Radio Active Magazine

Tricia Maxfield and Ryan Bernsten with American Public Square (APS) discuss their program in general and their June 18 event on the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence including "Self-Evident Truths". APS was founded by Allan Katz, who came to Kansas City after serving as US Ambassador to Portugal (2010-2013). They work to build stronger, more connected communities through civil discourse, engagement and education. They organize in-person and virtual events featuring expert panelists discussing complex social, political, and economic challenges shaping our nation serving a diverse member community. APS also works to improve civics education. Ambassador Katz is also a distinguished professor with the University of Missouri Kansas City Bloch School's Department of Public Affairs and the College of Arts and Science's Political Science Department and a Distinguished Professor in Residence in the Department of Political Science at William Jewell College. Tricia Maxfield is Program Director and Ryan Bernsten is Director of Brand & Partnerships for American Public Square. They are interviewed by Spencer Graves. _______ Sources (accessed 2026-05-22): * "Our Story" under "About APS" at AmericanPublicSquare.org. * "Allan J. Katz" on Wikipedia. Copyright 2026 Tricia Maxfield, Ryan Bernsten, and Spencer Graves, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 international license

Communications professor Allison Butler discusses her new book, The Judgment of Gender: How Women Are Centered and Silenced in Pop Culture with Spencer Graves. She compares how women like Britney Spears, Anita Hill, and Monica Lewinsky have been portrayed with the treatment of comparable males. She notes, for example, that, "in the years since the Dobbs (2022) decision, fully sentient female bodies have fewer legal rights than either fetuses or embryos. She asks, "Why aren't women allowed to be complicated?", documenting how men are allowed to abuse their power for personal gain, but women are more likely to be demonized for comparable offenses. Her recommendations include critical media literacy, asking how stories are told, and who gets to tell them. "The vast majority of the mainstream media in the United States are approved, produced, and distributed by private, for-profit corporations whose primary priority is profit. ... Once we understand that, we can work to make a change. We can say 'no' to unfair or limiting stories of women and girls by simply ignoring them (and therefore not contributing to further views, clicks, or likes of them, online), and we can actively push back by demanding change from media producers. Media producers profit off our attention; if we shift that attention, we may be able to shift their power." Butler is a senior lecturer and associate chair of Communication and Director of the Media Literacy Certificate Program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She is author or co-author of multiple books and articles on the need for and implementation of critical media literacy, including the following: Educating media literacy: The need for critical media literacy in teacher education (Butler 2020), Key scholarship in media literacy: David Buckingham (Butler 2021), Critical media literacy and civic learning: Interactive explorations for students and teachers (Maloy et al. 2021), and The media and media: A guide to critical media literacy for young people (Project Censored and The Media Revolution Collective 2022). She also has a 2024 book on Surveillance Education: Navigating the Conspicuous Absence of Privacy in Schools (Higdon and Butler 2024). A moderated discussion of these issues is available in the description of this interview in the companion "How women are centered and silenced in the major media" on Wikiversity. Copyright 2026 Allison Butler and Spencer Graves, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 international license.

