Sidebar by Courthouse News
Sidebar by Courthouse News is a podcast that covers key stories from the legal world. Hosted by reporters Hillel Aron, Kirk McDaniel, Amanda Pampuro, Kelsey Reichmann, and Josh Russell, it takes listeners inside courtrooms in the U.S. and beyond, breaking down significant legal developments.
Episodes
Abandoning Hartman
Editor’s note: This episode contains some explicit language. Listener discretion is advised. A town with no mayor, no trustees, no clerk, and no publicly funded water system.In our seventh episode this season, we travel four hours east of Denver to Hartman, Colorado, where a modern-day "Hatfields and McCoys" feud drove the entire town board to quit.After years of bitter infighting, conte
The Self-Driving Dilemma
Hold on to your butts as we take a ride through the self-driving car revolution to see if the future of transportation is a techno-utopia or another way for Big Tech to grab the wheel of our lives.While some see a world where you can nap through a traffic jam, others see a data-hungry machine poised to replace human workers. In our sixth episode this season, we ride along in a Waymo through the st
Across the Pond
Grab your passport, doughty listener. We're headed across the Atlantic to see how justice works in England and France, and why it looks so different from the U.S.While a judge in France takes an active role seeking the absolute truth, the U.S. system functions more like a high-stakes sporting event, where the judge serves as a referee between two competing sides.In our fifth episode this seas
The Two Murder Trials of Luigi Mangione
What began as a brazen early morning shooting outside a Midtown Manhattan hotel quickly escalated into a nationwide manhunt and a complex legal and cultural phenomenon.In our fourth episode this season, Josh Russell sits down with his New York courts colleague Erik Uebelacker to unpack the high-profile killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and the looming dual trials for suspect Luigi Man
Armed With Impunity
As immigration enforcement intensifies, so do questions about the limits of federal power. In our third episode this season, we unpack the legal maze surrounding federal law enforcement and the steep uphill battle for victims who want to hold agents accountable for constitutional violations.We trace the roots of the civil rights law Section 1983 and Bivens, which once gave citizens a path to sue f
Predicting the Future
In our second episode this season, we dive into the high-stakes world of online wagering. We trace the path of online sports betting from offshore sites like the World Sports Exchange to the landmark 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Murphy v. NCAA, which dismantled the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act ban on sports gambling and launched a billion-dollar industry.What was once a lega
Pop Culture Court: Harry Potter, Star Trek and the Tinhatting of Originalism
Welcome back! We're kicking off our sixth season of Sidebar by dissecting imaginary legal codes of fiction to uncover truths about our real-world search for fairness. From the ethical dilemmas of "How to Get Away with Murder" and "Better Call Saul" to the lawless world of Harry Potter, where a lack of attorneys often leaves characters in peril, we examine how pop culture s
Sidebar Season Six - Official Trailer
The Sidebar crew is back for 2026 with a brand-new season of deep dives and analysis. From the world of online gambling and fictional laws of the land to a new round of life-altering decisions from the nation's highest court, join the Courthouse News team for another season of your favorite legal news podcast. This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. Editorial
From Diddy to the Deli, 2025 in Review
It's that time of the year again, dear listener: our season five finale, where three cases, three courtrooms and one very strange year collide. We kick things off with the trial that dominated headlines with its circus-like atmosphere: The United States of America v. Sean "Diddy" Combs. The rapper and producer was acquitted in Manhattan of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of s
Bought and Sold
We're a year out from the midterm elections next November. Control of Congress hangs in the balance. Democrats are itching to rein in President Trump, while Republicans are pulling out every stop to keep power.But behind the headlines, the real game is being played by billionaires. If the 2024 bromance between Trump and Elon Musk taught us anything, it’s that the richest Americans can pull th
Birdman of Somewhere
Gather around the firepit, fair listener, as we bring you the tale of a prisoner whose criminal history was as illustrious as his love of birds.Robert Stroud was convicted of manslaughter and murder, but may be better known for the birds he raised and sold while an inmate at Leavenworth penitentiary. Stroud wrote two books about birds during his incarceration and gained respect among bird-lovers.
