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    Back to To the Point

    To the Point

    Sifting through the ashes: Cleanup and questions after the fires

    Wildfire is all too familiar in the Golden State, but last week's record-setting blazes in Northern California left behind something new — more property damage over a wider area with more human casualties than ever before. We hear about likely causes, the struggle to clean up and the possibility of prevention.

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    By Warren Olney • Oct 19, 2017 • 51m Listen

    Photo: An aerial shows damage caused by wildfires in Santa Rosa, California, October 11, 2017. (DroneBase/Reuters)

    In this episode

    3 stories
    1. 1:22

      George W. calls out bigotry and bullying in American politics

      Former President George W. Bush has hardly been heard from for 10 years. But today in New York, he delivered a scathing speech about the current state of American politics. "Bigotry seems emboldened.

      Read the story
      7 min
    2. 7:58

      First the inferno, Now the clean-up. What then?

      The blazes in Northern California are being called "firestorms," "hurricanes" and "blizzards of flame." They've been compared to a "blowtorch." In a state where wildfires are hardly uncommon, experts say civilian casualties and property loss are "historic" — like "nothing [they've] ever seen."

      Read the story
      33 min
    3. 41:21

      Divesting in university research gutting the US economy

      The William Albert Noyes Laboratory of Chemistry University of Chicago at Urbana-Champaign Photo by Beyond My Ken Since the Great Recession and the start of the Obama Administration, the federal government has been cutting back on basic research grants to public universities. In the Midwest, that's bad for the economy. Internationally, it's…

      Read the story
      10 min
    • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

      Warren Olney

      former KCRW broadcaster

    • KCRW placeholder

      Andrea Brody

      Senior Producer, KCRW's Life Examined and To the Point podcast

    • KCRW placeholder

      Sáša Woodruff

      Producer, 'To the Point'

    • KCRW placeholder

      Devan Schwartz

      Producer

      NewsNationalPolitics

    In this episode

    3 stories
    1. 1:227 min

      George W. calls out bigotry and bullying in American politics

    2. 7:5833 min

      First the inferno, Now the clean-up. What then?

    3. 41:2110 min

      Divesting in university research gutting the US economy

    Back to To the Point