Kimmy Igla discusses the draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) published by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) of the Department of Energy (DOE) for the production of new plutonium pits for nuclear weapons at six different sites in the US, one of which is the Kansas City National Security Campus, which has a controversial history. You are invited to review the PEIS available at pitpeis.com and submit written comments up to July 16, as described in pwkc.org/Plutonium. Ms. Igla is a leader with PeaceWorks Kansas City and Physicians for Social Responsibility KC. She currently serves on the board of the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability and is a founding member of the No Nukes KC Coalition. Ms. Igla was a leader in organizing a May 6 workshop to coach humans on the best way to write comments responding to this PEIS. Help with that May 6 session came in part from Dr. Chanese Forté of the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), who discussed their research summarized in their testimony at the May 7 public comment hearing in Kansas City concerning the draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for the production of new plutonium pits for nuclear bombs. An expert in environmental toxicology, they discuss the history of toxicants found at the Kansas City nuclear weapons plant and what new pit production could mean for the future of Kansas City and humanity. Background Dr. C.A. Forté is a scientist in the Union of Concerned Scientists' Global Security Program specializing in environmental toxicology and epidemiology. Their work with UCS focuses on the health and well-being of communities affected by nuclear weapons mining, exposure, and the threat of exposure. Prior to this, they worked at the US Navy and Marine Corps as a deployment health epidemiologist researching active service member deployability and the environmental impacts of the US Norfolk Naval Hospital. Dr. Forté has a PhD in Environmental Health Sciences and a second PhD in Scientific Computing from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Prior to pursuing their doctorate, they earned a master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Georgia, with a focus on epidemiology and biostatistics. They recently lent this expertise to Kansas Citians at a May 6 information session to help citizens prepare to give public comment on the draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) for the production of new plutonium pits, the softball-sized radioactive cores of nuclear bombs. On 2024-09-30 US District Court Judge Mary Geiger Lewis ruled that the US Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the DOE's semi-autonomous nuclear weapons agency, violated the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) by failing to properly consider alternatives including environmental impact before proceeding with their plan to produce plutonium pits at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and the Savannah River Site in South Carolina. This decision culminated several years of litigation. Written comments invited until July 16  Written comments can be submitted up to July 16 by email to [email protected]. Include the document number: DOE/EIS-0573 with your submission. Their draft EIS is available at "https://pitpeis.com". While DOE is officially required to respond to all comments they receive, their conclusion may not otherwise be impacted unless the US Congress decides to change the program, e.g., by enacting legislation changing the mission from producing new nuclear weapons to accelerating the transition to renewable energy, as discussed by Wallis (2023) Warheads to Windmills (Indispensable Press). This would simultaneously reduce threats associated with global warming while also reducing the power of Iran and the fossil fuel industry over the global economy. This is discussed further on pwkc.org/eis. In person hearings  Public comment hearings on the environmental impact are being held in five cities across the US with ties to nuclear weapons manufacturing, May 5, 7, 12, 14, and 20. Kansas City is one of those five. The Kansas City public comment hearing was May 7 at the Hillcrest Community Center. Eighty percent of the non-nuclear parts for US nuclear weapons are produced at the Kansas City National Security Campus (KCNSC) operated by Honeywell. Dr. Forté was one of about 40 speakers who gave comments at the hearing. All opposed the NNSA's goal of new pit production. Dr. Forté explains their issues with the draft PEIS. This includes the lack of transparent information about Kansas City's involvement in the pit program and the cumulative impact to all sites concerned. Though there has been no mention of the Kansas City plant directly handling plutonium, there are still a number of other environmental toxins the final PEIS needs to and does not adequately address. It was revealed that over 2,400 contaminants were present at Kansas City's former nuclear weapons plant at the Bannister Federal Complex which was shut down and replaced by the National Security Campus on Botts Road in 2014. News reports have documented serious health concerns and premature deaths among former employees who were exposed to toxins while working at the Kansas City plant. The Kansas City Defender recently interviewed one of those workers, Maurice Copeland, who also testified at the May 7 hearing. With the NNSA's budget for the Kansas City plant being doubled and money appropriated specifically for "pit production" despite the DOE's claims Kansas City will not be directly involved, Dr. Forté and others who attended the hearing are rightfully concerned: what will this new plutonium pit program mean for KCNSC workers and residents in the surrounding area? Dr. Forté is interviewed by Spencer Graves coppyright 2026 Chanese Forté and Spencer Graves, Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike (CC BY-SA) 4.0 international license.

