News & Politics
Weekend America on News & Politics
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Aging Out
Each year 26,000 American teenagers in foster care make a difficult transition as they turn 18 and become adults in the eyes of the state. This weekend, 700 people will gather for a conference that connects former foster care kids with mentors and educational programs. Ellen Guettler of American RadioWorks brings us the story of one young woman in the years after she aged out of foster care.
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America's Infrastructure: St. Louis Paratransit
This weekend in St. Louis, public transit advocates are making a last push to convince voters to pass Proposition M. It would increase sales taxes by half a cent. If it doesn't pass, officials say they'll have to slash services, raise fares, or maybe both. Weekend America and the PBS television project Blueprint America sent reporter Rick Karr to St. Louis to visit the people who're most likely to suffer from service cuts.
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Prop 8 and Me
In California, a state initiative called Proposition 8 is on the ballot to ban gay marriage through an amendment to the state constitution. The outcome of Proposition 8 could affect whether other states allow gay marriage. And the race has gotten close, expensive and extremely polarized. But there are some people who, though they have strong opinions, are trying to stay above the fray.
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Obama, Japan; McCain, North Carolina
In this, the penultimate weekend before the election, you might be wondering what Obama and McCain are doing in their off-camera moments. That's what Weekend America's Krissy Clark was wondering. And she discovered that, oddly enough, Obama will be baking a lot of sweet bean cakes this weekend. And McCain will be eating a lot of turkey. You probably think we're talking about Barack Obama and John McCain. But we aren't.
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Letters: Race, Money, and Sailing
It's time to open the Weekend America mailbag and hear your responses to recent shows. This week, host John Moe learns about whether there's any way to determine world records in endurance sailing. Also we hear your responses to last week's segments on race and forgiveness at a Michigan church, and our essay from a college teacher forced to sell her books to buy food.
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My Guantanamo Diary
This weekend, Mahvish Khan is packing to go to Cuba. Not for a sunny vacation, but to visit the prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. An American born of Afghan parents, Khan has worked as an interpreter for lawyers representing Afghan detainees. Since then, she's gone back several times and has befriended some of the prisoners. She wrote about her experiences in her book "My Guantanamo Diary."
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Garageland: Brad's Little Shop of Horrors
We continue our "Garageland" series this week as we head to South Pasadena, California, to meet Brad Palmer. During the week, Brad's a make-up artist for TV shows like "CSI: New York" and "Heroes." On the weekends, though, he kicks back in his garage to make props. Brad Palmer's garage looks like any ordinary garage. Until you notice the blood on the floor. And the shelves full of body parts.
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Conversations with America: Ethan Book
Ethan Book grew up in a small Iowa town and attended the University of Northern Iowa. Along with his wife Becca and two young children, Ethan oversees a growing herd of registered Dexter cattle and a flock of laying hens, and is expanding his operation on a small family farm in Southern Iowa.
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The Obama Effect
As we head into the last week of the presidential campaign, pollsters say Sen. Barack Obama is pulling ahead of Sen. John McCain in key battleground states. Though the outcome of the race is still far from clear, Obama's historic run for the presidency has had an effect on everything from fund-raising to art. This week at the University of Minnesota, a conference called "The Obama Effect" explored Obama's impact on America.
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Independent Uprising
It's easy to see this election as being between Democrats and Republicans. Most candidates are affiliated with one party or the other. But an increasing number of voters are breaking out of party lines and defining themselves as independent. John Avlon thinks they represent the ideas of most Americans. He's the author of "Independent Nation" and a fellow at the Manhattan Institute.
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Politics on the Spot: The Houston Ship Channel
For the final installment of our series Politics on the Spot, we head to the industrial heart of Houston, the Ship Channel. Texas has some of the weakest environmental enforcement in the country, and the city of Houston has no zoning codes at all to regulate its large number of oil refineries. As Weekend America's Michael May reports, it all adds up to a bad situation for families and children living right on refinery row.
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America's Infrastructure: Delaware Aqueduct
The longest tunnel in the world supplies New York City with drinking water. And it's leaking: Just in the amount of time that this show is on the air, the Delaware Aqueduct will leak at least enough to put a football field under three and a half feet of water. It's just one part of America's infrastructure that's falling apart. Reporter Rick Karr has the story of the catastrophe that's unfolding several hundred feet underground.
