Campbell Conversations

You'd think that Global Warming would make for less snow, but in this episode of the Campbell Conversations we learn why it might produce more snow, at least in Central New York.  Host Grant Reeher talks with Mark Monmonier about his latest book, Lake Effect:  Tales of Large Lakes, Arctic Winds, and Recurrent Snows.  Find out what fascinated this Geography professor so much about our local snowfalls that he wrote an entire

What effects do campaign contributions and independent expenditures really have on the way that Congress works?  On this episode of the Campbell Conversations, Grant Reeher talks with Yale political scientist Eleanor Powell, an expert on money and Congress.  Powell describes the complicated web of money’s influence, and considers what could realistically be done to change the system.

February is Black History Month, but in this edition of the Campbell Conversations, humorist Larry Wilmore explains why he’d rather African-Americans got casinos instead of the celebration—which is also the title of his recent book.  The writer and performer also discusses his experiences as the “senior black correspondent” for The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

The American population is rapidly aging, and this has enormous implications for our health care system.  Among other challenges, there are fewer workers contributing to Medicare and Medicaid, relative to the population using those programs.  On this week’s edition of the Campbell Conversations, Grant Reeher talks with Geriatric specialist Dr. Sharon Brangman about the trends in aging, the special health care needs of the elderly, and the ways that our medical system does, and does not, respond to them. 

You sometimes hear that with all we know about the dangerous health effects of cigarettes, you’d have to be crazy to smoke.  That turns out to be more true than we might realize.  In this episode of the Campbell Conversations host Grant Reeher talks with tobacco control policy expert Cliff Douglas, and uncovers a variety of disturbing—and sometimes hopeful—information about our society’s tobacco use, tobacco policies, and the tobacco industry. 

What would a city planner and architect who focuses on the importance of something called "walkability" make of the I-81 question and Destiny USA?  On this edition of the Campbell Conversations, Grant Reeher talks with Jeff Speck, a city planner and architectural designer, and the author of Walkable 

In 2012, the voters in the 24th Congressional district gave Dan Maffei a second chance when they chose him to replace Ann Marie Buerkle, after she had defeated him just two years before.  Now a year in to his new term in office, Maffei sits down with host Grant Reeher to discuss unemployment benefits, economic inequality, Obamacare, Afghanistan, and whether Congress is becoming more functional.

In a recently published book, Brandeis University researcher Rosalind Barnett argues that there is a new “soft war” on women, which is reinforcing gender inequality and harming not only women, but also men and the general economy.  This war is being fueled in part by a growing “myth” that women have largely accomplished their historic struggle for equality.  In this edition of the Campbell Conversations, Grant Reeher explores those arguments with Barnett, the co-author of 

  Robert McChesney is a well-known communications professor at the University of Illinois.  His most recent book, co-authored with John Nichols, is Dollarocracy:  How the Money and Media Election Complex is Destroying America

  On this week's edition of the Campbell Conversations, Grant Reeher talks with former Vermont Governor and U.S.

  The Syracuse University Men's Basketball Team is off to a good start this season, in its first season in the ACC.  The team is 9-0 and ranked 4th in the nation after defeating Binghamton University on Saturday.  On this week's edition of the Campbell Conversations, Grant Reeher talks with Mike Hopkins, SU associate head coach.  Hopkins discusses how athletics and academics mix in big-time college sports, the recipes for success as a player and a coach, and how some aspects of the system might be improved. 

Full transcript of the interview:

Kent Syverud arrives in Upstate New York in January to become Syracuse University's next Chancellor.  Intense speculation has surrounded the transition--will there be a change of course from Nancy Cantor's signature commitment to the City of Syracuse and the Upstate region?  Will the university focus more on improving its rankings and increasing its endowment?  In this edition of the Campbell Conversations, Grant Reeher talks with the incoming chancellor about his future learning curve at SU, and his experiences as dean of the law schools at Vanderbilt and Washington Universities, as well a

  The Moreland Commission to Investigate Public Corruption is already making waves in Albany, as the media and the public react to what's coming out at its public hearings.  In this edition of the Campbell Conversations, Grant Reeher talks with the Commission's Co-chair, Onondaga County District Attorney Bill Fitzpatrick, about the Commission's work and its possible impact on the state's politics.  He also addresses the charge that the Governor Andrew Cuomo is meddling in the Commission's affairs.

A powerful new documentary about the war in Afghanistan, The Hornet’s Nest, features a father and son team embedded for two years with American forward units.  In this edition of the Campbell Conversations, Grant Reeher speaks with filmmaker Mike Boettcher, an Emmy and Peabody Award-winning war correspondent, and David Salzberg, the film’s co-director and producer, about the making of the film—and how it has affected them, the soldiers, and their families. 

