for over a decade now. But teens, minority and low-income youth are a different story. The Rudd Center’s latest “Sugary Drink Facts” report finds that young people consume sugary drinks in the US at a disproportionate level. And that parallels large increases in advertising aimed at youth overall, and Black and Brown youth in particular.

 

The Volcano under Yellowstone Might Be Chilling Out (52:53)

Guest: Thomas Knott, Geochemist at the School of Geography, Geology and the Environment, University of Leicester, UK.

2020 has definitely felt a bit apocalyptic. What with the fires in Australia, a pandemic, locusts, and killer hornets. It seems like the only thing that could make it worse would the eruption of the supervolcano in Yellowstone National Park. But here’s some good news: a new geological survey of Yellowstone shows that the next major eruption might be much, much further away than previously thought.

 

Tracking the Uighur People of China (1:10:34)

Guest: Darren Byler, Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Asian Studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder

The US last week imposed strict sanctions on three senior officials of the Chinese Communist party over alleged human rights abuses against the Uighur Muslim community in western China. The Chinese government is promising “reciprocal measures” against the US. Chinese leaders view the Uighur Muslims as a security threat and up to a million of them have been detained in prisons and internment camps. An American digital security company called Lookout recently released a report showing the Chinese government’s extensive use of malware on smartphones to track Uyghurs in China and other countries.

 

How do Workplace Stereotypes Impact Pregnant Women? (1:29:19)

Guest: Lindsey Lavaysse, Recent Doctoral Graduate, Washington State University Vancouver

Across the US workforce, only two percent of employees are pregnant, so being one of those women can be pretty isolating. Survey research by Lindsey Lavaysse at Washington State University found that it’s common for pregnant women to work extra hard–even risking injury–for fear of confirming stereotypes about pregnant women being incompetent or weak.