Each week, WBEZ and Reset take you inside the biggest local and state stories from the last 7 days with help from 2 great guests. This week, WBEZ’s Patrick Smith and Block Club Chicago’s Dawn Rhodes break down everything from COVID-19 vaccine distribution to the stimulus package to what Chicago is doing about a rash of police suicides.
For more Reset interviews, subscribe to this podcast and please leave us a rating. That helps other listeners find us.
For more about the program, go to the WBEZ website or follow us on Twitter at @WBEZreset.
It's been one year since Breonna Taylor was shot and killed by police in her own apartment. In that year, Taylor's namehas become a national symbol in the fight against racial injustice and police violence. But beyond the symbolism, many feel that actual progress has been disappointing.
In Louisville, Taylor's death has made other young Black women reflect on their own safety. Reporter Jess Clark of member station WFPL spoke to Black high school students who say Taylor's death changed the way they look at police.
Amid the national protests against police brutality and systemic racism, Kentucky State Rep. Attica Scott marched with her daughter. A year later and Scott has introduced legislation in Taylor's name that would ban no-knock search warrants, among other things. Scott spoke with NPR about what change she has seen in the last year.
This week CrowdScience investigates the information superhighway connecting mind with body. The Vagus nerve is part of our parasympathetic nervous system, delivering information from all our major organs to the brain stem, and stimulating it can help us switch off our fight or flight response and calm us down. But listener Mags wants to know what science says about its impact on our general wellbeing? Marnie Chesterton learns some deep breathing techniques and discovers how the length of our exhale is closely linked to our heart rate, all of which is important for developing something called vagal tone. Cold water immersion also said to stimulate the Vagus, so Marnie braves a freezing shower, only to discover she needs to get her face wet but keep the rest of her body dry, to avoid what scientists called autonomic conflict, which is when your stress response and calming response are both switched on by the same event. Activating both arms of the nervous system in this way can lead to serious heart problems in some people. New research into the gut-brain axis has shown that the Vagus nerve may be responsible for transporting the so-called happy hormone serotonin, which could have important implications for the treatment of depression. And innovations in electrical stimulation of this nerve means implanted devices may soon be used to treat inflammatory conditions like arthritis.
Presented by Marnie Chesterton and produced by Marijke Peters for the BBC World Service
Contributors:
Dr Lucy Kaufmann, Adjunct Professor of Neurology, NYU
Mike Tipton, Professor of Human and Applied Physiology, University of Porstmouth
Mark Genovese, Emeritus Professor of Medicine, Stanford University
Dr Karen-Anne McVey Neufeld, Brain Body Institute, McMaster University
"Sometimes I've heard people talk about losing a child and people say it's like losing a limb. And as someone who's lost both things, I just want to say, the realities are very different." Musician and writer Christa Couture has experienced way too much of people trying to convey sympathy and instead expressing their discomfort about disability and death.
Content note: we talk about ableism, cancer and bereavement. Part of the conversation is about the deaths of two of Christa's babies, so stop listening at the 20-minute mark if you need not to hear about that subject right now.
Find more about this episode at theallusionist.org/additions-losses. Christa Couture's website is christacouture.com. Her excellent new memoir How To Lose Everything is out now, and her music is available on Bandcamp, Spotify etc.
The music is by Martin Austwick. Hear Martin’s own songs at palebirdmusic.com or search for Pale Bird on Bandcamp and Spotify, and he’s @martinaustwick on Twitter and Instagram.
COVID-19 sent the money printer into overdrive. With the newly signed $1.9 trillion stimulus bill, the total spent on pandemic relief in the U.S. exceeds $6 trillion, more than WWII’s inflation-adjusted $4.1 trillion.
In this episode, NLW explores what the possible implications of this spending are for bitcoin, including:
Whether we’re likely to see if some of the $400 billion allocated for direct checks to citizens find its way into bitcoin
Whether the $1.9 trillion is just the start of a larger set of Biden Administration initiatives that will redefine our relationship with the balance sheet
NLW also does a quick regulatory roundup looking at:
The CFTC investigating Binance
U.S. Rep. Warren Davidson reintroducing the “Token Taxonomy Act”
The introduction of the “Eliminate Barriers to Innovation Act”
-
Nexo.io lets you borrow against your crypto at 5.9% APR, earn up to 12% on your idle assets, and exchange instantly between 75+ market pairs with the tap of a button. Get started at nexo.io.
-
Launching in mid-March, Casper is the future-proof blockchain protocol that finally address the blockchain trilemma. Learn more at Casper.Network.
Ulta Beauty’s CEO steps down. Docusign and JD.com decline on earnings. Bumble bounces higher. Poshmark misses the mark. Roblox has a big debut. And Dick’s Sporting Goods and Funko deliver on earnings. Motley Fool analysts Emily Flippen and Jason Moser discuss those stories, take stock of the sports betting market, and share two stocks on their radar: DexCom and Coupang. Plus, bestselling author Walter Isaacson talks about his new book, The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race.
In the late 19th century, several friends and Freemasons embarked on a strange endeavor -- creating their own secret society for the purpose of studying magic. While the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn may sound bizarre and obscure today, its existence had a profound impact on later, similar groups and systems. But what exactly was it? Perhaps more importantly -- did any of this magic work?
Today's podcast analyzes Joe Biden's speech to the nation regarding the pandemic and asks whether he's remaining funereal about the present and immediate future in order to be able to claim victory after victory because of underpromising or out of a desire to keep people under control until we can be sure the virus is fading away. And what's this about New York Democrats in the House wanting Andrew Cuomo to resign? Give a listen.
It's easy to want to throw the book at someone who's engaged in some egregious conduct, but it's harder to understand what even seemingly minor punishments entail. Author and criminal justice scholar John Pfaff discusses the incentives inherent in the way criminal justice is carried out in America.
President Biden offers up a roadmap out of the pandemic. There will be an impeachment investigation of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. Congress moves a step closer to passing the first major gun control legislation in 20 years. Correspondent Steve Kathan has the CBS World News Roundup for Friday, March 12, 2021:
