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After a brief word on the results of the recent B.C. election, we examine the effort by Canadian Blood Services to expand its stem cell donor registry to include those from multi-ethnic and biracial backgrounds. An event is being at Metrotown on the Mother's Day weekend to encourage donors to sign up. The Growler's Rob Mangelsdorf completes the episode with a beer recommendation that's all East Coast haze.

In this episode, we talk to four Metro Vancouver journalists and what they’ve thought of this election campaign. We hear from former Vancouver city planning director Larry Beasley on his favourite places to walk, and the Growler gives us another craft beer pick, which this week includes a look at provincial agricultural policy putting the hurt on beer down on the farm.

This is our second part of a two-part series on this election. We’ve got interviews with the NDP and the Greens, predictions with the millennial pundits from Politicoast (who will also explain why we don’t have an interview with a Liberal) and then we finish off with our regular craft beer recommendation from The Growler to get you through what’s so far been a rainy spring.

We dive into the B.C. election with an explanation of why B.C.'ers should ignore Trump news and focus on local for the next month; an interview with the hosts of the political podcast Politicoast; a story about a Green Party "paper candidate"; and a craft beer recommendation from The Growler.

In this special bonus episode, we look at 21 boring things about Canada you need to know. From our actual national sport to Sir John A. Macdonald’s original career to Justin Bieber’s travel history, it’s our contribution to celebrating Canada’s 150th. Disclaimer: not all 21 things might be true. To find out the real facts, go to pressplaynetwork.ca and look for the This is Lotusland tab.

For those who don’t know, Kingsgate is in Mount Pleasant at Kingsway and Broadway in Vancouver. It’s not very big and it’s dated looking and considered kind of a weird place with an odd collection of stores and a wide variety of customers. But there are three things you should know about Kingsgate: it’s considered a retail success, it’s beloved by many people in the community, and some people in that community worry it could be knocked down as development changes the neighbourhood. But why? What is it about Kingsgate Mall that’s helped it achieve an iconic community status that bigger and richer malls can only envy? It might have something to do with how people in the community see the mall as a stand-in for the larger city, and how they want that city to be, as opposed to what it’s become. I discussed that with Chris Cheung and Michelle Hanley, but first we did a walking tour of the mall. And then in part two of this episode, we’ll have another visit from The Growler with a craft beer pick of the week.

We talk to the makers of B.C. Was Awesome, a series of short videos focusing on quirky and compelling stories from B.C.'s past. In part two, Growler editor Rob Mangelsdorf drops by with the latest craft beer news and a recommendation to try. Barry Link hosts.

In a follow-up to episode 9, we look at the details of the Rolling Stones riot in Vancouver in 1972. We talk to two former police officers and a street gang member who were there and what the violent night meant to them.

Twenty-one years ago, the late Cuban leader Fidel Castro paid a surprise visit to Richmond, a suburb of Vancouver. I talk about covering that visit and rediscover that the story wasn't Castro but the people who came to see him. And then Dixon Tam and Colin Makenzie join in to offer their views on Castro's legacy and the meaning of his time in power.

Vancouver's East Side neighbourhoods were home to notorious street gangs in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1972, a riot at a Rolling Stones concert led Vancouver police to declare war on the most infamous of the gangs, the Clark Park gang. That struggle is the subject of Aaron Chapman’s latest book, The Last Gang in Town. We talk to Aaron about his book for the first of two parts examining the Rolling Stones riot of June 3, 1972.

Rory Richards planned to spend two weeks helping refugees in Greece. But her initial foray to the scene of Europe's worst humanitarian crisis since the Second World War became a year long sojourn helping refugees in first Greece and now Turkey, where she still resides and works. We talked to Richards in January in an interview unaired until this episode. We also talked to Sandra Thomas of the Vancouver Courier, who updated Richards' story in a piece in August, and about the danger Richards recently found herself in because of her work.

Commuting along the No. 1 Highway and across the Iron Workers Memorial Bridge has gotten significantly worse in recent years. Why? We joined North Shore News reporter Brent Richter on his daily commute from work to home to find out. The answer surprised us (hint: it's the housing market, but not in the way you think). And it's not going to get better any time soon. Bonus meditation: Beware the white vans of Granville Street.

This bonus episode comes courtesy of the Stream Queens, where I was guest host a few weeks back discussing with them The 49th Parallel. It's a British Second World War thriller about six German sailors from a sunken U-Boat trying to escape through Canada to safety in the then-neutral U.S. Along the way, they encounter many different kinds of Canadians and are defeated by geography, niceness and a rejection of their message of Aryan superiority. It's a fascinating film and a perfect entry to discussing our elusive Canadian identity.

Welcome to the debut episode of Mountain Mythic — exploring the peaks and valleys of mountain culture in Whistler, B.C. Recorded at WMN Studios in Function Junction, our first episode takes a look at the spirit of competition: what drives it, what feeds it and what it’s like to leave the rush behind. Produced by Pique Newsmagazine reporters Braden Dupuis and Brandon Barrett, Mountain Mythic is a new monthly podcast featuring in-depth interviews and segments tied to a particular theme. Stay tuned for our next episode coming in August.

We mark Vancouver Craft Beer Week by visiting Main Street Brewing Company to learn a little about its history and what it takes to keep the taps flowing. Then we sit down with The Growler editor Stephen Smysnuik to learn about why the craft beer scene in B.C. shows no signs of slowing down and why craft beer is a sudsy version of Revenge of the Nerds. I drink a beer. Music for this episode is by Michael Kissinger.

We return from hiatus to talk to David Tracey, writer and ecologist, about his just published Vancouver Tree Book. We take a walk with him through VanDusen Botanical Garden to meet the ginko, the Douglas Fir, and how trees both pre-date humans and will long survive us.

Vancouver author and artist Michael Kluckner talks about how he came full circle with the completion last year of his graphic novel Toshiko. A story of two young people facing the events of the Second World War on the home front, it's a return for Kluckner to the art he worked on in the 1970s and 1980s.

Affordable housing, the dramatic federal election results and the warm welcome given to Syrian refugees by Metro Vancouver residents and organizations all made news in 2015. They also were the top news stories examined by our year end panel. Mike Howell of the Vancouver Courier, Jennifer Moreau of the Burnaby Now and Eve Edmonds of the Richmond News joined me in our studio to talk about what happened in 2015. Among other things you'll learn why, despite the intended generosity of regular citizens, municipalities like Vancouver, Richmond and Burnaby are now too expensive for refugee families.

We’re very excited to bring you a special Christmas bonus episode in partnership with our friends at the Vancouver Courier. Back in 2004, the Courier published a story by Ted Hunt. It recounted his childhood experience facing a Christmas without his father who was off fighting in the Second World War. Called simply “A Christmas story,” it’s a blend of local history, nostalgia and personal remembrance. You might know Ted Hunt: he’s been a contributor to the Courier as well as a novelist, a golfer and a school trustee. Over the years, readers have asked about the story. So we’ve prepared a special dramatic reading of it just for you. And here it is, read by Vancouver actor Wayne Wiens. Studio recording was by Matt Dauncey at the Beaumont Studios in Vancouver.

Vancouver has one of the lowest murder rates in North America. But it wasn’t always so, according to North Vancouver author Eve Lazarus. The city’s post-war era was violent, especially for women, children, immigrants and gay men, and that violence left a painful legacy of hundreds of unsolved murders throughout the Lower Mainland. Her book Cold Case Vancouver tells the story of some of these unsolved homicides and it reveals the stories of real people with real lives cut short by an act of violence. The book came out in November from Arsenal Pulp Press.