Yaël Eisenstat discusses the impact of online platforms on public health, safety and democracy. She is currently[1] the Director of Policy and Impact at Cybersecurity for Democracy (C4D),[2] working on policy solutions for how to hold social media and other online platforms accountable for their effects on public safety and democracy. Previously, she was Vice President at the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Center for Technology & Society (CTS). She was a Facebook election integrity head in 2018 and later became a whistleblower, speaking publicly about the dangers to democracy stemming from the company's decisions and products. She has held other other positions protecting democracy including as an intelligence officer, diplomat, and White House advisor. C4D contributed to the recent March 24, 2026, jury verdict in a civil case against Internet companies in New Mexico.[3] Eisenstat is interviewed by Spencer Graves.[4] Eisenstat's work Eisenstat's work includes a TED Talk and an SXSW panel in 2020 and a 2024  research report on tech platforms and political violence. 2020 TED talk In Eisenstat's (2020) TED talk, she said that around 2015 she began to notice that she was losing the ability to engage with others who were thought differently. Conversations with others in the US were becoming more difficult than conversations she had had as a CIA officer and diplomat drinking tea and talking with outspoken anti-Western clerics and suspected terrorists in Africa. Many of those engagements began with mutual suspicion but none degenerated into shouting or insults. In some cases she built collaboration on areas of mutual interest. Her most powerful tools were to listen, learn and build empathy. Most of her contacts wanted to feel heard, validated and respected. But social media companies like Facebook incentivize inflammatory content contributing to a culture of political polarization and mistrust. This generates revenue for Facebook and similar companies that make money from clicks, "because the shortest path to a click is anger or hate", in the words of Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, interviewed 2024-08-19 for this Media & Democracy series. When Facebook asked Eisenstat in 2018 to lead their work to support global elections integrity for political ads, she agreed. She left six months later, speaking openly about Facebook's inability to meet its responsibility to secure elections, subsequently documented, e.g., in the thousands of internal Facebook documents that Haugen released to the Securities and Exchange Commission and The Wall Street Journal in 2021. 2020 SXSW panel Eisenstat was part of a "panel about the Future of Tech Responsibility" for the 2020 South by Southwest festival. The festival was cancelled due to COVID-19, but the panel was held virtually. This panel included a discussion of Section 230 of the Communications Act of 1934, as amended by the Communications Decency Act of 1996.[5] It was "written before platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter existed" -- written while Google was a research project by Stanford PhD students Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Section 230 includes, "No provider or user of an interactive computer service shall be treated as the publisher or speaker of any information provided by another information content provider."[6] Eisenstat says that it's time to revisit Section 230, to demand accountability where Internet companies promote or suppress information based on the content while protecting web freedom otherwise. This is similar to the recommendations of Dean Baker that when Internet companies make money by promoting information differentially based on content, they should be liable as are legacy media under the US Supreme Court decision in NYT v. Sullivan (1964). In other cases, they should be treated as common carriers like telephone companies. 2024: Tech platforms and political violence More recently, Eisenstat et al. (2024a, b) are insisting that, "Tech Platforms Must Do More to Avoid Contributing to Potential Political Violence". The New York Times had reported that, "a steady undercurrent of violence and physical risk has become a new normal," particularly targeting public officials and democratic institutions. A survey from the Brennan Center found that 38% of election officials have experienced violent threats. They attributed these threats primarily to tech platforms and gave seven recommendations in four themes "congruent with any number of papers that academics and civil society leaders have published over the years." They said that platforms must develop robust standards for threat assessment and engage in scenario planning, crisis training, and engagement with external stakeholders, with as much transparency as possible. should enforce clear and actionable content moderation policies that address election integrity. should enforce their rules uniformly, not exempting politicians and other political influencers. must clearly explain important content moderation decisions, ensuring transparency especially when it comes to high profile accounts. They hope that increasing demands for accountability will prompt platforms to act more responsibly and prioritize the risk of political violence both in the United States and abroad. More on Wikiversity More on this including a moderated discussion of the issues raised is available in the companion article on Wikiversity on "Online platforms' effects on public health, safety and democracy". Notes Yael Eisenstat, Wikidata Q82046593 Cybersecurity for Democracy, Wikidata Q139568543 McQue (2026), "C4D and the Courts: Meta Guilty Verdicts". Cybersecurity for Democracy. Wikidata Q139572464. Spencer Graves, Wikidata Q56452480 Reid (2020). 47 U.S. Code § 230 - Protection for private blocking and screening of offensive material, 1996, Wikidata Q139570261 Bibliography Bobby Allyn (25 March 2026). "Jury finds Meta and Google negligent in social media harms trial". NPR. Wikidata Q139572103. Yael Eisenstat (August 2020) Dear Facebook, this is how you're breaking democracy, TED, Wikidata Q138844363 Yael Eisenstat (2021). "Section 230 Revisited: Web Freedom vs Accountability". Cornell Tech. 13 May 2020. Wikidata Q139568755. Yael Eisenstat; Justin Hendrix; Daniel Kreiss (2024a). "Preventing Tech-Fueled Political Violence: What online platforms can do to ensure that they do not contribute to election-related violence". The Bulletin of Technology & Public Life. 22 May 2024. Wikidata Q139571027. Yael Eisenstat; Justin Hendrix; Daniel Kreiss (2024B). "Tech Platforms Must Do More to Avoid Contributing to Potential Political Violence". Tech Policy Press. Wikidata Q139571163. Katie McQue (24 March 2026). "Meta ordered to pay $375m after being found liable in child exploitation case". The Guardian. Wikidata Q139572337. ISSN 0261-3077. Blake E. Reid (4 September 2020), Section 230 of… what?, Wikidata Q139570229

