Spectrum

Both Diddy and former President Donald Trump have had their properties searched by law enforcement authorities pursuant to search warrants. Diddy just recently had his properties searched by Homeland Security and in August 2022, Trump had his Mar-a-Lago home searched by the FBI. Both searches took place after judges reviewed sworn affidavits from law enforcement officers alleging that evidence of criminal activity was present at the locations. Judges then issued the warrants for gathering evidence of potential crimes. In Trump’s case, the warrant called for the seizure of the allegedly classified documents from Trump’s Florida residence. Trump’s search warrant was issued after numerous requests and a subpoena for the return of the documents were unsuccessful. Subpoenas and search warrants are often confusing to the average citizen. It is sometimes difficult to understand the difference. They also should not be construed, alone, as indicators of crimes. On this edition of Spectrum, host and retired judge Tom Hodson joins with legal analyst and retired judge Gayle Williams-Byers to explain subpoenas and search warrants in understandable terms. They talk about how they are issued, executed, and enforced if there is noncompliance. They explain the complexities of these legal processes by using simple examples to which all people can relate.

Retired judges Gayle Williams-Byers and Tom Hodson dissect Donald Trump’s legal issues into understandable terms for the public. In this episode, they examine two recent rulings by Judge Scott McAfee of Fulton County Georgia concerning the dismissal of six counts from the multicount, multiparty Trump indictment. They also explain Judge McAfee’s ruling allowing Prosecutor Fani Willis to remain on the case against the former President and his co-defendants. Judges Byers and Hodson use understandable language and examples to break down complex legal motions and rulings. Both think it is important for the public to understand what is going on in the courts and both think the mainstream media is not doing an adequate job of deciphering crucial terms and legal proceedings. “People don’t trust what they don’t understand,” said Judge Byers. So, these retired judges have committed themselves to raising the public’s level of understanding. Besides both being former jurists, Judge Byers was a former Assistant Prosecutor and Judge Hodson was a former defense attorney. Therefore, they also can give insights into various attorney strategies taking place in the cases. In addition to talking about Georgia in this episode, the judicial duo also discusses pretrial judicial rulings in the Mar-a-Lago document case against former President Trump.

Psychiatrist and author Dr. Stephen A. Goldman tackles postwar life of Union Civil War soldiers and their commitment to social change. In his book, One More War to Fight: Union Veteran’ Battle for Equality through Reconstruction, Jim Crow and the Lost Cause, Dr. Goldman delves into how Union veterans’ obligation to their country did not end when they returned home. It had only just begun. Using primary sources and firsthand accounts, the book explores the role of military soldiers after returning to civilian life and the fight against racism. Dr. Goldman examines the contentious post-Civil War period and the role of former soldiers in effectuating social change. He examines the commitment of both white and African American veterans to completing the “unfinished” business” of the War as President Abraham Lincoln termed it. He looks at the contentious post-Civil War period from the perspective of former Union soldiers who survived the war to carry on the fight for equality in decades to come. Dr. Goldman, as a psychiatrist, has spent decades treating and working with combat veterans. This gives him a unique perspective that he shares with us in his book. You can read more about One More War to Fight at https://www.stephenagoldmanmd.com/.

Ohio, like most states, has vast regions that have too few lawyers based upon population needs. In Ohio, 82 of the 88 counties do not have adequate representation. Only the top six urban counties meet the standard of one lawyer per 700 people, says Chief Justice Sharon Kennedy of the Supreme Court of Ohio That leaves 6.5 million people or 56 percent of Ohio’s population without access to attorneys to meet their basic legal needs such as issues related to health care, housing, food assistance, criminal defense and cases involving children, including custody, neglect, and abuse. For example, Vinton County, Ohio only has two lawyers for a county population of 12,000 people, according to Chief Justice Kennedy. To help solve this problem, Ohio is launching a pilot program to bring young lawyers to these underserved areas. There is a partnership between the Ohio Department of Higher Education, the Ohio Access to Justice Foundation and the Supreme Court of Ohio to ease the crisis. Third year law students and lawyers who have been licensed less than eight years who want to practice in one of the underserved counties can work for a prosecutor’s office, a public defender, or take court appointed cases totaling 520 hours per year. If they apply to the program and qualify, the attorneys can earn between $30,000 and $50,000 toward repaying student loans. There is a three-year commitment with $10,000 being paid each year with the possibility of extending the term for two additional years. If this program is successful, then the partners will work to expand the program and possibly try other incentives to fill the lawyer gap. Other states also will be monitoring Ohio’s efforts. If interested, you may apply by March 15, 2024. For more information go to: https://highered.ohio.gov/initiatives/workforce-development/rural-practice-incentive-program#HowtoApply

