Pension Settlement, PawSox, and Potholes - It's A Lively Experiment, week of March 27, 2015

Panel

Dyana Koelsch – moderator
Arlene Violet - columnist, former RI Attorney General
Scott MacKay - political reporter, Rhode Island Public Radio
Kate Nagle - news editor, GoLocalProv.com
Gary Sasse - founder, Hassenfeld Institute for Public Leadership at Bryant University

Topics

• Pension Settlement
• Unemployment figures
• Critics want a harsher sentence for Gordon Fox
• Newport rejects Raimondo’s tax proposal
• PawSox
• Potholes
• Ted Cruz running for President

A Lively Experiment airs on WSBE Rhode Island PBS (36.1) Fridays at 7 p.m., with rebroadcasts on Saturdays at 7 P.M. on WSBE Learn (36.2), and Sundays at noon on WSBE Rhode Island PBS.

WSBE Rhode Island PBS transmits standard-definition (SD) and high-definition (HD) programming over the air on digital 36.1; on Rhode Island cable: Cox 08 / 1008HD, Verizon FiOS 08 / 508HD, and Full Channel 08; on Massachusetts cable: Comcast 819HD and Verizon FiOS 18 / 518HD; on satellite: DirecTV 36 / 3128HD, Dish Network 36 / 7776.

WSBE Learn transmits over the air on digital 36.2; in Rhode Island on Cox 808; Verizon FiOS 478; Full Channel 89; and in Massachusetts on Comcast 294 or 312.

Can't get to the TV? Watch the episode online anytime and anywhere on our YouTube channel. Episodes of A Lively Experiment are generally available to watch on the next business day. Subscribe to our YouTube channel, and YouTube will notify you when a new episode is uploaded.

On Facebook? So are we! "Like" A Lively Experiment on Facebook.

Rhode Island Spotlight on The Safety Net (week of March 21)

Even with the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, tens of thousands of Rhode Islanders still have no medical coverage - often going without, or winding up at a local hospital emergency room.

For the past 15 years The Rhode Island Free Clinic has been the safety net for some of the state’s most vulnerable residents, through a vast network of volunteer medical professionals and corporate donors.

The Safety Net may be seen on Rhode Island PBS on the following dates and times this week:

Rhode Island PBS (36.1)
Sat 3/21 at 9:46 p.m.
Sun 3/22 at 1:49 a.m.
Mon 3/23 at 2:16 a.m.
Tue 3/24 at 12:14 p.m.
Wed 3/25 at 12:52 p.m.
Thu 3/26 at 1:52 a.m.
Thu 3/26 at 12:20 p.m.
Fri 3/27 at 2:18 a.m.
Fri 3/27 at 1:46 p.m.
Sat 3/28 at 6:46 p.m

 Learn (36.2)
 Wed 3/25 at 3:52 a.m.

For more information about this segment and to see other Rhode Island Spotlight segments, visit the Rhode Island Spotlight Web site.

In April: Local and National Community Conversations about Cancer

*PLEASE NOTE CHANGE
IN EVENT DATE AND LOCATION*

Rhode Island PBS, in partnership with the American Cancer Society, presents LUNG CANCER | a community conversation, a live panel discussion televised on Thursday, April 23* at 8 p.m. at the Rhode Island PBS studios*, 50 Park Lane, Providence, RI. 

The television program will start with screening selected segments from the Ken Burns film Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies. Local experts then take a deeper look and connect this world issue to our local community in a panel discussion that includes tobacco use, smoking cessation, lung cancer, and the rising costs of health care. We'll also take questions from the audience.

You are invited to be in the studio audience from 7 p.m. - 9 p.m. Arrive at 7 p.m. for light refreshments and light conversation with our panelists and show host, Margie O'Brien. At 7:30, we move into the studio to prepare for live broadcast from 8 p.m. - 9 p.m.

This event is free and open to the public, but audience seating in the studio is limited. Advance registration is required. 

The television special LUNG CANCER | a community conversation is part of  

SCREENINGS | community conversations about cancer

an initiative of Rhode Island PBS, American Cancer Society, made possible by CVS Health.

Watch the full Ken Burns film Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies on three consecutive Thursdays at 9 p.m. on April 9, 16 and 23. 