The Shadow Docket
From firing high profile government employees to making fundamental decisions on who can officially call themselves an American citizen, the U.S. Supreme Court and the Trump administration – its most frequent litigant lately – are turning to the court’s emergency docket to unkink the federal government’s policy hose. But unlike the court’s regular docket, the justices can use the emergency docket
The Road to Nowhere
As Congress and the courts attempt to untangle the complex web of human trafficking investigations related to the late billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, members of the Trump administration, some of whom trumpeted the push for disclosure as pundits and podcasters before being appointed to the inside, are now pleading with the MAGA base to move on. But now that they’ve lived through more than a decade of
National Treasure
Forrest Fenn hid a treasure chest full of gold and diamonds somewhere out in the Rocky Mountains because he wanted kids to go outside and smell the sunshine, inspiring hosts of naturalists to hide their own treasures and, more importantly, enjoy the treasures that are U.S. public lands. But these treasured lands and parks have suffered abuse, neglect and the constant threat of being sold off by ze
Obergefell: 10 Years Later
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to legally recognize same-sex marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges hits its 10-year anniversary this year, and a radically different court is now tasked with parsing through a fresh slate of thorny questions affecting the LGBTQ community. The right to marry was a monumental acknowledgement, a significant step toward mainstream societal acceptance of the LGBTQ communit
City of Cracks
Los Angeles is in crisis, facing a staggering $1 billion budget deficit thanks to dwindling tax revenues, rising workforce costs and legal settlements. Judgments against the city have skyrocketed, with payouts nearly quadrupling from $91 million to $320 million in just four years. While much of this financial burden stems from lawsuits involving the Los Angeles Police Department, housing discrimin
Electric Sheep
The future is here.Sixty years ago, the science fiction writer Philip K. Dick wondered whether androids dream and what about. As artificial intelligence moves from the realm of sci-fi into daily reality, helping companies and governments analyze data and make decisions, the questions of what mechanisms motivate AI and whether these programs can overcome human limitations remain unanswered.Many tec
Trump's Cannibalization of Big Law
In February, President Donald Trump started signing a series of executive orders and presidential memorandums against individual “Big Law” firms, accusing them of engaging in “conduct detrimental to critical American interests” and directing federal agency heads to review and scrutinize security clearances and any government contracts, as well as barring attorneys from government buildings.These t
The Imperial Presidency
Welcome to the age of the imperial presidency, dear listener.After President Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office in January, he flexed a newfound authority unlike his predecessors as he spent the first few weeks legislating through executive orders.Whether you think Trump is above the law in practice or theory, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last July in Trump v. United States feels partic
Post-Conviction Purgatory
It took decades for death row inmate Richard Glossip to convince Oklahomans and, later, the U.S. Supreme Court that he deserved a new trial. Glossip is just one of many inmates who say they faced convictions for crimes they did not commit. Read about enough of these cases, and you’ll be asking, “Is innocence enough?”For the wrongfully convicted, tearful reunions and proclamations of justice from t
Mother of Mercy! What the Hell Is RICO?
