Peace & Justice with Tom Walker

The War in Iran with Gene Jones and David Kotok

Tom Walker — Thu, 30 Apr 2026 06:19:40 +0000

In this episode of Peace & Juistice, Tom's guests Gene Jones of the Florida Veterans for Common Sense and David Kotok of the Kotok Report discuss the Iran war.

WSLR and Fogartyville with Dave Beaton and Arlene Sweeting

Tom Walker — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 19:44:10 +0000

On the Wednesday, April 14 2026 edition of Peace & Justice, which aired during WSLR's Be The One-a-Thon giving challenge, Tom Walker and Bob Connors interview Arlene Sweeting and Dave Beaton, the founders of WSLR and Fogartyville. Listen for the full hour and learn about our history—the original Fogartyville restaurant in Bradenton, how the “Fogartyville” was name was chosen, the original Peace Education and Action Center, WSLR’s first broadcast studio, our connection with New College, what Dave and Arlene have now started in Elberta, Michigan and much, much more.

Miles Toder on Sarasota's Sister Cities

Tom Walker — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 07:10:59 +0000

On the April 1 edition of Peace and Justice, Tom speaks with Miles Toder about the Sister Cities Association of Sarasota. One upcoming event is "Bridges Across the Seas - A Global Learning Celebration" on April 27 at 3 p.m. at Selby Library in downtown Sarasota.

Katie Sanders of PolitiFact and Mark Edgington and Angela McArdle on prison reform

Tom Walker — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 05:02:41 +0000

In this episode of Peace & Justice, which aired March 18, Tom hosts Katie Sanders. Katie is the Editor-in-Chief of PolitiFact at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. Katie oversees PolitiFact's nonprofit fact-checking newsroom.
She and Tom discuss how journalists work to bring clarity and accountability to public conversations in this rapidly changing information environment.

By the way, the Poynter Institute will host Truth on the Line on Tuesday, March 24, at Selby Public Library in Sarasota. The event begins at 6:00 p.m. and will include a discussion about journalism, misinformation, political pressure, and the role of accurate information in public life. More information is available at poynter.org.

In the second half of the show, Tom talks to Mark Edgington and Angela McArdle, both libertarians. Mark was convicted for manslaughter as a young man and served time. They discuss prisons, re-entry and reform.

E. Scott Osborne on Through Women's Eyes

Tom Walker — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 01:49:33 +0000

On Wednesday, Tom Walker spent the whole hour with E. Scott Osborne discussing the Through Women's Eyes Film Festival coming up March 5-10. Scott also has a WSLR show on Fridays at 6:30: A Woman's Place.

Nathan J. Robinson on Rooted in Community

Tom Walker — Thu, 19 Feb 2026 04:05:12 +0000

Tom’s guest this week is Nathan J. Robinson. Nathan is the founder and editor-in-chief of Current Affairs, A Magazine of Politics and Culture. He will be flying in from New Orleans to be the featured speaker at our Rooted in Community celebration this February 28. Rooted in Community is a “fundraising evening to strengthen community-driven, independent media,” and that’s exactly what he and Tom discuss on this edition of the Peace & Justice Report.

Florida Veterans; then, the LAI tour comes to Sarasota

Tom Walker — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 07:13:00 +0000

Tom talks to Florida Veterans for Common Sense President Gene Jones. They discuss their upcoming Tom Paine Party honoring professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat. On the environmental front, they talk about the FLVCS microforest projects, the phosphate mining's threat to our water supply and a bill in the legislature to give Mosaic immunity if radiation from their mining makes people sick.

On the second half of the program, Tom speaks with Holly Elmore about a Lambda Alpha International (LAI) “One by Land, Two by Sea” tour coming soon to Sarasota.

Nell Bernstein, author of 'In Our Future We Are Free,' on youth prison

Tom Walker — Thu, 22 Jan 2026 07:42:02 +0000

On the Peace & Justice Report, Tom interviews Nell Bernstein, author of In Our Future We Are Free: the Dismantling of the Youth Prison.

Over the past twenty years, one state after another has shuttered its youth prisons and stopped prosecuting kids as adults, slashing the number of children locked in cages by a stunning 75 percent. How did this remarkable change come about? In the follow-up to her 2014 award-winning book Burning Down the House, journalist Nell Bernstein offers an eye-opening and inspiring look at the forces that converged to move us from a moral panic about “juvenile superpredators” in the 1990s to a time in which the youth prison is rapidly fading from view.

In Our Future We Are Free begins and ends with the imprisoned youth who took a leading role in their own liberation. Through vivid profiles, Bernstein chronicles the tireless work of young activists, parents, litigators, researchers, and journalists to expose and challenge the racist brutality of youth prisons, as well as the surprising story of prison officials who worked from the inside to close their institutions for good. In a welcome “good news” account of positive change, this gripping story describes how communities are pursuing safety, rehabilitation, and accountability outside of locked institutions, and offers a model for how the United States might overcome its addiction to incarceration.

Miles Todor on Changes in Florida and Cathy Bryant on Streets of Paradise

Tom Walker — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 01:46:25 +0000

Our first guest this Wednesday, January 7 at 9am, will be Miles Todor, a U.S. diplomat who has returned to Florida after many years abroad and will talk about "the consequences of some of the more important changes we have experienced in Florida and locally here in Sarasota over the past 30 years while he was abroad."

Our second guest will be Cathy Bryant, CEO of Streets of Paradise. She'll talk about the many, many community services they provide with their mantra of Love - Act - Repeat. See all they do at streetsofparadise.org.

Julie Morris on SB 180 and Carol Lerner on Schools of Hope

Tom Walker — Sat, 20 Dec 2025 00:33:38 +0000

This edition originally aired Wednesday, December 9 at 9 a.m. Tom first hears from Our Changing Environment host Julie Morris about Florida Senate Bill 180 restricting local governments from making new construction regulations after a hurricane. Read the analysis by 1000 Friends of Florida or listen to the Seeking Rents episode "The last stand for home rule in Florida" by Jason Garcia.

Then he talks to Carol Lerner from Support Our Schools about the new “Schools of Hope” legislation forcing public schools to allow charter schools to share space and resources. Read the article "Why Sarasota's superintendent says charter takeovers are a concern for 'high-performing' districts" from The Florida Roundup.