Wolf Wars, a Border Emergency and the Trial of Elizabeth Holmes

We kick off the penultimate episode of our first season of Sidebar in the American West, where a dispute has been brewing for decades between ranchers, the government and environmentalists over wolves. This long-standing debate over the extent to which these carnivorous mammals should be protected or hunted down and killed isn't going anywhere soon.

Then we take a deep dive into a border emergency not often discussed: human waste flowing in the Tijuana River Basin. What will it take for the U.S. and Mexico to tackle the sewage crisis, expected to worsen as Tijuana's population increases?

Last, we hear from our own Matthew Renda on the Elizabeth Holmes trial. Holmes and her company, Theranos, promoted a portable blood testing device that promised to revolutionize the medical testing industry. The federal government says it was all a lie to bilk investors of millions.

Special guests:

• Jeremy Heft, biologist at the Wolf Education & Research Center
• Bonnie Brown, executive director of the Colorado Wool Growers Association
• Brian Wakeling, game management bureau chief for Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks
• Karin Vardaman, founder-director of Working Circle
• Bethany Case, co-chair of Surfrider San Diego’s Clean Border Water Now campaign
• Joseph Palmer, supervising environmental health specialist for San Diego County’s Department of Environmental Health and Quality

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.