Extending the conversation, Rhode Island PBS presents additional programs about cancer and living with dignity in the face of terminal illness from 8 to 9 p.m. on April 16 and 30. This is the full schedulee of cancer program in April:

April 9

9 p.m. – Ken Burns Film Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies, Part 1

Magic Bullets - The story of cancer and the efforts to find a cure begins with the work of cancer researcher Sidney Farber (1903-73), who, in the late 1940s, introduced the modern era of chemotherapy. Also: the contemporary story of a 14-month-old girl battling T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

April 16

8 p.m. – What Love Is– The Duke Pathfinders 50

Fifty women from North Carolina with incurable breast cancer heroically endure an experimental medical protocol to prove that there is a better way of life -- and death -- for cancer patients and their families everywhere. Read more about the film here.

9 p.m. – Ken Burns Film Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies, Part 2

The Blind Men and the Elephant - The launch of the "war on cancer" by President Nixon in 1971 is recalled. While rapid strides were made in understanding cancer, the research produced few advancements in treatment until the late 1990s. Also: the contemporary story of surgical oncologist Lori Wilson, who was diagnosed with invasive breast cancer in both breasts in 2013.

April 23

8 p.m. – LUNG CANCER | a community conversation

This Rhode Island PBS live broadcast features a local panel discussion focused on issues raised in the Ken Burns film Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies, taped with a live studio audience. 

9 p.m. – Ken Burns Film Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies, Part 3

Finding the Achilles Heel - Optimism that the mystery of the malignant cell has been solved fades due to the layers of complexity and defenses of cancer, leading many to focus on prevention and early detection. However, by the 2010s, new avenues of attack are uncovered, including the possibility of harnessing the human immune system in the battle. Also: two pioneers of immunotherapy treatments, a 60-year-old melanoma patient and a 6-year-old leukemia patient, share their stories.

April 30
8 p.m. – Behind the Ribbon
“Our Heroes” looks at the role of physical appearance in breast cancer treatment and survivorship. Footage from the 2012 Survivor Fashion Show is featured. Behind the Ribbon is the title of an original nonfiction television series produced by the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation and Jai Consulting Group. These short documentaries feature the stories of patients, survivors, and those who have lost their lives to breast cancer - an illness that will affect one in six Rhode Island women.
8:30 p.m. – Living With Dignity
This Rhode Island PBS production explores the local perspective of strength and determination to find balance and happiness while facing a terminal illness.
9 p.m. – Cancer: A Conversation
A companion program to the three-part documentary Cancer: The Emperor of All Maladies, Katie Couric, co-founder of “Stand Up To Cancer,” extends the conversation when she interviews Ken Burns; Sharon Percy Rockefeller, President and CEO of WETA and a cancer survivor; and Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the book upon which the film is based.

Updated: April 4, 2015
Updated April 7, 2015

What Love Is: The Duke Pathfinders 50

Somewhere between the successes of cancer treatment and its limitations is the person – the solitary individual whose medical needs may be tended, but whose needs for emotional support are overshadowed by the enormous, cumbersome, and unrelenting machine called cancer treatment. How does one navigate this foreign land with its whole new language and unfamiliar customs to find quiet peace and healing? What Love Is: The Duke Pathfinders 50 offers direction. The documentary, by filmmaker Theodore Bogosian, premieres on Rhode Island PBS on Thursday, April 16 at 8 p.m. Rhode Island PBS is proud to bring this award-winning documentary to the national stage as the presenting station.

The documentary explores the lives of 50 women undergoing treatment for breast cancer at the Duke Cancer Center in Durham, North Carolina, and their experience with the Pathfinders cancer support program. Created by social worker Tina Staley in her hometown of Aspen, Colorado, the Pathfinders program – a philosophy, really – provides cancer patients with beneficial skills, such as visualization and meditation, essential to successfully cope with a life-threatening illness. Each patient is paired with a social worker who acts as a guide, and together, they embark as “pathfinders” toward discovering the patient’s own sense of balance, spirituality, support, and self-care, in an effort to alleviate emotional suffering. The Duke study sought to quantify the medical health benefits of the Pathfinders psychosocial support program during cancer treatment. Those groundbreaking results were found.

