On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes is joined in the studio by three representatives of Isthmus –Judith Davidoff, Linda Falkenstein, and Dean Robbins–who share their stories about Isthmus’s history and its arts and news coverage as the newspaper celebrates 50 years in the community. Davidoff describes how Isthmus was founded back in 1976 covering the local arts scene before it expanded to become a local news outlet. Robbins says that the newspaper became a home for alternative voices, the quirk...
Jan 26, 2026•53 min
Today, host Esty Dinur is joined by Jennifer Loewenstein to debrief about the ongoing Israeli attacks on Palestine. They discuss what’s happening in Gaza and the status of the ceasefire and Gaza “Board of Peace.” Loewenstein says that nothing has changed in Gaza since the ceasefire except the intensity of bombing, which has decreased, but not ceased. She describes the partitioning of Gaza into green and red “zones” and the “yellow line” that marks the line of Israeli occupation. Over two million...
Jan 23, 2026•55 min
Though Wisconsin hasn’t been faced with the major ICE raids as we’ve seen in LA, Chicago, and Minneapolis, there is growing concern that ICE will arrive in Wisconsin. Governor Evers said this week that the state is preparing for this inevitability. To talk about ICE raids and the larger context of anti-immigrant sentiment in the US, host Allen Ruff is joined by Armando Ibarra. Ibarra works with Voces de la Frontera , an organization with deep roots in Wisconsin. Founded in 1994, the organization...
Jan 22, 2026•51 min
Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of Donald Trump’s inauguration as the 47th president of the United States. In the past year, we’ve watched as Trump delivered on his campaign promises of “mass deportation now” with violent assaults on immigrant communities, most recently in our neighboring state of Minnesota. On today’s show, host Ali Muldrow is joined by scholar Sara McKinnon to talk about what has been predictable and surprising about the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement...
Jan 21, 2026•54 min
This Thursday, January 22, is the 53rd anniversary of the passing of Roe v. Wade , which was overturned by the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization in 2022. On today’s show, host Dana Pellebon discusses abortion rights with two representatives from Free & Just , Veronica Ingham and Laurel Marcinkus. Free & Just is an organization working nationally to amplify the stories of everyday people and demonstrate the devastating consequences of abortion bans across the country. Free &...
Jan 20, 2026•55 min
On today’s show, host Esty Dinur is joined by Alfred W. McCoy to talk about his latest book, Cold War on Five Continents: A Global History of Empire and Espionage , available from Haymarket Books. His book offers an intimate portrait of both covert operatives and antiwar activists, thus humanizing a history often told in impersonal terms of nuclear arsenals or diplomatic ententes. Turning away from the usual focus of the Moscow-Washington stalemate, McCoy looks at the regions of the world where ...
Jan 16, 2026•52 min
On December 14, hard-right candidate José Antonio Kast was elected as Chile’s president with over 58% of the vote. Kast built his campaign around the promise of expelling undocumented migrants and has been called the “Trump of Chile.” On today’s show, host Allen Ruff is joined by journalist Nyki Duda to talk about the political history of Chile and what led to the election of Kast. Duda says that what makes Kast different from other far-right leaders like Trump or Bolsonaro, is that he developed...
Jan 15, 2026•53 min
At a time when it feels like our social fabric is being torn apart, today’s show is about the power of art to pull people back together. Host Ali Muldrow is in conversation with Issis Macias , Lesley Numbers , and Emily Popp about the current exhibit at Art + Literature Laboratory, Pulling Together: Work from Madison’s Roundhouse Studios . Roundhouse Studio houses 47 artists, and each of their studios is like a little train car, “chugging down the track” to affordable and sustainable art careers...
Jan 14, 2026•55 min
On today’s show host, Dana Pellebon is joined in the studio with long-time Madison leader, Anthony Cooper Sr. the CEO and Founder of Focused Interruption which provides community violence intervention and prevention in Dane County. Their work includes mentorship, trauma-informed care, and direct support to survivors of violence and individuals seeking a fresh start. Cooper discusses how his experience of incarceration paved the way for the work that he’s doing now with Focused Interruption and h...
Jan 13, 2026•54 min
Last week the federal government reduced the number of vaccines it recommends for children in the US from 17 to 11. The CDC made these changes without the approval from a federal panel. On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes takes a look at these changes and their implications for public health with two experts, Mary Hayney of the UW School of Pharmacy and Kia Kjensrud of Immunize Wisconsin . They break down the latest 6 changes to recommendations for the HPV, Hepatitis A, Rotavirus, RSV, flu and ...
