Friday, January 29, 2016

Panel Reflects on Legacy of Providence Mayor Vincent "Buddy" Cianci



Panel
Jim Hummel - guest moderator, executive director, The Hummel Report
Lou Pulner – attorney, WPRO legal analyst 
Lisa Pelosi – communications director, GOP strategist
Maureen Moakley – URI political science professor
Dave Layman – corporate communications consultant, former TV news director 

Topics
  • The legacy of former Mayor of Providence Vincent A. “Buddy” Cianci 
  • The General Assembly’s highway toll plan 
  • Governor Gina Raimondo’s recent reporters roundtable discussion
  • Outrages of the Week 

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.

Monday, January 25, 2016

URI Today: Napatree Point - URI's Outdoor Classroom

Horseshoe crab tagging at night

The latest episode of URI Today travels to the southernmost and westernmost point of Rhode Island to Napatree Point Conservation Area, located in the village of Watch Hill, in Westerly, RI. 

This sandy peninsula separates Narragansett Bay and Block Island Sound. It is a favorite area for bird watching, boating, swimming and long walks 12 months of the year. It is also an "outdoor classroom" for University of Rhode Island researchers, who are keeping an eye on what is referred to as "one of the most pristine barrier beaches" in the state.

Journey with faculty and staff as they conduct studies on everything from dune grass plantings and horseshoe crab tagging to weekly water quality sampling. Viewers will see Napatree through a scientist's eye and learn why more than 30 studies are being conducted along the shoreline during the day and under the stars.

Rhode Island PBS presents URI Today: Napatree Point - URI's Outdoor Classroom on Thursday, February 25 at 9 p.m.

Sons and Daughters of the Incarcerated

 

In 1976, Joyce Haskett was convicted of murder and spent 17 years in prison. Her children were 6 and 8 years old. Ten years into her sentence, her oldest son, then 18, was sentenced to life in prison. She couldn't save her own child, but she has dedicated her life to helping the ones she can.

Joyce's research was turned into a parenting program at the Rhode Island Adult Correctional Institution (ACI) that strives to teach children and families to handle the trauma of incarceration.

Sons and Daughters of the Incarcerated is a feature documentary film that tells the story of three children whose fathers are imprisoned at the Rhode Island Adult Correctional Institution, and the woman whose research is trying to break the cycle of incarceration. Rhode Island PBS airs Sons and Daughters of the Incarcerated on Sunday, February 28 at 6:30 p.m. as part of our ongoing series Rhode Island Stories.

The three children whose stories are told in the film are:

TRE, 13, a boy trying to navigate an adult world. His father is serving 15 years for armed robbery. Tre is struggling to figure out who he is in a community where masculinity is defined by criminal behavior. He and his dad have an agreement: Tre will stop fighting and get his grades up if his dad will behave himself in order to be able to return home sooner. Will Tre heed his father’s words, not his example, and escape the statistics that riddle his community?

MAISON, 10, incredibly bright and charismatic. His father has been on a life sentence, reduced to a 30-year sentence since he was born. Having experienced bullying both for his Asberger's and for having a father in Prison, Maison's grandmother has tried to keep him sheltered from animosity. His curiosity and will to learn is a product of the structure, shelter and love that his grandmother has given him growing up, but as he begins to understand more about his broken family, will he continue to rise above the stigma of his circumstances?

GIANA, 13, sweet and affectionate. Her father is being released from a 3-year sentence in September. He has been in and out of prison her whole life, sometimes out and back within days. Living with a single mother often leaves Giana in the role of caretaker for her baby brother. Her father promises both of them and his wife that this is the last time. Will he finally be able to keep his promise so Giana can spend the last years of her childhood with her father at home?

Joyce Haskett is a licensed Clinical Social Worker and Therapist working at Pathways2 Christian Counseling Centers. She holds a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Michigan. Joyce knows first-hand how human trafficking destroys a person’s sense of self-worth, and strips away dignity and freedom because she was trafficked across Michigan. Her trafficker threatened the lives of her family and children to keep her with him. She decided there was only one way out. She killed her pimp in order to escape. Joyce was charged with premeditated murder, imprisoned and, after many appeals and 17 years later, she was finally released. While in prison, she decided to become an advocate for women and became the first woman to graduate from the University of Michigan behind bars.

"Where They Slept" Visits Slave Quarters in Rhode Island


Dr. Jon Marcoux (far left in photo) and three of his students in the Noreen Stonor Drexel Cultural and Historic Preservation program at Salve Regina University joined historian and preservationist Joseph McGill for an overnight stay at Smith's Castle in North Kingstown, RI. It was no usual sightseeing tour; they did it for a close-up examination of where slaves lived on the site in the 17th and 18th centuries. 

