WPKN: Politics, Policy, and Planet Podcast

Dina Brewster, director of the Hickories, a CSA farm in Ridgefield, CT, discusses her work with the ecotype project, a collaboration focused on growing and distributing "source-identified" native plant seeds to restore local habitats, increase biodiversity, and support the food system.Also: the Small Farms Report with Steve Munno from Massaro Farm, the Honey Bee Update with Vincent Kaye, and Diane's Hot Topics.Hosted by Richard Hill and Diane Lauricella

Erika Padilla, legal advocate with OLA -- Organización Latino Americano -- which provides a panoply of support services to immigrants on the East End of Long Island describes the work of her organization and the many ways it interfaces with the population and culture of that region.Interviewed by Richard Hill 

Interview with Pierre F. D'Haiti, community engagement officer at Bridgeport, CT's Housatonic Community College, conducted by Scott Harris. Pierre D’Haiti talks about two workshops sponsored by WPKN during Latino Heritage Month at HCC on Sept. 17 and 29. The sessions from 7 to 9 p.m., will focus on immigrant rights and safety, addressing such questions as, What should you do if ICE stops you, and what are your rights? What is the red card? What is the red folder? If you don’t know the answers to these questions and you’re either a possible enforcement target or know someone who might be, the events could be life-saving.

Interview with Micah Sifry, editor of the Connector newsletter, conducted by Scott Harris.Micah Sifry discusses his recent article, “Keep Calm and Protect Democracy,” on the issues of Pro-democracy activists and veteran organizers alike struggling with information overload and outrage fatigue — while also reflecting on his recent conversation with Ian Bassin, the executive director of Protect Democracy on the seven steps to autocracy and how to resist them.

Interview with Melvin A. Goodman is a senior fellow at the Center for International Policy and a professor of government at Johns Hopkins University, conducted by Scott Harris.Melvin Goodman, the national security columnist for Counterpunch.org, talks about his recent commentary, “Trump and the Post-American World,” and Trump’s recent attack on a speedboat that killed 11 on board off the coast of Venezuela and the U.S. naval buildup in the region.A former CIA analyst, Goodman is the author of Failure of Intelligence: The Decline and Fall of the CIA and National Insecurity: The Cost of American Militarism.

Interview with Brett Edkins, Stand Up America’s managing director of policy and political affairs, conducted by Scott Harris.Brett Edkins, Stand Up America’s managing director of policy and political affairs, discusses his group’s work defending democracy, opposing Trump’s military deployments to Los Angeles, Washington, D.C. and likely other U.S. cities in the Trump-GOP attempt to rig the 2026 midterm election — as well as the work Stand Up America is doing with the national “Not Above the Law Coalition.”

Interview with Aziz Dehkan, executive director/lead organizer with Connecticut Roundtable on Climate and Jobs conducted by Scott Harris.Aziz discusses the Connecticut Roundtable on Climate and Jobs’ response to the Trump administration’s order halting construction of the Revolution Wind offshore wind project that’s 80 percent complete, and would have powered 350,000 homes in Connecticut and Rhode Island. He also discusses other priorities his group is working on in the CT state legislature this year.

Craig Mokhiber is the former director of the New York Office of the UN’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, who resigned in protest from his post in 2023 due to the unfolding Gaza genocide and the UN’s failures.  Here he discusses his recent Mondoweiss article, “How the UN Could Act Today to Stop the Genocide in Palestine,” and the general failure of international law in Gaza, Palestine and Israel. 

Interview with Justin Glawe, an independent journalist and editor of the American Doom newsletter.Here he discusses the urgent issues examined in his recent article, “How Trump’s National Guard shock troops could seize voting machines,” and other concerns about the security of the 2026 midterm election that Trump and the Republican party are clearly worried they’ll lose — and now taking action on rigging the outcome.

Interview with Bill Fletcher Jr., a senior scholar with the Institute for Policy Studies, discusses the critical issues examined in his recent In These Times magazine article, “The Labor Movement Is in a Fight for Its Existence Against a Neofascist Threat.”Fletcher Jr. is the former president of TransAfrica Forum and the author of "They’re Bankrupting Us!: And 20 Other Myths about Unions.” His latest novel is titled, "The Man Who Changed Colors."