A congressional report released by Democrats found Trump’s oil and gas holdings surged in value during the Iran war, raising concerns about potential conflicts of interest. To discuss, we FEATURE Marcela Donadio. Donadio is a director at NOV and the former Southwest Sub-Area Energy industry leader and Americas Oil & Gas sector leader for Ernst & Young, a global professional services firm that provides auditing, accounting, tax, and transactions services for clients in 140 countries. Donadio has more than 37 years of domestic and international audit and accounting experience, serving all facets of the energy industry. As Americas Oil & Gas sector leader, she was responsible for leading one of the firm’s most well-established and highest revenue-generating industry groups. She also led the firm’s energy trading and risk management practice. Donadio has extensive experience conducting audits for global energy companies, particularly those involved in exploration and production, transmission, and trading. Media includes: Houston Chronicle, Oil & Gas Investor, Oil & Gas Financial Journal, E&P, Journal of Petroleum Technology.

Federal appeals court judges rejected the Justice Department’s attempt to make California set aside mail ballots from roughly 20,000 suspected noncitizens. To discuss, we FEATURE Lorella Praeli. Praeli is the co-president of Community Change & Community Change Action. She is passionate about building collective power to win transformative policy change at all levels of government, so that people can thrive. Before she joined CC/A in 2019, she was a deputy national political director at the ACLU, where she fought to defend and expand the rights of immigrants and refugees. Prior to joining the ACLU, Praeli mobilized the Latinx vote as Hillary Clinton’s National Latino Vote Director. Praeli moved from Peru to Connecticut with her family at the age of ten. She is an expert on the path to citizenship, inclusion in economic policies, immigrant voters, and the immigrant rights movement. Media includes: The Washington Post, the New York Times, Univision, Telemundo, MSNBC, CNN.

Democrat James Talarico is attacking Republican Ken Paxton over his 2023 impeachment by Texas lawmakers on bribery and abuse-of-power charges, allegations of mortgage fraud and claims he helped wealthy donors. Paxton was acquitted by the state Senate and denies wrongdoing, but corruption has become a central campaign issue. To discuss, we FEATURE Ciara Torres-Spelliscy. Torres-Spelliscy is a professor, teaching courses in election law, corporate governance, business entities, and constitutional law at Stetson University College of Law. She is also a Brennan Center fellow and a board member of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW). Prior to joining Stetson's faculty, Torres-Spelliscy was counsel in the Democracy Program of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law where she provided guidance on the issues of money in politics and the judiciary to state and federal lawmakers. She is the author of the book Corporate Citizen? An Argument for the Separation of Corporation and State and the book Political Brands. Media includes: The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, The New York Times, Time, Bloomberg.

A new KFF Women's Health Survey, released October 26, finds that 53% of reproductive-age women living in states with abortion bans say they would not know where to find abortion care if they needed it. The report also examines costs, travel barriers, and concerns about pregnancy safety. To discuss, we FEATURE Monica Edwards. Edwards currently works a senior manager of public policy at Power to Decide where she brings her extensive reproductive justice policy and writing experience to Power to Decide's federal policy work. Monica served as an If/When/How: Lawyering for Reproductive Justice Federal RJ fellow and federal policy manager at URGE: Unite for Reproductive and Gender Equity. There she focused on reproductive health, rights, and justice federal policy priorities such as working on the drafting and introduction of the Women’s Health Protection Act, the Abortion Justice Act, and Real Education and Access for Healthy Youth Act, and also worked to translate federal policy asks and priorities to young people age 18-30 in the South and Midwest. Media includes: Ms. Magazine, Elite Daily, HelloGiggles, Word in Black, Blavity.

Affordable Care Act open enrollment begins on Nov 1. To discuss, we FEATURE Sharon Denise Allison. Allison is an energetic and engaging speaker, author, health educator/physician and health strategist/consultant. She serves as executive director of The COSHAR Foundation. The foundation is a nonprofit organization focused on impacting the health of the world, one community at a time. Under her leadership, the foundation has expanded its presence and impact with innovative programs that have touched millions of lives. Additionally, she serves as the health strategist for several national organizations and oversees programs, long and short term strategies ensuring effectiveness and achievement of goals. Media includes: Black Entertainment Television, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Radio One, ABC Radio.

