Conversation

What are our hidden biases or blind spots, and how can they divert us from doing what we think is right? Ross Reynolds interviews University of Washington psychology professor Anthony Greenwald, co-author of the new book "Blind Spot: Hidden Biases of Good People."

Yesterday in Olympia the House Judiciary Committee passed a bill that would compensate people who served time in prison for crimes they didn’t commit and were exonerated of. The exonerated people would be given $50,000 for each year spent behind bars. This isn’t the first time this legislation has been proposed but it is the first time that it has bipartisan support. Ross Reynolds takes a closer look at the bill and who it's intended to help.

Nationally the private sector added 5 million jobs since a low point in June of 2009. But during that same time period the public sector cut 721,000 jobs. What effect is the shrinking public sector having on the economy? And what’s the story here in Washington state?

This week the International Olympic Committee announced a plan to drop wrestling from the 2020 summer games. But there's some chance the drop could still be stopped. Ross Reynolds interviews former Olympic wrestler Ivan Ivanov who is now based in Idaho, and Seattle Times columnist Ron Judd.

According to a 2012 study by the CDC, Washington had the seventh highest rate of home births in the country. Overall, home births have been on the rise since 2004. But as of 2009 they still represented less than 1 percent of total births in the United States.

Despite recent disagreements over gun control proposals in the state legislature, a few Democrats and Republicans are coming together to support one bill that would require background checks for all firearms transactions in Washington.

According to the most recent census, there are more than 1.7 million single fathers in the US and more than 175,000 stay-at-home dads, and their numbers are on the rise. David Hyde spoke to single and stay-at-home dads to ask them what it's like: the highs, the lows, parenting styles, the trials and tribulations of combing a little girl's hair, and even the dating perks.

The United States doesn't currently have a plan for dealing with the problem of climate change. But President Obama is expected to bring it up in his State of the Union address tomorrow night. What is he expected to say? What’s he likely to do? David S. Roberts of the Seattle-based environmental magazine Grist talks with David Hyde about his predictions on how the president will attempt to tackle climate change.

Both state and federal lawmakers have been debating over how to approach immigration reform. Immigrants themselves tend to favor paths to citizenship and educational opportunities for their children. But how do non-immigrants formulate their opinions on the subject? A recent academic study says that maybe our genes play a key role in shaping our political views. According to the research, people with a predisposition to social anxiety and fear are more likely to be critical of the unfamiliar and therefore more likely to support things like anti-immigration policy. David Hyde talks to lead author and political science professor Pete Hatemi to get the details.

David Hyde talks with Frank Rich about the historical significance of Quentin Tarantino’s "Django Unchained" and why Rich thinks it deserves to win an Academy Award for best picture. Then he turns to historian Sean Wilentz who thinks it is not "Django Unchained" but Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" that is the historically accurate and significant film that deserves the Oscar.