We examine the persistently declining infrastructure in America, with UCI economic professor Daniel Bogart to take up why and how addressing the immense infrastructure backlog during the Great Recession is the stimulus package lurking in plain sight.

After chewing on that huge bite, we turn to financial planning and student debt, busting a few myths along the way, with Karen Caporaso, Certified Financial Planner. Resources include: https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/ and http://www.commonwealthoc.net/Home.aspx?.

We devote the whole hour to Fran Solomon, LA-based founder and president of Heal Grief, an enterprise and a domain supporting the bereaved. Exploring the website brings up new ideas or confirms a few time-honored ones: http://healgrief.org/.

Swimming against the stream of municipalities and states, raising the minimum wage, Irvine, under recent new leadership walks back the minimum wage for city contractors. Co-Chair of Irvine’s Living Wage Campaign and Planning Commissioner for the City of Irvine, Mary Ann Gaido, returns to these airwaves to address a reversal of this (mis)fortune. More information is available at: www.IrvineLivingWage.org or on their Facebook page.

During the second half of the show, Board Member of the Newport Beach Public Library Foundation, Natasha Palmaer has a roster of forums for 2015-2016 that just doesn’t quit. Speakers, more speakers, and book discussions, all honest endeavors in one of the state’s most opulent zipcodes. All events and workshops are posted on: https://www.nbplfoundation.org/.  This interview was prematurely concluded with the disruption of phone service on a portion of the UC Irvine campus.  Regrets to Ms. Palmaer.

Bringing home all the new global development goals just enacted by the UN General Assembly, Orange County UN chapter organizers Carl Mariz, Hallie Stohler, and Armando Robles speak about an upcoming forum, October 24th in which locals are invited to participate at Chapman University in Orange, CA.  More details for the event and ongoing projects are available at: http://www.una-oc.org/.

Over the second segment, 2 Team OC decathletes, Clayton Heard and Sara Wanous, momentarily put down their tools for a Solar Decathlon 2015 exclusive about their home, “Casa del Sol.” This and other homes and exhibits at the Orange County Great Park in Irvine are open to guests from around the world, 10/8-11 and 10/15-18, from 11 am – 7 pm. Details galore are available at: http://www.solardecathlon.gov/, https://www.facebook.com/teamorangecounty and https://www.facebook.com/teamorangecounty.