Jan 12, 2026•53 min
On Wednesday, ICE agents in Minneapolis shot and killed Renee Nicole Good. Hours later, immigration officials raided a high school in the same city; and in Portland, ICE shot two additional civilians. In response, the Trump administration has been blaming the victims and promoting new expansive definitions of “terrorism” to silence dissent. To talk about this, host Esty Dinur is joined by independent journalist, Ken Klippenstein . They unpack Trump’s recent national security directive which list...
Jan 09, 2026•53 min
On today’s show, host Allen Ruff is joined by Stephen Zunes to talk about his recent article in The Progressive, “The Real Reason Trump Invaded Venezuela: It’s not drugs, democracy, or even oil. It’s power.” Following the US’s abduction of Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, Zunes breaks down the Trump administration’s motivations for seizing the state leader and Trump’s vision for the US in the Western Hemisphere. He says the Trump administration is telling a number of lies to justify their a...
Jan 08, 2026•49 min
If you’re not hungry already, today’s show is bound to whet your appetite. Host Ali Muldrow speaks with local foodie, Lindsay Christians, about all the good eats of 2025. They talk about what bars, cafes, food carts, fast casual chains, and bakeries closed and opened in 2025 , and what they’re looking forward to in 2026. There’s a lot of promise on the horizon: from the opening of Ahan’s new companion bar across from their current location on Willy St., Ledger Coffee Roaster’s new location on Wi...
Jan 07, 2026•55 min
Today is the deadline for candidate filings in the state of Wisconsin. To break down the races in this busy election year, host Dana Pellebon speaks with three powerhouse local journalists, Christina Lieffring, Enjoyiana Nururdin, and Faye Parks. There was a general sense of surprise and excitement at the number of contested races. Nururdin says that she’s noticed more people wanting to be active at the local level, including with the school board and Dane County Board. And Parks has noticed peo...
Jan 06, 2026•54 min
Corn, extreme heat and the military , and skiing are all subjects featured on Floodlight , an independent, nonpartisan newsroom that investigates the corporations and political interests stalling climate action. On today’s show, host Douglas Haynes speaks with Dee J. Hall, an award-winning Wisconsin journalist and Editor in Chief of Floodlight. Hall says that her work at Floodlight strives to be “locally relevant and nationally resonant.” They talk about Floodlight’s mission, impact, and recent ...
Jan 05, 2026•53 min
In 2025, the state of Montana voted for Trump by nearly 20 points. But Montanan’s support for the president is waning because of the administration’s policies on public lands. To unpack the effects of DOGE cuts to public land agencies, host Esty Dinur is joined by journalist Cassidy Randall, author of a recent article, ‘I Didn’t Vote for This’: A Revolt Against DOGE Cuts, Deep in Trump Country . Randall says that the DOGE cuts that started last February are bad for public lands beyond the nation...
Jan 02, 2026•53 min
On today’s show, guest host Bert Zipperer speaks with dairy journalist Pete Hardin. They recap the big stories in the agricultural industry over 2025, in an extension of their coverage on their weekly feature on WORT, The Milkweed . Dairy and cheese production is quintessentially Wisconsin, since the time that settler farmers brought their herds to regenerate the land cleared of forests by an earlier generation of settlers. Hardin calls Wisconsin’s dairy industry the greatest non-extractive econ...
Dec 31, 2025•56 min
In 2025, a record $60 billion was invested in building AI data centers around the world, many of them in the US and Canada. Proposals for data centers are popping up across Wisconsin, in Mount Pleasant, Menominee, Beaver Dam, Dane County and beyond. These “hyperscale” complexes use anywhere between 5-50 megawatts of power and take up hundreds of acres of land. To talk about the growing opposition to AI data centers across the nation, host Douglas Haynes is joined by three guests: Michael Greif o...
Dec 29, 2025
In this archival show from January 1, 2001, A Public Affair host Esty Dinur speaks with Professor Avraham Balaban about the truth on growing up on a kibbutz. Did you enjoy this story? Your funding makes great, local journalism like this possible. Donate here The post From the Archives: Growing up on a Kibbutz appeared first on WORT-FM 89.9 ....
Dec 26, 2025•59 min
