CitizenCast

On this episode of Guest Commentary, a local public elementary school teacher of more than two decades shares what Philly-based Abbott Elementary misses — and what teachers really need

On this episode of #velshibannedbookclub, Kiese Laymon joins MSNBC host and Citizen board member Ali Velshi to discuss his banned book "Heavy." Because of its unflinching look at the messiness and weight of love, Laymon's book was banned in Mississippi (right alongside Toni Morrison's work). 

On this episode of Your City (Commonwealth) Defined, the state's chief fiscal watchdog is on the ballot in November. Whether it's rooting out grift and fraud, or moving the ball forward on progressive issues, this overlooked office is actually quite important.

On this episode of Big Rube's Philly, Reuben Harley chats with Tyson Devore and Nikki Moore, the owners of Chubby's Fantastic Flavors. They talk real ice cream, opportunities for Black-owned businesses to thrive and how to really come together as a community.

MSNBC host and Citizen board member Ali Velshi explains what Project 2025 defines as the only family unit that should be accepted by the U.S. government: a biblically-based, social science-reinforced definition of marriage and family.  "How's that for limited government?" Velshi asks.

Dr. Ala Stanford became a household name during Covid. In this interview with Courtney DuChene, she shares her thoughts about equity in medicine and her healthcare vision for a Harris presidency.

On this week's Citizen WURD segment, Malcolm Burnley joined Evening WURDs host Dr. James Peterson to discuss his recent story, "Fear of a Biracial President," and how he came to embrace his own racial identity.  

What happened when our Gen Z Mystery Shopper reached out to each member of City Council to ask what they are doing about climate change? Let's just say it didn't go well.

With the Democratic National Convention this week, Malcolm Burnley explains how Kamala Harris will have to talk about race in order to communicate with and connect multiracial Americans to a biracial president

The treatment for sepsis in the uterus is abortion. The treatment for ectopic pregnancy is abortion. The treatment for miscarriage that won't be expelled is abortion. MSNBC host and Citizen board member Ali Velshi explains why abortion bans pose life-threatening risks to "anyone with a uterus."

Philanthropist and Hostage Release Advocate, Liz Hirsh Naftali, shares with Larry her heartbreaking family hostage story of Oct 7 and how it forever changed the trajectory of her life and work.

U.S. Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey never expected to find herself paired policy-wise with a world famous standup comedian. Yet, that's exactly what happened when she and Chris Rock — an unlikely policy wonk — came up with the same solution for curbing gun violence in America: Making bullets prohibitively expensive. Elsewhere in this episode of How To Really Run A City, our mayors mull o...

How does a Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about resistance to Nazism in World War II Europe end up on banned book lists in Cambria County, PA? Ali Velshi convenes his #velshibannedbookclub to put that question to the book's author, Anthony Doerr.

On the flagship episode of The People Left Behind, a new Citizen podcast about the survivors and co-victims of gun violence, audio documentarian Julien Suaudeau introduces us to Laura Madeleine, who transformed her brush with gun violence into the Soul Shots Portrait Project. This new podcast explores what happens to those left behind when the police tape comes down and the news cameras file away.

What is Donald Trump's "Schedule F," and how does he intend to use it to make federal employees loyal only to him? MSNBC host and Citizen board member Ali Velshi explains.

A Pennsylvania history professor on how Minnesota coach-turned-governor Tim Walz could be the key to making America nice again

Progressives targeted Josh Shapiro in the VP sweepstakes. What does that mean for Pennsylvania and what does that say about the Democratic Party?

In this episode of Guest Commentary, a North Philly high school teacher implores charitable donors to choose quality over quantity when donating school supplies

Philadelphia is getting hotter. We need to start planning for it now with shademaking and green spaces to make warm weather bearable.

"What could go wrong," asks Citizen board member and MSNBC host Ali Velshi, "when a criminal is put in charge of the Justice Department?" Velshi returns to the pages of the highly conservative Project 2025 to show how reform centered around revenge poses a dire threat to our system of checks and balances.

Trump's MO is to retire conventional wisdom and turn politics into pop culture spectacle. Does our Josh Shapiro help Harris answer in kind?

James Baldwin said, "Love each other and raise our children." In time for what would have been Baldwin's 100th birthday, writer and WURD radio host James Peterson reflects on the power of Baldwin's legacy and focuses on the asinine ideology of using children as political talking points.

Answering for his ambition, Shapiro told Larry Platt, "I'm ambitious to get shit done every day. Why would you hire me if you didn't want me to get stuff done for you?" Part two of Shapiro's discussion with Platt and LaSalle University basketball coach Fran Dunphy digs deep into the motivations of a governor suddenly thrust into the national spotlight. 

In the wake of several high-profile pedestrian and cycling deaths, Roxanne joins WURD's Tonya Pendleton for a special episode of Reality Check that explores what ideas we can steal to stop these needless fatalities

What designs on the free press do conservative minds in America have? The same minds who hope to influence a Trump second term? Citizen board member and MSNBC host Ali Velshi exposes this important section of Project 2025.