The sixth episode in the Listening Across America series highlights interviews with folks in Utah and Nevada, who shared insights about high costs of everything from fuel to food. The trip went from Hurricane in southern Utah to the capital city of Salt Lake City and then west past the Great Salt Lake across dusty Nevada to Reno.
Episode 5 of the Listening Across America series brings us to New Mexico, where we met Joel Olvera at his auto sales shop in Hatch, which is home to the world-famous green chiles. Then we headed north to Santa Fe, where shuttle driver Diana Silva described what people are feeling as the congressional midterm elections approach.
After an overnight stay in Waco, Texas, we spoke to former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke, D-Texas, on the busy Austin campus of the University of Texas where he and volunteers encouraged students to get out and vote in the midterm elections. Then we talked with guys in Fredericksburg and Sonora before heading across the vast plains of western Texas to El Paso.
In Episode 3 of Listening Across America, you’ll hear from Todd Stauffer, head of the newspaper trade group AAN Publishers. He’s in Jackson, Miss., and talked about what reporters do during election season. Then you’ll meet Brenda Gorham, a resident of Monroe, La., who has some specific opinions on politics in Lousiana and nationally.
The second episode of LIstening Across America finds us dealing with a hurricane that scurried from the Gulf of Mexico through Alabama and wreaked havoc across the South. We talk with a groundskeeper in Norcross, Ga., and head to Montgomery, Ala., where we interview a political leader, and then head to Mississippi.
In the first episode of LIstening Across America, we’ll visit with an artist and a retired pastor in the Charleston area. Then we encounter an Army veteran in Leesville, S.C., on the way to Georgia.
We’re off soon on a three-week trip across the United States called “Listening Across America.” You can subscribe to our YouTube channel to keep up with daily progress, starting Oct. 12. Or check out social media networks.
[UPDATED, 10/16/26] The 2026 trip from South Carolina to California and back is expected to pass through these cities. (Places where there are AAN association newspapers are indicated with an asterisk.)
