Your Call

On this edition of Your Call, we're discussing District Attorney races across the country. Progressive prosecutors are pursuing policies to reduce sentences, divert people from jail, eliminate cash bail and more aggressively prosecute police for misconduct.

Several reform DAs are facing Republicans who say these policies cause crime and make communities more dangerous. Republicans and their supporters have spent over $60M on ads blaming Democrats for high crime and their claims are getting endless media attention. What do the facts say?

A team of seven academic researchers studied data on recorded crime from 65 major cities and found homicides increased less rapidly in cities with progressive prosecutors than in those with traditional DAs.

Guests:

Christine Soto Deberry, founder and executive director of the Prosecutors Alliance of California

Miriam Aroni Krinsky, executive director of the Fair and Just Prosecution

Akhi Johnson, director of the Reshaping Prosecution Initiative at the Vera Institute

On this edition of Your Call, we're discussing inflation and the economy.

Corporate profits and CEO pay surged to an all time high this year, while more people than ever are taking second jobs to make ends meet. Corporate profits account for over half of the higher prices people are paying, according to the Economic Policy Institute.

Democrats have implemented policies to help workers, but advocates say they must go further. Republicans plan to make the Trump tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations permanent.

Guests:

Saru Jayaraman, president of One Fair Wage, co-founder of the Restaurant Opportunities Center, director of the Food Labor Research Center at UC Berkeley, and author of four books, including One Fair Wage: Ending All Subminimum Pay in America

Dean Baker, co-founder and senior economist of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, and author of several books, including Rigged: How Globalization and the Rules of the Modern Economy Were Structured to Make the Rich Richer

On this edition of Your Call’s One Planet Series, we're discussing a Tufts University study, which explores the role of young people's concerns about climate change, and how it relates to their readiness for civic participation.

The Environmental Voter Project found that over 12 million environmentalists skipped the 2018 midterms and over eight million environmentalists didn’t vote in the 2020 presidential election. What will it take to get people, especially young people, to vote on climate issues?

We'll then discuss some of the most consequential elections for climate change at the local and state levels. A recent paper by Energy Innovation notes that states will be "central actors" in implementing the Inflation Reduction Act and determining how much emissions will fall.

Guests:

Nathaniel Stinnett, founder and executive director of the Environmental Voter Project

Sara Suzuki, postdoctoral research Fellow The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement at Tufts University

Rebecca Leber, reporter covering climate and energy policy for Vox

On this edition of Your Call’s Media Roundtable, we continue of our coverage of the midterm elections by discussing critical races. How are the media framing what's at stake and candidates’ positions on key issues like election integrity, abortion rights, the future of the climate crisis, and Social Security?

The total cost of 2022 federal midterm elections is projected to exceed $9.3 billion, according to an early, conservative estimate by OpenSecrets. More than $1.6 billion has been spent or booked on TV ads in a dozen Senate races, with $3 out of every $4 being spent in six states — Georgia, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Wisconsin, Nevada and Ohio, according to an NPR analysis of data provided by the ad-tracking firm AdImpact. Most of that money is coming from outside groups, some of which have little-to-no donor transparency — and Republicans are getting a huge boost from them.

Guest:

John Nichols, Washington correspondent for The Nation, contributing writer for The Progressive and In These Times, associate editor of the Capital Times, and author of several books, including The Fight for the Soul of the Democratic Party: The Enduring Legacy of Henry Wallace's Anti-Fascist, Anti-Racist Politics

On this edition of Your Call's Media Roundtable, we're discussing the growing protests in Iran in spite of the government’s lethal crackdown.

It has been six weeks since the 22-year-old Iranian- Kurdish woman Mahsa Amini tragically died while in custody of the so-called morality police. On Wednesday, tens of thousand of mourners marked the 40th day of her death by visiting her gravesite in her hometown of Saqqez, in the northwestern Kurdistan province.

There were also mass protests in other cities across Iran. October 26 and 27, Iran’s security forces intensified their use of unlawful force — including by shooting firearms with live ammunition, metal pellets and teargas — against protesters and mourners who had gathered in Kurdistan, West Azerbaijan, Kermanshah and Lorestan provinces, according to Amnesty International.

At least 234 protesters, including 29 children, have been killed, according to the Norway-based Iran Human Rights group. More than 12,000 have been arrested.

Guests:

Borzou Daragahi, international correspondent for The Independent

On this edition of Your Call, we're discussing five of the seven California propositions on the midterm ballot.

Prop 1 would guarantee abortion rights in the state constitution.

Prop 28 would require the state to allocate money for music and arts education.

Prop 29, which is on the ballot for the third time, would impose new rules on dialysis clinics and prohibit clinics from refusing treatment to people based on their insurance type.

Prop 30 would impose a 1.75 percent tax on millionaires to fund electric car and climate programs.

Prop 31 would uphold a ban on flavored tobacco products that was passed in 2020.

Hundreds of millions of dollars is being spent to support and oppose these propositions. What questions do you have?

Guest:

Ben Christopher, reporter for CalMatters covering politics and elections

On this edition of Your Call, we’'re discussing the most expensive ballot fight in US history.

Over $550 million has been spent on Proposition 26, which would legalize sports betting at tribal casinos and four horse racing tracks, and Proposition 27, which would make sports betting legal online.

Will Californians vote to turn their state into the world's biggest sports betting arena?

Guests:

Isaac Hale, assistant professor of political science at Occidental College

Mary-Beth Moylan, associate dean for academic affairs and experiential learning, and professor of law and legal practice at the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law, and supervisor of the California Initiative Review

On this edition of Your Call, we'll discuss what could happen to Social Security and Medicare if Republicans take congress in the midterm elections this November.

In an interview, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy recently spoke about using the debt limit as leverage to force spending cuts, which could include gutting Medicare and Social Security.

Four Republicans hoping to become chair of the House Budget Committee have talked openly about holding the federal debt ceiling hostage to an agreement on "entitlements," according to the Los Angeles Times.

Why isn't this receiving more attention in midterm election coverage, given what's at stake?

On the next Your Call, we’ll discuss how grassroots organizers are getting out the vote for those who believe in election integrity. A majority of Republican nominees, including 12 running for Secretary of State, deny or question the 2020 election results.

Election denying Republican candidates for secretary of state say they will secure a Trump victory in 2024. What's being done to elect people who will ensure election integrity and protect the right to vote?