Here are a few stories that either I heard, my colleagues and friends heard, or pieces that our online friends found interesting on Michigan Radio this week.
(We want to hear about your favorites! Please add them to the comments section below)
Super Bowl Revolt! - NPR'sAll Things Considered
Wade Goodwin on yesterday's All Things Considered had a piece on independent taxi drivers who are staging protests over a new cab policy in Dallas.
The policy favors taxis equipped to run on natural gas. These cleaner, newer cabs go to the front of the pick-up line at the city-owned Love Field Airport - ahead of the traditional cabs.
The independent cab owners say the policy is discriminatory. It's expensive to convert their vehicles to natural gas - as much as $15,000 per cab. They say the policy is pushing them out of business.
Goodwin covered a protest of black taxi drivers in front of Dallas City Hall. The drivers are trying to use the attention the Super Bowl brings to leverage support for their cause.
You can listen to the story here:
Triple Jeopardy - Snap Judgement
Kyle Norris passed along this story from Snap Judgement. It's about a gay couple, Brian and Kevin Fisher-Paulson, who fostered three special needs babies - triplets.
After a year, and after the babies were nursed back to health, the babies were taken away by the foster agency. The gay couple says if they were not gay, they believe they would still have custody of those kids.
But they say their experience is not necessarily a systemic problem, saying "there are many, many gay and lesbian couples who are adopting out of the fost-adopt system very successfully."
Kyle Norris told me the reason she liked this story so much:
What I liked the best was the compassionate, respectful, and tender way that host Glynn Washington interviewed & spoke with the two men. I rarely hear gay couples addressed this way by interviewers.
Changes to the Health Care Law - Diane Rehm
Michigan Radio Newsroom intern Brian Short passed this one along - saying this segment of the Diane Rehm show gave clarity to a complicated subject. Brian says:
"Diane Rehm (along with panelists Mary Agnes Carey, Julie Rovner, Jeffrey Rosen) discuss the ongoing controversy surrounding President Obama's health care legislation, including an examination of the recent federal court decision that declared the recent health care law unconstitutional. The discussion about the ways in which health insurance may be legally considered categorically different than homeowner's insurance and car insurance will be of particular interest to many listeners, for its clarity on a difficult and complicated subject."
And lastly... in case you missed it...
Contents Unknown - This American Life
An oldie but a goodie (this episode first aired January, 22nd 2010). Bonked on the head and forgot everything? A classic tale in fiction, but complete memory loss really happened to David MacLean.
From TAL:
David MacLean woke up in India with no memory of who he was or how he got there. He had no choice but to let the people who recognized him—and even strangers—fill in his identity. David co-directs the Poison Pen Reading Series in Houston. He is working on a book about the experience of losing his memory.
You can listen to the story here (scroll to 36 minutes into the show).
