Why ballot design matters

The Smithsonian National Zoological Park in Washington, DC is sometimes called “the people’s zoo.” That’s because it’s the only zoo in the country to be created by an act of US Congress, and admission is free.But why did our federal government create a national zoo in the first place?Outside/In producer Felix Poon has the scoop – from its surprising origins in the near-extinction of bison, to a look at its modern-day mission of conservation, we’re going on a field trip to learn all about the National Zoo.Support our public radio show today and you can get our new misinformation/disinformation tote bag! Click here to take a peek at it. CLICK HERE: Visit our website to donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more! 

Today on Civics 101 we talk about truth, bias, and objectivity in reporting. I visited with Barbara Sprunt, reporter at the Washington desk at NPR, who told me what it's like to cover Capitol Hill. Barbara told me about her schedule, what to listen for when interviewing members of Congress, and what she says to accusations of political bias.Support our public radio show today and you can get our new misinformation/disinformation tote bag! Click here to take a peek at it. CLICK HERE: Visit our website to donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more! 

We started out by lining up on different sides of the street, then by saying our vote out loud. We've used many methods to vote, but most of them were corruptible by the party in power. But have we reached the pinnacle? Have we finally achieved the "perfect ballot?" Today, Dan Cassino of Farleigh Dickinson University and Josh Pasek of the University of Michigan walk us through the history of ballot design, the ballot fiasco in 2000, and how some ballots continue to favor one candidate (or party) over the other.Wanna look like the hippest Civics 101 fan in town? Click here to check out our new Misinformation/Disinformation/Propaganda tote bag! CLICK HERE: Visit our website to donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more! 

Today we explore coins, shells, greenbacks, the Mint, all things tied to American currency.Our guides are Stephen Mihm, professor at the University of Georgia and author of A Nation of Counterfeiters: Capitalists, Con Men, and the Making of the United States, Ellen Feingold, curator at the National Numismatic Collection at the Smithsonian, and Todd Martin from the U.S. Mint. Hey, check out our snazzy new tote bag! Make a $5 a month or $60 one time gift to the show and it's yours! CLICK HERE: Visit our website to donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more! 

We often tell you that YOUR local government is the one you have to pay really close attention to. So today we’re bringing you an episode from our colleagues over at Outside/In that proves exactly this. It’s about one city - Juneau, Alaska - and what happens when climate change concerns meet municipal resources – or lack thereof. What does a city do when the bottom line doesn’t jibe with reality and federal funds are out of reach?  Especially when a predictable natural disaster is looming on the horizon?Outside/In host Nate Hegyi visits Juneau to see one example of why some Americans - and their civil leaders -  are rejecting tough truths about climate change when it comes knocking at their own back door.To see photos and learn more about Nate's reporting in Juneau, click here. Check out Outside/In at Outsideinradio.org - and follow or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts! CLICK HERE: Visit our website to donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more! 

Host Nick Capodice talks to co-host Hannah McCarthy about what it's like having real access to the Supreme Court. (Spoiler alert: those chairs lean WAY back!)And then the pair pays a very emotional visit to the Lincoln Memorial.  CLICK HERE: Visit our website to donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more! 

Why do we need so much paper money? Why does the National Zoo have bison?  How did Thomas Edison record sound? How big is the Hope Diamond? What does the CPB do? And what is it ike seeing a Supreme Court oral argument in person? What about all those protests outside?These are all questions the Civics 101 team sought to answer on their second and third days field-tripping in Washington D.C. And now they've been joined by Outside/In producer Felix Poon! Listen in as the team shares their experiences and some interesting facts they picked up during their reporting and down time.And don't forget to stay tuned for all the episodes the team will produce after this trip to our nation's capital! CLICK HERE: Visit our website to donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more! 

This week our team has hit the road to - where else - our nation’s capital, Washington D.C. While we’re here, we’ll be conducting interviews and gathering tape for future episodes, but we’re also doing something else: immersing ourselves in the sights and sounds of the seat of our federal government.That’s right, it’s a Civics 101 field trip! You can follow along on Instagram and on our brand-new TikTok channel.In this episode, listen to what it was like as we explored the city during our first full day in D.C. - where we walked, what we saw, and what made us curious. And one of those facts...yeah, it was about the Constitution. BUCKLE UP.  CLICK HERE: Visit our website to donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more! 

You might think you know why Marbury v Madison is important: it set the precedent whereby the Supreme Court decides whether laws are constitutional or not, a power known as judicial review. But what else does this landmark decision say? And why is this case from more than two hundred years ago cited so prominently in former president Donald Trump's current Supreme Court brief? In this episode, host Hannah McCarthy "Hansplains" the connection between this famous case and current events, with the help of Quinnipiac University's Wayne Unger.  CLICK HERE: Visit our website to donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more! 

Today we're talking RNC and DNC. The committees, not the conventions. What do they do? Who decides who chairs them? And what does it mean to a national committee when someone can post a message on social media that has more impact than thousands of mailbox flyers?Today's guests are Boris Heersink and Marjorie Hershey, who take us from a few folks setting up a convention to a massive organization that tries (and sometimes fails) to wrangle a party's identity. CLICK HERE: Visit our website to donate to the podcast, sign up for our newsletter, get free educational materials, and more!