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Encore Thursday, June 26, 2025 at 8 p.m. on KPBS 2 / Stream now with the PBS app. In 1988, after two terms in office, Ronald Reagan left the White House one of the most popular presidents of the twentieth century, and one of the most controversial. A failed actor, Reagan became a passionate ideologue who preached a simple gospel of lower taxes, less government, and anti-communism.

Political campaigning is increasingly driven by data. Journalist Sasha Issenberg says voter outreach has shifted from a precinct-centered game to one focused on individuals' behavior. In his new book, The Victory Lab, he says the smallest changes in tactic have had the biggest impact on politics.

By the year 2030, for the first time in history, a majority of the world's population will be out of poverty. Middle classes will be the most important social and economic sector. Asia will enjoy the global power status it last had in the Middle Ages, while the 350-year rise of the West will be largely reversed. Global leadership may be shared, and the world is likely to be democratizing.

Lawyer turned author Robert Rotenberg takes great pains to re-create the relatively calm atmosphere of Canadian courtrooms in his suspense novels. But not all of his characters play by the rules. "Well, they are murder mysteries," he says.

The Homestead Act of 1862 granted free farms to almost any settler who struck out west. A German peasant named Frederick Wohler received the deed to 80 acres of farmland in north-central Kansas 138 years ago this weekend. And today, the Wohlers are still there.

Most projects funded by voter-passed Proposition R at Southwestern College will be put on hold for one year so they can be reevaluated, school officials announced today.

On a recent trip, Weekend Food Commentator Bonny Wolf was taken by surprise by Australia's stunningly diverse cuisine, especially the dizzying array of exotic seafood like yabbies and marron at the Sydney Fish Market.

Congress passed a bill Friday to keep the interest rate on government-backed student loans from doubling. It's a victory for students, but other compromises by Congress could cost them a lot more in the long run.

From medieval medicine to 18th century English "crack," gin has come a long way. But according to Richard Barnett, author of The Book of Gin, now is "the best time in the last 500 years to be drinking" it.

Chef and author Bryant Terry is on a quest to popularize the plant-based, vegan diet. Inspired by his own family's roots, his latest project involves blending African- and Asian-American cuisines.