x

75% of people globally want unbiased news (Pew Research) but are concerned they're not getting that.

Get balanced coverage with Symby. See how stories are covered across diverse outlets and spot when one side covers a story the other skips.

PODCAST

Wedge LIVE!

A show about Minneapolis politics from the maker of Wedge LIVE, the award winning local news website.

news politics

All Episodes

01:01:23

How to Rank Your Ballot with Schufman & Schuman

Wedge LIVE! ·

2021/09/30

John and co-host Elissa Schufman (@schufman) have a conversation with ranked choice voting enthusiast Todd Schuman. Is there ever a good reason to not rank every slot on your ballot? Why do we only get three choices for the three Park Board at-large seats (as opposed to three for each seat)? What is a spoiled ballot? How does ranked choice voting work? Why does Todd's last name have an "f" while Elissa's does not? John opens his ballot in front of a live microphone, reveals too much about his

en

01:36:01

Robin Wonsley Worlobah, candidate for Minneapolis...

Wedge LIVE! ·

2021/09/28

John begins by scolding co-host Jason Garcia for failing to prevent audio disaster in the previous epside. Then we have an extended conversation with Robin Wonsley Worlobah, who is running for Minneapolis City Council in Ward 2. We talk about public safety, the "strong mayor" proposal, and answer the question: how long is too long for a podcast episode? What is Robin learning in her conversations with the voters of Ward 2? What big revelations has she come to while undertaking this massive project

en

01:29:38

Jono Cowgill, Minneapolis Park Board President

Wedge LIVE! ·

2021/09/23

This episode took a lot of work to salvage. John screwed up his audio and had to re-record. So you'll be hearing John's voice, as it was recorded on the day of this conversation, as well as some re-recorded voiceover from a week and a half later. Please don't be confused. I apologize to Jono Cowgill, President of the Minneapolis Park Board. You should absolutely vote for Jono, even if you can't endure listening to this episode. Jono has a truly terrible opponent this year. Thank you to Jason Garcia

en

01:23:05

Cam Gordon, Minneapolis City Council Member in Ward 2

Wedge LIVE! ·

2021/09/21

John's guest is Cam Gordon, who represents Ward 2 on the Minneapolis City Council. First, we get Cam's reaction to the recent legal back and forth over the public safety charter amendment (this episode was recorded before the Minnesota Supreme Court's decision to allow voters to decide Question 2). John asks how Cam assesses the quality of the advice the City Council receives from the City Attorney's Office. And how should voters assess the effect of the "strong mayor" charter amendment? What's the

en

01:15:46

Aisha Chughtai, candidate for Minneapolis City...

Wedge LIVE! ·

2021/09/16

John is joined by co-host Jason Garcia for a conversation with Aisha Chughtai, who's running for Minneapolis City Council. We start with an inappropriate degree of fawning from an uninvited special guest. Aisha wants to know how long this show will go (we have no good answers). Aisha talks about balancing work and running for office as she enters the heart of the campaign. And what it's like to be a running as a woman of color during an intense, sometimes angry, time in our city. What's her vision

en

01:19:49

Katie Jones, candidate for Minneapolis City Council...

Wedge LIVE! ·

2021/09/14

John has a conversation with Minneapolis City Council candidate Katie Jones. We talk about the incredibly high stakes for this election while Katie sits on the floor of her attic. In a time like this, why disrupt your life to become a candidate? John chides Katie the engineer for not laughing at his jokes and expresses frustration with election year distraction politics. What is Katie's response to the empty catchphrase "support our chief"? Katie says the framing is all wrong. It's about sending the

en

00:42:53

Steve Brandt, candidate for Minneapolis Board of...

Wedge LIVE! ·

2021/09/02

On the thrilling conclusion of BET Candidates Week: Steve Brandt. John begins by asking Steve to give his assessment of where Minneapolis stands after the events of the past year or so. How would Steve explain the BET to a normal human being? What would Steve do if the Council needed his help raising the tax levy to fund alternative public safety priorities beyond what's contained in the mayor's budget? How is Steve different from the tax hawks who currently occupy the two directly elected seats on

en

01:03:57

Pine Salica, candidate for Minneapolis Board of...

Wedge LIVE! ·

2021/08/31

Pine Salica is our first guest for BET Candidates Week! We start off with the basics. What is the BET? Why do you want this job? Are you a fiscal conservative or are you willing to provide budget flexibility to fund essential city priorities? We talk about the public safety charter amendment and the recent ballot language controversy. Pine tells us about their desire to have Minneapolis raise money for public housing maintenance using a public housing levy. A Lisa Goodman soundbite prompts a

en

01:14:56

Jeremiah Ellison, Minneapolis City Council Member in...

Wedge LIVE! ·

2021/08/24

John is joined by Jeremiah Ellison who represents Ward 5 in North Minneapolis. Jeremiah says he's a progressive outlier in a historically low-turnout ward that tends to elects more conservative council members ("we made people feel like it was worth voting" in 2017). We talk about a housing crisis Jeremiah faced early in his first term; the rent control charter amendment (and mayoral veto); public safety ("Long before the past two years Ward 5, and Ward 4, we've had to carry the burden of gun

en

01:10:28

Erica Mauter on 2021 and the experience of 2017

Wedge LIVE! ·

2021/08/17

John is joined by Erica Mauter for a wide-ranging conversation about the state of the 2021 election. Erica reacts to John's narration of what he calls "the Kneecapping of Erica Mauter" by the Star Tribune Editorial Board. Erica talks about her experience campaigning for City Council as a Queer Black woman in an especially white part of Minneapolis (Ward 11), and how that influenced her decision to find a new neighborhood. We ponder the current state of the race in Ward 11 and elsewhere. How do we,

en

01:12:57

David Brauer talks us through the 2021 election in...

