Gun Lawsuit, Women’s Sports, Tiny House

Connecticut Supreme Court Opens a Door to New Options for Gun Control Advocates Guest: Adam Winkler, Professor of Law, UCLA School of Law New Zealand is reeling from the its worst mass shooting in decades:50 people murdered and dozens more injured in a shooting spree at two mosques late last week. New Zealand’s prime minister has promised changes to that country’s gun laws will come soon. After similar tragedies in the US, Congress has struggled to find solutions to our gun violence problem, but the Connecticut Supreme Court has opened the door to one-way victims can push for change. The court has said families of those killed in the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012 can sue the maker of the gun used in the attack. That’s despite a federal law meant to protect gun manufacturers from being held liable for what people do with their firearms. Gender Inequity in Pro Sports Guest: Mikaela Dufur, Professor of Sociology, BYU In professional sports here in the US, men’s teams and players are usually the most popular. But with soccer, it’s the opposite. The US Men’s team has never won a world title, while the women have won three World Cups, four Olympic gold medals and they’re the most successful international women’s team in soccer history. I’m not even a big soccer fan, and yet even I remember that epic penalty-kick goal Brandi Chastain scored to win the World Cup title in 1999. During all of that time, the US women’s team has also been waging a battle in boardrooms and courtrooms over gender discrimination. The entire team has just filed a lawsuit accusing U.S. Soccer of paying the women less than the men and forcing them to play in more dangerous conditions. Living The Tiny Life Guest: Megan Carras, Researcher, School of Geography & Sustainable Development, University of St. Andrews As you’re Marie Kondo-ing your way to a simpler life, have you been tempted by the thought of really downsizing? Like, tiny house style? Imagine your entire life fitting into a living space of just a few hundred square feet? The Far Side’s Enduring Popularity Guest: Kerry Soper, Professor in the Department of Comparative Arts and Letters, Brigham Young University, Author of “Gary Larson and The Far Side” Cows, cavemen, lumpy not-so-smart humans and animals always outsmarting them. Gary Larson’s strange, but smart, humor made The Far Side a hit. Every year, I’d give my dad the 365-day calendar and neither of us could bring ourselves to throw away the day’s comic when it was time to turn the page. So Dad had file folders full of them. Now it’s been 20 years since Larson retired and still The Far Side has an avid following. Living High and Feeling Low Guest: Brent Kious, Professor of Psychiatry, University of Utah Suicide rates are on the rise in America and researchers have noticed a strange pattern in the data: the highest rates are in the most mountainous states -Wyoming, Alaska, Montana, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Idaho and Nevada. The Importance of Knowing More About Stroke Symptoms, Prevention, and Recovery Guest: Gary Epler, Physician, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, Author of “Alive with Life” Last week, actor Luke Perry died of a massive stroke at the age of 52. He was a star in Beverly Hills 90210 and more recently in Riverdale. It’s a sobering reminder to those of us in middle age, inclined to think strokes only happen to the elderly or people in poor health.