Archives for August 2022

Progress? Certainly. But has the Americans with Disabilities Act changed the country enough?

Marking its 32nd anniversary this year, the Americans with Disabilities Act has inspired the world to see disability through the lens of equity, opening opportunities for persons with disabilities to contribute to our global progress. But, from creating more consistency for academic accommodations to providing additional employment opportunities, what needs to be done in the next 32 years and beyond?

Equal Time host Mary C. Curtis talks with Nicole Patton, the manager of state government relations at the National Down Syndrome Society, and Charlotte Woodward, an education program associate at NDSS. Woodward, who was born with Down syndrome and a heart condition, is one of the few people with that disability to receive a life-saving heart transplant. She went on to graduate summa cum laude from George Mason University with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and a concentration in inequality and social change.

How Serena Transcended Tennis

After winning 23 Grand Slam singles titles, four Olympic gold medals, and over $100 million in prize money, this month Serena Williams announced the end of her professional tennis career. While her on-court accomplishments and longevity put her in the sporting pantheon, her cultural impact is just as remarkable.

Guest: Amira Rose Davis, assistant professor of Black studies at the University of Texas Austin and co-host of the feminist sports podcast Burn It All Down.

Abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention

The Department of Justice announced this month that it was investigating allegations that leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention mishandled sexual abuse accusations for decades. How have abusers exploited the church’s decentralized structure and notions of forgiveness to avoid accountability, and how have church teachings about sexuality and “purity culture” allowed the abuse to continue?

Guests:
Robert Downen, reporter at the Houston Chronicle.
Jules Woodson, co-founder and COO of Help;Hear;Heal, a nonprofit providing therapy funding for survivors of sexual abuse.

Oklahoma’s Upcoming Execution Spree

Despite its fraught history of botched executions, the state of Oklahoma is preparing to begin a 29 month execution spree this week. 25 dates have been set for men with severe mental illness, personal histories of childhood abuse, inadequate legal representation, or claims of innocence. Though these inmates have been deemed “the worst of the worst,” activist nun Sister Helen Prejean implores the world to look at fuller pictures of their lives, and seek out an alternative to the death penalty.

Guest: Sister Helen Prejean, anti-death penalty activist and author of Dead Man Walking, The Death of Innocents, and River of Fire.

The Migrants Texas Sent to New York City

As part of a stunt to protest the Biden administration’s immigration policies, the governors of Texas and Arizona have been sending bus-loads of migrants to DC and New York without any support. Immigrant advocate groups are scrambling to take care of these people, who were vulnerable well before being used as political props.

Guest: Murad Awawdeh, executive director at New York Immigration Coalition and NYIC Action

The Red States Punishing Green Businesses

State treasurers in red states have been banding together to punish companies that are trying to divest themselves from the fossil fuel industry. But it isn’t clear if, say, BlackRock needs West Virginia more than West Virginia needs BlackRock. And this new front in the culture war may come with a bill that taxpayers have to pay.

Guest: David Gelles, correspondent on the Climate desk at The New York Times, covering the intersection of public policy and the private sector.

Will Kentucky Fail Breonna Taylor Again?

When Kentucky attorney general Daniel Cameron investigated the night Breonna Taylor was killed, his office concluded that the two officers who shot Taylor acted in good faith while executing the warrant provided. The Department of Justice’s investigation, however, suggests the warrant itself had false information, without which officers would never have been at Taylor’s home in the first place. Now a candidate for governor, will Cameron pay for his inattention in this high-profile case?

Guest: Tessa Duvall, Frankfort bureau chief for the Lexington Herald-Leader.

What the DOJ Should Do About Trump

After an FBI search of Mar-a-lago last week, it was revealed that Donald Trump is being investigated for federal crimes including violating the Espionage Act, obstruction of justice, and criminal handling of government records. How can the Justice Department do its job with the former president calling the investigation a hoax and his supporters demonstrating a willingness to respond violently? Who should be worried here?

Guest: Ankush Khardori, contributing writer for New York magazine’s Intelligencer and contributing editor at Politico Magazine.

Local News Roundup: Auction at the Epicentre; CMS teacher vacancies; Airline cancellations; Optimist Hall paid parking

After two postponed auctions, the Epicentre was finally sold at auction this week to the highest and only bidder, for a bid of $95 million. The buyer is the same bank that lent the money to the Epicentre’s former owner.

Get ready to open your wallet if you go to Optimist Hall after August 15. Parking fees will now be charged, to the tune of $18. Why the change?

With just a few weeks to go, there are still hundreds of teacher vacancies at Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools. We’ll have an update.

And a transportation update including a new light rail stop, news from the Charlotte Regional Transportation Planning Organization and more.

Mike Collins and our roundtable of reporters delve into those stories and all the week’s top local and regional news on the Charlotte Talks local news roundup.

Guests:

Joe Bruno, WSOC-TV reporter

Mary C. Curtis, columnist for Rollcall.com, host of the Rollcall podcast “Equal Time”

Claire Donnelly, WFAE health reporter

Danielle Chemtob, investigative reporter with Axios Charlotte

When it’s staring you in the face, it just might be the truth

“Who are you going to believe, me or your lying eyes?”

The phrase has morphed from hackneyed joke to cliche to words to live by.

When I saw the street scene from the familiar city of Tucson, Ariz., it looked like a creation of Claes Oldenburg. But this tableau of a port-a-potty sliding into a plastic heap in the Southwestern heat was reality, not art object, something I doubt the artist, who recently died at 93 after a career of creativity, could ever have imagined.

When I lived in Tucson 30-plus years ago, we certainly had our hot days, ones where the sun seemed to be sitting on your shoulders with no relief in the weather report. But I don’t remember witnessing anything like that.

Yet, that image and so many more — wildfires all over the world, buckling airport runways and Texas roadways “bleeding” the binder that holds them together — have resulted in solutions that could only be described as temporary. Wrapping London’s Hammersmith Bridge in foil or coating Phoenix streets with a gray emulsion might work, but for how long?

And what’s to become of the iconic Tour de France? The first yellow jersey donned by the bicycle race leader in 1919 was made of wool, the thought of which is more than scary in 2022, when riders and spectators risked their lives while navigating twisty routes throughout that broiling country.

What are leaders doing about a long-term threat we feel in our cities, our homes and our bodies?

Hedging, dissembling and putting it off on our children and grandchildren, who must be thrilled at yet another problem left by the grown-ups.