Obama’s Farewell to Asia, Cross-Border Education, Exonerating an Icon

Coming up on today’s show:

• In will what will likely be his last visit to the region as commander-in-chief, President Barack Obama is attending a meeting in Laos for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. He’s the first sitting U.S. president to visit Laos, and he is expected to address cluster bomb clean up and human rights violations. Phil Robertson, deputy director for Human Rights Watch’s Asia Division, discusses the significance of this meeting, and the challenges ahead.

• President Obama met with international leaders at G-20 summit — his tenth and final — in Hangzhou, China this weekend. There were positive signs of alliance between the United States and China, but the president’s arrival was also rife with controversy and symbolism. Rodger Baker, the vice president of strategic analysis at Stratfor, a geopolitical intelligence firm, analyzes the state of relations between U.S. and China. 

• Dearborn County, Indiana sends more people to prison per capita than almost any other county in the United States, and a report from our partners at The New York Times finds that about 1 in 10 adults in the county find themselves in prison, jail, or on probation, frequently for drug use. Dearborn County Prosecutor Aaron Negangard is one of the people responsible for this high incarceration rate, and he joins The Takeaway to explain why. 

• Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro faced angry demonstrators over the weekend. Maduro is being blamed for an economic crisis that has resulted in dire food shortages, rising crime, and a lack of basic services and medical care. If a recall vote is held this year, there will be an early presidential election. If the vote is pushed to next year and Maduro loses, the country’s vice president will serve the remaining three years of Maduro’s term. Are we seeing a slow motion coup? Phil Gunson, a senior analyst for the Crisis Group in Caracas, Venezuela, weighs in.

• Among the many students heading back to school this fall is Itzel Amacalli Tejeda, a U.S. citizen who she lives in the border town of Juarez, Mexico. In 2013, Tejada began studying at El Paso Community College (EPCC), enduring a daily commute across the border. She did so well she became a Jack Kent Cooke Foundation Scholar, and is transferring her credits to the University of Texas in El Paso. She shares her story today on The Takeaway.

• Sean Gallagher is the author of “The Future of University Credentials: New Developments at the Intersection of Higher Education and Hiring,” and the chief strategy officer at Northeastern University. He says that if we want to rethink higher ed, we first need to rethink the accolades associated with certain college brands.

• Shows like Netflix’s “Making a Murderer,” and Sarah Koenig’s “Serial” prove that good journalism can put pressure on the scales of justice. Matthew Billy, host of the podcast “Between the Liner Notes” is hoping to do just that with a petition to exonerate labor organizer Joe Hill more than 100 years after his execution by the state of Utah.