freelance journalist and author
Freelance journalist and author of A Dream Foreclosed: Black America and the Fight for a Place to Call Home
PROFILE
Laura Gottesdiener
Guest
FROM Laura Gottesdiener
To the Point
Big Oil, Big Problems Because of the oil-drilling technique called fracking, North Dakota’s Bakken shale formation is producing more than a million barrels a day. Laura Gottesdeiner is an independent reporter who spent a month in Williston—once a sleepy agricultural town of 12,000 people, now three times larger and still growing fast. On the website TomDispatch.com , her article was called, “ Adrift in Oil Country .” It was republished in Mother Jones magazine.
To the Point
Who’s Being Left Out of the “Housing Recovery?” The home foreclosure crisis staggered the US economy and led to the Great Recession six years ago. Now — finally -- new housing is under construction. But it's not single-family homes that are going up, but mostly apartment buildings. And Wall Street is going into the rental business. Meantime, many homeowners, especially blacks and Latinos, are still underwater. What does this new form of housing "recovery" reveal about the economy? Does it contain the seeds of another recession?
Recommended
To the Point
The longest US war: Will Trump send more troops to Afghanistan? The Trump White House is divided over the Pentagon's request for more troops in Afghanistan—where the US has been fighting for the past 16 years. Is there a formula -- either for "victory" or a political settlement? Is there an end in sight for America's longest war?
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?
To the Point
What is Trump's plan for Middle East peace? On his first foreign tour, President Trump has promised "peace" between Israel and the Palestinians. Are there any details for re-starting talks that have been stalled for the past three years?
To the Point
Is the threat from Russia missing from the Russia meddling probe? There's much being made about the Trump administration's possible ties with Russia. But the bottom line is Russia's effort to influence American democracy. Do the President and his aides care enough to take action before voters go back to the polls?