At the end of each year, the editors and staff of the MIT Technology Review select the top 10 new technologies that will breakthrough in the coming year. The list is prepared and published to give the average person a glimpse of what is on the horizon and what might be incorporated into our daily lives, according to Amy Nordrum, executive editor. Besides being executive editor, Nordrum also is a frequent guest on WNYC and NPR’s Science Friday with Ira Flatow. The Review staff spends months discussing and analyzing what might be hot for the next 12 months. In addition, the Review allows readers to vote on an 11th addition to the list. That selection will be revealed in April. To further educate the public, Nordrum added in December five things that were not put on the 2024 Breakthrough list but items that should be watched. In this podcast episode, Nordrum breaks down each of the selections and explains its importance in understandable terms. Some items she describes are: · A-I for everything · Apple Vision Pro · 1st Gene Editing Treatment · Weight Loss Drugs · Twitter Killers On the list of five items left out, she discusses: · New drugs for Alzheimer’s disease · Sustainable aviation fuel · Male to male reproduction. Listen to the podcast to hear her description of each breakthrough, and visit their website to see more: https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/01/08/1085094/10-breakthrough-technologies-2024/

There are mutual obsessions between the news media who cover former President Donald Trump and Donald Trump and the news media. Both rely on the other and both benefit from the other. The news media makes money off covering Trump and Trump gets unending publicity from the news media, regardless of his activities or misstatements of facts. This unholy alliance is unhealthy for the true dissemination of news and for our democracy, according to Dr. Michael Bugeja, Distinguished Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences at Iowa State University. While networks like Fox, MSNBC and CNN are singularly focused on Trump’s every move, other news events no longer get covered, says Bugeja. Instead of news on national and international levels, we get a constant diet of analysis from all political viewpoints, he adds. Analysis and speculations on what might happen next have replaced hard news coverage of truly breaking events. We also are bereft of local news coverage in many parts of the country, leading to a true news void. As a result, people have migrated to their own media silos for opinions that match our own and the general public becomes more ignorant about true news and news events. Bugeja also notes that the news media are ill equipped to cover a possible autocracy if Trump gets elected in November 2024. In a recent article for Poynter, a think-tank for journalists, Bugeja said: “Tenets about impartiality and balance do not apply when covering autocracy. Journalists cannot hold a tyrant accountable by framing his viewpoint as one side of a partisan story.” Many experts, quoted by Bugeja, fear retribution towards journalist if Trump is re-elected and overt attacks being made on the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. He strongly suggests that Americans need to prepare themselves to fight an autocracy by reading and understanding the powers within our Constitution and the Bill of Rights. For more articles by Dr. Bugeja: https://www.poynter.org/author/michael-bugeja/

While 60 percent of Americans have more trust in local news than national news, local media are disappearing at an alarming rate. We are losing an average of two newspapers per week and by 2025, we will have lost nearly one-third of our local newspapers nationwide, according to a 2022 study done by Northwestern University. Currently about 20 percent of the nation lives in a news desert with little to no access to local news. Will anything replace the dying newspaper population? Local and regional non-profit news organizations are springing up across the country as an alternative. There are various business models for these non-profits depending on the region they serve. Leadership for these new publications is coming from various directions. Some leaders have had long careers in journalism, and some are early in their journalism careers. Regardless of the experience level, many journalists are seeing the revival of hyperlocal news media to be critical to the survival of our democracy. Andy Alexander is a long-time award-winning journalist. He was Washington Bureau Chief for Cox Newspapers and is a former ombudsman for the Washington Post. Today, however, he currently acts as board chair for the Foothills Forum, a non-profit news agency in Rappahannock County, Virginia. Dani Kington is a young journalist who decided to leave mainstream media to be one of the founders of a local news non-profit in Athens, Ohio…a rural part of Appalachia. They both give their perspectives on this new form of journalism and talk about what might be the next steps to saving this valuable form of public media. For more information on the Foothills Forum, visit : https://foothills-forum.org/ Read the Athens Independent here : https://athensindependent.com/

