News & Politics
Weekend America on News & Politics
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Economic Meltdown Music
Television news networks have figured out exactly what sort of musical arrangements work for a war on terror. But what about an economic meltdown? We talk to Peter Fish, a composer who is scoring our country's financial collapse. Fish has been crafting TV news themes for over two decades.
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VP Fight, Bailout Rescue, American Lit
Our panel of non-experts weigh in on this week's news events in a parlor game to gauge what kind of week America had. Joining us on this week's panel are: Sarah Haskins from Current TV's "Infomania"; John Ridley, editor-in-chief of "that minority thing.com"; and Bob Mankoff, cartoon editor at The New Yorker.
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Naming the Dead
From the sidewalks of St. Paul to the cobblestones of Philadelphia, Pa. Girard Avenue crosses the entire city east to west. And often it's a dividing line: Gentrifying Center City neighborhoods stop at Girard. Reporter Jonathan Menjivar was at 28th Street and Girard recently, where he found the sidewalk impossible to ignore.
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Weekend Court
Main Street and Wall Street are probably the two most cliched street names in the news right now when it comes to talking about the economy. But what about Madison Avenue? Not the one in New York City, the one in Detroit. It's the location of the city's 36th District Court. We sent Desiree Cooper there to talk with court personnel about crime. But when she got there, she found that folks in weekend court have a different priority: The economy.
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The Economy Across America
As you may know by now, the president has signed the bailout bill Congress sent him Friday. It'll be weeks, months, and maybe years before we fully understand what's gone on in this credit crisis and its implications. Marketplace's New York Bureau Chief Amy Scott left her perch over the center of the financial universe this week to hit the road and ask people across the country what's going on for them in the middle of this mess.
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Lessons from the Crash of '29
We've been watching the market rise and dip all week. Congress has passed a bailout bill to, hopefully, quell the fears of the country. It's easy to start comparing today's economic crisis to the historic crash of 1929. When banks closed after that crash, it was because people took their money out in fear. We speak with Maury Klein, professor emeritus of history at Rhode Island University.
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Conversations with America: Brian Turner
The party platforms of the presidential candidates represent the direction a whole group of people want to steer our government. But maybe here on the weekend there's a way to think more broadly about some of the issues facing our country. So we've asked some writers and thinkers what they believe should be on voters' minds as they cast their ballots. Our essay today comes from Iraq war veteran and poet Brian Turner.
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The Marfa Sessions
Marfa, Texas is no stranger to the arts. Sculptor Donald Judd moved there in the 1970s, bringing a flock of artists with him. This weekend the folks at Ballroom Marfa, a local gallery, open a series of sound installations that artists have created and installed all over town. We've gathered a few of the artists to tell you about how their projects relay the sounds of Marfa.
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Politics on the Spot: Emergency Room
For election season, we're taking you around the country to hear how some of the big issues at stake are playing out on the ground. This week we're tackling one of the most complex issues on the candidates' agendas: health care. To get at it, we sent WCPN's Mhari Saito to the MetroHealth System hospital in Cleveland. It's considered the hospital of last resort for the uninsured in the county.
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Congress on the Bailout, McCain on the Campaign
The financial crisis shifted from Wall Street to Capitol Hill as Congress tried to hash out a bailout for the financial industry. The price tag could be as high as $700 billion. Is the bailout good news, bad news, or no news?
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Politics and the Bailout
The market meltdown on Wall Street converged with Presidential politics this week. CQ Politics reporter Jonathan Allen takes us to the high drama unfolding in Washington as members of Congress wrestle with the the biggest bailout in American history.
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State of Suburbia
The state of today's suburbs has become far more complicated since Levittown first was founded. With concerns about energy, urban planning and infrastructure, contemporary suburbanites have a lot more on their minds than just buying a home. To find out where the suburbs stand today, we spoke with Dolores Hayden, a professor at Yale University who's written extensively about suburbia.
