Tagged: Government

The non-profit Code for America brings together coders, artists, and designers to create easy to use applications that address the specific needs of local communities.  Mick Thompson, engineer in residence and 2012 fellow at Code for America joined us to talk about how code and collaboration leads to better lives for citizens.

The last few weeks of 2012 were dominated by media coverage of the fiscal cliff crisis. News outlets covered everything from the projected impact of the cliff to shouting matches between legislators. Lost in the mix throughout the crisis were important, but less sensational news stories. Joshua Keating is an associate editor at Foreign Policy and he joins us to talk about some of these backseat news items.

Canada, as the old Robin Williams joke goes…"is like a really huge loft apartment above a really great party.” Americans tend to think of Canada as a punch line…or the mystical country where healthcare is free and Justin Bieber came from.

One goal of our schools is to prepare young people to become informed and engaged citizens. Yet there is growing concern that students are not being prepared to participate in democracy, to learn from the historical actions of American government, or – critically - to understand the U.S. Constitution. We’ll take a look at efforts to address this here in New Hampshire.

Guests:

A nepotism inquiry by House Speaker Bill O’Brien has turned up little evidence of improper hiring in state government.

The probe comes in the wake of last month’s scandal at the Department of Employment Security. Two high ranking officials are accused of hiring their daughters, and then having them laid off by subordinates so that they could collect unemployment benefits.

Speaker O’Brien requested that all agency heads disclose any family members working within their respective departments.