Angie Blumel, President & CEO of Jackson County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA), discusses their work with Radio Active Magazine regular Pat Riehle. CASA (which means “house” or “home” in […] The post Jackson County Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) appeared first on KKFI.

David Barsamian joins Tom Crane to talk about how mainstream media subverts democracy, empowers repressive regimes and how repressive governments silence the media. Barsamian is a co-author with Noam Chomsky […] The post Democracy and the Media appeared first on KKFI.

Lynn Marie Norris talks to to C.J. Janovy (jan-uh-vee), author of No Place Like Home: Lessons in Activism from LGBT Kansas. C.J. is a writer, radio reporter, and editor. She […] The post Lessons in Activism from LGBT Kansas appeared first on KKFI.

The post Kansas City Residents to DC with the Alliance for Nuclear Accountability appeared first on KKFI.

Michael Sharma-Crawford, Immigration Attorney, joins host Craig Lubow for a discussion of the process of seeking asylum and a recent Supreme Court decision that allows indefinite detention of convicted immigrants […] The post Indefinite Detention of Immigrants and Asylum Seekers appeared first on KKFI.

Brittney McGinley, founding member and communications director for the Kansas City Teacher Residency Program (KCTR), joins host Craig Lubow. KCTR works closely with teachers, partners, and staff to build a […] The post Training Teachers For Urban Schools appeared first on KKFI.

This episode of Radio Active Magazine features an interview with Greg Coleridge, Outreach Director for Move to Amend, and Matt Wagoner, a lead organizer with for an event September 29 at 1:30 […] The post Corporations are people unless you say otherwise appeared first on KKFI.

This episode of Radio Active Magazine is devoted to an interview with Trey Bennett, Nurse Practitioner and Clinic Director of Integrative Health Providers providing evidence-based solutions to prevent, treat, and […] The post Reducing meat consumption to reduce impact on climate and promote health appeared first on KKFI.

This episode of Radio Active Magazine is devoted to an interview with Christine Bischoff, the keynote speaker for the annual Freedom Fund banquet organized by the NAACP of Johnson County, […] The post Bischoff from SPLC to speak for JCNAACP Sept. 30 appeared first on KKFI.

This episode of Radio Active Magazine features an interview with Steven Youngblood, Associate Professor of Communication at Park University in Parkville, MO, who is one of the lead organizers of the […] The post Peacebuilding conference, Oct. 25-27, 2018, etc. appeared first on KKFI.

Mayor David Alvey joins host Craig Lubow for a two part interview to be aired on August 14, 2018 and August 21, 2018. Alvey is the Mayor of Kansas City, […] The post Mayor David Alvey, Wyandotte County, pt 2 appeared first on KKFI.

Mayor David Alvey joins host Craig Lubow for a two part interview to be aired on August 14, 2018 and August 21, 2018. Alvey is the Mayor of Kansas City, […] The post Mayor David Alvey, Wyandotte County appeared first on KKFI.

