First hour: Actor and activist Peterson Toscano on the intersections of gender, religion, and climate change

Second hour: Discussing waste issues in the Finger Lakes

How can comedy and art be used to address serious issues like race and climate change? Actor and activist Peterson Toscano incorporates storytelling and performance art to explore the intersections of gender, religion, and climate. He will be in Rochester next week to work with local students, but first, he joins us on Connections. In studio:

GENEVA, N.Y. (AP)  A colorful collection of stellar new grape tomato varieties has been released by Cornell University's plant-breeding program.

It's called the Galaxy Suite and includes yellow fingerling Starlight, oval orange Sungrazer, red Comet, marbled Supernova and dark purple Midnight Pear. They're available from High Mowing Organic Seeds in Wolcott, Vermont.

Disability advocates are demanding justice for an issue many of them say is misrepresented in the media and forgiven in the criminal justice system. We're talking about the murders of individuals with disabilities by parents, relatives, or caregivers. Why you need to know about filicide in the disability community - that story and more this Thursday night on WXXI-TV.

Empty shelves and sad faces filled the aisles as Hart’s prepared to close Friday. The downtown Rochester grocer opened to fanfare about five years ago. But over the years, the store was losing money, and earlier this month the owners announced it was closing.

Longtime shoppers like Madalyn Button stopped by to say goodbye.

“We’re very sad to see them go,” said Button. “We come down here all the time for snacks or lunch sometimes breakfast.”

Timothy O’Connor managed the front end at Hart’s. He said the end was abrupt.

Monroe County’s Seneca Park Zoo is partnering with a program at the Cincinnati Zoo as part of a polar bear conservation project.