Wedge LIVE! ·

2021/08/11

It's a wide ranging election year conversation with longtime local journalist ("40 years of sedimentary layers in Minneapolis"), and Twitter Dad to all, David Brauer. David talks John through the various scenarios, ranking them on a scale of how likely they are to make you poop your pants. After covering the Board of Estimate and Taxation, and the various City Council races, we discuss two charter amendments — "strong mayor" and public safety — that could shift the balance of power and reshape how

en

01:07:51

The Mickey Moore Episode

Wedge LIVE! ·

2021/08/03

John is joined by Jason Garcia and investigator Taylor Dahlin. Taylor has untangled the web of mystery and deceit that surround the Mickey Moore campaign for Minneapolis City Council in Ward 9. Questions beget more questions in the quest to understand the real Mickey Moore. Does Mickey Moore really live in Ward 9 where he is currently running for City Council? Did he ever live in the 5th District when he ran against Ilhan Omar last year? Or has he always lived with his family in Oak Grove, as

en

01:14:08

Jason Chavez, candidate for Minneapolis City Council...

Wedge LIVE! ·

2021/07/15

John and co-host Elissa Schufman start off the show with an extended period of delightful co-host banter, demonstrating mutual respect and admiration — making a convincing case to listeners that they enjoy being in each other's presence. John asks, does Elissa consider herself to be the Wedge LIVE equivalent to the late Andy Rooney, of 60 Minutes fame? Does she who know that is? What's the deal with people who drive on the Midtown Greenway? Elissa provides an Aldi update: she still hasn't been to

en

01:09:08

Jeremy Schroeder, Minneapolis City Council Member in...

Wedge LIVE! ·

2021/07/01

John and co-host PeggySue have a conversation with Jeremy Schroeder, who represents Ward 11 on the Minneapolis City Council. First we ask about chickens. Then we talk about his first term, the leadership role he's taken on housing and public safety, and how city hall has been more political and less collaborative than he expected. PeggySue's cat derails the episode by obliterating John's script. Then we talk some more about public safety and what's wrong with the mayor. John asks why Jeremy's

en

01:18:12

Nick Kor, candidate for Minneapolis City Council in...

Wedge LIVE! ·

2021/06/29

John is joined by co-host Pine, a Senior Political Analyst who is currently managing the only citywide DFL endorsed campaign in Minneapolis. After some co-host banter, Nick Kor arrives for a conversation about his run for the Ward 7 seat on the Minneapolis City Council. We talk about the political geography of Ward 7 (East of Hennepin Ave vs. West of Hennepin Ave). How do you convince the apartment dwellers of Ward 7 the stakes are high enough that they should come out and vote in a city election

en

01:30:53

The Wedge LIVE Election Year Halftime Show...

Wedge LIVE! ·

2021/06/22

John is joined by Jason Garcia and Taylor Dahlin to dole out conventional wisdom on everything that's happened through the first half of the 2021 election year in Minneapolis. Did Mayor Jacob Frey really win by losing, as traditional media personalities would have you believe? Will the city council swing conservative or progressive? We can help you interpret the meaning behind DFL endorsements and non-endorsements across the city. Later in the show we're joined by Jacob Garcia and Dr. Melody Hoffman

en

00:55:34

Fixing Lyndale (And All the Rest of Our Terrible,...

Wedge LIVE! ·

2021/06/16

John is joined by guests Ash Narayanan and Elissa Schufman to talk about what's wrong with Minneapolis streets and how to fix them. Ash is educated as a civil and traffic engineer, but decided to use those powers for good, as the executive director of Our Streets Minneapolis. Our Streets is an organization that "works for a city where biking, walking, and rolling are easy and comfortable for everyone." Elissa (who is also a board member at Our Streets) has a day job in transportation advocacy. Among

en

01:10:25

PARK BOARD EPISODE! with Becky Alper and Tom Olsen

Wedge LIVE! ·

2021/06/08

John is secretly very tired of talking to candidates for Minneapolis Park Board, so he combined two of them into one episode, just to get this over with quicker. Becky Alper (beckyforparks.org) is running in district 3 and Tom Olsen (olsenforparks.org) running citywide at-large. We talk about parkways and how to use them. John maintains that not even the biggest automobile enthusiast goes to a park to experience the sights and sounds of car traffic. Tom talks about his ideas for reallocating space

en

01:07:56

Reimagining Public Safety with Asma Mohammed Nizami

Wedge LIVE! ·

2021/06/03

John is joined by co-host Jason Garcia for a conversation about public safety and election year politics with guest Asma Mohammed Nizami. Topics for co-host banter include the conservative effort to quickly build out an array of new organization to match progressive political infrastructure in Minneapolis; an update to the Wedge LIVE endorsements venn diagram and voter guide; the Yellow Pages; John recalls the time he was named one of the 100 People to Know in 2020 by the prestigious Twin Cities

en

00:40:55

Eric Moran, candidate for Minneapolis Park Board in...

Wedge LIVE! ·

2021/06/01

John talks to Eric Moran, who's running to represent North Minneapolis (and a tiny part of the North Loop neighborhood) on the Minneapolis Park Board. Eric says he's running a campaign focused on both physical and digital access to the parks system and its government. With recent news of Minneapolis dropping in the ranking of best urban parks systems (based on the percentage of people who live within a 10 minute walk to a park), John asks what can be done to increase the number of people who can

en

276 results

Similar Podcasts

Expres Ráno

Expres FM

PBS News Hour - Full Show

PBS News

CD Voice

China Daily

Israel Today: Ongoing War Report

Noa Levi

Jeffrey Epstein: The Coverup Chronicles

Bobby Capucci