UpFront

Are critical voting rights bills in the Senate finally seeing support from the Biden Admin?; Omicron’s impact on airlines; The state politics of remote learning; Plus are far-right candidates shifting power in rural districts?

The late Representative John Lewis (D-Ga.) speaks at a press conference at the House Triangle in Washington, D.C., to call for reforms to restore voting rights. June 25, 2019 marked six years since the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Shelby County v. Holder. The decision gutted the Voting Rights Act, making it easier for states and localities to revert to discriminatory practices that restrict voting rights, with a particular impact on people of color, Native Americans, the disabled and students. | Image credited to Public Citizen is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

On today’s show:

0:08 – How are the voting rights bills are shaping up in the Senate? We discuss with Pastor Michael McBride (@impastormike_), National Director of Faith in Action’s LIVE FREE campaign and Elizabeth Hira (@ElizabethHira), Policy Counsel and Spitzer fellow in the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice.

0:34 – How has the COVID surge caused by the Omicron variant impacted airlines? We speak with Madhu Unnikrishnan (@munnikrishnan), Editor of Airline Weekly and Skift.

1:08 – We discuss the state politics of remote learning with Kitty Kelly Epstein, educator, scholar, and host of KPFA’s Education Today, which airs every other Friday of the month at 2:30 PM.

1:34 – We discuss recent reporting from Hannah Allam of the Washington Post on the far-right, Three Percenters moving in on a local school board race in rural Eatonville, WA with former candidate for Eatonville School Board, Sarah Cole and the far-right candidates shifting power in rural districts with Kate Bitz (@katebitz), organizer, researcher, and Program Manager with the Western States Center. The resource Kate Bitz referenced at the end of this segment: Strengthening Local Government Against Bigoted and Anti-Democracy Movements

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