Robert Geake, historian and docent at Smith's Castle, led the small group through a fascinating but little-told recounting of life on the farm, including how items like cheese and cider were produced by enslaved laborers, all of whom slept in the locked attic of the house. 

Joseph McGill, founder of the Slave Dwelling Project, travels around the country to bring attention to preservation of extant slave dwellings and the pubic interpretation of the history of the enslaved. 

Rhode Island PBS presents Where They Slept on Sunday, February 28 at 6 p.m. as part of our ongoing series Rhode Island Stories, a collection of local independent films. 

Fly Boys: Western Pennsylvania's Tuskegee Airmen Airs February 8, 2016


Fly Boys: Western Pennsylvania's Tuskegee Airmen tells the story of struggle and the ultimate triumph of the brave African-American soldiers who served their country during World War II. 

The film chronicles the "Tuskegee Airmen" program, a controversial military initiative designed to measure African-Americans' competence for flying the engines of war. This fascinating documentary features the stories of the more than 40 aviators from western Pennsylvania, including the pilots, navigators and bombardiers who flew fighter and bomber planes during the war, as well as the maintenance and support staff, instructors and personnel who kept the planes in the air.

Rhode Island PBS airs Fly Boys: Western Pennsylvania's Tuskegee Airmen on Monday, February 8, 2016 at 10 p.m. Click for a video preview.

From the University of Pittsburgh Web site:
The documentary takes viewers back to early 1941, during the Jim Crow "separate but equal" days prior to America's entry in World War II, when the Roosevelt Administration established an all-Black flight training program at Tuskegee Institute (now Tuskegee University) in Alabama. Tuskegee was a logical location for the pioneering venture, because it had previously started its own civilian pilot training program under the direction of Charles Alfred "Chief" Anderson (1907-1996), a native of Bryn Mawr, Pa., who was known as the father of Black aviation: He was the first African American to earn a commercial pilot's license; he and Albert E. Forsythe made the first round-trip transcontinental flight by Black pilots, flying from Atlantic City to Los Angeles and back without the aid of landing lights, parachutes, radios, or blind-flying instruments; and he would train the Tuskegee Airmen.
Because studies commissioned earlier by the Army War College concluded that Blacks were unfit for military leadership roles and incapable of piloting aircraft, the Tuskegee Airmen training program went forward on the assumption by the military establishment that the experiment would prove African Americans incapable of operating complex combat planes.
But Eleanor Roosevelt knew better. On April 19, 1941, the First Lady visited Tuskegee Army Air Field and, against the advice of the Secret Service, asked Charles Anderson to take her up in a plane. That flight over Alabama lasted more than an hour and proved to Mrs. Roosevelt that Blacks could indeed fly aircraft. She had a photograph of herself taken with Anderson, showed it to FDR, and became a staunch champion of the Tuskegee Airmen, who distinguished themselves as the best escort plane service in the U.S. military during World War II, ensuring that bombing missions in North Africa and Europe succeeded. It was not for nothing that the Germans, who called the Airmen "Black Birdmen," avoided the Tuskegee pilots with their distinctive red-tailed aircraft whenever possible.
Between 1941 and 1946, more than 2,000 African Americans completed training at Tuskegee, nearly 1,000 of them qualifying as pilots and the rest trained to fill positions of navigators, mechanics, radio repairmen, armament specialists, parachute riggers, control tower operators, and all other specializations required to comprise a fully functional Air Corps unit.
Although White pilots were not allowed to fly more than 52 missions, the Tuskegee Airmen often flew up to 100 missions because of lack of replacements. By the end of World War II, the 332nd Fighter Group of Tuskegee Airmen-which would become the largest fighter unit in the 15th Air Force-was made up of the original 99th Pursuit Squadron as well as the 101st and 103rd Pursuit Squadrons. The 332nd had flown 15,553 combat sorties on 1,578 missions and racked up 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses, 744 Air Medals, eight Purple Hearts, 14 Bronze Stars, and three Distinguished Unit Citations. And the airmen would go on to pursue stellar careers in an array of fields, from law and medicine to engineering, dentistry, pharmacy, education, the military, and politics.

African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross Starts February 4, 2016


Written and presented by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the six-hour series African Americans: Many Rivers to Cross explores the evolution of the African-American people, as well as the many cultural institutions, political strategies, and religious and social perspectives they developed - forging their own history, culture and society against unimaginable odds. Rhode Island PBS will present the six episodes on three consecutive Thursdays at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., beginning February 4, 2016. 

