UN 75th Anniversary, Female Coppersmith, Afterschool Programs

09/30/20 • 104 min

Mixed Verdict on the United Nations as it Turns 75 (0:30) Guest: Eric Jensen, Professor of International Law, Brigham Young University The United Nations is celebrating its 75th anniversary. What’s there to celebrate? Hawaii’s Beaches are Disappearing. Here’s Why. (22:44) Guest: Kammie-Dominique Tavares, Graduate Researcher, University of Hawaii at Manoa Doesn't a vacation to a beach somewhere just to relax sound nice? Hawaii’s always a good choice–when there’s not a pandemic restricting travel, of course. But Hawaii’s beaches are disappearing at an alarming rate because of rising sea levels and something called “shoreline hardening.” If both continue as they are right now, O’ahu could lose 40 percent of its beaches over the next thirty years. Ticket Resales Business (34:18) Guest: Barry Rudin, Owner of Barry’s Ticket Service, Southern California This would have been a lucrative 24 hours for ticket re-seller Barry Rudin. He's based in Los Angeles where the Dodgers are playing at home and the Lakers are in the NBA finals. But alas, no fans are allowed inside, so there's no business for Rudin. Meet the (Quite Possibly) Only Female Coppersmith in the US (52:49) Guest: Sara Dahmen, Coppersmith at House Copper & Cookware, Author of "Copper, Iron, and Clay: A Smith's Journey." Sara Dahmen was a wedding planner when one day she decided to give it up and become a coppersmith. She now makes cookware out of her garage with techniques from hundreds of years ago, and she’s probably the only female coppersmith in the entire country. But then, there just aren’t very many coppersmiths anymore, male or female. Metal crafting is a dwindling art, and as the experts die, their knowledge is dying with them. Could women save metal crafts? The Mystery of Mass Whale Strandings (1:12:23) Guest: Scott Baker, Professor of Fisheries and Wildlife, Associate Director of the Marine Mammal Institute, Oregon State University Wildlife officials in Australia have just completed a week-long effort to rescue 470 whales that got stranded on a sandbank off the coast of Tasmania. They were able to save about 100 of them. Whales periodically get stranded on beaches around the world. This was the largest mass whale beaching in Australia’s history. What marine scientists aren’t sure of, is why this happens. How Afterschool Programs Can Better Help Parents (1:27:37) Guest: Carolyn Barnes, Professor of Public Policy and Political Science, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University, Author of "State of Empowerment: Low-Income Families and the New Welfare State" Nearly one out of four low-income schoolchildren in the country participate in an after-school program funded by the federal government. The kids get tutoring, homework help and basic supervision. Their parents get some peace of mind knowing their kids are in good hands during that window between the end of school and the end of the work day.

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COVID-19 Vaccine Status, Iron Empires, PBS

When Will We Have a COVID-19 Vaccine and How Will We Know It’s Safe? (0:33)
Guest: William A. Petri, Jr., Wade Hampton Frost Professor of Epidemiology, Professor of Medicine, Pathology, Microbiology, Immunology & Cancer Biology, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Virginia School of Medicine
During the debate on Tuesday night, President Trump said a vaccine is weeks away. That’s very good news and certainly attention-grabbing. Here is the latest update on the status of a COVID-19 vaccine.

A Teenaged Memoir of Surviving Genocide and the Dangers of Hate (20:12)
Guest: Amra Sabic-El-Rayess, Associate Professor of Practice, Teacher's College, Columbia University, Author of “The Cat I Never Named”
For three years as a teenager, Amra Sabic-El-Rayess lived under the constant threat of bombs, sniper fire and starvation. This was in the early 1990s. Her hometown in Bosnia and Herzegovina was under siege by Serbs intent on wiping out Bosnian Muslims like her. Amra Sabic-El-Rayess survived, in part thanks to a stray cat that attached itself to her family at the start of the conflict. “The Cat I Never Named” is the title of Amra Sabic-El-Rayess new memoir for young adults about her life during the Bosnian War.

Robocalls During the Pandemic (38:56)
Guest: Will Maxson, Assistant Director, Division of Marketing, Federal Trade Commission
Here’s a small silver lining to the pandemic: robocalls dropped off dramatically in the first several months of global lockdowns. They’re starting to tick back up again, though.

Railroad Tycoons and the Creation of Big Business in America (52:48)
Guest: Michael Hiltzik, Pulitzer Prize-winning Journalist, Los Angeles Times, Author of “Iron Empires: Robber Barons, Railroads and the Making of Modern America”
The completion of the transcontinental railroad 150 years ago changed America’s culture and economy. But the rail industry was also a pretty big disaster in those first couple of decades–deeply in debt, poorly maintained and rife with corruption. There were hundreds of shorter lines crisscrossing the country that were in cutthroat competition with each other. It was chaotic and terrible for rail travelers, as well as for the US economy. But then, somehow, they coalesced into America’s first mega corporation. The railway tycoons of the early 1900s created the big business playbook still used today–especially by tech leaders like Jeff Bezos at Amazon and Mark Zuckerberg at Facebook.

PBS at 50 Years Old (1:33:08)
Guest: Paula Kerger, President and CEO, PBS
PBS turns 50 this year. It gave us Mr. Rogers, Sesame Street, Julia Child and Ken Burns. But with Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Amazon and Apple all flooding us with new viewing options, not to mention the traditional network and cable channels that have been at it forever, what exactly is the value of PBS in 2020?