Think from KERA

How staff cuts at Social Security hurt grieving families

Social security benefits help children and spouses survive after a death — but accessing them is a Sisyphean task. Chabeli Carrazana, The 19th’s economy and childcare reporter, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how DOGE gutted the Social Security Administration so there’s not enough staff to process claims, the hours on hold families must wait and how women and children are impacted disproportionately by these failures. Her article is “Widows are waiting months for the benefits meant to help them after loss.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Should mentally ill people have the right to die?

Dutch teens with mental illness can choose to end their lives though euthanasia. Charles Lane, nonresident senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how the Netherlands came to the decision to grant assisted suicide to teenagers with parental approval, what makes a mental illness diagnosis so controversial for this method of dying and to discuss a doctor who says granting these requests is the moral option. His article “When Mentally Ill Teenagers Ask to Be Put to Death” was published in The Atlantic. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

What are we going to do about Cuba?

The U.S. has conducted military operations in Venezuela and Iran – will Cuba be next on the list? Jon Lee Anderson, staff writer at The New Yorker, joins host Krys Boyd to discuss why Cuba was declared a threat to U.S. national security, the dire situation of its citizens now that the island nation has been cut off from supplies, and how this all compares to 1962’s Cuban Missile Crisis. His article is “Is Cuba Next?” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

There’s no perfect substitute for human blood

Life-saving advancements have come a long way, but engineering artificial blood has been a challenge. Nicola Twilley is a New Yorker contributor and co-host of the podcast Gastropod. She talks to Krys Boyd about the breakthroughs — and setbacks — in the quest for artificial blood, why it’s needed more than ever, and why eyes are on Big Pharma to finance it. Her article is “The Long Quest for Artificial Blood.” Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Corporate ownership isn't why you can't buy a house

 The narrative is that private companies are buying up single-family homes and driving up prices — but the data doesn’t really back that idea up. Eric Levitz is a senior correspondent at Vox, and he joins host Krys Boyd to discuss how only about a half of 1 percent of homes are owned by institutional investors, why private equity might actually keep rents down and neighborhoods more diverse, and why he feels like a new housing bill in Congress could do more harm than good. His article is “The ‘populist’ crusade to make the suburbs more segregated and expensive.”  Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices