Debt Ceiling, Obesity Link to Violence, Superpower of Intuition

Debt Ceiling Showdown Looming Guest: Tim Shaw, Senior Policy Analyst, Bipartisan Policy Center Congress and President Trump have one month to pass a spending measure and raise the debt limit in order to keep the government open and able to pay its bills. But so far getting anything passed has been a challenge for the divided Republican Congress. And President Trump only fueled the fire with a recent threat to veto a spending bill and force a shutdown if it doesn’t include money for his border wall.  This is all a little déjà vu. Congress is in the habit of passing stopgap spending bills every six months or so, because getting a long-term spending bill passed in a partisan political era has proven impossible. The debt limit debate comes around about every year or so. Traffic Jams Are Data Heaven for Transit Company Guest: Mark Pittman, CEO, Blyncsy For many people who travelled to the path of totality for last week’s solar eclipse, the sun’s spectacular show was followed by many hours of sitting in traffic with hordes of other eclipse tourists heading home. That kind of mass people movement is a goldmine for the data company Blyncsy in Salt Lake City. Through a contract with the Idaho Department of Transportation, Blyncsy was able to monitor, in extreme detail, how well the state’s roadways bore up under the unusual crowds. Any community that deals with a periodic influx of cars – say for sporting events, concerts or holidays – could be better prepared with the kind of data Blyncsy collects. Obesity Linked to Teen Exposure to Violence Guest: Joy Piontak, PhD, Affiliated Scholar, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University, Research Public Health Analyst, Research Triange Institute We know that kids exposed to violence can suffer mental illness, and increasingly we’re learning about how exposure to violence effects kids’ physical health as well. Obesity researcher Joy Piontak wanted to know how violence and obesity were connected. Southern Suggestions Guest: Sam Payne, Host of The Apple Seed, BYUrad