TEXT OF INTERVIEW
Kai Ryssdal: It’s Friday. It’s been a busy news week. So why don’t we do this: Forget about the regular news and spend a little time on the things that didn’t make the headlines. Courtesy of Rico Gagliano, Brendan Newnam and the rest of the Marketplace staff.
Brendan Newnam: Rafael Cohen, intern for the Marketplace New York bureau, what story are you going to be talking about this weekend?
Rafael Cohen: So in Holland, some thieves waited till some inmates from a Dutch prison were let out on furlough and they went in and stole the TVs from their rooms.
Newnam: So wait, they stole TVs from a prison?
Cohen: Exactly, yeah. It’s win-win, ’cause if they get caught, they get to watch the TVs anyway.
Newnam: Also, I think stealing TVs is legal, like everything else in Holland.
Cohen: Exactly.
Rico Gagliano: Rod Abid, senior producer of Marketplace Morning Report, what story are you going to be talking about this weekend?
Rod Abid: I’m talking about Spirit Airlines, that’s the airline that last week announced that they’re going to make you pay to bring your carry-on bags on.
Gagliano: Everybody’s favorite airline, yes.
Abid: This week, they went about 12 steps further than that. They have new planes with these brand new seats that sit straight up, you cannot move them and they’re calling them “pre-reclined seats.”
Gagliano: That is amazing.
Abid: “Pre-reclined.” What can you say about that? Pre-reclined!
Gagliano: It’s like if you go to a car dealer and he’s like, “No, the front of this car hasn’t been crushed. It’s pre-shrunk.”
Newnam: Stacey Vanek-Smith, senior reporter at Marketplace, what’s your story this week?
Stacey Vanek-Smith: Well, in my home state of Idaho, in the southeastern part of the state, the pelicans are eating a lot of fish. So they’re trying to control the pelican population. So on this island where a lot of pelicans live, they’ve released badgers and skunks to eat the pelicans.
Newnam: So it’s like these fish have recruited humans to use badgers and skunks to help them survive?
Vanek-Smith: Right.
Newnam: This is like an affront to Darwinism.
Vanek-Smith: And it would make a very complicated car decal.
Newnam: Or a really cute parade.
Ryssdal: You can catch more of what Brendan and Rico in their podcast. It’s called “The Dinner Party Download.”
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
