The Seneca Park Zoo recently welcomed the first-ever North American river otters to be born at its facility. Leaders say it's a conservation success story that has been decades in the making. It comes at a time when a shift in federal priorities has affected environmental and wildlife protections: funding cuts to USAID and a funding freeze for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have halted projects centered on animals facing various threats, including extinction. Can the local project serve as a model for continued conservation work, despite changes at the federal level? Our guests discuss it. In studio:

• David Hamilton, general curator at the Seneca Park Zoo
• Larry Buckley, Ph.D., senior associate dean of the College of Science at RIT
• Laura Gaenzler, community science coordinator for the Seneca Park Zoo Society
• Tom Snyder, director of programming and conservation action for the Seneca Park Zoo Society

In a report earlier this month, the group Reporters Without Borders said, "Trump's second term as president has brought a troubling deterioration in press freedom." For two decades, the number of American journalists has been in decline. The Star-Ledger in New Jersey is an example of a high-profile newsroom that stopped producing a print edition and cut more staff in 2024. Fewer than a quarter of American newsrooms are in growth mode. We discuss the state of the profession with our guests:

• Gino Fanelli, investigations and City Hall reporter for WXXI News
• Veronica Volk, senior producer for WXXI News
• Natasha Kaiser, rising senior in the photojournalism program at RIT
• Roisin Meyer, rising senior in the international relations and economics program at the University of Rochester

Local Democrats will see a number of candidates for Rochester City Council on their primary ballot next month. We've invited all of the candidates in that race to join us on the talk show to discuss their platforms and priorities and to answer questions from community members. This is part one in our series. In studio:

• Miquel Powell, candidate for Rochester City Council
• Chiara "Kee Kee" Smith, candidate for Rochester City Council
• Kevin Stewart, candidate for Rochester City Council