Breaking the Glass Ceiling in Tech

Coming up on today’s show:

• Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico on Wednesday, with early signs of damage throughout the island. Miriam Ramirez, a Puerto Rican senator from 2000 to 2004 and a physician, gives us the latest on the storm. 

• As Hurricane Maria pounds Puerto Rico, victims of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma have begun the cleanup and recovery process. Are they getting the help they need? Luis Hernandez, an anchor for Miami public radio station WLRN, and Edel Howlin, a reporter and executive producer of special projects at Houston Public Media, weigh in. 

• In a last-ditch attempt to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, Senate Republicans are hoping to muster the necessary votes to pass the Graham-Cassidy proposal. It’s got the support of at least 15 governors, including Sam Brownback of Kansas. Jeff Colyer, a medical doctor and the lieutenant governor in Kansas, discusses his support for the legislation. 

• On Tuesday, Senate Republicans agreed to a $1.5 trillion tax cut over the next 10 years. The GOP says the plan will stimulate economic growth, but critics say Republicans are abandoning fiscal discipline and will add to a growing federal deficit. Kelsey Snell, a Congressional reporter for The Washington Post, explains. 

• Eric Schwartz, president of Refugees International and a former U.S. assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration, provides a firsthand account of the Rohingya refugee crisis. 

• Why aren’t there more female programmers? Ellen Ullman is a novelist and essayist, and she’s also a self-taught computer programmer who spent a career in the mostly male-dominated world of the early technology boom. She talks about her experience, as well as about her new book, “Life in Code: A Personal History of Technology.”

• Country music band Karen and The Sorrows discuss their new album, “A Narrow Place,” and how they use influences from non-country acts like Beyonce, Huey Lewis, and more to take country music to new non-narrow places.

This episode is hosted by Todd Zwillich.