The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, otherwise known as RICO. It's famous as the law used to take down organized crime, with then-U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani bringing the Mafia Commission Trial in the 1980s after indicting nine high-level organized crime figures, including the heads of New York's "Five Families."But that's not the only time it comes up i
The War for Infowars
Welcome back, listeners, to our humble show’s fifth season.As America welcomes a new president, a particular media company welcomes a new owner. Well, almost. That’s why we’re here to guide you through the uncertainty of a certain bankruptcy process, promising to determine who will own one of the nation’s most controversial media companies, one whose name sums it all up with a bow: Infowars.Despit
Sidebar Season Five - Official Trailer
Hello, doughty listener! Season five of Sidebar is just around the corner. Join our hosts and reporters as they take you around the nation to break down our legal system and how it impacts the life you live. Follow us on Twitter @SidebarCNS and www.courthousenews.com for more.This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Ja
TL;DR 2024: YSL, NRA, NFL
Editor's note: This episode includes court testimony containing explicit language. Dust off your tux and polish your dancing shoes: It’s time for Sidebar’s end-of-the-year extravaganza and season finale. We bring you three of the most interesting and unusual trials you missed this year while President-elect Donald Trump was soaking up the attention in courthouses nationwide.And there’s no bet
Brushstrokes Around the Bench
The art world isn’t limited to museums and galleries anymore, with pieces now embedded in courthouses across the country — from the majestic marble palace of the U.S. Supreme Court to landscapes urging conversations about climate change at the Byron White U.S. Courthouse in Denver. How did we move away from serious images of Lady Justice and authoritative judges clad in black robes to swaths of c
The Trial of Lizzie Borden
Sensational headlines, societal upheaval and a gruesome crime that shook Fall River, Massachusetts, to its core.Turn off the lights and cozy up to the fireplace as we bring you the spookiest type of story we can — one straight from the history books. America's first trial of the century came from an unusual source: Lizzie Borden, a 32-year-old unmarried upper-class woman in 1892 New England.
Constitutional Woodchipper: The SCOTUS Preview
It's October, so you know what that means ... spooky season is finally here! And with it, the Supreme Court is back in session, complete with ghosts of the gun variety.In this year's SCOTUS preview, we bring you the cases you need to know. The court will weigh in on a Biden administration rule to redefine firearms to address the public safety risk of ghost guns in America. We delve into
Election Undercard 2024
Zombie voters. Sham elections. Voter fraud.In the months leading up to the 2024 presidential election, election lawsuits are flooding courts across the U.S., with the timing of some geared more toward grabbing headlines than achieving legal resolutions. Allegations aren’t considered true until a judge’s final order, but that doesn’t stop people from believing them.In our 10th episode this season,
The Paxton Parable
Known for his unwavering conservative stance, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's career has been marked by significant legal battles, including a protracted securities fraud case and intense impeachment proceedings that left an indelible mark on his legacy.And yet, his trajectory from state representative to Texas’ top cop continues upward, setting him up as a possible candidate for a potent
Glass Palaces
All aboard, fair listeners, as we take you on a summer tour of the fascinating world of courthouse architecture and how it shapes our justice system.Can courthouse design impact justice?You’ve joined us right in the middle of America’s greatest era of civics construction. Over the last 30 years, the federal government spent more than $10 billion building or renovating more than 200 federal courts,
Shopping for the Perfect Court
In the past few years, there’s been an explosion of nationwide injunctions coming from single-judge divisions in the federal court system. These judges were handpicked by the people filing these lawsuits.You may have heard of one: U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk. With Kacsmaryk’s rulings, Texas has been able to dictate federal discrimination guidance for transgender employees and commandeer
Real Lawsuits of 'Real Housewives'
Receipts. Proof. Timeline. Screenshots. What fuels the flames of drama in episodes of Bravo’s hugely successful “Real Housewives” franchise can also come into play off the screen when current and former reality stars duke it out in court against in each other and their former producers and employer. In our sixth episode this season, we expose the dark side of reality TV chaos. From claims of an un
Copyright Conundrum
Would you believe us if we told you copyright law is the biggest regulation on free speech in the United States? When you exercise your First Amendment right to paint a picture or write the next great American novel, your speech belongs to you. No one can take it and pass it off as their own. But when all the power is vested solely in one person, the rights of others slowly begin to dwindle. If yo
Bitter Pill: Pregnancy and Personhood in a Post-Dobbs America
The landscape of abortion rights in America is unrecognizable in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.Join us for our fourth episode this season as we navigate this tumultuous terrain, dissecting the seismic shifts and looming legal — and political — battles that promise to keep this issue at the forefront of national discourse. As states become
Mean Tweets
Editor’s note: This episode is not family friendly due to some colorful language.A long-running feud between eviction lawyers Dennis Block and Danny Bramzon cumulated into a Twitter parody account and a libel lawsuit that made it all the way to a jury trial.In the third episode this season, we take the temperature of defamation law in the 21st century when it comes to X, formerly known as Twitter.