Cynthia Levin, artistic director at Unicorn Theatre, joins host Craig Lubow to talk about the 2018-2019 season about her love and contribution to the live theatre scene in the Kansas […] The post Unicorn Theatre 2018-2019 Season Announced appeared first on KKFI.

Micah Kubic, director of the ACLU Kansas Chapter, joins Craig Lubow and Spencer Graves to discuss the recent victory of the Kansas ACLU against Chris Kobach in an important voter […] The post ACLU Wins Voter Suit against Kobach and files another suit and an Immigration Report appeared first on KKFI.

Are the schools the new wild, wild west? Join host Craig Lubow for discussion of gun violence in the schools and what to do about it from the perspective of […] The post Schools: Are they the new wild, wild West? appeared first on KKFI.

Host Craig Lubow interviewed Sister Helen Prejean on March 5, 2018. Sister Prejean is the author of Dead Man Walking and Death of Innocents, with a third book due to […] The post Death Penalty Perspective of a Nun appeared first on KKFI.

Craig Lubow interviews journalist Zachary Mueller and RadioActive co-host Spencer Graves regarding the Fish v. Kobach trial in the Robert J. Dole US Federal Courthouse in Kansas City, Kansas.   At issue in […] The post Fish v. Kobach per Zachary Mueller appeared first on KKFI.

Kristy Childs from Veronica’s Voice and Nurse Heidi Olson from Children’s Mercy Hospital join host Craig Lubow to talk about sex trafficking in the context of the issues raised by […] The post Sex trafficking and “Project Dawn” appeared first on KKFI.

Alex Martinez, Kansas/Missouri Dream Alliance, and Ramon Valdez, Innovation Law Lab, will join host Craig Lubow to talk about the “Dreamers” and “DACA” and societal implications of deporting the “dreamers” […] The post Immigration and sharing the American Dream appeared first on KKFI.

Representatives from SPCA, Humane Society of Greater Kansas City, and Spay & Neuter KC will join host Craig Lubow to discuss homelessness among pets and services available to homeless dogs […] The post KKFI Goes to the Dogs!! appeared first on KKFI.

This show will feature The New Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. We will interview local leaders in this movement, from both Kansas and Missouri, to discuss […] The post Poor People’s Campaign in Kansas and Missouri appeared first on KKFI.

This episode featured a discussion between representatives of three units of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in the Greater Kansas City area, including the following:   Fred […] The post NAACP in Greater Kansas City Area appeared first on KKFI.

Host Dave Mitchell will interview Dan Coffey, founder of Citizens for Responsible Government in K.C. (CFRG), on his views of the new terminal at Kansas City International airport. The post Citizens for Responsible Government in KC appeared first on KKFI.

Representatives of two local chapters of the League of Women Voters will describe their programs for 2018:  Evelyn Maddox, a co-president of the LWV of  Kansas City, MO, Jackson, Clay, […] The post Leagues of Women Voters in Greater Kansas City appeared first on KKFI.

Net neutrality protests were held last Thursday, December 7, in front of Verizon stores in Kansas City, Missouri, and Olathe, Kansas. These were two of reportedly over 700 protests in […] The post Kansas City on Net neutrality and the FCC appeared first on KKFI.

This episode of Radio Active Magazine features an interview with David Barsamian recorded Thursday, Nov. 9 in anticipation of his visit to Kansas City and KKFI on December 1.  He has […] The post David Barsamian in KC Dec. 1 with new book appeared first on KKFI.

This special edition for the Fall pledge drive features three segments: Spencer Graves joins us to talk about net neutrality from Washington DC. Second, a replay of an interview that […] The post Net Neutrality, Ghandi’s Gift, and Heartland Conservation Alliance appeared first on KKFI.

Host Dave Mitchell talks to Dave Mechem, Assistant Professor at KU Department of Geography and Atmospheric Science, about the relationship of climate to weather patterns. The post Weather versus climate appeared first on KKFI.

This episode will feature interviews about health problems experienced by former employees at the Bannister Federal Complex and the current safety concerns facing the community in light of the planned demolition of the […] The post Health problems from Bannister Federal Complex appeared first on KKFI.