Major technology companies are due to report earnings this week, just a few days after Anthropic officially filed its S-1 prospectus with the SEC. To discuss we FEATURE Dr. Basak Kus, professor of government at Wesleyan University, whose research focuses on the interplay between the state, capitalism and democracy. Kus is the author of Disembedded: Regulation, Crisis, and Democracy in the Age of Finance (Oxford University Press). The book examines the evolution of the state-finance relationship from the early 1970s onward, specifically in the context of the US financial crisis and subsequent political developments. She is also the editor/co-editor of three special issues: "Greening the Economy: Toward a New Political Economy” in Regulation & Governance, "Politics of Financialization" in Economic and Social Review, and "Credit, Consumption, and Debt" in the International Journal of Comparative Sociology. Extensive media experience.

Growing concerns about data centers’ electricity use and environmental impact have made their expansion a major issue ahead of U.S. midterm elections. To discuss, we FEATURE Cassady Craighill. Craighill has spent over a dozen years advocating for an equitable clean energy transition. She is currently technical education director at GridLab. Prior, she was deputy director at Clean Virginia where she helped the organization pass landmark utility regulatory and consumer protection policies. Craighill launched her career in energy issues at Greenpeace USA where she developed strategies for communicating about climate impacts, the influence of the oil and gas industry on democracy, and the energy footprint from our digital world. With Greenpeace, she also led digital initiatives to “turn the Internet green” advocating for technology companies to power their data centers with renewable energy. Media includes: The New York Times, The Washington Post, Associated Press, CNN.

Flávio Bolsonaro refuses to concede to incoming president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, despite his Liberal Party acknowledging defeat. He has been ordered to hand over his passport by Brazil’s Supreme Court as part of a money laundering inquiry. To discuss, we FEATURE Heloisa Pait. Pait is an expert of current affairs in Brazil, recent Brazilian history, media and censorship in Brazil, and development and social issues in Brazil. She is part of the advisory board of Open Knowledge Foundation Brazil and takes active part of debates on Brazilian current affairs, contributing to specialized blogs and to the press. Media includes: TV Cultura, Estadão Noite, The Christian Science Monitor, GuerrillaReads, Isto É.

Xi Jinping is intensifying purges of Communist Party and military officials accused of corruption or disloyalty, consolidating his power as he prepares to seek a fourth term in 2027. To discuss, we FEATURE Susan Shirk. Shirk is research professor and founding chair of the 21st Century China Center. She is one of the most influential experts working on U.S.-China relations and Chinese politics. She is also director emeritus of the UC Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC). Shirk is author of Overreach: How China Derailed Its Peaceful Rise. Other books include China: Fragile Superpower. Her other publications include "The Political Logic of Economic Reform in China"; "How China Opened its Door"; "Competitive Comrades: Career Incentives and Student Strategies in China"; and her edited book, Changing Media, Changing China. Media includes: The Washington Post, Lehrer News Hour, Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, San Diego Union Tribune.

November is Native American Heritage Month. To discuss, we FEATURE Jonel Beauvais. Beauvais is a Wolf Clan, Mohawk. Who is the proud mother of three children and chosen auntie, sister and friend to many. She works diligently to empower and induce healing within all Native/Indigenous communities in order to prosper in the Haudenosaunee teachings of good medicine and good minds. She recently has moved from working for Kahwatsiraien:ton which is founded in supporting the families of Ohero:kon. She has dedicated seven years as a council member and Lead Auntie for all adolescent girls entering their first year of fasting in Ohero:kon “Under the Husk”, which is the Rights of Passage for youth in Akwesasne. Through ceremony these youth commit to four years of fasting in which they attend weekly gatherings throughout the winter months where traditional/modern teachings are presented to the young fasters and their families. Extensive media experience.