In this edition of WYSO Weekend:
2020 has been a big year for walking - from the Women’s March in January to protests over the murders of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor to whole families venturing out for exercise in response to the COVID lockdown, people are hitting the streets. Artist and Culture Couch Producer Susan Byrnes has checked in with Rodney Veal, host of the Art Show on Dayton’s Think TV, who’s found that since the pandemic hit, the act of walking itself has, for him, taken on new meaning. Then Byrnes, who works out of a studio in an old garage behind her house in Cincinnati and started feeling a little claustrophobic, during the pandemic lockdown, began taking walks to find new sources of inspiration. She shares some of what she found along the way.
Health officials say testing is crucial to limiting the spread of COVID-19. But some health advocates say culturally sensitive care is just as important, and that’s been lacking in communities hit hardest by the virus. Side Effects Public Media’s Lauren Bavis reports on how mistrust in those communities could make testing less successful.
In collaboration with Your Voice Ohio, journalists from news outlets across the state are participating in video roundtables with Ohioans ahead of the November election. WYSO has partnered with Your Voice Ohio on special projects since 2017. WYSO’s Leila Goldstein spoke with Mahoning Matters reporter Justin Dennis, the lead reporter on this round of conversations which focused on COVID-19. Dennis has worked as a reporter for close to 10 years and previously covered Mahoning County for The Vindicator. He said one opinion he heard from Ohioans was a desire for a more unified, national response to the pandemic.
Desiree Tims is a West Dayton native who earned a law degree at Georgetown and worked on Capitol Hill. Now, she’s back home and trying to unseat Republican Congressman Mike Turner, who was first elected to Congress in 2002. Tims tells WYSO’s Jason Reynolds that she’s proud of her roots and ready to represent the working people of Ohio in Washington, DC.
