The Exchange

As technology advances, our private lives more and more enter the public domain, causing some to call for more laws protecting our personal lives. Others say privacy is not so easily defined and warn against restricting the free flow of information.  We’ll look at this debate, and several bills in the State Legislature tightening up privacy laws.

Guests

Yesterday, President Barack Obama took his second oath of office for his second term and outlined his vision for the next four years.  Obama borrowed heavily from the Constitution in his speech and gave a hefty nod to Dr. Martin Luther King on his observed birthday.  Now the work begins.  We'll play excerpts of his speech and try to read between the lines as to what Obama hopes his second term may accomplish.

Guests:

We sit down with Marco Werman, host of the Public Radio program “The World”. This summer he came to New Hampshire, promoting his new film about Senegalese musician and activist Youssou N'Dour. We’ll learned more about it and talked with Werman about his long career at “The World”, from the huge political and cultural shifts he’s covered, to his particular interest in uncovering unique music from around the globe.

Guest

Marco Werman - Host of the PRI radio program, "The World"

Next week on The Exchange, we’ll listen back to parts of President Obama’s inauguration speech and talk about what it may say for his next four years.  Then the debate over privacy in an age of information saturation, we’ll look at several proposals to overhaul New Hampshire’s privacy laws.  And we end the week with New Hampshire Health and Human Services Department Commissioner Nicholas Toumpas.  E-mail us at NHPR dot org and join us all next week for the Exchange every morning live at 9/and again at 8 pm here on NHPR

The influenza season started much earlier this year and the strain is considered more severe.  Many worry how much of a toll this will take. In New Hampshire, at least twenty people have died from the flu already. We’ll talk with health experts about how this season compares to others and how health providers, schools, and individuals are coping. 

Guests

Dina Temple-Raston joins us today.  She covers counter-terrorism for NPR, and is in New Hampshire this week.  We’ll talk with her about the many new and emerging terrorism challenges that President Obama will face in his second term from Al Queda affiliates in Africa to handling terrorism suspects still incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay. 

Guest

Dina Temple-Raston - NPR's Counterterrorism Correspondent

Research now shows that Alzheimer’s can be diagnosed years before signs of dementia.  Science has not, however, produced any new treatments and evidence of prevention is still being studied.  We’ll look at recent developments and at concern over stress on families and the impact of this disease on the healthcare system.

Guests

The Granite State gets ready for what are called “health exchanges” under  the Affordable Care Act.  These are new marketplaces where consumers and small businesses can shop for health coverage, advocates say these will encourage competition and lower costs, but there are many unknowns, including who will regulate the insurance companies that participate.

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Author Molly Michelmore explores what she calls the fundamental paradox of American Politics:  We’re hostile toward taxes, but we also demand the privileges government offers from social security to local police protection.  Michelmore examines the history of this conundrum and finds these attitudes consistent from FDR’s New Deal to the Reagan Revolution.

Guest

Next week on The Exchange, we begin with a new book called “Tax and Spend” exploring the long, deep American hostility toward taxes.  Then: we look at Health exchanges.  Under the Affordable Care Act, New Hampshire is laying the groundwork for these marketplaces where consumers shop around for health coverage.  We catch up on the latest research and challenges around Alzheimer's disease and later, NPR’s Dina Temple Raston is here, with stories of her beat: covering counter-terrorism.

We wrap up our three-day series on possible lessons from the Newtown shootings, with a look at some of the battles brewing over gun control and gun rights. President Obama has said he’ll do what it takes to curb gun violence. And lawmakers here in the Granite State are gearing up to take on such gun-related issues as the state’s Stand Your Ground law.

Guests:

Violent video games - do they create real-world violence? It's a question studied for years, and renewed in light of the massacre in Newtown, Connecticut. Meanwhile, some in Congress are calling for an investigation into the effects of these games on children. As part of a three-day series looking at the conversation post-Newtown, we're examining the debate over video game violence.

Guests:

Though it’s unclear what motivated the shootings, many say mental health care can be a line of defense in preventing tragedies. But in the Granite State, these services have been cut and a new report says the system is in “crisis”. As part of a three day series on possible lessons from Newtown, we look at the conversation around mental health.

Guests

A recent study found little evidence of health benefits from organic foods, challenging organic’s reputation as the healthy alternative to conventional  agribusiness.  But others say researchers did find some vital differences around  pesticide levels and that the study was too narrow, ignoring  vital environmental and ethical reasons for eating organic.  Today we'll look at the arguments on both sides.

Guests

A recent report predicts slow growth in the new year for New Hampshire and New England. And, while the Granite State still ranks well on such measures as taxes and personal income,  there are some longer-term challenges that may threaten the so-called New Hampshire Advantage.  We’ll get the economic outlook for our state and our region.