Some of the most difficult-to-enforce provisions from the New York SAFE Act will soon come online.  On this week’s edition of the Campbell Conversations, Grant Reeher talks with Oswego County Sheriff Reuel Todd, who recently joined a constitutional challenge to the law filed by the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association.  Find out why the county’s top cop thinks the law misses its target, and why the controversies surroundi

Voters in the state will be faced with several ballot propositions this November 5th.  The proposition capturing the most attention—and controversy—is the proposal to expand casino gambling, which will appear as Proposition 1.  On October 16th, the Campbell Public Affairs Institute of Syracuse University’s Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs sponsored a debate on this referendum.  The debate was held in the Maxwell Auditorium on the Syracuse University

In this edition of the Campbell Conversations, host Grant Reeher talks with Sister Helen Prejean, the author of Dead Man Walking, which inspired the movie of the same name.  Sister Helen relates her advocacy efforts to end the death penalty in the twenty years since the book's publication, and how work

One could argue that the most energetic opposition to the Democratic candidates for Syracuse City offices this November is coming from a third party, the Greens.

In this edition of the Campbell Conversations, Grant Reeher speaks to the Green Party candidates for mayor, city council, and board of education, and explores their collective vision for a new set of city policies and a new way of governance.

This week on the Campbell Conversations, economist Richard Wolff argues that our economic recovery has so far been a “fiction,” unless you’re in the top one percent, and he further claims that this problem reflects something much more fundamentally wrong with our modern system of capitalism.  He finds a solution to the problem in a reconsideration of the way we govern the workplace.  Wolff is the author of books such as Democracy at Work, and C

What's the problem with Congress?  Why can't it find compromises on the most basic issues?  In this edition of the Campbell Conversations, host Grant Reeher explores those questions with Thomas Mann, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and the co-author of "It's Even Worse Than It Looks: How the American Constitutional Syst

How could we craft a more community-friendly plan for arts and culture in the Central New York region, and how could that help revitalize the quality of life and the economy in the area?  In this edition of the Campbell Conversations, Steve Butler, the executive director of CNYArts, discusses his organization's efforts to create such a plan through its Engage CNY initiative.

In this edition of the Campbell Conversations, James Haywood Rolling, Jr., an expert on arts education and the author of Swarm Intelligence, draws on theories of group behavior in the animal world in order to argue for new ways of nurturing creativity in the education of our children.  Find out what a flock of birds has to tell us about individual artistic creation.

In this edition of the Campbell Conversations, we continue with the forum we first presented last week--a discussion among the three candidates vying for the Democratic Party line in the upcoming city of Syracuse mayoral election. Participating in the forum are Mayor Stephanie Miner, Common Councilor Pat Hogan and Alfonso Davis. The topic for this week's debate, moderated by host Grant Reeher, concerns public policy questions that bear on the city's future.

The three candidates vying for the Democratic Party line in the upcoming City of Syracuse mayoral election could only agree to two public forums.  What follows is one of them.  On this week’s edition of the Campbell Conversations, we present the first segment of a two-part series—the second part airing next Sunday, September 1.  The topic for this week, moderated by host Grant Reeher, is the political process and executive leadership.

The three candidates in the Democratic primary race for mayor of Syracuse squared off during a forum on WRVO's Campbell Conversations on Tuesday. Incumbent Stephanie Miner will face Common Councilor Pat Hogan, and challenger Alfonso Davis, to see who gets on the Democratic party line in November.

Primary day is September 10 this year. In Syracuse, three Democrats will face off in a primary for mayor. Common Councilor Pat Hogan and Alfonso Davis are challenging incumbent Mayor Stephanie Miner. As of now, there is no Republican candidate on the ballot, so whoever wins the primary is likely to win the general election in November. 

(Editor's note: Common Councilor Jean Kessner was invited to participate in the panel, but was unable to attend due to a scheduling conflict)

  How has Upstate New York been coping with the problem of hunger?  How have the challenges changed in recent years?  And how does the concern for proper nutrition fit with the need to feed people who are going hungry?  On this edition of the Campbell Conversations, Grant Reeher discusses these questions with Kathleen Stress, the executive director of the Food Bank of Central New York.  Some of the answers might surprise you.

Community Colleges have a uniquely important set of educational roles to fill in their communities.  In this edition of the Campbell Conversations, Grant Reeher talks with the new President of Onondaga Community College, Casey Crabill.  They discuss how the diversity of community college missions fit together, and her priorities in moving the institution forward from an already strong base.

(Note: This interview originally aired April 14, 2013)

One of the many controversial aspects of the post 9-11 war effort is the government’s use of military commissions rather than traditional criminal courts to try suspected terrorists. In this edition of the Campbell Conversations, Grant Reeher speaks with Jess Bravin, the Supreme Court correspondent for The Wall Street Journal.