The film stands out from other medical documentaries thanks to the director’s vision in creating a film that is equal parts poignant and informative.

"I decided to focus on the Pathfinders study because I felt I had seen other documentaries about cancer – especially breast cancer – and they all seemed to be the same film," said Bogosian. "What makes this documentary different is the blend of scientific fact and personal communication, especially nonverbal communication."

The women involved in the Pathfinders program were all diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer and agreed to participate in a two-year Pathfinders trial during their treatment at Duke High-Risk Breast Clinic. Along with candid interviews with patients and their families, the film shows sessions between Pathfinders, demonstrating how the patients and social workers apply the Pathfinders’ seven pillars of personal recovery to improve the daily lives of the cancer sufferers.

Bogosian found it challenging to balance the patient testimonials with the scientific achievements and goals of the Pathfinders program, admitting that the film was not complete until it included the sermon by Reverend Doctor Sam Wells, dean of the Chapel at Duke University. The sermon was given during the nondenominational service that commemorated the end of the study. The service brought together the surviving study participants and their families, the loved ones of since-deceased participants, and the medical and social service professionals who cared for them during the study period.

Woven throughout the film, the sermon by Reverend Wells becomes itself a map with guideposts and road markers on our path through the film. Reverend Wells gently reveals the loss of his own mother to breast cancer when he was young, and offers an uplifting message of hope that reverberates throughout the entire film, and echoes the Pathfinders’ approach to healing through spirituality and unity.

"Death isn't the worst thing that can happen," Wells said. "The worst thing is isolation."

Pathfinders dispels the sense of isolation by accompanying people through the bleakest experiences in their life: death and bereavement.

Reinforcing the notion that the journey is at least as valuable as the destination, the Pathfinders seek the quiet place of love beyond the chaos and fear of illness, and define What Love Is.

Join us for An Evening Uncorked! Coming April 11 2015

Join us April 11 at 7 p.m. for An Evening Uncorked!  

Enjoy a lively evening with small bites prepared by chefs from southern New England's top establishments and carefully chosen wines from private cellars and top beverage purveyors. A feast for all your senses, explore the tastes, aromas, colors and sounds of this appetizing adventure.  This is a "foodie" event with wine tasting for the novice, the enthusiast, and connoisseur. Where else can you sample foods from these great chefs all under one roof?

This year’s small bites will be prepared by The Capital Grille, Chapel Grille, David Burke Prime Steakhouse, The Dorrance, Eleven Forty Nine Restaurant, Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse and Wine Bar, Just Ellen’s Inc., Luigi’s Restaurant and Gourmet Express, Matunuck Oyster Bar, Pot Au Feu, and desserts by Sin.

Wine tasting showcases domestic and international vineyards presented by M.S. Walker, Rhode Island Distributing Company, Martignetti Companies of Rhode Island, as well as carefully chosen bottles from private cellars. Craft beers are courtesy of Bucket Brewery and Foolproof Brewing.

Meet and mingle with celebrity guest Chef Nick Stellino of Cooking with Friends  (Saturdays at 11:30 a.m. on WSBE Learn). Raised in Palermo, Nick Stellino emigrated from Italy as a teen in 1975 and grew up to become a successful Wall Street stock broker. But when he found his passion in another kind of market, he traded in his Wall Street stocks for soup stocks, and has shared his passion for cooking great food with public television audiences ever since. That was 20 years ago!

Bring your cookbook and have Nick autograph it. Or you may order "Cooking with Nick Stellino" in advance of the event and Nick will autograph it at the event. Simply add the cookbook to your order when you get your tickets.

An Evening Uncorked! also boasts silent and live auctions of select boutique, cult, and collectible wines, gifts, and novel dining and travel experiences. New this year is a Wine Grab - buy a numbered cork, win the bottle with the same number. Everyone wins! Bottles range in value from $15 - $50. But two lucky people will each receive an outstanding bottle of wine valued at more than $75.

An Evening Uncorked! will be held at the spacious Pawtucket Armory, 172 Exchange Street, conveniently located off Interstate 95 in downtown Pawtucket, RI, near Pawtucket City Hall. Tickets are $85 per person and must be purchased in advance. Proceeds benefit WSBE Rhode Island PBS. Thank you for your support!

