Pandemic, protests and profits

Around the country, protesters want to loosen stay-at-home orders, even though health experts say that could lead to more deaths from COVID-19. Host Al Letson speaks with Pennsylvania state Rep. Aaron Bernstine, who wants to reopen the economy. 

Next, Reveal’s Will Evans checks in with workers at Amazon, which is seeing record sales as consumers flock to the online retailer to buy essential goods they used to pick up at local stores. The workers fulfilling those orders say the company is not doing enough to protect them from the coronavirus.

Then, with cities all over the country vying to attract companies such as Amazon, Anjeanette Damon from USA Today’s podcast “The City” looks at Reno, Nevada, which several years ago persuaded Tesla to build a battery factory there. Tesla brought thousands of jobs, but it also sparked a housing crisis that’s put thousands of people on the edge of homelessness.  

Much of the segment about Amazon previously aired last fall, as did the story about Reno’s housing crisis.

Filiberto Nolasco Gomez is a former union organizer and former editor of Minneapolis based Workday Minnesota, the first online labor news publication in the state. Filiberto focused on longform and investigative journalism. He has covered topics including prison labor, labor trafficking, and union fights in the Twin Cities.