‘Mushroom cloud of smoke and flames’: Toledo residents’ lives upended by deadly Brent Industries explosions
https://www.spreaker.com/show/2952221/episodes/feed
On the morning of August 18, residents living near the Brent Industries facility in Toledo, Ohio, awoke to a series of massive explosions and a towering chemical fire in their backyards. Two Brent Industry workers who were on shift at the time of the explosion were killed. Members of the surrounding community say they are experiencing symptoms of chemical exposure, and that they are not getting the answers they need from Brent Industries or the Environmental Protection Agency.
In this episode of Working People, we speak with a panel of Toledo residents about the industrial disaster at Brent Industries and the harrowing aftermath. Panelists include:Toledo Councilwoman Dr Brittany Jones; Mike Balonek, Toledo-based filmmaker and sacrifice zone advocate; Sarah Locker and Kris Ramsdell, who both live right next to the Brent Industries facility where the deadly explosion occurred.
Editor’s note: According to WTVG Toledo, “The coroner’s office identified those who died in the [Brent Industries] fire as Heladio G. Perez, 46, and Mary Allen, 64. An autopsy revealed they both died as a result of blunt force trauma.”
Additional links/info:
Toledo – Lucas County Health Department: Smoke Event Exposure – Public Health Information and Guidance
Dave Collins & John Seewer, Associated Press, “Explosions and fire tear through Ohio industrial building, killing 2 workers”
Kevon DuPree, WTVG Toledo, “Records show history of fires, violations at Brent Industries facility”
Lily Lowndes, Alexis Means, & Brianna Weaver, WTVG Toledo, “Two dead after explosions rock Toledo industrial facility”
Mike Balonek website, Facebook page, Instagram, and production company website
Featured Music:
Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song
Credits:
Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated.
News Clip 1:
A massive
We’re already living through journalism’s dystopian future
‘The red states, we’re going to hit hard’: Canadian politicians vow to make MAGA pay for Trump’s trade war
This story originally appeared in Common Dreams on Aug. 24, 2026. It is shared here under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0) license.
Politicians from Canada’s two biggest political parties vowed on Monday to hit back hard against US President Donald Trump’s trade war against their country.
Trade negotiations between the two countries collapsed last week after Trump reportedly sought to restrict Canada from striking trade deals with other nations, while also pressuring the country to scrap requirements aimed at preserving the use of the French language.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney warned that Trump’s aggression would come back to hurt US workers.
“It’s not a surprise that the US would take some form of reprisal to our response to their unjustified tariffs,” said Carney, a member of the center-left Liberal Party. “But what message does that send to the workers in Michigan and Ohio and Kentucky and Alabama who rely on Canadian demand? We’re their largest customer for automobiles, more than the European Union, Japan, Korea.”
Mark Carney: “It’s not a surprise that the US would take some form of reprisal to our response to their unjustified tariffs, which was on top of other unjustified tariffs. But what message does that send to the workers in Michigan and Ohio and Kentucky and Alabama who rely on… pic.twitter.com/2o5rbEmQAo— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 24, 2026
Carney also said there was an “attitude at the negotiating table” from US officials that “Canada is a subsidiary of the United States,” which is “not something we’re going to accept.”
Ontario Premier Doug Ford, a member of the rival center-right Progressive Conservative Party, delivered a more strident rebuke to Trump, vowing that Canada’s response would deliver a hit to
Out-of-touch Trump says communities that reject AI data centers will be ‘backwards and poor’
We ask five musicians: Can anyone ‘make it’ in today’s music industry?
https://rss.libsyn.com/shows/126614/destinations/757400.xml
The 20th-century days of vinyl records, tape decks, CDs, Tower Records, and MTV have given way to our 21st-century age of MP3s and music streaming, Spotify, Amazon, YouTube, TikTok, and Ticketmaster. While certain people and certain companies in the music industry are making more money than ever, working musicians are finding it increasingly impossible to pay the bills and make a living from their art. In this episode of Working People, we speak with all four members of veteran Chicago rock band The Empty Pockets about the work that goes into being a professional musician, and the realities of working and trying to make a living in the music industry today.
Additional links/info:
The Empty Pockets website, Facebook page, Instagram, YouTube channel, and Spotify channel
Josh Solomon, Hypebot, “We stopped waiting to be chosen and mailed 100,000 CDs instead”
Jules Taylor Music website, Facebook page, Instagram, and Spotify channel
Featured Music:
Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song
Credits:
Audio Post-Production: Jules Taylor
Transcript
The following is a rushed transcript and may contain errors. It will be updated.
Maximillian Alvarez:
Alright. Welcome everyone to Working People, a podcast about the lives, jobs, dreams, and struggles of the working class today. My name is Maximillian Alvarez.
Jules Taylor:
And I’m Jules Taylor.
Maximillian Alvarez:
So you guys all know Jules as the producer of this podcast, but let me tell you something about brother Jules here. Jules is a renaissance man. He is a podcaster himself, as many of you know. He’s a writer, a music producer, a poet, and a brilliant musician in his own right. And he does all the music for working people as well. And that’s why I really, really wanted us to host