An investigation revealing California is exporting almost half its toxic waste to other states. A conversation with NPR’s Nina Totenberg. A concert featuring the music of Elton John in Auburn to raise funds for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Toxic waste

California has a rich history of environmentalism, enacting some of the strictest regulations in the country to combat pollution in our air, land, and water. But a new investigation by CalMatters suggests the state’s own watchdog for the handling and disposing of hazardous waste has become one of the biggest out-of-state dumpers of toxic waste for years, sending it to waste sites in Arizona and Utah which have less stringent environmental regulations. At this point, CalMatters found no evidence this dumping has led to public health issues or pollution, but it’s raising concerns with environmentalists and indigenous communities in those states. CalMatters Investigative Reporter Robert Lewis joined Insight to share his reporting, and explain why this is happening and the environmental consequences.

Nina Totenberg

Since 1975, we’ve heard Nina Totenberg’s voice on National Public Radio. The longtime legal affairs correspondent is considered a founding mother of NPR at a time when Nina says that she, Cokie Roberts, Susan Stamberg, and Linda Wertheimer were not trying to break a glass ceiling, but just trying to simply get a foot in the door.  In the nearly 50 years since Totenberg has cemented herself as a journalist with an unparalleled perspective of the law and its highest court. She will be paying the Mondavi Center at UC Davis a visit on Friday for a conversation about her new book “Dinners with Ruth: A Memoir on the Power of Friendships." The memoir of course includes a nearly five-decade friendship with the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, a friendship that began before Nina’s time at NPR and when Ginsberg was a college professor. Vicki Gonzalez sat down with Nina Totenberg and shared how this book is about more than one friendship, but beloved relationships that have anchored and shaped her life.  

Leukemia & Lymphoma fundraiser

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. Rocket Man. Bennie & The Jets. Your Song. The list goes on and on, but we think you have a pretty good idea of the artist we’ll be chatting about next. This weekend the Auburn State Theatre will come alive with Sir Elton John. The music will be performed by pianist and conductor Michael Sobie along with a talented team. But the event is more than celebrating Elton John but raising money for a personal cause. Ticket sales will go to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and fund fighting blood cancers across the world. Sobie joined Insight to give us a preview of this weekend's big show.