Riverside Chats

Riverside Chats


Latest Episodes

144. Crista Eggers on the Long Fight for Medical Cannabis Legalization in Nebraska
April 14, 2023

In Nebraska, its extremely common to be late to the party as far as pretty much all social trends go--or to miss the party entirely. But medical uses of marijuana have been legalized in 37 states, and it looks like the movement has a kind of national mom

143. Jay Jackson on Saving the Country Through Decent Discourse
April 09, 2023

A lot of media is not especially interested in discourse. You see a lot of dramatic headlines and hours of Whats the guy mad about today? but today Jay Jackson, attorney and author of the new book Decent Discourse: Saving Your Country By Loving Your (W

142. Eli Rigatuso on Uplifting LGBTQ+ Voices in the Midst of Efforts to Pass Anti-Trans Legislation in Nebraska
April 03, 2023

Eli Rigatuso was born and raised in Omaha and has more than 30 years of experience as an artist, photographer and videographer. Hes also an activist who has spent decades fighting for civil rights in Nebraska. He helped found Heartland Pride in 2010 and

141. Matt Wynn on the State of Journalism in the Social Media Age and Using the News to Build Community
March 24, 2023

In 2023, journalism exists in this precarious space, driven by clicks and corporate ownership and punditrynone of which are new, but, in the social media age, what constitutes news at all has become a source of conflict. On today's show, Matt Wynn, w

140. Michael Griffin on '27 Club' and Merging the Hard Questions with Comedy
March 19, 2023

Many episodes of this show grapple with the question of how to get people to care about issues and to inform themselves? Or really how do you get them to want to when they can instead find limitless entertainment all around them, accessible at all times f

139. The Past, Present, and Future of Public Transportation with Metro Transit's Lauren Cencic and Nicole Ebat
March 13, 2023

Its been two-and-a-half years since Metro Transit began operating the ORBT bus system on Dodge Street. Now, the service is approaching a milestone: its one-millionth rider. The occasion comes at an interesting time for public transit, as younger generati

138. The Magic of Live Music with the Omaha Symphony's Maestro Ankush Kumar Bahl and VP of Artistic Administration Dani Meier
March 03, 2023

Music is everywhere. Its hard to imagine that there was a point where you couldnt constantly listen to music, a time before recordings of music even existed. But theres something in our brains that cant resist rhythm and harmony and the way music make

137. Sean Doolittle on the Cultural Fascination with Billionaires, the Urge to Disconnect, and His New Novel 'Device Free Weekend'
February 26, 2023

Billionaires are all over our media right now, such as HBO's The White Lotus or recent hit films like Knives Out and Glass Onion, which combine the troubles of the ultrawealthy with the whodunit. Today Sean Doolittle is in conversation with Tom Knoblauch

136. Meridith Dillon on the Impacts of Housing Injustice and the Possibility of Safe Housing for All
February 12, 2023

Meridith Dillon is the executive director of Front Porch Investments, which was founded in 2021 to work toward affordable housing solutions in Omaha. In this conversation with Maria Corpuz, Dillon talks about how housing injustice shapes the city, how sys

135. Wes Dodge Gives an Overview of the Current Debates and Proposals at the Nebraska State Legislature
February 05, 2023

The Nebraska State Legislature is back in session. This is often a chaotic moment where it can be difficult have a good sense of what the agendas at play really arewhat is being debated, how initial proposed legislation evolves over the course of a sessi

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