Mormons and Boy Scouts Part Ways, Rebuilding Iraq's Justice System, Dry Drowning

Guest: Benjamin Park, PhD, Assistant Professor of American History at Sam Houston State University, and Author of “American Nationalisms: Imagining Union in the Age of Revolutions, 1783-1833” For more than 100 years, the Boy Scouts of America and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been joined at the hip. One in every five Boys Scouts in the US is a Mormon. Scouting is the official youth program the LDS Church offers boys. But that relationship will end at the end of next year. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints plans to design its own youth program for all “girls and boys, young women and young men” to launch in 2020. The move will have a major impact on the Boy Scouts of America and on the youth experience within the LDS Church. Historian Benjamin Park says this divorce has been destined for some time.

Guest: Sue Auriemma, Vice President of KidsandCars.org On average, more than 200 people – mostly children – are killed each year in the US when a car backs over them. Sue Auriemma knows how easy it is for that to happen. More than a decade ago, she was backing her SUV out of the driveway when her 3 ½ year old daughter suddenly darted out of the house and behind the vehicle. Luckily the girl only had minor injuries, but the trauma was a turning point for Auriemma. She worked with the advocacy group KidsAndCars.org to get a new federal law passed requiring rearview cameras to come standard in all new vehicles. The law went into effect on May 1.

Guest: Jesse Wozniak, PhD, Assistant Professor of Sociology in the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, West Virginia University America had grand plans for Iraq in the years after we toppled Sadaam Hussein’s dictatorship. President George W. Bush spoke to the nation in 2007 saying, “Victory in Iraq will bring something new in the Arab world—a functioning democracy that polices its territory, upholds the rule of law, respects fundamental human liberties, and answers to the people.” More than a decade later, things have gone so poorly that many Iraqis have rejected US involvement. Last week, Iraqi voters handed a surprisingly strong election victory to a Shiite cleric who is a vehement critic of American policy in the Middle East and fought against US troops as a militia leader after the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Guest: Sam Payne, Host, The Apple Seed Sam Payne from The Apple Seed shares a story.

Guest: Denise Dowd, MD, MPH, Associate Pediatric Director, Office of Faculty Development, Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine, Pediatric Emergency Room Physician at Children’s Mercy Hospital Last month a viral photo of a Florida four-year-old sparked renewed attention to “dry drowning.” The girl had accidentally inhaled some pool water and vomited, but seemed fine. Days later, though, she was rushed to the emergency room with a fever, accelerated heart rate, and face turning purple. She survived, thankfully, and her mother took to social media to share her story. These dry drowning stories are scary for parents, but many medical experts caution that it’s not a true medical condition. Worse, they worry confusion over “dry drowning” causes parents to panic unnecessarily and distracts from the real risks of drowning.

Guest: Elizabeth Partridge, Author, “Boots on the Ground” Fifty years ago, the US was deeply embroiled in the Vietnam War and protests were roiling here at home. Teenagers today are likely to be the grandchildren of soldiers who fought in Vietnam. What do they know of the war and how it shaped the world they live in today? Elizabeth Partridge came of age during the Vietnam War and has written a book for young adults about the conflict called “Boots on the Ground.” It looks at the war from the perspective of the young men and women who fought and died in it.