Philip Elliott, Washington correspondent for Time and author of Time’s newsletter, D.C. Brief, breaks down the status of national politics as we sit just less than a year away from the 2024 Presidential Election. Although former President Donald Trump is leading in the early polls for the GOP nomination, Elliott reminds us that the first Republican primary in Iowa is always unpredictable. He also says that GOP candidate Nikki Haley is doing well with traditional Republicans and has amassed noteworthy support and financial backing for the Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina primaries. Elliott also says that the 2024 is volatile with the two main candidates, Trump and President Joe Biden, both being unpopular with large segments of voters. If one adds potential Independent candidates like Liz Cheney and Robert Kennedy Jr. to the mix, the election picture becomes even more murky, he says. Elliott also talks about the political quagmire of issues such as funding for Israel, the unexpected support of Palestinians by many Americans, and the need for continued funding of the Ukraine war. He points to the precarious status of House Speaker Mike Johnson and the disarray among House Republicans. Finally, Elliott expresses his concerns about the ratcheting up of violent rhetoric and the impact that might have on potential violence in America. Subscribe to the DC Brief : https://Time.com/DCBrief

Recently, the fifth National Climate Assessment was released by the US government. It is an interagency effort mandated by Congress to provide the scientific foundation for informed decision making about climate change for the next five years. “The report states that no part of the US is insulated from climate change impacts even if they differ geographically,” says Dr. Geoff Dabelko, professor at the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service at Ohio University and a senior advisor for the Environmental Change and Security Program at the Wilson Center in Washington, D. C. The Assessment says we are experiencing climate changes that are “unprecedented over thousands of years.” Although the Assessment focuses primarily on the US, it also examines climate change internationally. Dr. Dabelko was one of the authors of the International Chapter. “What happens with climate change overseas does not stay overseas,” Dabelko says. “Both impacts and international responses affect the US economically, politically, and security wise.” We cannot understand climate change in isolation, he says. Instead, we must study environmental, economic, and political connectivity to form viable solutions. The Assessment stresses three terms necessary for addressing climate change: mitigation, adaption, and resilience.

Newspapers and other forms of news media are disappearing in the wake of more people getting their news through social media, The result, according to the Medill Local News Initiative, is that our democracy is being threatened; civic engagement is declining; political polarization is increasing; and misinformation proliferates. Dr. Janice Collins, multiple Emmy winning journalist and award-winning educator, says that the loss of local news strikes at the bedrock of our society and imperils our democracy., Studies show that one-third of U.S. newspapers that existed in 2005 will be gone by the end of 2024. As a country, we are losing more than two newspapers a week leaving 6.4 percent of the country without any local news outlet. Dr. Collins advocates that this crisis must be addressed at multiple levels. She asserts that more national support needs to be given to emerging local and hyper-local non-profit news efforts. She also says that the news media must embrace the newest technologies and not shy away from innovation. Dr. Collins suggests that news media must be more transparent on how they function, utilize research to target opportunities, and solicit and train citizen journalists to partner in news gathering and disseminating efforts. While disheartened by the current demise of certain news media, Dr. Collins enthusiastically embraces the future of journalism and its role in society. Dr. Collins is an associate professor of journalism at the E.W. Scripps School of Journalism at Ohio University.

Too often legal terms are used, without definitions, by the news media while covering cases involving former President Donald J. Trump. This leads to public misinformation, misunderstanding and confusion. Periodically, this season, WOUB’s Spectrum podcast will endeavor to translate these key terms and procedures into understandable language so that the average person can keep up with the legal proceedings. Retired judge and legal analyst Judge Gayle Williams-Byers along with retired judge and Spectrum host Tom Hodson will translate legalese into bite-sized digestible terms by using examples that everyone can understand. These episodes will explain what is happening in Trump’s cases from a judge’s perspective instead of from the viewpoint of the parties. If you listen, you will be able to follow the cases better and understand more. In this episode, Judge Byers and Hodson delve into “gag orders” – why they’re issued –how they’re structured-- what they really mean – and how they are enforced. They talk about the difference between the state gag order in Trump’s New York civil fraud case and the one in the federal criminal election interference case in Washington, D.C. Listen and learn about gag orders and the impact they may have on trials to come.

