Author: Slate Podcasts

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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - Puerto Rico Without Power, Again

When Hurricane Maria hit in 2017, it destroyed Puerto Rico’s power grid, leaving vast swathes of the island in the dark and claiming almost 3,000 lives. $9.5 billion was set aside to rejuvenate the island’s power grid and the government-run utility company was taken over by a private one. But five years later, before Hurricane Fiona even hit, the island lost electricity. How could this happen—again? 


Guest: Gloria Gonzalez is the Deputy Energy Editor at POLITICO



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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - A Student Ran For School Board … and Won

Public schools have become hotly debated—what’s on the curriculum and what isn’t; which books are allowed and which aren’t. But one voice frequently missing from these debates is that of the people most affected: students. 


One high school senior in Idaho decided to speak up by running for school board, and he won by unseating an incumbent who had been endorsed by right-wing extremists.

 

Guest: Shiva Rajbandari, senior at Boise High School and recently elected member to the Boise School District Board of Trustees


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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - Is Hunter Biden’s Laptop Actually a Big Deal?

An obsession with Hunter Biden’s laptop has been written off as the byproduct of a right-wing media bubble—but the reality is that what you don’t know can hurt you. It’s past time for Democrats and their supporters to confront some uncomfortable facts.

Guest: Olivia Nuzzi, Washington Correspondent for New York magazine.

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Slate Books - How To!: The Price You Pay for College

College application season is approaching fast—too fast—for 16-yr old Maya and her mother, Melissa. The problem? Maya has no idea where to go or what to study. It doesn’t help that there are thousands of schools to choose from, and little transparency about their true cost. On this episode of How To!, we bring on Ron Lieber, New York Times money columnist and author of The Price You Pay for College. He shows Maya how to narrow down the list of potential colleges by asking insightful questions of the schools and, ultimately, yourself. Then he talks to Melissa about how to pay for it without harming the rest of the family’s finances. 

Ron’s questions for parents: 

  1. What do you remember your parent or parents saying to you the first time they talked about what college would cost and what, if anything, they would pay?
  2. Or if there was silence around the topic of paying for college, what did it speak?
  3. How much was your parent or your parents willing to pay for your education? How did you feel about that? 
  4. If your parents paid your way, is it possible that you should not feel obligated to do the same, given how much the world has changed?
  5. And if your parents paid nothing, have you asked yourself whether 15 years of extreme thrift starting now (or going deep into debt 15 years from now to pay for your child’s first-choice college) may not erase whatever pain lingers from that period long ago -- or may create new conflict with your spouse and kids?
  6. How much might you be willing to borrow -- or delay repayment of your own student loans?
  7. How long are you willing to delay retirement to meet this goal?


If you liked this episode, check out: “How To Raise a Future College Athlete.” 

Do you have a question without an answer? Send us a note at howto@slate.com or leave us a voicemail at 646-495-4001 and we might have you on the show. Subscribe for free on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen.

Podcast production by Derek John, Rosemary Belson, and Kevin Bendis.  

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What Next | Daily News and Analysis - Abortion Can’t Be Settled by the States

For years anti-abortion activists have argued that Roe v. Wade wasn’t just immoral, it was federal overreach, and abortion laws should be written on the state level. Only months after Roe’s overturn, district courts are hearing cases that demonstrate why that won’t work—and Republican senators are proposing a national ban on abortions after 15 weeks.


Guest: Mark Joseph Stern, senior writer covering courts and the law for Slate. 


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Slate Books - Gabfest Reads: Searching for a Happy Ending

John Dickerson talks with author Ada Calhoun about her new memoir, Also a Poet: Frank O’Hara, My Father, and Me. What started as Calhoun’s attempt to finish the biography of Frank O’Hara that her father started, turned into a gripping story of Calhoun’s relationship with her father. Calhoun and Dickerson talk about not pulling punches when it comes to how nice family members are, why you can’t pre-plan a happy ending, and what her father thought of the book. 


Tweet us your questions @SlateGabfest or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages could be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)


Podcast production by Cheyna Roth

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Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts - Lady Justice and Charlottesville Nazis

Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Roberta Kaplan, who along with co-counsel Karen Dunn brought a successful civil suit against twenty-four neo-Nazi and white supremacist leaders responsible for organizing the racial- and religious-based violence in Charlottesville in August 2017. They discuss how the KKK Act of 1871 applied to discord channels and now January 6th defendants. And they explore the complicated relationship women find themselves in with the law in this moment, as defenders of rights but also as constitutional afterthoughts. Dahlia Lithwick’s new book is Lady Justice: Women, the Law and the Battle to Save America.

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