Bob Collins
Tuesday April 30, 2019
(Subject to change as events dictate. This page is updated throughout the day.)
9 a.m. – MPR News with Kerri Miller
This weekend’s shooting at a synagogue outside of San Diego is another act of violence allegedly committed by a man with ties to white supremacy and Christian nationalism. Violent acts committed by white supremacists are growing. According to a study by the Anti-Defamation League, white extremists killed nearly three times as many people in the U.S. between 2009 and 2018 as Islamic extremists did.
Guest: Michael German, retired FBI agent and a fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice’s Liberty and National Security program.
9:15 a.m. – White evangelical voters played a decisive role in putting Donald Trump in the White House. It’s a muscle developed in the 1980s when the Moral Majority coalesced and became a consistent GOP voting bloc. But since 2016, a growing number of evangelicals have grown disenfranchised with the religious right. And Democratic contenders for 2020 – such as Pete Buttigieg and Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Cory Booker – are comfortable talking about their Christian faith in the public sphere. Will they mobilize the religious left? Tuesday, we will talk to two experts in American religion and culture.
Guests: Kirsten Powers, CNN political analyst, a USA Today columnist and co-host of the Faith Angle podcast; Diana Butler Bass is an independent scholar specializing in American religion and culture. She holds a Ph.D. in religious studies from Duke University and is the author of 10 books.
10 a.m.- 1A with Joshua Johnson
President Donald Trump loves talking about the strength of the economy. He does it all the time. And sure, the numbers do look good. The gross domestic product grew by 3.2 percent in the first quarter this year. Disposable personal income rose by 3 percent as well – overall, CNBC reports that this quarter was the best first quarter the U.S. has experienced since 2015. And 71 percent of Americans believe the economy is “good,” according to a March 2019 poll.
Trump likely plans to campaign on the strong economy. But a Washington Post-ABC News poll demonstrates “a widespread belief that the economy mainly benefits people already in power.”
Who do those economic benefits reward most? And who should take the credit for the thriving economy?
Guests: Heather Long, economics correspondent, Washington Post; Sarah Anderson, director, the Global Economy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies, co-editor for inequality.com; Brian Riedl, senior fellow and member of Economics 21, the Manhattan Institute; former chief economist to Senator Rob Portman (R-OH).
11 a.m. – MPR News with Angela Davis
Research shows a correlation between homework and achievement. However, when too much is assigned or students don’t have access to the internet or proper materials, the picture grows complicated.
Guests: Annie Mason, director of elementary education at the University of Minnesota; Eleni Roulis, professor of education at the University of St. Thomas; Megan Olivia Hall, a science and agriculture teacher at Open World Learning Community and the 2013 Minnesota Teacher of the Year
12 p.m. – MPR News Presents
Live Westminster Town Hall Forum: Barbara Brown Taylor. She is an Episcopal priest, teacher and bestselling author of 14 books on religion and spirituality. Her new book is “Holy Envy: Finding God in the Faith of Others.”
1 p.m. – The Takeaway
The National Rifle Association is in turmoil. Last weekend the group’s president, Oliver North stepped down, and soon after, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced an investigation into the group’s nonprofit status.
The prison commander at Guantanamo Bay has been fired for a “loss of confidence in his ability to command” according to military officials. There are currently 40 people still in the prison after President Trump vowed to keep it open following President Obama’s failed promise to close it. How is the military weighing the cost of this project, how much care should it provide to these men, and how it should be delivered?
A closer look at the slate of investigations underway against Facebook for mishandling users’ personal information. While that’s true across the board, low-income people are especially vulnerable when it comes to safeguarding digital privacy.
Reveal and Al Jazeera have released a new investigation looking at a rehabilitation program that seeks to heal people through so-called therapeutic labor.
Who gets to make their living creating art? The Takeaway looks at the economic barriers that exist across the art world, and the work being done to break them down, by speaking with two artists with different backgrounds.
2 p.m. – BBC NewsHour
The end of an era in Japan as Emperor Akihito abdicates the throne; state governments across India clamp down on cheating in exams; the University of Cambridge in England has announced a two-year inquiry into its historical links with slavery.
3 p.m. – All Things Considered
The latest from the Noor trial; a preview of the AG Barr Senate hearing; the global return of measles; foreigners snapping up U.S. farms; college students with kids.
6:00 p.m. – Marketplace
Kidnappings are on the rise. What’s fueling them? Economics.
6:30 p.m. – The Daily
A bitter power struggle has broken out inside the nation’s pre-eminent gun rights group. We look at how the mere threat of a financial investigation plunged the National Rifle Association into crisis.
7 p.m. – The World
A turning point in the political and military stalement that’s left Venezuelans struggling for basic needs.
Also vacationers who sign up for volunteer work as part of their travel plans are inadvertently creating problems for the people they’re supposed to help…
And, why must a ship be labelled a woman? Is it appreciatin or sexism?
8 p.m. – Fresh Air
Erin Lee Carr is a documentary filmmaker and the daughter of late David Carr, a New York Times media columnist who had a large and devoted following. David Carr was addicted to drugs when Erin was born, and got sober soon after. He was both father and mentor to Erin. Erin’s new memoir, “All That You Leave Behind” is a tribute to her father. She writes that she was raised as his “little protégé”, and about what it was like to grow up in her father’s shadow. Her HBO documentaries are Mommy Dead and Dearest, based on the case of Dee Dee and Gypsy Rose, and Thought Crimes: The Case of the Cannibal Cop. Her latest documentary, At The Heart of Gold, is about the USA gymnastics abuse survivors.
