Tagged: Stateside

With the Supreme Court set to take up two cases involving same sex marriage, the issue is on many minds.

On today's show, we head Up North where a Native American tribe is one of the first in the country to legalize same sex marriage.

And, a unique exhibition of prisoner art reflects life for those artists in-prison and once they re-enter society.

But first today, it seems there’s a fair degree of attention paid to the question of trust.

It seems there’s a fair degree of attention paid to the question of trust, as in, “how much do citizens trust their elected officials?”

We’ve seen citizen trust in the federal government drop dramatically.

And surveys find that, while citizens tend to trust state government more than the federal government and their local government more than federal and state, those citizen to government trust levels tend to be low.

But has anyone ever asked how much do elected officials trust their citizens?

Trust is a two-way street.  Yet, this question gets virtually no attention.

That’s why CLOSUP, the University of Michigan’s Center for Local, State and Urban Policy, decided to put that question to local government leaders in its recent Michigan Public Policy Survey.

It’s an interesting “snapshot” of the state of trust between us and the people we’ve elected to lead us.

We sat down with Tom Ivacko from CLOSUP to tell us what exactly happened when politicians were asked if they trust the people that voted for them.

Listen to the full interview above.
 

What would it take to get humans to Mars?

For the last seven months, NASA's rover 'Curiosity' has crawled all over the planet's dusty red Gale Crater.

As it explores, the rover has sent back all sorts of information to Earth for further investigation.

Most recently, a report of a rock sample collected by Curiosity shows that, yes, ancient Mars could have supported living microbes.

But let's go one step further. What would it take for human beings to get to Mars?

Ben Longmier is an Assistant Professor of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan College of Engineering and researches electric propulsion, spacecraft design and basic plasma physics.

Michigan Radio's Cynthia Canty spoke with Longmier about the challenges and possibilities of getting humans on Mars.

Click the link above to hear the full interview.

Students who attend a public Kalamazoo high school for their entire high school career and live in the district during those four years have the opportunity to attend a Michigan college or University for free.

This, of course, is old news.

The Kalamazoo Promise was announced in November 2005 and has since proven to be one of the most groundbreaking educational programs in the state.

On March 19, the 18th Annual Exhibition of Art by Michigan prisoners will open at the Duderstadt Center on the North Campus of the University of Michigan.

The exhibition is a extension of the Prison Creative Arts Project spearheaded by University of Michigan Professor Buzz Alexander and is the largest exhibition of prisoner art in the country, containing some 300 works by over 200 artists.

Founded in 1990, PCAP "facilitates the opportunity to create original works of art in correctional facilities, urban high schools, and communities across the state of Michigan."

The project is affiliated with the Department of English Language and Literature, Alexander's department.

"When we come in (to prisons) we are in awe and we bring respect to the artists," Alexander said. "This year there are 428 works of art in the show that prisoners have been preparing for all year."

Alexander noted that the exhibition is a way for the artists to gain visibility. One artist talked with a PCAP facilitator about how it's a bridge that connects her to the outside world.

Today's biggest headline comes from Detroit as Governor Rick Snyder appointed the city's emergency manager. 

Earlier, Michigan Radio closely followed the day's events with updates leading up to Snyder's announcement.

At 2 p.m., the announcement was made. Michigan Radio's Zoe Clark and Tracy Samilton spoke with Cynthia Canty live as history was made.

Cyndy also spoke with Tom Barrow. Barrow twice ran for Mayor of Detroit in the 1980s against Coleman Young, and in 2009 against Dave Bing.

He has been a leading opponent of the appointment of an emergency manager for the City of Detroit.

He joined us from Detroit.

Listen to the full interview above.