Dialogue

When you hear climate change, you might think of sea-level rise or shrinking glaciers. So what impact does climate change have on landlocked Tennessee? In April's episode of Dialogue, we'll take a look at the relationship between human actions and extreme weather and biodiversity in this corner of the world. We'll also talk about what's being done to fight the impacts of climate change in East Tennessee.

Tennessee's General Assembly spent a week in January working through new education legislation that aims to address pandemic learning loss. Advocates say there's still a long road ahead to equity in education both during, and after the pandemic.

With a record number of absentee ballots cast, ongoing legal battles around voting rights and a health pandemic with spiking case rates: this election is unprecedented. 

After the polls close, and as the country awaits the results from the presidential election, WUOT's Claire Heddles is joined by a panel of experts to talk about what's next for Tennessee. 

This year marks the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The landmark legislation broadened the scope of institutions barred from discriminating against people with disabilities.

WUOT's Chrissy Keuper hosted our June Dialogue, as we got out of lockdown and took the train with Todd Steed. He was our tour guide for his pre-COVID jazz music travelogue that became the podcast, “Improvisations to Go”. 

With a recent flood of information about COVID-19, it's hard to know what's true and what's not. And as we head to the presidential polls in just 6 months, it's never been more important to understand if and how information has been manipulated. One study suggests Tennesseeans were among those most likely to retweet Russian disinformation during the 2016 presidential election. WUOT News took an in-depth look at how and why false information spreads on the internet with three disinformation experts. 

February is Black History month in America, and along with the usual celebrations of notable African-Americans looms another question: How have we preserved this history? In this Dialogue we'll talk to two people who have attempted to document some African-American experiences, plus a man who lived it. The challenges and triumphs of documenting African-American history with guests Leslie Snow, William Isom II, and Theotis Robinson, Jr.

Knoxville’s zoning code hasn’t had a major overhaul in over 50 years. In that time the country has seen a return to downtown, the rise of gig economies, and seismic shifts in land use. Knoxville’s Metropolitan Planning Commission has been hard at work for nearly two years to redo city codes, and Recode Knoxville has gained more attention as the process inches closer to the finish line. But there’s been enough feedback to delay a vote on the changes until next year. If you’re wondering what Recode is and what it could mean to you, listen in.

In a well-intentioned move to curb drug crime, lawmakers in the 1980’s and 1990’s implemented a raft of legislation that required judges to impose mandatory minimum sentences for some crimes. Today, those laws are under scrutiny as jail populations have soared in a generation. Recently there has been bipartisan support of a bill that would reform many of these changes, and it seems to have tentative support from President Trump.

When the Department of Energy designated Knoxville as a Solar City a decade ago, the number of solar installers was smaller, the public wasn’t as informed on the benefits of solar, and there were only two medium sized photovoltaic (PV) systems in the city. One was a 15-kilowatt system at Ijams Nature Center, and the other was an 8-kilowatt system at Mellow Mushroom near UT campus. How far have we come since then? And what are the options for homeowners looking to reduce their bills?