Breaking News: SCOTUS Ends Trump Ballot Challenges
Surprise, listeners! We’re coming to you, almost live, with a special breaking news mini episode on the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision to keep former President Donald Trump on Colorado’s ballot.Our very own Amanda Pampuro and Kelsey Reichmann meticulously dissect the twists and turns of the legal journey that led to this point, from the initial lawsuit by concerned Colorado voters to the const
Love Is a Lie
Look around, dear listener. Everything is heart-shaped and pink. People are getting ready for a special night with their special someone. In our second episode this season, we take you through the dark alleyways of online dating, where $1.3 billion vanished into the pockets of scammers in just one year, and peel back the layers of marketing sleights of hand that extend far beyond the realm of matc
The Case of the Internet Sleuth
Welcome to season four of Sidebar! We're kicking off our first episode of 2024 by traversing the digital terrain of internet sleuths, those armchair detectives whose keyboards are the new magnifying glasses.Everyone has a hobby. Something to keep them busy, pass the time or unwind after work. Maybe listening to your favorite podcast is that thing. One such hobby that has grown with the help o
Sidebar Season Four - Official Trailer
Season four of Sidebar, a podcast from Courthouse News, kicks off just around the corner. Join our hosts and reporters as they take you around the nation to break down lawsuits, the law and how they impact you and the life you live. Follow us on Twitter @SidebarCNS and www.courthousenews.com for more.This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. Editorial staff is Ryan
Big Bold Beautiful 2023 Recap
Welcome to our end-of-the-year gala episode of Sidebar.It's hard to divvy out awards for the most important or interesting cases of 2023 when former President Donald Trump has dominated so many of them. This was the year Trump took over Courthouse News, appearing in court as a defendant many times.From charges in New York that Trump schemed to make illegal hush-money payments to adult film ac
Reading, Writing, Religion
No institution in American life has a far-reaching and outsized role in communities quite like the public school system.Take a seat, Sidebar listeners, as we dive into the heart of public education and its role in our democracy for our penultimate episode this season. We take you beyond the classroom, looking at landmark rulings like Brown v. Board of Education and highlighting the dual role of pu
I Put a Spell on You
Happy Halloween, all you goblins and ghouls. Prepare yourselves for a real spooky season treat as we traverse the gloomy annals of witch trials. Join us for our 12th episode this season as we dispel myths and shine a light on how and why these judicial proceedings played out across Europe and the United States. We're talking grand juries, indictments, spectral evidence and even acquittals in
SCOTUS v. America
Another year, another five-alarm fire burning before the U.S. Supreme Court.Kelsey Reichmann, Courthouse News’ Supreme Court reporter and the newest addition to the Sidebar team, joined just in time for this year's preview of the court's upcoming term.The top court in all the land is back at it again following landmark decisions that it has delivered for the conservative legal movement i
Sour Grapes
The love story between Hollywood megastars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie was destined for public fascination from the start as they merged family, philanthropy and a rather unexpected shared passion — wine. So, when they split in 2016, no one saw it coming. What followed was one of the most bitterly contested celebrity divorces in recent history. But what came after was in some ways even uglier — a
Don't Call Me (Maybe)
Welcome back, listeners, from what we hope was a calm, relaxing break. If it was anything like ours, just when you cozied up with a summer read, you were likely jarred back to reality by a pesky robocall asking about your auto warranty. Receiving unwanted robocalls remains a universal experience 32 years after Congress passed the Telephone Consumer Protection Act to empower Americans to fight off
Give Me a Beat!
