Five Years After Sandy Hook, The National Tragedy Still Stings

Coming up on today’s show:

• It’s been five years since the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut. We look back and explore how that day became burned into our consciousness, and we take time to remember the 26 victims. 

• Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is expected to vote to roll back net neutrality regulations. April Glaser, technology writer for Slate, explores what the internet will be like without these guidelines in place, and what the impact has been in other countries around the world.

• On Wednesday, Governor Mark Dayton announced that Lt. Governor Tina Smith will replace Senator Al Franken when he formally resigns. Her appointment has several implications for politics in Minnesota. Brian Bakst, capital correspondent for Minnesota Public Radio, explains. 

• Open enrollment under the Affordable Care Act closes Friday. As Republicans continue efforts to undermine the law through tax reform, Mary Agnes Carey, partnerships editor and senior correspondent for Kaiser Health News, brings us up to speed on where enrollment numbers are this time around.

• How did Canada end up with a system of universal healthcare? To understand, we have to go back to 1962, when Canadian healthcare was born. At the time, the United States was also considering expanding healthcare. Both political fights were vicious. Mary Harris, host and managing editor for WNYC’s health desk, brings us this story as part of our series, “Your Healthcare: What Happened?” 

• Other countries are looking to take advantage of our surplus of scientists. Could that mean a significant climate science “brain drain” in the United States, especially under the Trump Administration? Journalist Sean Mowbray and Tripti Bhattacharya, a postdoctoral climate scientist at the University of Arizona, weigh in. 

This episode is hosted by Todd Zwillich