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Intersection | 'Making Sense of Marshall Ledbetter' & Global Vaccines

ledbetternote
Marshall Ledbetter's list of demands after breaking into the Florida Capitol in 1991. Source: FDLE

Wielding only an empty whiskey bottle, Marshall Ledbetter broke into and took over the Florida State capitol in 1991. His list of demands included pizza, a case of beer, cigarettes and 666 dunkin’ donuts for the police that showed up for the standoff.

After surrendering, Ledbetter entered the state’s mental health system and committed suicide in 2003. 90.7's Matthew Peddie speaks with author and sociologist Daniel M. Harrison about his book ‘Making Sense of Marshall Ledbetter’ and about how the justice system handles cases of mental illness in Florida.

Also, Ebola dominated the headlines as the virus spread through West Africa. While researchers are scrambling to find an Ebola vaccine, over a million children die every year from preventable diseases that we do have vaccines for.

International organizations like Gavi are working to provide access to these life-saving vaccines. Crickett Nicovich, Senior Policy Associate at RESULTS Educational Fund joins the program to talk about the challenges of global vaccinations.

Brendan Byrne is WMFE's Assistant News Director, managing the day-to-day operations of the WMFE newsroom, editing daily news stories, and managing WMFE's internship program.

Byrne also hosts WMFE's weekly radio show and podcast "Are We There Yet?" which explores human space exploration.