Bedrock, USA
Bedrock, USA
Bedrock, USA is a podcast about political extremism, small town life and the fight for democracy, hosted by Laura Bliss, a reporter at Bloomberg CityLab. In a super-divided, pandemic-era America awash in conspiracies and misinformation, it’s about a group of people who didn’t like what they saw happening in their local governments, and decided to get involved - whether that meant holding a rally…Social links:
Follow the podcast:
The School Board Queen: Chapter 3
In the final chapter of “The School Board Queen” we dig in with Bridget Ziegler. Her opponents have called her names – transphobic and racist. But she says she’ll take “the arrows of being called whatever” for what she believes in. She’s a champion of the Florida Parental Rights in Education Act – …
30:07
The School Board Queen: Chapter 2
Bridget Ziegler is against the teaching of CRT and gender identity. She believes parents should have ultimate control over their children’s education. In chapter two of “The School Board Queen” we explore where these stances come from. We hear from a Republican woman who fought against communism in…
29:48
The School Board Queen: Chapter 1
Ever since the pandemic saw school boards explode into shouting matches over mask mandates, nothing has been the same. And Florida has been the epicenter of some of those battles. Leading the charge is Bridget Ziegler, mother of three, and chair of the Sarasota school board. She is against the teac…
23:38
Why School Boards Had the Toughest Political Races
This week on Bedrock, USA, hosts Kathleen Quillian and Samantha Storey speak to Doug Kronaizl, a senior staff writer for Ballotpedia, a nonprofit that tracks elections and ballot measures. Kronaizl studies conflicts on school board elections. For this episode, he breaks down what the education land…
18:17
How Secure Are America’s Midterm Elections?
Bedrock, USA returns with an interview about election security. New hosts Kathleen Quillian and Samantha Storey talk to the editorial director of VoteBeat, Jessica Huseman, about what to expect at the polls. Going into the midterms, cybersecurity is top of mind, so is physical security for both the…
31:06
What’s On Your Mind Ahead of the US Midterms?
There are five more episodes of “Bedrock, USA” in the works — and we want to hear from you. With the midterm elections coming up, we're wondering, what’s at stake in your town? Are you getting politically involved? What are you worried about? Do you have questions about how local politics work? P…
02:07
Election Day
Election day in Sequim. The Good Governance League wins by a landslide. A new mayor will be installed. However, down south in Shasta, the future is uncertain. We go back to the far-right activists who are trying to install more of their candidates into elected office. Will their takeover be success…
32:36
Good Governance
With their beloved city manager Charlie Bush gone, a group of Sequim residents unites to fight the intrusion of partisan politics in their local government. They call themselves the Good Governance League and mount a campaign for an upcoming city election. Their plan? To get their own candidates in…
41:37
Not In My Backyard
We leave Shasta for now. We will come back in a later episode to find out the election results. Meanwhile, we return to Sequim, where Mayor Armacost reveals his love of QAnon on live radio and later forces his city manager Charlie Bush to resign, in what some residents see as an act of troubling pa…
34:32
Winner Takes All
The recall succeeds in removing one county supervisor, Leonard Moty. But it’s enough to gain the majority on the county board of supervisors. What do far-right leaders plan to do with their newfound power? One thing is clear: Top officials from across the county government leave in a mass exodus, a…
40:38