A Public Affair Douglas Haynes, Ali Muldrow, Carousel Bayrd, Allen Ruff, & Esty Dinur

Last week, the Federal Trade Commission announced a ban to noncompete agreements. Under the rule, most existing noncompetes would not be enforceable.  The ban was almost immediately challenged by U.S. Chamber of Commerce. They argue that the FTC overstepped it’s authority with the ruling.

Joining us on today’s show is Assistant Professor Evan Starr from the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. Starr’s research includes the use and impacts of noncompete agreements and their enforceability. He talks with host Yuri Rashkin about what the ban could mean for workers and employers.

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Today we spend the hour talking about wealth and income disparities with folks who are working on a solution. That solution? Putting cash in the hands of people who need it. Blake Roberts, Kathrine Cagat and Gina Stilp join host Ali Muldrow to break down the differences of universal basic income, guaranteed income and unconditional cash programs. They discuss the realities of living in poverty, the impact of having a safety net, and the truth of government subsidies.



Blake Roberts is the Program Manager for Madison Forward Fund. The Madison Forward Fund is a guaranteed income program that gives a monthly, non-strings attached payment to households for one year. 

Kathrine Cagat is the Research and Program Manager for Mayors for Guaranteed Income (MGI) and Counties for a Guaranteed Income (CGI). MGI is a network of mayors advocating for a guaranteed income to ensure that all Americans have an income floor.

Gina Stilp is Executive Director of the Zilber Family Foundation. The foundation is a private, independent grantmaking institution. They are now accepting applications for Milwaukee’s first unconditional cash program: The Bridge Project.

Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay

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Cap Times food editor and arts reporter Lindsay Christians, was on set as a diner and a dishwasher during the filming of season 21 of Top Chef . Now that the show is airing, she’s impressed with how well we come off on tv. “I’ve been talking a lot about the B roll of Madison and Milwaukee: just these beautiful like a drone shots coming into the city. It just it kind of made my heart swell the first time I saw it. I thought, ‘oh my god, it’s so beautiful.’ It’s just gorgeous,” she tells A Public Affair host Douglas Haynes.

This season of the hit reality television series is set at some of our own favorite restaurants and local landmarks. So far the chefs have been challenged to showcase Wisconsin hops, cheeses, and produce from the Dane County Farmers Market. We kick off today’s show with Top Chef producer Diana Schmedeman and co-executive producer Thi Nguyen about the process of scouting in Wisconsin and the work that goes on behind the scenes.

Then we turn to our in-studio guests Lindsay Christians and The Harvey House creative director and co-owner Shaina Papach. Shaina talks us about the experience of having an elimination challenge take place in her restaurant during the supper club episode. Lindsay is currently hosting a Top Chef companion podcast called “Corner Table: Top Chef Wisconsin.” You can learn more here and subscribe wherever you listen. 

Top Chef airs on Wednesdays at 8pm CT on Bravo and can be streamed on Peacock

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Today, journalist Jacob Kushner joins host Esty Dinur to talk about his forth coming book, Look Away: A True Story of Murders, Bombings, and a Far-Right Campaign to Rid Germany of Immigrants. The book, which comes out May 7th, explains how of a group of young, radicalized Germans carried out a shocking spree of white supremacist violence and uncovers the way their actions went uncheck by the German government and it’s citizens.

Jacob will be giving talks in Wisconsin in mid-May. On Tuesday May 14th at 6pm, he’ll be at A Room of One’s Own in Madison. On Thursday, May 16th at 6:30pm, he’ll be at Boswell Books in Milwaukee.



Jacob Kushner is a foreign correspondent who writes magazine and other longform articles from Africa, Germany, and the Caribbean. His writing has appeared in dozens of publications, including the New York Times, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, Harper’s, The Economist, National Geographic, The Atavist, The Nation, Foreign Policy and The Guardian. 

He is the author of China’s Congo Plan, which was favorably reviewed in the New York Review of Books. A Fulbright-Germany scholar and Logan Nonfiction Fellow, he was a finalist for the Livingston Award in International Reporting. He teaches and advises ambitious, young journalists at the Pulitzer Center, the Overseas Press Club, and several universities.

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A hundred years ago, Wisconsin’s U.S. Senator, Robert M. La Follette made his mark on national politics by running as an independent third party candidate for the White House. He captured a record breaking one-sixth of the popular vote. Historian Richard Drake joins host Allen Ruff to talk about “Fighting Bob” La Follette’s campaign and the legacy it left behind.



Drake is the author of author of The Education of an Anti-Imperialist: Robert La Follette and U.S. Expansion. He has a piece in the current edition of The Progressive Magazine titled “Lessons from the Progressive Campaign of 1924.”



He will speaking at 2pm on Thursday, April 25th as part of the Progressive Magazine’s 4-day long celebration of the 100th anniversary of La Follette’s campaign. A full breakdown of events can be found here.









Richard Drake is the Lucile Speer Research Chair in Politics and History at the University of Montana. In addition to his book on Bob La Follette, Drake is the author of Charles Austin Beard: The Return of the Master Historian of American Imperialism.



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Philip Berrigan, American peace activist and Catholic priest, is remembered as courageous example of nonviolent resistance. Beginning in 1968, Berrigan organized against war, systemic racism, materialism, destruction of the environment, and nuclear weapons. His unyielding stances led to imprisonment and excommunication from the Catholic church.

In the recently published  A Ministry of Risk: Philip Berrigan’s Writings on Peace and Nonviolence, editor Brad Wolf has compiled a collection of writings. Wolf asks readers to consider what insights Berrigan’s writings offer into the wars in Ukraine and Gaza, the climate crisis, a fraying social safety net, and desperate refugees at our southern border.

Wolf joins A Public Affair host Bert Zipperer to discuss the life and legacy of Philip Berrigan as well as the intersection of faith and resistance.



Brad Wolf is executive director and co-founder of Peace Action Network of Lancaster, Pennsylvania. A former lawyer, prosecutor, professor and community college dean, he writes for various publications.



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