Research the News Ray Abel

Episode Notes
Today we’re exploring the foster care system. Now, this system does have noble intentions and the goal is to protect children from abuse, provide temporary homes, and keep kids with their families when possible (and that last point has become a point of contention between some advocates, and we'll talk about that here). But the stats are staggering; currently, there are over 400,000 children in foster care in the US, and kids ages 1 to 5 make up about 30% - which the largest share. In this episode we investigate some of the stories of these families and discuss how this system can be improved.

Our guests today are:


Dr. Jennifer Jacobs who has served in the Army, is a West Point graduate, and is a former White House Fellow. She studied physics and nuclear engineering, and then decided to use knowledge she gained there to launch a family connection software tool to help change the way foster children find a home.
Renee Williams who is the Executive Director of the National Center for Victims of Crime. She stepped into the role after serving as the Director of the National Crime Victim Bar Association and she mentors through Big Brothers Big Sisters, and advocates for children as a court-appointed special advocate.

Check out the full episode list at researchthenews.com

Episode Notes
Why are only 34% of fourth-grade public school students performing at a proficient level in reading? This week we're talking with Kareem Weaver, the Co-Founder of FULCRUM - an organization whose goal is to ensure that every child is an 'on-time' reader with full literacy. Kareem previously led a leader development organization that supports teachers, and was an award-winning teacher and administrator in Oakland, California, and Columbia, South Carolina.

We discuss phonics, balanced literacy, whole language learning, and more. Plus, as a bonus we decide who has the greatest arm in baseball.

Check out the full episode list at researchthenews.com

Episode Notes
This week, we talked with Gonzalo Veloz about what it was like to grow up in Venezuela, and what he thinks about the state of affairs in the country. Gonzalo came to the US in 2015 as a political asylum seeker, and since there have been many differing opinions on Venezuela’s economic rise and fall, we wanted to talk with someone who has first hand knowledge.

Episode Notes
In this Episode Ray and Caitlin talked with Michael Gungor - a Grammy nominated Christian musician and founder of The Liturgists podcast who left the Christian church a few years ago. Recently, U.S. church membership fell below the majority for the first time ever so we figured this would be a great time for us to talk about why this is. Caitlin is a pastor in the Presbyterian Church who grew up in a Christian household, and Ray didn't go to church as a child but became involved as an adult so we have a few perspectives covered.

Episode Notes
This week, Ray gives a monologue on why journalism is broken and how we're witnessing the fall of the fourth estate. Then, Gretchen joins in to talk about what it means to 'research the news' and why everyone should be digging deep into the headlines.

Episode Notes
This week we talked with Jessica Scott about transgender athletes. Jessica is Associate Professor of Gender Studies at West Virginia Wesleyan College. Dr. Scott holds degrees from the University of Illinois and from the University of Cape Town (South Africa). She is widely published in peer reviewed journals dealing with issues of sexuality and gender, and she is working on the publication of her first monograph.