David Collins, an eight-time Grammy award winner, has been producing groundbreaking films, documentaries, television and streaming projects for over 25 years. The common thread to his expansive body of work is that his projects give voice to marginalized populations and feature inclusive and omni culture content. He, with his partner Michael Williams, created Scout Productions in 1994 – just five years after David’s graduation from Ohio University. Scout Productions has gone on to produce Queer Eye for the Straight Guy for Bravo in 2003, Queer Eye for Netflix in 2018, Legendary for HBO Max in 2020 and his current effort in partnership with Amy Poehler called The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning for Peacock. Collins says his award-winning company is provides culturally transformative and emotionally gripping content across multiple platforms with humor and heart. He has two new series launching in May 2023. An investigative documentary, The Secrets of The Hillsong Church, premieres on May 19 on FX and the following day on Hulu and “Merpeople” will open on Netflix on May 23. David returned to Ohio University this spring to deliver the undergraduate commencement address and shared with WOUB’s Spectrum some insights into his education, his early career, and what keeps his company and his storytelling fresh.

Two- and one-half years ago, the Goldsberry family was robbed of over $230,000 by international computer scammers who took control remotely of a family computer and emptied several bank accounts. This happened through 14 wire transfers to Thailand from December 16, 2020 to January 11, 2021. During this time, the family noticed strange transactions happening and notified the national fraud department of their bank plus the local bank authorities. To date, however, the Goldsberry family has yet to be reimbursed for their loss and they are frustrated. Retired Ohio judge Alan Goldsberry and his financial consultant son Stuart have unsuccessfully tried various means to get reimbursement. They contacted the local police, the local prosecutor and the FBI but have come up empty on a mechanism to get their money back. They have attempted multiple times to get cooperation from their bank but to no avail. They also have filed suit in federal court to get the bank to release its records. This was only partially successful. Finally, they have turned to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) but have not heard from the FDIC for several months. Meanwhile, they are running out of options. Listen to their story as a warning on how this might happen to you. If you have any suggestions on other options the Goldsberry family may have, please email them to me at hodson@ohio.edu.

This fall, the National Judicial College (NJC), located on the campus of the University of Nevada-Reno, will hold its second groundbreaking course to teach judges from across the nation how to develop and maintain anti-racist courtrooms. This four-day course will be held in Montgomery, Alabama. Last years, inaugural course took place in Memphis, Tennessee. “Participants will be challenged to examine their own beliefs, including unconscious beliefs, and consider anti-racist theory with practice as potential antidotes to bias,” says Judge Benes Aldana, president of the NJC. The course is designed to identify sources of personal and systemic bias in courtrooms and to create or facilitate effective interventions. Successful participants in the class are expected to lead “impactful initiatives to identify and mitigate sources of bias in the legal system, according to Judge Gayle Williams Byers, a Fellow at the NJC. The course curriculum includes history, experiential learning, cognitive science, and psychological and sociological research.

“Masking” is a term used for when people with commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs) get lenient treatment in our nation’s courts. This allows offenders to hide their traffic offenses and stay on our highways without retribution. Masking, although too often commonplace, is actually a violation of federal law and prohibited and states could get in trouble if their judges do not comply, according to retired Judge Gayle Williams-Byers. Too often, however, a person with a CDL may be cited for a traffic offense in his/her private vehicle. When the violator appears in court, they claim that they will lose their job if the offense is reported to a state Bureau of Motor Vehicles. As a result, says Judge Byers, prosecutors and judges too often reduce the original charge to a minor offense that is not reportable to the state, or which does not carry any points against the offender’s license. This masking process is prohibited yet in some places it is the norm. It is being opposed by the National Highway Safety Administration. To promote compliance, Congress passed the Motor Carrier Safety Improvement Act of 1999 which requires the withholding of certain federal dollars from states who are not in compliance. Yet too many judges do not know that “masking” is illegal. The National Judicial College and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are teaming up to raise awareness and thus make our highways safer.

Before traveling to the Midwest, New Yorker Fran Lebowitz talked with Spectrum’s guest host Emily Votaw and share her views on life, mortality, friends and smartphones. Lebowitz is a writer, humorist and intellectual. A child of the 1950’s, she shares her social criticism with wit, wisdom and a dose of sarcasm. In 1978, her first book of essays “Metropolitan Life” was published followed by another book of essays in 1981 called “Social Studies.” Since then, she has been a frequent talk show guest and public speaker due to her engaging banter and her sometimes skewed slant on the world and pop culture. Lebowitz spoke with Votaw recently before a speaking engagement in Marietta, Ohio.