“Juror No 2”, as Lindy Lou Isonhood was known, talks about the impact that a death sentence had on her and other jurors in a case in Mississippi in which […] The post Jurors as victims in death penalty cases appeared first on KKFI.

This episode of Radio Active Magazine explores how net neutrality is necessary to counter mainstream media’s overreaching control of public policy.  We will focus especially on two different issues: our […] The post A Job Guarantee, health problems from nuclear production in KC, and net neutrality appeared first on KKFI.

Help is available for inmates exiting prisons and Journey to New Life is one program in Kansas City. Susie Roling joins host Craig Lubow to discuss the services offered by […] The post Help for inmates exiting prison appeared first on KKFI.

Cynthia Levin, artistic director of Unicorn Theatre, joins host Craig Lubow to discuss the plays coming to the Unicorn Theatre for the 2017-2018 season and what will happen if the […] The post Theatre with a social conscience appeared first on KKFI.

This episode of Radio Active Magazine will focus on efforts to discuss net neutrality with people who represent major portions of the KKFI listening area in the US Congress. What is […] The post Net Neutrality and Congress appeared first on KKFI.

Host David Mitchell talks with Caitlin Dix, Joy Heaviland, and Jacquie Whalen from the Heartland Conservation Alliance about conserving and protecting the water in Kansas City, with a focus on […] The post Protecting and Conserving Kansas City Water appeared first on KKFI.

Theatre director Hersh Ellis will join host Craig Lubow to talk about three shows that he has in the 2017 Fringe Festival later this month. Joining Hersh will be two […] The post Get Ready for Fringe Festival 2017 appeared first on KKFI.

Film producer Cynthia Lukas joins host Craig Lubow to talk about her newest film “Ghandi’s Gift” and her plans for her next two movies about Ghandi. The post Ghandi and the fight for justice appeared first on KKFI.

This episode will discuss two issues: The primaries in Kansas, August 1, and Missouri, August 8 including the $15 per hour minimum wage initiative on the August 8 ballot in Kansas […] The post $15 minimum wage on Aug. 8 ballot in KCMO plus Trump’s attack on net neutrality appeared first on KKFI.

Howard Spiva joins host Craig Lubow to talk about bicycle safety and preventing injuries. The post Bicycle safety and injuries appeared first on KKFI.

This episode of Radio Active Magazine will feature two topics.  The first is an interview with Bryce Lockwood, one of the survivors of the 1967 attack by Israel against the […] The post The 1967 Israeli attack on the USS Liberty+ What’s happening in Kansas City, Missouri, public schools? appeared first on KKFI.

Mayor/CEO Mark Holland joins Craig Lubow to discuss economic development and redevelopment, housing, mixed income integration, homelessness, LGBT youth, foster care transition, new jobs in Wyandotte County, and the Affordable […] The post Mark Holland, Mayor/CEO of WyCo-KCK Unified Government appeared first on KKFI.

The incarceration rate in the US is five times what it was over 40 years ago, around 1974. It increased dramatically in the last quarter of the twentieth century after […] The post Incarcerations and the Media appeared first on KKFI.

Spook Handy, folk musician, joins host Craig Lubow in the second of a two part series commemorating the life and music of Pete Seeger. Spook performs songs written or sung […] The post Keep the Flame Alive, Part 2 appeared first on KKFI.

Spook Handy, folk musician, joins host Craig Lubow in the first of a two part series commemorating the life and music of Pete Seeger. Spook performs songs written or sung […] The post Keep the Flame Alive appeared first on KKFI.

Todd Jordan, Wayndotte County United Way, joins host Craig Lubow to talk about how United Way helps other private non-profit organizations. Irene Caudillo, El Centro, and Whitney Justice, Mental Health […] The post United Way and its recipients appeared first on KKFI.

Spencer Graves is your host for this Thursday Night Special episode of RadioActive Magazine.  It gives a brief overview of some of the actions in late January 2017 expressing concern […] The post Kansas City Protesting Trump’s Actions, Late January 2017 appeared first on KKFI.