Starting with the origins of slavery in Africa, the series moves through five centuries of remarkable historic events right up to the present - when America is led by a black president, yet remains a nation still debating race.

Traveling throughout the United States, viewers go on an engaging journey through African-American history, visiting key historical sites, lively debates among some of America's top historians, and interviews with living eyewitnesses, including school integration pioneers Ruby Bridges and Charlayne Hunter-Gault, former Black Panther Kathleen Neal Cleaver, former Secretary of State Colin Powell, and many more. 

Click for more information about the series.

Friday, January 22, 2016

Tolls, Testimony, Trump, and More on A Lively Experiment (January 24, 2016)



Panel
Dyana Koelsch, moderator
Jim Hummel - executive director, The Hummel Report
Scott MacKay - political analyst, Rhode Island Public Radio
Kate Nagle - news editor, GoLocalProv.com
Wendy Schiller - political science professor, Brown University

Topics
  • The Brookings Institution report on improving the state’s economy 
  • Steven Costantino testifies before the House Oversight Committee; state police say their 38 Studios probe is wrapping up 
  • Controversy over the hiring of the state’s chief innovation officer 
  • The toll plan battle 
  • Sarah Palin’s endorsement of Donald Trump
  • Outrages of the Week 

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.

Friday, January 15, 2016

Mercy Street is Epic and Only Follows Downton Abbey in the Schedule

Mercy Street begins on Friday night, January 22 at 10 p.m., following Downton Abbey Season 6 on Masterpiece at 9 p.m. But that is where the following ends - only in the schedule. The two series are vastly different. Current magazine (current.org) did an outstanding story about the series. Read it here.

We're excited to have Mercy Street on Rhode Island PBS and share it with our audiences on Fridays at 10 p.m. Read our earlier story here.


Three RI Legislators Review 2016 Session's Hot Topics (week of January 15)




Panel
Dyana Koelsch, moderator
RI Representative Daniel Reilly (R) Middletown, Portsmouth
RI Senator Donna Nesselbush (D) Pawtucket, North Providence
RI Representative Joseph Shekarchi (D) Warwick

Topics
  • Plan to repair roads and bridges/toll proposal
  • Oversight Committee’s 38 Studios probe
  • Cost of health care and future of HealthSourceRI
  • State budget
  • RI economy and business climate – tax policies, including corporate tax and estate tax
  • Legalization of marijuana proposal
  • Gun control – ban on assault weapons/high-capacity magazines
  • Statewide teacher contract
  • Charter school debate
  • Outrages of the Week 
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.

Friday, January 8, 2016

Senator Whitehouse on A Lively Experiment (week of January 8, 2016)




Panel
Dyana Koelsch, moderator
U.S. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, (D) Rhode Island
Edward Achorn, editor of the Providence Journal Editorial Pages
Ian Donnis, Rhode Island NPR political reporter
Sheila Mullowney, Newport Daily News editor


Topics
  • Gun control – President Obama’s Executive Order 
  • Threats by North Korea, ISIS, and Home-Grown Terrorists 
  • 2016 Congressional Session 
  • Upcoming Presidential Election 
  • RI Infrastructure - Paying for Repair of Roads and Bridges 
  • Outrages of the Week 
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.

Friday, January 1, 2016

Sherlock: The Abominable Bride (Big Screen and TV Screen)

 
Hold on to your deerstalker cap - a brand new Sherlock makes its way to the BIG SCREEN as well as your own home screen in January.

Sherlock Holmes (Benedict Cumberbatch) and John Watson (Martin Freeman) are going back in time. The 90-minute special titled, Sherlock: The Abominable Bride, sends the two friends back to 1895 London. The duo must track down Thomas Ricoletti's ex-wife, a killer ghost still dressed in her wedding gown. 

This special marks the return of Sherlock following a two-year hiatus. The series has always been set in present day, but for this special episode, characters are depicted in Victorian England. Watch the trailer for Sherlock: The Abominable Bride below.


The full episode will be presented two nights only in cinemas nationwide. Locally, you can see Sherlock: The Abominable Bride at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, January 5 or Wednesday, January 6 at Warwick Showcase Cinemas, 1200 Quaker Lane, East Greenwich, RI 02818; Providence Place Cinema 10, Providence Place Mall, Providence, RI 02903; Regal Swansea Stadium 12, 207 Swansea Place Mall Drive, Swansea, MA 02777. CLICK HERE for more information about this cinematic event. 

Rhode Island PBS airs Sherlock: The Abominable Bride on Friday, January 15 at 10 p.m.

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.