journalist and author
Journalist and author of The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes--and Why and The Smartest Kids in the World -- and How They Got That Way; former contributor to Time magazine
PROFILE
Amanda Ripley
Guest
FROM Amanda Ripley
To the Point
The Upwardly Mobile Barista Last summer, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz made headlines with a big promise: he announced his company would team up with Arizona State University to help Starbucks employees finish college . Starbucks got a ton of press from the announcement, but has the program lived up to its many vaulted promises of giving baristas access to the American dream? Does it have anything new to offer to the debate about how best to support people who struggle to pay for college and often fail to graduate? Journalist Amanda Ripley wrote about " The Upwardly Mobile Barista " in this month's Atlantic magazine.
To the Point
Are America's Public Schools Too Much About Sports? A public school in New Jersey fields 18 sports teams in a year, including golf and bowling. The campus has lush grass fields, six tennis courts and an athletic Hall of Fame. That’s not unusual in American schools, but what are the tradeoffs?
Which Way, L.A.?
H1N1: What You Need to Know, What You Need to Do By early next week, the first batch of some 250 million swine flu vaccine treatments will be available free, paid for by the American government. In an unprecedented preventive campaign, health officials are trying to blunt the impact of the H1N1 virus, or swine flu, as it’s commonly called. But symptoms are described as a mild influenza. Is the public overreacting? Is the media getting the story right? What do you need to know? What do you need to do?
To the Point
H1N1: What You Need to Know, What You Need to Do By early next week, the first batch of some 250 million swine flu vaccine treatments will be available free, paid for by the American government. In an unprecedented preventive campaign, health officials are trying to blunt the impact of the H1N1 virus, or swine flu, as it’s commonly called. But symptoms are described as a mild influenza. Is the public overreacting? Is the media getting the story right? What do you need to know? What do you need to do?
Recommended
To the Point
Human Rights in the era of Donald Trump President Trump’s UN Ambassador, Nikki Haley, said today the US might pull out of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council. Serious violators of human rights are members of the Council itself–and a US resignation could make things worse. Later on today’s show, now that he’s into his second term, comedian turned US Senator Al Franken is telling jokes again.
To the Point
What happens when America retreats from the world? Is President Trump taking his "America First" agenda to extremes, withdrawing the country from the international stage on trade and climate change, distancing America from its traditional allies across the Atlantic and even threatening to physically isolate the country through the building of a wall along its southern border? León Krauze guest hosts.
To the Point
Janesville and the American Dream Janesville, Wisconsin is the hometown of Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan. But he couldn’t prevent the closing of the General Motors factory after 100 years. On this Memorial Day rebroadcast of To the Point, we hear what’s happened to what once was a model of American middle-class unity.
To the Point
Replacing Obamacare: Now you see it… now you don’t As the Senate deliberates replacing Obmacare, health coverage for millions of people is at stake. There've been no public hearings, and a draft measure won't be made public. Is the House version so unpopular that that Senate is hiding a version that looks much the same?