What’s on MPR News – 11/1/18

Thursday Nov. 1, 2018
(Subject to change as events dictate)

9 a.m. – MPR News with Kerri Miller
Women are running for office in record numbers this year. And, within this pool, several of these women could break other records if they win by becoming the first Muslim, Native American or openly bisexual women to represent their states.

However, Kelly Dittmar, assistant professor of political science at Rutgers University, says that while these numbers are significant, it’s important to put them into context. Women make up a little over half of the US population, but make up less than a quarter of elected officials in nearly every measure.

Right now 22 out of 100 US Senators are women. In the House of Representatives there are three open seats and of the remaining 432, only 84 are held by women. Across all 50 states, there are only 6 women serving as governor. Aimee Allison, founder of She the People, is working to change that by helping more women of color to get involved with politics.

Guests: Aimee Allison, founder of She the People; Kelly Dittmar, assistant professor of political science at Rutgers University

10 a.m.- 1A with Joshua Johnson
Earlier this year, a Fox News host told Lebron James to, in her words, “shut up and dribble.” Instead, King James made a documentary. He – and so many other players – say basketball has never been ‘just a game.’

Guests: Gotham Chopra, director and Producer, Shut Up And Dribble; Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer of Religion of Sports; Jemele Hill, narrator, Shut Up And Dribble; staff writer, The Atlantic.

11 a.m. – MPR News at 11
There is a lot of money being spent on Minnesota’s midterm elections. Candidates have spent about $134 million so far and about half of that is outside money. Where’s that money coming from? Who’s it going to?

Guests: Ciara Torres-Spelliscy, Brennan Center Fellow and a Professor of Law at Stetson University College of Law; Kevin Magnuson is a lawyer with Kelley, Wolter & Scott in Minneapolis. He specializes in campaign finance and election law

12 p.m. – MPR News Presents
Former Republican US Sen. Dave Durenberger and writer Lori Sturdevant discuss their new book “When Republicans Were Progressive.” Gary Eichten moderated the discussion Tuesday night in MPR’s UBS Forum.

1 p.m. – The Takeaway
A roundtable discussion with three millennial voices on why climate change matters to them and their generation; all 435 seats in the House of Representatives are up for grabs next Tuesday.

Just ahead, Drew Desilver from the Pew Research Center walks The Takeaway through the history of Congressional apportionment; writer and filmmaker Barrett Holmes Pitner wants to take the concept behind the Mexican holiday Dia de Los Muertos and encourage members of his own African American community to adopt elements of it in times of grief; in Missouri voters are considering three different ballot questions on medical marijuana; hear from Wanda James, the first black woman to own a cannabis dispensary in Colorado; and a new biopic of Queen frontman Freddie Mercury, “Bohemian Rhapsody,” is getting mixed reviews.

The Takeaway talks to Rafer Guzman and Buzzfeed culture writer Pier Dominguez about the story of Mercury’s life, his music and where the film succeeds and fails, particularly in the portrayal of his sexuality.

2 p.m. – BBC NewsHour
The push to start talks to end Yemen’s war; Google workers walk out over treatment of women at the tech giant; and how our oceans are heating up much more than we thought.

3 p.m. – All Things Considered
Polymet gets a green light; the suburban women voters of Atlanta; Midterms and voter suppression; when opportunity stops knocking; Art Hounds.

6:00 p.m. – Marketplace
For hundreds of millions of people in rural India, technology hasn’t had a big presence — let alone the internet — until they got a smart phone.

6:30 p.m. – The Daily

Nearly 30 million Latinos in the United States are eligible to vote, representing almost 13 percent of the American electorate. Why is so little attention being paid to them in the midterm elections?

Guest: Jose A. Del Real, national correspondent for The New York Times.

7 p.m. – The World
President Trump continues to make immigration a central issue in the campaign ahead of the midterms. We’re going to focus on something the president doesn’t mention about immigration: the connection between migrants fleeing Central America and climate change.

Also, Emily Green reports from Mexico City on the decision by officials there to cut off the supply of water to millions of people for as long as a week. The water cut-off isn’t an emergency. It’s a long planned maintenance break for a leaky system that struggles to supply enough water to the 20-million-plus residents of the Mexican capital region.

We also report on a Congressional candidate in Minnesota who’s been called by some, “the first Somali American woman to run for office in the US.” The World’s Allison Herrera introduces us to Ilhan Omar and tells us why she’s being seen as a role model for Somali women in other parts of the globe as well.

Plus how the US ranks in comparison to other countries when it comes to internet freedom.

8 p.m. – Fresh Air
How Newt Gingrich pioneered the tactics of partisan warfare that are being used today. Terry Gross talks with McKay Coppins, a staff writer for The Atlantic. His article about Gingrich is called “The Man Who Broke Politics”. And we’ll talk about how Gingrich, former Speaker of the House, is influencing politics today through his appearances on FoxNews, and his relationship with President Trump.