Ed Sheeran and reggaeton might have more in common than you know: the artist and the genre have been the subject of battles over whether you can copyright a groove or a rhythm. In our last episode before summer break, we unravel the recent Ed Sheeran copyright trial with our New York City reporter, Josh Russell, including Sheeran's snarky cross-examination, his courtroom concert and Van Morri
Greater Idaho Dreamin'
Should state borders change to create political havens? Come along as we take a road trip through the world of secession as we look at the urban-rural divide and how it shapes these movements.Our first stop in our seventh episode this season? The Greater Idaho movement, a grassroots organization that aims to shift the Idaho state border to encompass eastern Oregon and escape the liberal politics o
For a Fistful of Dollars
Imagine stashing your hard-earned savings in a safety deposit box, only to find out the FBI has raided the place and your money is gone thanks to the controversial practice of civil forfeiture, which allows law enforcement to seize people's assets with little explanation. That's what happened to a number of Californians who stored their cash at U.S. Private Vaults in Beverly Hills.Join u
No Laughing Matter
A note: this episode contains language that might make you or your nana blush. Pull up a chair as we bring you into the comedy club and beyond. Laughter may be the best medicine, but how does it hold up in court? Over the decades, courts carved out clear First Amendment protections for comics facing criminal obscenity and parodists taken a little too seriously. While the past informs the present,
Sober Sundays
Blue laws. They are quirky and annoying outdated restrictions on activities to ensure Sunday is a day of rest and worship. Some go beyond dictating when you can or cannot get a drink, and sometimes they leave you scratching your head wondering, why in the world are they still on the books?In this season's fourth episode, we dive into the history and impact of the laws. We explore the story of
The Legal Jungle of Exotic Pets
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, around 60 million American households have pets. That is a ton of good boys and girls out there. But have you ever stopped and wondered about the laws that define pet ownership? Are there specific pets that you can't own where you live? How regulated is the pet trade? And what about exotic animals, where the sale and trade of such creatures is a state-by-s
The Enforcers
Heads up for listeners: this episode contains explicit language. When legal battles come down to damages, most consider the final judgment to show who won the game and by how much. But in a highly specialized area of law, that judgment is just the beginning when the losing team refuses to pay. In our second episode this season, we introduce you to a few judgment enforcement attorneys, a small spec
Space, the New Wild West
Welcome to season three of Sidebar! You'll want to strap in while we bring you closer to the stars as new technology and more investors bring us deeper into space. Science fiction is rapidly becoming science fact. One thing rarely discussed in your favorite sci-fi movies is the laws that govern outer space.If billions of dollars, dozens of political manifesto and decades of Trekkie dreams com
Sidebar Season Three - Official Trailer
Season three of Sidebar, a podcast from Courthouse News, kicks off just around the corner. Join our hosts and reporters as they take you around the nation to break down lawsuits, the law and how they impact you and the life you live. Follow us on Twitter @SidebarCNS and www.courthousenews.com for more.This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. Editorial staff is Ryan
The Year in Review
While some aspects of 2022 felt like a return to easier, simpler days, the news coming out of courthouses across the country did not stop.In this episode, we look at the year's most memorable trials: the ones that made us laugh, the ones that made us cry and the ones that made us stop and question how we got here.We take you back to the Alex Jones defamation trials in Texas and Connecticut, w
The Bounty Hunter
Bounty hunters. Figures from folk tales, fantasy and reality TV; free agents that work as an extension of the law. Whatever comes to mind, this latest chapter in vigilante justice is shaking things up even more at a polarized time in the country.The enaction of Texas's Senate Bill 8 allows private citizens to file civil lawsuits against anyone who provides or helps someone attain an abortion,
A Nightmare on Legal Street
Pour yourself a hot drink, settle in beside the fire and get ready for a hauntingly good time as we bring you four chilling tales just in time for Halloween.In our first chapter: McKamey Manor, arguably the scariest haunted house in operation, with an even scarier 40-page liability waiver. Among the things that you agree to possibly experience? Medieval torture devices. Nails removed from their na
