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We sit down with Barbara Peterson, from the Florida Center for Government Accountability to talk about the crucial role of investigative journalism in keeping government accountable, and how exactly to do your own public records request here in Florida.

We meet the new Collier County Waterkeeper, Ray Bearfield. Bearfield is a former fishing guide and educator at Rookery Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve, who first came to Naples in the mid-1970s as an editor of The Naples Daily News. He has written extensively about Southwest Florida for the Coastal Conservation Association, Florida Sportsman magazine, The Miami Herald and other publications.

While the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences — or IFAS — is probably most often associated with ‘growers and farmers and issues around agricultural’ their work goes far beyond that, including helping individuals and businesses, as well as growers, before, during, and after natural disasters like Hurricane Ian. We sit down with David Outerbridge, director of the UF/IFAS Extension office in Lee County to talk about the work they’re still doing helping people recover from Ian’s landfall last September. We also check in with Asmaa Odeh, Project Director for the Southwest Florida Regional Planning Council to learn about SWFL Fresh: Choose Local, Choose Fresh.

When we do something — when we think we’ve made a decision about how to act or behave — are we always consciously aware of why we made that particular decision? That is just one part of the field of research our guest today has spent the past three decades investigating. Dr. Sandra Schneider is a Professor in Cognition, Neuroscience, and Social Psychology in the Department of Psychology at the University of South Florida in Tampa. And she founded the USF Judgment and Decision Making Lab in the early 90s.

Grant Ginder's comic novel Let's Not Do That Again explores family life within a turbulent political framework.

Dr. Jerry Jackson is known to WGCU listeners as the creator and host of With the Wild Things, heard weekday mornings at 7:19 and weekday afternoons at 5:18. He’s a professor emeritus of Ecological Sciences at Florida Gulf Coast University, and a professor emeritus at Mississippi State University. Nick Penniman is a retired newspaper publisher, and he is chair emeritus of the Conservancy of Southwest Florida and a Florida Master Naturalist. He and Dr. Jackson gave a talk together at Florida Gulf Coast University last week as part of the school’s Provost’s Seminar Series titled Getting to Know the World Around You: an Illustrated Conversation” so we had them come by the studio to chat.

Gospel’s story begins with The Great Migration, when millions of African Americans from the rural Southern United States moved to urban areas in the North, Midwest, and West beginning in the early 20th century. But as this new style arrived on the scene, it wasn’t immediately accepted, because until this new fusion of music and message came along, most preachers and church leaders believed you didn’t SING gospel — you PREACHED it. We learn a bit about Gospel’s story from Stacey L. Holman, Series Producer and Director of the new 4-part series on PBS called Gospel.

Hurricane Ian made landfall in Southwest Florida at the small island of Cayo Costa on Sept. 28, 2022. As we approach the two year anniversary, we having a conversation with a group of Sanibel Island residents to hear their stories about Ian, and what has unfolded since — and how the island community has become more connected because of what they all experienced together. Every single Sanibel resident, and every single property, was impacted by the devastating storm. But, from what we’ll hear today, it seems the Sanibel spirit and sense of community has only been strengthened by this experience.

Former Democratic Congressman Dick Gephardt has a new book out, called “535 Not 1.” In it, he tells some of his story about his time in Congress, and talks about what he sees as the crucial role compromise necessarily must play in the legislative process. He stopped by the studio to talk about the book, and the times we’re in politically in this country.

Here in Southwest Florida about 30% of the population is 60 and older. That translates to about 1.3 million people, and this population and percentage is growing. Demographic trends show an expected 38% increase in adults over 60 by 2040 and a 62% increase in adults over 70 by that same year. While southwest Florida has been a destination for older people when they retire for decades, this area’s aging population is chronically underserved. We learn about the work being done to address the need at Florida Gulf Coast University’s still relatively new Shady Rest Institute on Positive Aging.