The Eaton and Palisades fires, the two major fires making up the Los Angeles fires, are now the two most destructive wildfires in Southern California history.
The fires have sparked significant debate about insurance in high-risk natural disaster areas as thousands of Californians lost their home insurance not long before the fires.
And president-elect Donald Trump has returned to the centre stage of United States foreign policy in the weeks leading up to his inauguration.
Trump has threatened to annex Greenland and Canada as well as reclaim the Panama Canal for the United States.
For States of the States this week Wire Host Caeden spoke to Andre Fa’aoso from the Yale Daily News about both of these topics.
Following the pandemic, hybrid remote and in office work has become more prevalent. According to data from StatsNZ on the September 2024 quarter, more than 40% of businesses offered a work from home option, while 898,700 people worked from home.
In 2023, 5 academics (and work friends) published a study on the nature of workplace friendships in the absence of physical presence. The study indicated several benefits of having work friends, as well as revealing foundational elements to maintaining these friendships.
Producer Athena spoke to Senior Lecturer Dr Stefan Korber, from the University of Auckland Business School, about the benefits of having work friends, and the ways workplace friendships can flourish.
The recent wildfires in Los Angeles drew attention to the hundreds of firefighters who came from California’s prison system.
The California Department of Corrections has claimed their “Fire Camp Program” is voluntary but this has come into question by prison reform advocates and ex-incarcerated individuals.
Advocates have called for stronger protections for incarcerated workers, especially as climate change creates a need for an expanded labour force to respond to natural disasters.
For our inaugural International Desk, 95bFM’s segment focused on breaking and under-reported news from around the globe, Wire Host Caeden spoke to Brock University’s Dr Jordan House about this programme and its potential in other jurisdictions such as Canada.
A recent study at the University of New Mexico has found that there could be a spoon’s worth of microplastics in the human brain.
The study found that the extent of the harm to human health is unclear, although an increased inflammation and risk of future adverse cardiovascular events is likely.
Producer Amani spoke to Senior Lecturer of Chemical Sciences at the University of Auckland, Dr Joel Rindelaub, about the prevalence of microplastics in the human body, and what its impacts might be.
Def Jim returns from his extended Summer break with a total blast of a Jazz Shown featuring a track from each of three brand new releases from the likes of Steve Coleman & 5 Elements, Ava Mendoza and Emily Remler. The latter (which opens the Show) is particularly noteworthy, being a taste of the first previously unheard set from the sadly deceased guitarist Ms. Remler released for 25 years. Naturally there are plenty more delights to be savoured in this Show, such as a piece by 70's UK fusion pioneers Nucleus taken from a multi-CD set released a couple of years ago which exhaustively documents their recording sessions for UK public broadcaster the BBC. Warmly recommended.
New or new-ish releases from Jeff Parker, Tim Berne, Julian Lage and John Zorn's New Masada Quartet feature in Def Jim's latest Jazz Show. Mr. Parker is back with another set from the band that recorded Mondays At The Enfield Tennis Academy a while back, this time on a better-distributed label (and available from Real Groovy on vinyl at last check). Otherwise the Show is graced with the usual miscellany of carefully-chosen album tracks new and old from the modern jazz canon. Don't miss it!
The government has reduced staff and funding at the National Geohazards Monitoring Centre by 25%
This comes despite the siesmic activity expierenced throughout the country and the rising frequency of natural disasters, not only in New Zealand but around the world.
The Wire producer Samantha sat down with PSA organizer Claire Nickson to discuss the implications of this move and its affects in the public.
Concrete is one of the world’s most polluting materials, accounting for between 5 and 8 percent of global CO2 emissions.
For the past several years, University of Auckland Engineering Faculty, Dr Enrique Del Ray Castillo has been researching and developing an alternative which could decrease the environmental impact of concrete by reducing the amount of cement required in its production.
Using a blend of volcanic ash – or pumice – and kaimoana shells, both of which are natural, local and more sustainable materials, Castillo has explored how traditional Roman engineering and mātauranga Māori could work together to make a material that’s built to last
Recently new legislation, The Game Animal (Herds of Special Interest) Amendment Bill, has passed its first reading in parliament which would allow deer and tahr into our New Zealand’s national parks after being reclassified as special herds.
Aoetearoa does not have any indigenous mammals, and its ecosystems are not developed for their sudden introduction into national parks. This has lead to pests such as possums and rats doing untold damage to our natural ecosystems and biodiversity.
This bill has been criticised as dangerous to our environment and native animals.
Producer Sam spoke to the Regional Conservation Manager at Forest and Bird, Nicky Snoyink, about the potential dangers of such legislation.
In recent weeks, the central government has pushed through numerous amendments to the Resource Management Act, in an effort to help streamline consent processes for corporations.
However, these changes— in particular ones surrounding freshwater planning and waterway pollution requirements — have been criticised especially by environmental advocates as disregarding the negative impacts to the environment and affording too much power to financial interests in the case of natural resource management.
As well, this past week Education Minister Erica Stanford announced a proposal to ban books with “too much” reo Māori in them from early learning materials in the ‘Ready to Read phonics scheme’.
While she justifies the changes as being of genuine literary necessity for children’s learning, many have contended the changes as an act of racism against te reo Māori which asserts white supremacy in the education system.
95bFM