Constitution Crisis: A SCOTUS Term Preview
While this U.S. Supreme Court term shouldn't result in as many sweeping decisions as the last, which upended nationwide abortion rights and gun control precedents, it'll be far from a lightweight season. The court's cases are varied: from redistricting to artist integrity to the legality of the Indian Child Welfare Act, which gives tribal governments jurisdiction over the adoption a
Rap Lyrics, Criminal Prosecutions and the First Amendment
It's a First Amendment fight for the modern ages: the right to free speech versus the pursuit of justice, and the stakes are often someone's freedom. In courtrooms across the country, prosecutors are going after rappers using the artists' lyrics against them.While not a recent development in the law, the issue has entered the spotlight with the arrests of rappers Young Thug and Gunn
A Quirky Look at Juries
Jury duty. A cornerstone of the American justice system brings together complete strangers with almost no context to dispense justice. Being called to your civic duty as a juror can be confusing, like taking a class you never meant to sign up for.In this episode, we take you behind the scenes in courthouses across the country to reveal the inner workings of how juries operate. Fans of true crime a
Pilgrimage to Amache
From August 1942 to October 1945, the Amache incarceration camp on the dusty, desolate eastern plain of Colorado detained 10,000 Japanese Americans and other immigrants. Those imprisoned at Amache built their own town with a fire department, a beauty salon and schools. Detainees raised crops, grew gardens and held festivals to honor the changing seasons.Just children when uprooted with their famil
Culture Wars and the Fight Over Looted Artifacts
Priceless artwork and tribal artifacts have made their way across the globe through several means, some legitimate and others … not so much.While we rely on these objects to tell us about history, tradition and culture, the way they end up in our communities sometimes raises questions about what should happen to them, where they rightfully belong and how the legal system can get them home.Congress
My Body, My Choice
It feels like hardly a day goes by when you don't hear about the passage of a new, sweeping abortion law, an abortion-rights group challenging the law or another state weighing in on the treatment of transgender children, medically or within the school system. At the core of all this is bodily autonomy. How much say does an individual have over their own body?The phrase "my body, my choi
Johnny & Amber
A quick note before we jump in: this episode contains discussions about abuse. It's not often that a case goes to trial that touches on many elements that intrigue the public. Celebrity, the #MeToo movement, public opinion and the media's coverage all swirl together as cameras are ready to capture the defamation trial between Hollywood stars Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.The former husband
The Road To November
Need a primer for this year's midterm elections? We've got you covered.We talk to reporters and experts about how former President Donald Trump is still shaping American politics after losing reelection almost two years ago.The glue that binds Republicans together isn’t just "Stop the Steal" and other theories circulating about voter integrity: it’s a camaraderie built around i
The Right To Be Forgotten
The internet never forgets. It's an invaluable tool, but also one that provides little forgiveness for some individuals whose past run-ins with law enforcement, financial woes and photos of a night out on the town become publicized. We are coming to you in this episode with a primer on why the "right to be forgotten” became law in the European Union, and how the concept plays out in cour
Border Wars
In this episode of Sidebar, we examine the human, ecological and political toll of the current and former administration's approaches to the U.S.-Mexico border.While physical barriers and infrastructure have entered into our collective imagery of today's border, nothing has a more tangible impact than policy. The Trump administration implemented the Remain in Mexico program in January 20
Exonerated
Welcome to the second season of Sidebar. A quick warning before we jump in: this episode contains adult language and descriptions of violence. We speak to Maurice Caldwell and Zachary Vanderhorst – two men recently exonerated after spending decades in prison. These men now must grapple with their unjust incarcerations and the toll taken on their lives.Caldwell recently reached an $8 million settle
Sidebar - Official Trailer
Season two of Sidebar, a podcast from Courthouse News, kicks off just around the corner. Join our hosts and reporters as they take you around the nation to break down lawsuits, the law and how they impact you and the life you live. Follow us on Twitter @SidebarCNS and www.courthousenews.com for more.This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. Editorial staff is Ryan A
