Access To Democracy

Alan Miller interviews his Access to Democracy colleague Steve Francisco about his recent visit to Poland and Ukraine helping Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war with Russia. Steve offers his insights on what he learned from both the refugees and from the international corps of volunteers working at the busy refugee center in Przemysl, Poland, only a few miles from the Ukrainian border. He also discusses the amazing work being done by nonprofits and non-governmental organizations helping the refugees.

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The topic of this interview was “Spot A Scam – Stop A Scam!”
Jay Haapala, AARP Associate Minnesota State Director, Community Engagement, interviewed by host Bill Raker. In this very informative and engaging session, Jay explains how AARP is a non-profit, non-partisan organization working to improve the health, finances, and well-being of its 630,000 members in Minnesota and its 38,000,000 members nationally. Jay talks about why AARP is focused on fraud prevention and its Fraud Watch Network program that helps educate people on how to spot and avoid scams. He explains how online shopping scams, government imposter scams romance scams and others work, pointing out common tactics the fraudsters use and the red flags that consumers should be aware of. He warns about the scammers’ use of gift cards and cryptocurrencies as demanded payment methods.

Professor Richard Painter, candidate seeking the DFL endorsement in Minnesota’s 1st Congressional District, joins Steve Francisco for a discussion about the potential Supreme Court decision overturning abortion rights in Roe v Wade, the ongoing assault on our democracy over voting rights and redistricting, issues affecting farm families in rural Minnesota, and how to revitalize our rural economies and fight climate change.

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Maj. Gen. Shawn Manke heads the 13,000 member Minnesota National Guard. Gen. Manke, assumed command in August, 2020 from Lt. Gen. Jon Jensen, stepping in during one of the most active periods of the MN National Guard. In this first interview on our show, he discussed some of the deployments during his tenure, including deployment of an 800 person contingent to the Presidential Inauguration, pulling special duty following the murder of George Floyd, dispatching troops to nursing homes and medical facilities to assist during the Covid-19 pandemic, and helping fight the floods on the Red River due to 2022 heavy rainfall.

Joe Leko, has been a member of the Dakota County Sheriff’s Office for 25 years, and has risen to the number two position, serving in every rank along the way. A native and resident of Dakota County, he holds four degrees, one of which is as a graduate of the FBI’s National Academy. Currently in charge of the office’s 200 employees and $26 million budget, he will be seeking the Chief’s position following the recent announcement on our show by Sheriff Tim Leslie of his retirement. Sheriff Leslie endorsed Leko for that post.