Madison-based performance artist Nicole Gruter begins her cross-country journey down one of America’s iconic highways.  We’ll hear Nicole’s first report from the road.

Finding Home on Highway_14

"At a time when many American workers are struggling with high costs for groceries and housing, the nation’s largest low-wage employers are fixated on making their overpaid CEOs even richer." That's the bottom line of the 31st "Executive Excess Report" -- authored by Sarah Anderson from the Global Economy Project of the Institute for Policy Studies of the 100 S&P companies with the greatest pay differences. Anderson cites the example of the Starbucks CEO earning 6,666 times the salary of the front-line worker, and stock buy-backs create inequality injurious to both the workers and the long-term success of the companies.

buzz-8-27-25-Sarah-Anderson

Mursel Sabir, Executive Director of Afghans Empowered talks about the goals of their organization: support Afghan refugees' social, economic, and human rights worldwide. Over 800,000 Afghans currently living in Pakistan, some all their lives, are being forced out to a country they have never lived...as thousands of Afghans who aided the U.S. during the twenty years of occupation and were given Temporary Protected Status as refugees in the U.S. have seen their protection revoked by the Trump administration. Afghans Empowered works with other aid groups in advocacy and service to Afghan refugees.

buzz-8-27-25-Mursel-Sabir

Can filmmakers make a good pandemic film five years after the globe-changing year of 2020?  The recently released Eddington makes an attempt, but focuses on a hyper local experience with a fictional small town in New Mexico. Written and directed by the critically-acclaimed Ari Aster, the movie stars Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal who face off in a mayor’s race with the backdrop of summer 2020. The film contains a jumble of topical references: debates about public health and personal freedom. Social justice in the shockwave of the George Floyd murder; hyper online media attacks and conspiracy theories; and satirical action of illegal activity for political gain. On the Buzz to talk about Eddington is Jeff Smith, a professor specializing in cinema studies in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin Madison. Jeff offered his thoughts on pandemic-themed films and how they can perhaps become engines of empathy. You can listen to a full version of our conversation on wortfm.org where you’ll also find a full list of each movie we mentioned. We started our conversation chatting about films that take on matters of a global pandemic. 




Here's a list of all films mentioned in the full-length conversation: 


Edditington - 2025
Don’t Look Up -  2021
Outbreak - 1995
World War Z - 2013
Truman Show - 1998
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Multiple films) - 1956, 1978, 1993, 2007
28 Days Later (Multiple Films) - 2002, 2007, 2025
The Killer Inside of Me
Population 1280
Contagion - 2012
Host - 2020
Unfriended - 2014
We’re all going to the state fair - 2021 (Credit to Sarah Mae Fleming, a film PhD student at University of Wisconsin, who recommended this film to Jeff). 








Can a pandemic movie be an engine for empathy?

Can a Pandemic Movie be an engine for empathy? With Jeff Smith for 8 O' Clock Buzz (Full Lenth)

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration has been promising labor standards to protect workers from extreme heat for years now.  Some unions aren’t holding their breath and are taking measures into their own hands.  The Monday 8 O'Clock Buzz talks with AFSCME Local 895 President and Dane County Public Health Nurse Alex Dudek.

Unions Not Waiting for OSHA Heat Rules

Chimney Swifts, one of Wisconsin’s most distinctive birds, have been in decline ever since people started capping their chimneys.  Now some new conservation techniques bring hope for a revival.  The Southern Wisconsin Bird Alliance’s Matt Reetz joins the Monday 8 O'Clock Buzz with more.

New Hope for Chimney Swift Conservation

By law, revenues generated from federal prosecutions go to a special crime victims service fund.  But that money has been drying up, forcing deep cuts in service agencies, such as rape crisis centers, around the country.  Former federal prosecutor Martin Weinstein explains what’s going on and how to fix it.

White Collar Prosecutions Linked to Crime Victims Services

Several Republican Congressional reps took the Canadian government to task for failing to contain forest fires this summer.  As you might expect, the truth is more complicated.  We speak with Natural Resources Canada Wildfire Scientist Richard Carr.

Canadian Wildfires in Perspective

Could a sit in a sauna save an endangered frog population?  Environmental journalist Saugat Bolakhe brings us the story of a surprisingly simple solution to a conservation problem in Australia.

Saving a Species With a Frog Sauna

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