Your Call

On this edition of Your Call’s Media Roundtable, we're discussing a two-year Capital & Main investigation that exposes how pregnant mothers fall prey to horrific violence as the migrant population swells in Northern Mexico.

According to the report, in recent years, the proportion of female migrants in Mexico from Central America has jumped 70 percent from El Salvador, and 140 percent from Guatemala. Women flee their homes for different reasons, including “intractable, unresolved and recurring conflicts and violence,” according to the United Nations Migration Agency, in addition to longstanding poverty.

Advocates say pregnant women are targets for cartels that menace, exploit, and extort migrants at the border because they tend to be among the most desperate and physically vulnerable. Women have been kidnapped, beaten, and shot by gangs hungry for profits. On more than one occasion, the violence has triggered women to go into labor.

On this edition of Your Call, we're discussing reaction to Pope Francis's trip to central Alberta where he apologized for the "deplorable evil" committed in Catholic-run Indigenous Residential Schools.

More than 150,000 Indigenous children in Canada were removed and separated from their families and communities to attend these schools. The last one closed in the late 1990s. The Pope's trip has received a mixed reaction among the Indigenous community. Many say they want action, not just words.

On this edition of Your Call, we're discussing gas prices, which reached a record high of $5 a gallon in June. The US is the world's largest producer of oil, but also buys a lot of oil from other countries. What explains price fluctuations and record high profits?

Since gas prices are getting so much attention, what happened to the conversation about what it will take to transition away from oil, drive less, and increase funding for alternatives to cars?

On this edition of Your Call, we're discussing rising inflation, which soared to a 40-year high last month with prices increasing 9.1 percent over the past year.

Corporate profits and CEO pay have hit record highs, but average wages are not keeping up with the increased cost of goods and overall living. More people than ever are taking extra jobs to make ends meet. What explains this and what are real solutions for working people?

On this edition of Your Call's One Planet series, biology Professor Dave Goulson discusses his book, Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse. He asks, what will happen when the bugs are all gone?

Goulson explores the intrinsic connection between climate change, nature, wildlife, and shrinking biodiversity. Insects are vanishing at an alarming rate, but Goulson says it's not too late to save the day.

He writes, "Most have not yet gone extinct, and if we just give them some space they can recover swiftly, for insects can breed fast. Insects live all around us: in our gardens, parks, farmland, in the soil beneath our feet and even in the cracks in a city pavement, so we can all get involved in looking after them, and ensuring that these vital creatures do not disappear. We may feel helpless in the face of many of the environmental issues that loom on our horizon, but we can all take simple steps to encourage insects."

On this edition of Your Call's media roundtable, we're discussing the latest revelations from the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.

Yesterday, the committee focused on what Donald Trump did and did not do as the deadly attacks unfolded. Over the course of three hours, Trump watched Fox, called Senators to tell them to delay the vote, tweeted, which led to the calls to hang Mike Pence, and ignored calls from his staff and family to intervene and tell the rioters to stop the violence.

Will Trump face criminal charges?

On this edition of Your Call's media roundtable, we'll go to Sri Lanka to get the latest on anti-government mass protests that led to the resignation of Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa. This week, former Prime Minister and Rajapaksa ally Ranil Wickremesinghe was officially sworn in as the next President. Protesters gathered outside the presidential palace demanding his resignation.

What's next for Sri Lanka as millions struggle with daily power outages and shortages of basic necessities, including fuel, food, and medicines?

Nearly five million people, or 22 percent of the Sri Lankan population, are in need of food and assistance, and 86 percent of families are resorting to at least one coping mechanism, including eating less, eating less nutritious food, and even skipping meals altogether, according to the World Food Program.

On this edition of Your Call, we're discussing the future of the climate crisis now that West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin has refused to support a stripped down version of the Democrats' package to invest billions in clean energy. Manchin has accepted more money from the oil and gas industry than any other senator this election cycle. His decision dooms what could have been the largest climate bill in US history.

Yesterday, President Biden announced $2.3B in funding for FEMA to help communities prepare for disasters by expanding flood control and retrofitting buildings, as well as an expansion of the federal Low Income Energy Assistance Program. The president is also directing the Department of the Interior to propose new offshore wind areas in the Gulf of Mexico, which could power more than 3 million homes.

Climate activists say these are small steps. They want President Biden to declare a climate emergency and stop issuing permits for new fossil fuel infrastructure, including pipelines. Biden said he will announce executive actions in the coming weeks.

On this edition of Your Call, we're discussing the Road to Healing tour, an initiative organized by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to hear from survivors of Indian boarding schools. The tour kicked off on July 9 in Oklahoma and is expected to run through next year.

The United States operated or actively supported 408 Indian boarding schools between 1819 and 1969, according to the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report. More than 150 were run by churches, about half each by Catholic and Protestant groups, according to the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition.

By 1926, 60,889, or nearly 83 percent of Indian school-age children, attended boarding schools. Many were sexually abused, beaten for speaking their language, and stripped of their culture and traditions. What does healing and justice mean to survivors and their descendants?

On this edition of Your Call, we're discussing the rollout of the 988 Suicide and Crisis Hotline, which is now live. People experiencing mental health crises can call or text 988 to seek support from a trained mental health professional.

The goal is to connect people immediately and reduce confrontations with law enforcement. The new line will also provide specialized services for Spanish speakers, veterans, and LGBTQ youth, who are four times more likely to attempt suicide than their peers, according to The Trevor Project.

This hotline will save lives, according to mental health advocates. What will it take to ensure local crisis clinics are fully funded and staffed well into the future?