For more information, please visit our Web site.

 ----------------------------- 

Gold Sponsors 

CVS Health   |   Gencorp Insurance Group

Benefactors 

 Bank of America 

Bank RI 

Centreville Bank 

Coventry Lumber 

Dimeo Construction Company 

Rentals Unlimited 

Santander Bank, N.A. 

 Patron Sponsors 

Arden Engineering Constructors, LLC 

Bernard and Heidi Buonanno 

Endurance Wealth Management 

Piccerelli Gilstein and Company, LLP 

RDW Group, Inc. 

The Wall Group of Wells Fargo Advisors 

Whelan, Corrente, Kinder and Siket LLP

Updated: March 20

Updated: March 25
Updated: April 4
Updated: April 7

Believe to Achieve: Innovation Share Explores What’s Working in RI Elementary Ed

Building on a powerful new documentary, 180 Days: Hartsville, Rhode Island PBS is partnering with Learning401, in association with the Feinstein School of Education and Human Development at Rhode Island College (RIC), to convene the first in a series of Innovation Share events to spark powerful community conversations with an eye for what is working in Rhode Island elementary education. The inaugural Innovation Share will be Monday, March 23, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in Alger Hall Room 110 at RIC, 600 Mount Pleasant Avenue, Providence. The public is invited, but advance registration is required.

“We’re pleased to bring together innovators in education and explore the local perspectives of issues raised in the national documentary,” said David W. Piccerelli, president of WSBE Rhode Island PBS. “Getting the right people together to facilitate these local discussions is what Rhode Island PBS does well. Our partners bring specialized talents and insights to the table, and together, we will raise public awareness of unsung successes and encourage children’s academic growth and success,” Piccerelli said.

“We know that success beyond high school requires the capacity to first believe that success is possible in order to see it later,” said Jen Hetzel Silbert, founder of Learning401. “We also know that this capacity needs to be strengthened as early as possible in a child's education career and that doing so requires the involvement of the everyday shepherds of a child's confidence in and commitment to learning - teachers and school administrators, as well as parents, guardians, caregivers, and the larger community," she said.

"More concretely," Silbert added, "we’re focusing on local elementary school solutions to keeping students in school and on the path to collegiate and career success, instilling in every child the capacity to believe in and pursue the American dream.”

Innovation Share is a gathering of stakeholders – teachers, administrators, parents, students, and interested members of the community – to explore and engage in rich nonpartisan dialogue around the innovative strategies that are working in elementary school classrooms in Rhode Island.

With “believing is seeing” as an underlying, motivating theme, the goals of Innovation Share are also to develop an action plan to stimulate further solution-sharing, and to inspire Rhode Island’s lowest performing elementary schools to adopt new strategies for their classrooms, all to increase student aspirations to believe in and achieve graduation from high school and college.

The March 23 event will include preview screening of clips from 180 Days: Hartsville, and a segment from the Rhode Island PBS production, Rhode Island Classroom, followed by a panel discussion with local educators and parents who share stories of success and inspiration, then breakout small group discussions to share impactful stories and additional strategies for classroom innovation, concluding with a summary and idea share.

Innovation Share is free and open to the public, but seating is limited. Advance registration is required. Visit ripbs.org or learning201.org.

Innovation Share will convene a few days in advance of the Rhode Island PBS premiere of the two-part documentary, 180 Days: Hartsville, on Thursday, March 26 at 8 p.m. (part 1) and 9 p.m. (part 2). The documentary takes a fresh look at the nation’s poverty and education challenges from a rural South Carolina town triumphing in the face of extraordinary challenges.

“With poor children now representing a new majority of public school students,* it is more critical than ever that successful models in education be explored to ensure the American dream is attainable for all of our children,” said Jacquie Jones, co-director and executive producer. “Hartsville has proven that if the right forces in a determined community come together to put children first, tangible results will follow.”

Rhode Island’s Innovation Share seeks to bring those forces together locally on behalf of Rhode Island children.

