In "Bedrock, USA" Bloomberg CityLab investigates how the far right is making inroads into local government, and profiles the people fighting back. Reporter Laura Bliss introduces us to Sequim, Washington and Shasta County, California.

In Sequim, the QAnon-boosting Mayor William Armacost forces his city manager to resign, just days after the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol shocking residents. Meanwhile in Shasta County, California, right-wing activists accuse local leaders of too many rules around the Covid-19 pandemic. One of them threatens “blood on the streets.” But the county had barely enforced Covid mandates at all. So why are people so angry?

In "Bedrock, USA" Bloomberg CityLab investigates how the far right is making inroads into local government, and profiles the people fighting back. Reporter Laura Bliss introduces us to Sequim, Washington and Shasta County, California.
In Sequim, the QAnon-boosting Mayor William Armacost forces his city manager to resign, just days after the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol shocking residents. Meanwhile in Shasta County, California, right-wing activists accuse local leaders of too many rules around the Covid-19 pandemic. One of them threatens “blood on the streets.” But the county had barely enforced Covid mandates at all. So why are people so angry?

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, running for office, recalling an official or storming their government with bullhorns and threats. 

Their stories show how far-right ideologies enter into local politics - sometimes quietly, other times at full volume - and what it takes for regular people to fight back. They show the beauty as well as the risks, struggles and pitfalls of being an active participant in democracy today. And together they create a human-level portrait of a democracy that is fracturing, and the role that extremist ideologies are playing. (And they’re not going away.)

Where do their stories point us as a country? 

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, running for office, recalling an official or storming their government with bullhorns and threats. 
Their stories show how far-right ideologies enter into local politics - sometimes quietly, other times at full volume - and what it takes for regular people to fight back. They show the beauty as well as the risks, struggles and pitfalls of being an active participant in democracy today. And together they create a human-level portrait of a democracy that is fracturing, and the role that extremist ideologies are playing. (And they’re not going away.)
Where do their stories point us as a country?

Bedrock, USA

A Tale of Two Cities

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/6f22bf54-1138-42e1-8d94-aed7013aacd5/transcript

Reality TV stars are freezing their eggs on camera. Lawmakers in DC are debating federal protection for IVF. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested in slick startups that market fertility treatments for all. But this rapid growth has revealed cracks in the system. Misconception, a new series from Bloomberg’s Prognosis, follows reporter Kristen V. Brown on her own intimate journey as she uncovers the business of fertility. Along the way, she finds a fractured industry — a profit-driven field of medicine that thrives on dueling messages of hope and fear as people gamble everything for a chance at a baby.

Reality TV stars are freezing their eggs on camera. Lawmakers in DC are debating federal protection for IVF. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested in slick startups that market fertility treatments for all. But this rapid growth has revealed cracks in the system. <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/prognosis-misconception/id1440051086">Misconception</a>, a new series from Bloomberg’s Prognosis, follows reporter Kristen V. Brown on her own intimate journey as she uncovers the business of fertility. Along the way, she finds a fractured industry — a profit-driven field of medicine that thrives on dueling messages of hope and fear as people gamble everything for a chance at a baby.

Listen Now: Misconception

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/25a067fb-26c5-4de4-9471-b1c7000fbcf4/transcript

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 – that’s the so-called Don’t Say Gay bill, which critics call unsupportive of the LGBTQ community. We want to know what it’s like to be a student living with the bill, and we spend time with a trans teenager, an eleventh grader, who surprises us with their clear-eyed perspective.

“The School Board Queen” is reported, produced and hosted by Kathleen Quillian and Samantha Storey. For more information visit bloomberg.com/bedrock-usa. Have a suggestion or comment? We’d love to hear from you: kquillian@bloomberg.net or samanthastoreywrites@gmail.com. 

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 – that’s the so-called Don’t Say Gay bill, which critics call unsupportive of the LGBTQ community. We want to know what it’s like to be a student living with the bill, and we spend time with a trans teenager, an eleventh grader, who surprises us with their clear-eyed perspective.
“The School Board Queen” is reported, produced and hosted by Kathleen Quillian and Samantha Storey. For more information visit<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/bedrock-usa"> bloomberg.com/bedrock-usa</a>. Have a suggestion or comment? We’d love to hear from you: kquillian@bloomberg.net or samanthastoreywrites@gmail.com.

The School Board Queen: Chapter 3

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/6e93406c-6e86-448e-90f5-af8d018597d7/transcript

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 her kids’ schools in the 1950s. We hear some of the first instructional videos made for sex ed classes, including one on how to groom yourself and another on whether or not to go steady. Two historians, Michelle Nickerson and Natalia Mehlman Petrzelawho studied the era, take us on a tour, drawing a through-line from the mothers of yesterday to Bridget Ziegler today.  

“The School Board Queen” is reported, produced and hosted by Kathleen Quillian and Samantha Storey. For more information visit bloomberg.com/bedrock-usa. Have a suggestion or comment? We’d love to hear from you: kquillian@bloomberg.net or samanthastoreywrites@gmail.com. 

Bridget Ziegler is against the teaching of <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-10-02/how-critical-race-theory-became-a-political-target-quicktake">CRT</a> 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 her kids’ schools in the 1950s. We hear some of the first instructional videos made for sex ed classes, including one on how to groom yourself and another on whether or not to go steady. Two historians, Michelle Nickerson and Natalia Mehlman Petrzela who studied the era, take us on a tour, drawing a through-line from the mothers of yesterday to Bridget Ziegler today.  
“The School Board Queen” is reported, produced and hosted by Kathleen Quillian and Samantha Storey. For more information visit<a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/bedrock-usa"> bloomberg.com/bedrock-usa</a>. Have a suggestion or comment? We’d love to hear from you: kquillian@bloomberg.net or samanthastoreywrites@gmail.com.

The School Board Queen: Chapter 2

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/e73c998e-6e60-432f-8610-ae210140c5b1/clips/49dc642b-5464-4131-8e87-af8d01649505/transcript

A Tale of Two Cities

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