Conversation

In Washington state there are no requirements to include financial education in school curriculum. As a result, most kids graduate high school financially illiterate.

While parents often give their children an allowance to teach financial responsibility, there is little emphasis on what to do with that allowance. Should it be school’s responsibility to teach financial education? What should parents be doing?

Regulation exits for television marketing aimed at children that mixes entertainment with advertising. That regulation does not exist for advergaming, a form of online entertainment that integrates advertising into a video game format.

These advergames are often targeted to children who at their age, have difficulty differentiating between advertising and other content.

The Mayo Clinic reports that around 45 percent of Americans say they are either very or somewhat likely to donate a kidney to someone they’ve never met. In 2001, that number was only 24 percent.

There are about 90,000 people in the US currently waiting for a kidney, and many others waiting for a different organ. Living donors are limited by what they can donate, either a kidney or small portion of a liver. Would you donate an organ?

In Washington state, it’s perfectly legal for employers to refuse to hire people who smoke. In 2006, state lawmakers tried but failed to join 29 other US states that made it illegal for employers to discriminate against smokers. 

According to the Washington State Department of Labor and Industries, it’s legal for companies to ban smokers from their workforce because smokers are not protected by any wrongful termination laws.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, the average drunken driver has driven drunk 80 times before their first arrest. Here in Washington after a rather horrific spree of drunk driving related deaths, the governor is getting tough on drunken drivers by proposing tougher penalties for first-, second- and third-time offenders. One of the governor's more strident proposals would ban third-time offenders from purchasing alcohol. In this segment of the conversation listeners share their thoughts on these new and tougher proposed penalties.

Approximately every two minutes, one woman will be raped in the United States. That means about 10 women will be raped by the end of this short 20 minute segment. Of those rapes over half will be committed by someone the victim knows, and the majority will go unreported. April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and on the show today Ross spoke with Mary Ellen Stone, the executive director of King County Sexual Assault Resource Center about sexual assault. 

With all the talk about the legalization of marijuana perhaps you’ve been caught in a haze and haven’t been paying attention to what is going on with Washington’s long legal medical marijuana. Well changes are being proposed there too. Washington Senator Ann Rivers has proposed legislation that would task the Liquor Control Board with licensing and regulating medical marijuana dispensaries, processors and growers. Ann Rivers talks to Ross Reynolds about why she thinks further regulation is necessary.

The Seattle Mariners are likely to see an increase in future revenue now that they’ve purchased a controlling interest in ROOT Sports Northwest — the cable network that broadcasts their games. Up until now, the Mariners have been required to share their TV revenue with other major league baseball teams. By controlling their TV rights the Mariners will be able to keep much of that revenue for themselves.

So how will this impact their success on the field? How has this worked out for other teams? Ross Reynolds talks with sports editor for The Nation, Dave Zirin.

It’s not just math anymore, students are falling behind in history and civics too. A new report by independent, non-partisan research organization — the Pioneer Institute — says the state of US history and civics education is so abysmal that it makes “reading, mathematics and science achievement seem robust by comparison.” Washington state’s record isn’t any better. The state received a D grade from educational excellence organization, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, for its quote “meager” US history standards.

To reverse this trend the Pioneer Institute report recommends a simple policy: require high school graduates to pass the US citizenship test. Ross Reynolds talks with Sandra Stotsky, professor of education reform and one of the authors of this report.