Viewpoints Radio
Award-winning reporting on current issues featuring America's leading experts.
The United States still has the highest number of inmates in the world, with more than 2 million people behind bars. For a segment of this population, spending weeks, months, or even years in solitary confinement is very much a reality. We speak with two criminal justice experts about the lasting effects of solitary confinement and the mental health crisis …
Imagine working for hours on end outside in temperatures exceeding 90 or 100 degrees. On top of this, there’s little shade, minimal breaks and often not enough water. This is the reality for millions of laborers who work in agriculture, construction and other industries. Why aren’t there more legal guidelines protecting these essential workers?
The wintry storm that crippled the entire state of Texas last month is estimated to cost 195 billion dollars in damages and has already been linked to dozens of deaths due to prolonged exposure of extreme cold. For several days, millions of Texans were left without heat in their homes, no running or clean water and food shortages. What factors fed into this …
Between the internet, radio, podcasts and books, there’s a wide breadth of information out there on how to get your finances in order. But sometimes the mixed advice and confusing explanations can lead to complete inaction. This week, we speak to a personal finance expert about the starting key steps you can take to build your financial future and prepare …
The 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High in Parkland, Florida was the deadliest high school shooting in U.S. history. Viewpoints speaks with high school teacher Jeff Foster who was there that day and is still an active voice in ending gun violence.
Navigating back to school this year has been challenging to say the least. With switching policies and protocols, everyone is just trying to get through the fall one day at a time. Viewpoints speaks with two education experts about the biggest barriers to learning and what online education technology can really offer students.
How can a simple police call lead to the killing of an unarmed and unresisting man? For weeks, protests and outrage have spread across the U.S. and internationally as the killing of Floyd brings racial inequality and police brutality into focus once again. Even in the midst of a pandemic, people are showing up to say they’re fed up with the lack of equal …
The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the housing crisis as many millions of Americans can no longer afford to pay rent or their monthly mortgage. Viewpoints speaks with two housing experts about why so many people struggle to find affordable housing in the U.S. and one possible solution to the problem.
On a typical day, the National School Lunch Program serves 20.2 million free lunches to students in need, according to the USDA. With sweeping school closures across the U.S. in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, millions of students are going hungry. Viewpoints discusses the new reality foodservice workers face and the balance between staying safe and …
Extreme forest fires in California; increased flooding throughout the Midwest; rising sea levels threatening much of the coastal United States. Viewpoints speaks with author Avanti Centrae and ecologist Alejandro Frid about some of these extreme weather patterns and how people across the world are changing the way they live in order to adapt to this new …
Ryan Leigh Dostie, author of Formation: A Woman’s Memoir of Stepping Out of Line, enlisted in the Army after graduating from high school and was deployed to Iraq shortly after finishing her training. In 2002, while abroad, she was raped while sleeping in her Army barracks. What followed was a series of victim-blaming tactics and unfair bias directed towards …
We cover the Norco shootout of 1980 – an extravagant bank robbery by five heavily armed criminals ending in multiple lives lost, several wounded and a police helicopter shot down from the sky. We speak with author, Peter Houlahan about that fateful day and how it forever changed police response to organized crime.
Amirah Zaveri asks Rachel Louise Snyder, journalist and author of the new book No Visible Bruises: What We Don’t Know About Domestic Violence Can Kill Us about the portrayal of domestic violence in the media and how women are rallying around this issue.
In the U.S., one in four women are victims of domestic violence. Between 2014 and 2017, the number of victims killed by their partners rose by 20 percent. Two survivors share their firsthand stories and struggles. We also speak with author, Rachel Louise Snyder, about why domestic violence persists and what can be done.
Pulitzer Prize-winning author and journalist Mark Obmascik shares the incredible story of two men fighting for opposing sides and tangled in the complexities of World War II in his book The Storm on Our Shores: One Island, Two Soldiers, and the Forgotten Battle of World War II.
In the 20 years since writing the young adult novel Speak, based on her own rape, author Laurie Halse Anderson has met with numerous audiences of adolescents. She has found a huge gap in the ways girls and boys perceive what constitutes sexual consent, abuse, and the consequences of assault.
On April 20, 1999, Sue Klebold’s son and his friend went into Columbine High School and committed one of the largest mass shootings in US history. Over the last 18 years, Klebold has been forced to cope with this horrible tragedy while managing anxiety attacks and being blamed by so many. Klebold talks about her story and the mental health messages she wants …
In the social media era, the techniques bullies use are getting more public and crueler. We look at bullying, the shame it can cause, and how it can stick with us for life.
Domestic abuse is something many women and men will experience in their lives. We talk to two psychologists familiar with the subject about what victims can do to remove themselves from the abuse and how being a witness to or a victim of abuse affects the intimate relationship, children, and the family dynamic.
The recent shooting in Parkland, Florida has ignited a public debate over gun reform, but what are the real facts about gun violence in America? And, who is actually researching the phenomenon? Researcher Adam Pah says one thing missing from the gun reform debates are the essential data points that should be informing future policy decisions.
With sexual assault allegations coming against some of Hollywood’s top producers, directors and stars, director Ridley Scott is taking a big step to distance his movie from Kevin Spacey’s soiled reputation.
Two psychologists familiar discuss what victims can do to remove themselves from the abuse and how being a witness to or a victim of abuse affects the the family dynamic.
Sue Klebold talks about her story and the mental health messages she wants every American to know.
In 1966, Civil Rights pioneer James Meredith set out on The March Against Fear, we talk to historian Ann Bausum about the history and impact of the march.