The 180 Days: Hartsville community engagement project is made possible by grant funding through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s American Graduate: Let’s Make It Happen initiative, South Carolina ETV, and the National Black Programming Consortium, with additional funding by South Carolina Educational Communication, Inc.

WSBE Rhode Island PBS transmits standard-definition (SD) and high-definition (HD) programming over the air on digital 36.1; on Rhode Island cable: Cox 08 / 1008HD, Verizon FiOS 08 / 508HD, and Full Channel 08; on Massachusetts cable: Comcast 819HD and Verizon FiOS 18 / 518HD; on satellite: DirecTV 36 / 3128HD, Dish Network 36 / 7776.

*reference: http://www.southerneducation.org/Our-Strategies/Research-and-Publications/New-Majority-Diverse-Majority-Report-Series/A-New-Majority-2015-Update-Low-Income-Students-Now

Fire Services and Gordon Fox Fall Out: A Lively Experiment week of March 13, 2015

Panel

Dyana Koelsch – moderator
Ken Block - founder, WatchdogRI.org
Ian Donnis - political reporter, Rhode Island Public Radio
Kate Nagle - news editor, GoLocalProv.com
Representative Joe Shekarchi - (D) Warwick

Topics

• Gina Raimondo’s Budget Address 
• Fire Services in Rhode Island 
• Gordon Fox fall out (RIC contribution, ethics law reform, etc)

A Lively Experiment airs on WSBE Rhode Island PBS (36.1) Fridays at 7 p.m., with rebroadcasts on Saturdays at 7 P.M. on WSBE Learn (36.2), and Sundays at noon on WSBE Rhode Island PBS.

WSBE Rhode Island PBS transmits standard-definition (SD) and high-definition (HD) programming over the air on digital 36.1; on Rhode Island cable: Cox 08 / 1008HD, Verizon FiOS 08 / 508HD, and Full Channel 08; on Massachusetts cable: Comcast 819HD and Verizon FiOS 18 / 518HD; on satellite: DirecTV 36 / 3128HD, Dish Network 36 / 7776.

WSBE Learn transmits over the air on digital 36.2; in Rhode Island on Cox 808; Verizon FiOS 478; Full Channel 89; and in Massachusetts on Comcast 294 or 312.

Can't get to the TV? Watch the episode online anytime and anywhere on our YouTube channel. Episodes of A Lively Experiment are generally available to watch on the next business day. Subscribe to our YouTube channel, and YouTube will notify you when a new episode is uploaded.

On Facebook? So are we! "Like" A Lively Experiment on Facebook.

This is Your Do-Over with Dr. Michael Roizen

Do you ever wish you could erase the poor health choices you've made and start over? Now, no matter what you've done in the past, Dr. Mike Roizen, Chief Wellness Officer at Cleveland Clinic, shows how to change habits, reverse the damage, and find a new beginning. Rhode Island PBS presents This is Your Do-Over with Dr. Michael Roizen on Sunday, March 9 at 3:30 p.m.

Co-author of the YOU: Owner’s Manual series, and dubbed “The Enforcer” on the “The Dr. Oz Show,” Dr. Mike offers life-changing medical advice aimed to help people turn their health around.

Dr. Mike reveals the five “Do-Over Deeds” that are the secret to losing weight, living longer, keeping the brain functioning, maintaining a healthy relationship in the bedroom, and finding total body wellness.


This Is Your Do-Over is a second chance to change your health destiny, and live a life with energy, happiness and wellness.

Today’s health statistics provide evidence that most of us are in deep trouble. More than one-third of American adults are obese and two-thirds are overweight or obese. If current trends continue, nearly one-third of Americans will have diabetes by 2050.

About 600,000 die of heart disease every year — nearly a quarter of all deaths. And in 2014, 1.6 million new cases of cancer are expected to be reported. A society that eats too much, moves too little, stresses all the time, and doesn't get enough sleep, we’re trending in the wrong direction.

But despite all of those statistics, it’s not too late for a do-over. No matter the past lifestyle, no matter the bad habits, whether a smoker or a marshmallow addict, everyone has the ability to start over and reboot their body for a healthy life. The science shows that just as you can change directions in a car, you can change the function of your genes through lifestyle choices. All you need are the tools to do so.

