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Underreported

A Weekly Feature on The Leonard Lopate Show

Airs every Thursday at noon

Major news events throughout the world continue to be largely ignored until they reach tragic proportions. Underreported, a weekly feature on The Leonard Lopate Show, tackles these issues and gives an in-depth look into stories that are often relegated to the back pages.

Underreported: Bush’s Last-Minute Environmental Policy Changes

The Leonard Lopate Show

November 20, 2008

The Bush administration is working to rush through some environmental policy changes before leaving power in January - including relaxing regulations protecting endangered species. John Kostyack is Executive Director of Wildlife Conservation and Global Warming at the National Wildlife Federation.

Underreported: Opening Public Land for Drilling in Utah

The Leonard Lopate Show

November 20, 2008

On Election Day, the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) announced a Dec. 19 auction of over 50,000 acres of oil and gas parcels right next to national parks in Utah. Steve Bloch, attorney for the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance, explains why Utah’s Park Service and national conservation groups are concerned.

Underreported: Reform in Russia

The Leonard Lopate Show

November 13, 2008

We discuss the pace of reform in Russia, Moscow’s current attitudes towards the West, and why Pres. Dmitry Medvedev is now pushing to extend the presidential term.

Nina Khrushcheva teaches international affairs at the New School; she’s also the author of Imagining Nabokov: Russia Between Art and Politics and is the granddaughter of Nikita Khrushchev. Her article in the Fall 2008 World Policy Journal is "Russia's Rotting Empire."

Underreported: US-Iran Relations in an Obama Administration

The Leonard Lopate Show

November 06, 2008

We look at how an Obama presidency could affect the U.S.’s relations with Iran, and what we should look for in Iran’s own elections happening next year. Robert Powell is Middle East Analyst for the Economist Intelligence Unit.

bat

Underreported: Bats and White Nose Syndrome

The Leonard Lopate Show

October 30, 2008

Bats are not only an iconic symbol of Halloween...they’re also a key part of our ecosystem. We get an update on the white nose syndrome that has been threatening bat populations. Ecologist Merlin Tuttle is founder of Bat Conservation International.

censorship

Underreported: Censored Stories of 2007-08

The Leonard Lopate Show

October 23, 2008

There are plenty of major news stories you probably didn’t hear or read about in the last year – like the fact that the Iraqi death count reached 1 million, and US-backed militarism is resurgent in Latin America. Hear about the top censored stories of the past year.

Peter Phillips is Director of Project Censored, and has co-edited the new book Censored 2009. Jessica Lee is an editor and reporter with The Indypendent newspaper. She’s written about another censored story, the Homegrown Terrorism Prevention Act, and is a contributor to Censored 2009.

Panic of 1873

Underreported: Panic of 1873

The Leonard Lopate Show

October 16, 2008

Many are measuring the current financial crisis against the Great Depression – but what’s happening now may be more like the Panic of 1873, a little-known economic crash that started in Europe with a building boom and led to a banking collapse. Scott Reynolds Nelson is professor of history at the College of William & Mary.

Underreported: Survival in Darfur

The Leonard Lopate Show

October 16, 2008

Halima Bashir, a physician in her native Sudan, was tortured and repeatedly raped for informing on atrocities in Darfur. She then had to flee, and now lives as a refugee in London. She tells us about her new life, and what she thinks needs to happen to bring about peace in Darfur. Her new memoir is Tears of the Desert.

Underreported: Canada’s Elections

The Leonard Lopate Show

October 09, 2008

In the midst of the frenzy over next month’s elections here in the U.S. – did you know that Canada is holding its big elections next week on October 14th? Find out what’s at stake for our neighbors to the north, and whether the governing Conservative Party could be unseated by the Liberal opposition. Adam Radwanski is a member of the Globe and Mail’s editorial board, and writes a political blog for that paper.

Ethiopia

Underreported: Renditions in the Horn of Africa

The Leonard Lopate Show

October 02, 2008

A 2007 rendition program in the Horn of Africa led to nearly 100 men, women, and children being rounded up in Kenya and eventually rendered to Ethiopia. At least 10 victims of this program still languish in Ethiopian prisons, with little recourse; still others are missing. We find out why these people are being held and what should happen next. Jennifer Daskal is Senior Counterterrorism Counsel at Human Rights Watch.