Northern Trade Troubles, Second Language Success, An Ethical Quagmire

Coming up on today’s show:

• Days after the Trump Administration announced that it would impose a 20 percent tariff on lumber imported from Canada, the president took to Twitter to criticize America’s neighbor to the north. For look at the escalating trade tensions between the U.S. and Canada, The Takeaway turns to Armine Yalnizyan, an economist and business commentator for the CBC, and Ira Shapiro, former chief U.S. trade negotiator with Japan and Canada, and general counsel in the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative during the Clinton Administration.

• On Tuesday, a federal judge blocked the Trump Administration’s plan to cut funding for so-called “sanctuary cities.” The president vowed to take the fight to the Supreme Court. Though the road ahead is unclear, the city of Minneapolis is looking to calm immigrants and refugees. Minnesota Public Radio’s Brandt Williams explains.

• Thanks to a growing immigrant population, more than 80 languages are now spoken in schools in the city of Buffalo, New York. Nadia Nashir, assistant superintendent of multilingual education for the Buffalo City School District, explains that a team of multilingual staffers is trying to ease the transition.

• A once bustling manufacturing town, the city of Buffalo was hit hard by deindustrialization and a population decline that saw residents flocking to the suburbs. Today, the city is experiencing a rebirth that is driven largely by an influx of immigrants and refugees. Eva Hassett, executive director of the International Institute of Buffalo; Larry Christ, chief operating officer of the lighting manufacturer Litelab; and Ayla Abyad, a Syrian architect living in Buffalo, explore how immigrants are working to revitalize and rebuild the city. 

• Arkansas is moving ahead with planned executions this week, despite concerns about the medical ethics of the lethal injection cocktail. Dr. Sandeep Jauhar, a cardiologist and author of the books “Intern” and “Doctored,” and a contributing opinion writer at The New York Times; doesn’t believe in the death penalty. However, he argues that the American Medical Association’s objection to doctor participation in death penalty executions improperly discourages physicians who are trying to minimize prisoner suffering.