Coal Comeback? The Sultan and the Saint, Running Out of Sand

Coal Comeback? The Sultan and the Saint, Running Out of Sand

Top of Mind with Julie Rose

  • Oct 16, 2017 11:00 pm
  • 1:44:00 mins

Is Coal Coming Back? Guest: David Blackmon, Independent Energy Analyst/Consultant, Contributor to Forbes.com President Trump repealed a moratorium imposed by President Obama on new coal mining on federal lands. And last week the EPA began the process of repealing Obama’s Clean Power Plan, which sought to limit greenhouse gas emissions from existing coal-fired power plants.  But there’s mounting evidence that the war on coal has already been won and rolling back regulations won’t bring it back. The Sultan and the Saint Guest: Alex Kronemer, Co-Founder, Unity Productions Foundation, Writer and Director of “The Sultan and the Saint” The images of Islam in the press are so often connected with terrorism and violence. That perception is very much on the mind of the creators of a new film called “The Sultan and the Saint” that will be airing on PBS later this year about an encounter between Saint Francis of Assisi and the Sultan of Egypt during the Crusades, when the Christian army was intent on destroying non-Christians. Their story is a lesson for us today. For more information on how to watch the film on PBS, click here.  Jack and Norman Guest: Jerome Loving, PhD, Distinguished Professor of English, Texas A&M University In 1981, Pulitzer-prize winning author Norman Mailer helped a convicted killer get out of prison on parole, largely because Mailer was so impressed with the inmate’s writing skills. Mailer even helped the prisoner get a book deal about growing up in the US prison system. And then, just six weeks after getting out of prison – the night before a glowing review of the book appeared in the New York Times – that prisoner, Jack Abbott, killed a New York City waiter and fled to Mexico.  It was a shocking turn of events that changed the conversation about US prisons and programs meant to help rehabilitate prisoners. It also brought condemnation down on Norman Mailer and other New York elites who made Jack Abbott a literary “It Boy” and seemed to ignore the fact that Abbott was also deeply disturbed. Jerome Loving details the story and its impact in his new book, “Jack and Norman.” Running Out of Sand Guest: Jodi Brandt, PhD, Professor, Human-Environment Systems Research Center, Boise State University Sand is like the stars – innumerable. Endless. So why then did a group of researchers recently publish an article in Science Magazine warning of a global sand crisis?  Parent Previews: Happy Death Day Guest: Rod Gustafson, Parent Previews Have you seen Groundhog Day? Imagine that, but something more fitting for its debut on Friday the 13th.  Tech Transfer: Test to Identify Breast Cancer Growth Guest: Marc Hansen, PhD, Professor of Physiology and Developmental Biology, Brigham Young University; Mike Alder, Technology Transfer Office, Brigham Young University More than 250,000 women in the US will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year. Most will undergo surgery to try and remove the tumor. They’ll likely receive radiation. And then, if the cancer has spread to elsewhere in the body, there will be chemotherapy. BYU molecular biologist Marc Hansen is developing a blood test that could tell doctors if a patient’s breast cancer has spread.

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