SCOTUS and the Texas Abortion Law
Just when we think we have wrapped for the season … we're back, baby! We bring you this mini-episode to analyze Friday's decision by the Supreme Court, which allows Texas abortion providers to sue some defendants over the near-total abortion ban and leaves the Texas law in place.Kelsey Reichmann, our Supreme Court reporter, joins Sidebar producer and Austin-based reporter Kirk McDaniel t
Have Yourself a Weird and Wacky Christmas
Welcome to the season finale! We culminate 11 episodes with a look into UFOs with the experts who study them and seek to know more about if there is really life out there. What does science say, and what can we expect our government to tell us about these unidentified objects?Then, we break down the oddest, wildest cases and news events that the podcast team has covered. From monkey selfies and Li
Wolf Wars, a Border Emergency and the Trial of Elizabeth Holmes
We kick off the penultimate episode of our first season of Sidebar in the American West, where a dispute has been brewing for decades between ranchers, the government and environmentalists over wolves. This long-standing debate over the extent to which these carnivorous mammals should be protected or hunted down and killed isn't going anywhere soon.Then we take a deep dive into a border emerg
Divided Court, Divided Nation
In our ninth episode of Sidebar, we chronicle the pivotal cases the Supreme Court will hear over the next few months on divisive issues like abortion, gun control and the separation of church and state. Will the court's conservative majority pen rulings that could change the country's landscape?Then, we dive into the conspiracy theory QAnon, the Jan. 6 insurrection, the events that follo
International Intrigue, R. Kelly and the Fight to Free Britney
We are coming at you in our eighth episode with three stories of power, corruption and accountability. To kick things off, we take a look with political science professor Cynthia McClintock at Peru's bid to extradite its former president, Alejandro Toledo Manrique, on charges of bribery and money laundering. Peru claims Toledo helped a Brazilian company win a lucrative contract for a major hi
Patriots, Politics and Playing for Pay
In our seventh episode, we discuss how 9/11 changed the legal landscape — and our lives, as a result — the election to recall (or not) California Gov. Gavin Newsom and, just in time for college football, the long, long fight to compensate student-athletes. Firstly, we take an in-depth look at how the 9/11 terror attack has reshaped the laws of the United States and led to an enduring debate over g
The Dry, Dry West
We are taking a detailed look at the drought in the American West, spanning from water wars in Arizona, wildfires in California and why drought seems to be becoming the way of life across the West.First, we dive into Arizona's relationship with the Colorado River and hear about the shrinking lifeline that provides water to 40 million people in the American West. Farmers there have been the fi
Medical Hesitance, Political Defiance
In episode 5, we take a look at political and medical efforts by groups and people to go their own way, from anti-vaxxers in California and the politically defiant in Texas and D.C. We start the episode with a dive into the FBI’s ongoing efforts to track down people who took part in the Jan. 6 insurrection and talk to former prosecutor Glenn Kirschner about how the courts are sentencing those conv
Shrooms, Sex and More Sex (Allegedly)
We dig into efforts to decriminalize psychedelic drugs and take you behind the scenes of two trials dealing with sex crimes. To start, we break down efforts by California lawmakers to light a fire on legalizing a host of psychedelics. Then, we hear from investigative journalist Sarah Berman about NXIVM, a sex cult with some high-profile members that preyed on vulnerable women. We wrap it up by det
Porn Crimes, Tech Wars and Saving the Gunnison Grouse
In our third episode, we take a look into the digital fallout of two California cases.First, we dive into the sisterhood formed by young women coerced into filming pornography by GirlsDoPorn, a company that promised not to post the videos online. Then we take you to an Oakland courtroom, where Fortnite creator Epic Games is battling Apple over its tight grip on its app store.Lastly, we see how eff
Guns, Fertility and Texas
We are breaking down this spring's dramatic Texas Legislative session, which saw the passage of bills barring transgender youth from participating in sports and banning abortion after six weeks, and how it ended in a Democratic walkout.We also take a look at a federal jury trial over a freezer tank failure that destroyed thousands of frozen eggs and embryos, and preview California's figh
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