Stories with The Apple Seed

Guest: Eric Hoover, Chronicle of Higher Education Acceptance emails will soon be landing in inboxes – if they haven’t already. Social media feeds are buzzing with excited posts from proud parents of the latest young people to be “#BYUbound.” Brigham Young University seems to be among the earliest in the nation to get acceptance notices out. It’s also near the very top of the nation in something called “yield rate.”

Guest: Andrew King-Ries, JD, Professor of Criminal Law, University of Montana, former state prosecutor It takes a lot of courage for victims of domestic violence to speak out against their abusers, so when a perpetrator is successfully prosecuted, it’s a victory. At least that’s what former prosecutor Andrew King-Ries used to believe. But he had one victim tell him he had ruined her life when her abusive boyfriend was locked up. What more was he, as a prosecutor, supposed to do? King-Ries has come to believe the justice system could be doing a lot more for victims of domestic violence.

Guest: Rick Edwards, PhD, Director, Center for Great Plains Studies, Emeritus Senior Vice Chancellor, Professor of Economics, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Abraham Lincoln, who of course issued the Emancipation Proclamation, also signed into law The Homestead Act of 1820, which reshaped the American West and was – according to the National Park Service, one of the “most visionary . . . pieces of legislation in American history.” Today, 20 percent of us in America have an ancestor who was a homesteader. They story of hardscrabble life on the frontier is deeply ingrained in our national identity, with special thanks to Laura Ingalls Wilder and Willa Cather.  But did you know that historians typically see the Homestead Act in less flattering light? They say it was ineffective, filled with fraud and central to the displacement of American Indians. Which vision is more accurate?

Guest: Michael Sitver, Founder, Letterjoy Those of us of a certain age, remember the excitement of finding a handwritten letter waiting like a little present in your mailbox. This was back when, long-distance phone calls were expensive and texting was a sci-fi dream. The daily check at the mailbox was a highlight because it brought more than just bills and ads.  A 21-year-old undergraduate political science major at The University of Chicago has founded a company that brings that feeling back. It’s called Letterjoy, and it delivers a weekly letter, with a twist: they’re re-creations of historic letters between famous people. For example, a young Wilbur Wright writing to the Smithsonian to request research about birds and flight. Which is the kind of thing you had to use letters for before the internet! If you would like a letter sent to you, click here.

Guest: Joseph Mead, JD, Assistant Professor of Law and Urban Studies, Cleveland State University Does freedom of speech in America extend to the homeless guy sitting in the median of the freeway exit with a sign that says, “Cold and Hungry, Please Help”?  Cities across the country have laws limiting when and where people can beg for money in public. But those laws are having trouble surviving court challenges lately.

Guest: Társilo Girona, PhD, NASA Postdoctoral Fellow, Jet Propulsion Laboratory When New Zealand’s Ruapehu volcano erupted in September 2007, scientists weren’t really expecting the eruption, but luckily it came at the tail end of the winter ski season so the mountain’s popular resorts weren’t as packed as they’d usually be. No one died in the eruption. One person was seriously injured. Looking back at the geologic record of Ruapehu, one NASA scientist has found that there were clues that the volcano was about to blow – clues that could help predict future eruptions.