Local television newsrooms are often chaotic with breaking news and even routine stories spreading news crews and reporters across a wide geographic area. All are gathering news for both digital distribution and broadcast purposes with multiple and constant deadlines. Someone must coordinate this mayhem and that person in the tri-state area of S.W. Ohio is Ramsay Fulbright, the Assignment Desk Manager for WCPO 9 News. He daily is sending reporters and photographers to stories across Cincinnati, SW Ohio, Indiana, and northern Kentucky. Once the news is gathered, Ramsay also leads a team of assignment editors who feed the news products to various producers of multiple local television news shows every day. Experience pays off for Ramsay. Over the years, his news judgment has been honed by his time as a news photographer. Prior to jumping to the assignment desk, Ramsay spent 11 years as either a photographer or the head photographer at stations in Arkansas, Tennessee, Arizona and at his home station of WCPO News 9 in Cincinnati. He lives in a fast-paced professional world, but he relishes the challenges. He boasts that no two days are the same and that the variety makes his job fascinating. Learn more as you listen to this edition of WOUB’s Spectrum Podcast with Tom Hodson.

In the third of our Spectrum Podcast series on the inner workings of local television news, Janelle Bass gives us insight on being a managing editor at an urban television station in Cleveland. Bass not only manages the reporters at WEWS News 5, but she also heads an award-winning podcasting project at the station. It is part of local television’s entrée into all forms of digital media: print, social media, podcasting and video. She says every day on the job presents different situations and new challenges. There is no time to be bored or to rest. She compares her job to trying to organize chaos, especially on breaking-news days. Earlier in her career, Bass served as a wedding planner in North Carolina. She admits that many of the skills she honed coping with couples about to get married are the human relations skills she now uses managing the newsroom staff. As an African American woman in media management, Janelle also has encountered some special challenges over her career even though she has a communication degree from The Ohio State University and an MBA from Baldwin Wallace University. Some employees have balked at taking direction from a woman who is also Black, according to Bass. She says that this prejudice, however, cannot get in the way of delivering the news. She says when that happens, she reminds them of the job they must do first, and then, after the job is completed, they can discuss whatever gender or racial issues are bothering them.

This the second in a series of episodes of WOUB’s Spectrum podcast focusing on the importance of local television news in our news consumption. Allison Herman is a young news director. She only graduated from journalism school at Ohio University in 2010 yet she has climbed the ranks quickly in the news busines. Already in her brief career, she’s worked in Huntington-Charleston, West Virginia, Louisville, Indianapolis, and Raleigh-Durham until she landed at WTKR-News3 in Norfolk, Virginia in 2021. About seven months ago, she was promoted to news director. In just a short time, she has changed the news coverage from leaning more towards soft news to a more hard-news format. Allison endeavors to service a large sprawling geographic area taking in numerous cities along the Virginia coast. Her viewing area also includes the country’s largest naval base in Norfolk. The region is quite diverse, racially, and economically. It also includes urban and rural areas. To meet the news needs of such a large and diverse footprint is a real challenge, according to Allison, but one that she happily embraces. Hear how this young news director attacks her job every day and get a glimpse of what it’s like behind the scenes in a local new room. Listen to how reporters, photographers, editors, directors, and producers work together to bring you the latest in local news.

A study conducted by Gallup and the Knight Foundation has found that local television news is trusted by more people than national news outlets. The latest poll showed the gap between trust in local and national news has grown by three percentage points since Gallup/Knight’s findings on this measure in 2019. “In 2021, Americans were 17 points more likely to say they trust reporting by local news organizations “a great deal” or “quite a lot” than to trust reporting by national news organizations,” the report said. As a result, WOUB’s Spectrum podcast is doing a special series on the impacts of local news by talking with representatives of three television stations: WEWS TV in Cleveland, WCPO TV in Cincinnati and WKRT in Norfolk, Virginia. We are trying to learn how local news stations operate, how they determine their content, and how they meet the needs of their audiences. Our first guests are Joe Donatelli, digital director at WEWS and Mark Ackerman, Investigative Executive Producer at WEWS in Cleveland. They discuss the need for strong investigative reporting on the local level as well as the demands of constantly changing and updating digital content. We also learn of their individual career paths.