In This Is Your Do-Over, Dr. Michael Roizen reveals what he has learned in the most important areas of wellness, and teaches viewers the Five Do-Over Deeds that are the recipe for a better life. These are the tools for starting over, whether there is only one bad habit to change or an entire lifestyle overhaul is needed.

Using the most cutting-edge data, anecdotes about those he’s worked with, and the advice that has worked for the thousands whom he has personally coached, Dr. Mike provides the formula for a simple, yet effective, Do-Over in life.

Soundstage Blues Summit in Chicago - 1974

Forty years ago, in July 1974, a group of Chicago based blues artists who had already achieved legendary status gathered together with some of their younger "blues brethren" from all over the country to pay tribute to the man most responsible for bringing blues from the Mississippi Delta upriver to Chicago, Muddy Waters. 

Appearing with Muddy that night were his contemporaries Willie Dixon, Koko Taylor, Junior Wells and Pinetop Perkins, and from the next generation of blues lovers and performers, Mike Bloomfield, Buddy Miles, Johnny Winter, Dr. John, and Nick Gravenites -- all artists who were on their way to becoming legends themselves. 

What resulted from that joyous teaming of "fathers and sons" was a truly historic session that not only presented some of the greatest blues classics ever written, but a never-to-be-forgotten hour that truly demonstrates the love of music by one generation for another. 

And even more remarkable, the show became the first-ever presentation of a public television series that was destined to become one of the most admired series of musical events ever televised. That night, in a show that hasn't been seen on television for four decades, Soundstage was born. 

And now, almost a half-century later, it is back to thrill new generations of blues aficionados.

Rhode Island PBS proudly presents Soundstage: Blues Summit in Chicago - 1974 on Monday, March 2 at 9:30 p.m. with encores on Wednesday, March 4 at 2 a.m. and Sunday, March 8 at 11 p.m.

Great Broadway Musical Moments From The Ed Sullivan Show

Kicking off March fundraising in style, Rhode Island PBS presents a glimpse into the earlier days of television when stage and little screen converged to bring great performances from exclusive Broadway stages into homes all across America. "Great Broadway Musical Moments for The Ed Sullivan Show" airs at 8 p.m. on Sunday, March 1.

From the late 1940s through the early 1970s, THE ED SULLIVAN SHOW, based in the heart of New York’s theatre district, presented live special performances by cast members from the most beloved stage musicals of Broadway’s golden age.

Not seen for decades since their original broadcasts, these rare selections include legends Julie Andrews,Ethel Merman, Joel Grey, John Raitt, Gwen Verdon,Dick Van Dyke, Richard Burton and others in songs from classics such as "Oklahoma!," "My Fair Lady,""West Side Story," "Annie Get Your Gun," "Sweet Charity," "George M!" and "Camelot." Hosted by Broadway legend Shirley Jones.

Credit: Courtesy of SOFA Entertainment/TJL Productions

Above: The immortal stage star Ethel Merman performs "There's No
Business Like Show Business" from the classic "Annie Get Your Gun."

"Great Broadway Musical Moments From The Ed Sullivan Show" (MY MUSIC) features these performances:

•From "Man Of La Mancha" - “The Impossible Dream” – Richard Kiley

•From "Bye Bye Birdie" - “Put on a Happy Face” – Dick Van Dyke

•From "George M!" - “Give My Regards to Broadway” – Joel Grey

•From "Oklahoma!" - “Oklahoma” – John Raitt, Celeste Holm, Florence Henderson, Barbara Cook, Richard Collett

•From "My Fair Lady" - “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly” – Julie Andrews

•From "Camelot" - “What Do the Simple Folk Do” – Julie Andrews and Richard Burton

•From "West Side Story" - “Tonight” – Larry Kert and Carol Lawrence

•From "Sweet Charity" - “I’m a Brass Band” – Gwen Verdon

•From "Annie Get Your Gun" - “Anything You Can Do” – Ethel Merman

•From "Annie Get Your Gun" - “There’s No Business Like Show Business” – Ethel Merman

"Great Broadway Musical Moments From The Ed Sullivan Show" (MY MUSIC) also includes recollections from Gwen Verdon, John Raitt, Carol Lawrence, and Rodgers & Hammerstein.