Coming Up! July 30 to August 3, 2012

This weekend: Be sure to come by Bushnell Park Sunday night for the first of Hartford Parks Free Movies After Dark! The movie is Anchorman. I’ll be helping to judge the mustache competition. Winner gets an official plaque from the City of Hartford. Snazzy.

Next week: Dankosky is out! Enjoy some of our favorite rebroadcasts as well as a few of our favorite fill-in hosts.
Speaking of, get your hands on a Dankosky mug while they last.

Happy August!

MONDAY: Connecticut Was Built By Rock (And Roll), Glaciers and Lava (Rebroadcast)
We take certain things for granted. Like the mountains, rivers and rocks around us. So what made Connecticut look the way it looks today? As you kayak on the Connecticut River, drive over Talcott Mountain, or swim in Long Island Sound…there are millions of years of history underneath you. Coming up tomorrow we’ll look at the geography and geology of Connecticut and New England. According to at least one geologist, we live on some of the most diverse land in the country. We’ll also talk to a photographer who traveled around the Northern United States to find those giant boulders that are part of our everyday lives but don’t quite fit in. They most likely come from glaciers.What are your favorite geologic features of Connecticut? What do you want to know about that boulder in your backyard?

TUESDAY: Paved Paradise (Rebroadcast)
Picture a parking lot….what comes to mind? A sea of asphalt, white lines, birds pecking at discarded food. Don’t forget the stray shopping carts, bright lighting at night, and blinding glare by day. Not the most pleasant place. But to Eran Ben-Joseph, a parking lot can be much more: a place with trees and grass, maybe solar panels; a functional, even pleasant gathering place. His new book,ReThinking a Lot: The Design and Culture of Parking, considers the parking lot, a place he says can be designed more sustainably, with community-building in mind. Not everyone’s sold on the idea of making them better. Two of our guests, Norman Garrick and Chris McCahill from UConn,say we just need fewer of them. What do you think about parking lots – should we put effort and money into improved design? Or should we focus instead on eliminating them?

WEDNESDAY: Nones Having Fun
While political candidates are quick to claim a religious faith, you sometimes have to wonder to whom they are speaking. A recent Pew Center report said 19% of Americans claim no religious affiliation. A Trinity College report said that the so-called “nones” are the fastest growing group on the religion landscape. Who are the nones, and why do they matter? You might think Hartford is an epicenter of some kind of movement within the religious landscape. Last October, the Freedom from Religion Foundation held its annual convention in Hartford – in part because members wanted to tour the home of that famous agnostic, Mark Twain. A report done in part by Trinity College said that the one group that has grown in every state – including Connecticut – were people who profess no religious affiliation.  Susan Campbell guest hosts.

THURSDAY: TBA
WNPR’s Lucy Nalpathanchil guest hosts.

FRIDAY: TBA
WNPR’s Jeff Cohen guest hosts!

Coming Up! July 23 to 27, 2012

MONDAY: Economic Big Bang Theory
It took a while, but earlier this month Bridgeport announced that Bass Pro Shops will become the first big tenant in the Steel Point development. We’ll talk with Mayor Bill Finch about the project and we’ll check in with other cities that have tried the “big bang” approach to urban development. New Haven first tried this back in 1646!

TUESDAY: Questioning the Creative Class
“Creative class” pioneer Richard Florida says the group has grown even more powerful despite the downturn in the economy. We’ve had many conversations on Where We Live about Connecticut’s “creatives”, but would more artists, designers and entrepreneurs be a driving economic force in Hartford and across the state? Or has it just become an over-generalized buzzword? Writer Frank Bures doesn’t buy it. He and his wife found themselves in creative class hotspot Madison, Wisconsin – and it wasn’t at all what they expected. Today, we’ll pull apart the idea of the creative class as an economic driver here in Connecticut. What is the value of the creative class?

 WEDNESDAY: Suburbs 4.0
Our federally-funded highway system has been called “the greatest public subsidy to private real estate in history.” Where’s that real estate? The suburbs. Suburbs and sprawl have been around for a long time – helped along by the highways enabling people in their cars to get around. But over the years they’ve been changing. And those highways don’t necessarily connect our sprawling metropolitan regions all that well anymore.Today, where we live, we talk with author and Montreal resident Taras Grescoe about what he calls Suburbs 4.0 – the current iteration of North American sprawl, now that cliche inner-city trends are showing up in the burbs. Grescoe’s latest book, Straphanger, details his trips to over a dozen cities around the world examining public transit systems. Grescoe has never owned a car.We’ll hear from Lyle Wray, head of the Capital Region Council of Governments, as well as historian and Columbia University professor Ken Jackson.And we’ll talk with Dr. Markus Moos of the University of Waterloo about his latest research, the Atlas of Suburbanisms, about how urban and suburban patterns are blending.

THURSDAY: LIVE in Springfield, MA
For the first time, WNPR’s signature talk shows, Where We Live and The Colin McEnroe Show will broadcast live from Springfield, MA. We’ll be celebrating the station’s new relationship with American International College and its radio station WAIC (91.9 FM). The broadcasts from the historic Bing Arts Center will feature conversation with Springfield residents about what makes Springfield…Springfield. We’ll also talk about the connection between Springfield and the Greater Hartford area through economic cooperation and rail expansion, and about ongoing recovery from last year’s tornados, and what Western Mass can learn from Connecticut’s experience with casino gambling.

FRIDAY: Reporter Roundtable: The Donovan Dilemma 

Coming Up! July 16-20, 2012

How is it already the middle of July? Here is what we have next week! Enjoy your weekend.

MONDAY: Our Interconnected Environment
We know how interconnected our world is, especially our environment. Things that we do in the U.S. can affect climates on the other side of the world and emissions in China can affect us here. So how do we get the whole world on the same page? On the next Where We Live we’ll talk about global environmental treaties and negotiations. What goes into the big treaties that try to fix big problems and what can we learn from these negotiations?

TUESDAY: Pop-Up Store Fronts
Popup storefronts are popping up all over. Here’s the idea: You take one empty retail space…offer it up for free…a new business comes in to re-energize a commercial strip, test out new ideas, and hopefully turn it into a sustainable business. Its been working in California, the UK and New Haven. Can it work in your town?

WEDNESDAY: Elsa Nunez, ECSU

Today we sit down with Elsa Nunez, president of Eastern Connecticut State University.

THURSDAY: Where We Vote – Mark Greenberg

In the final edition of our Where We Vote series, we’ll sit down with 5th District Republican candidate Mark Greenberg.

FRIDAY: TBA

Coming Up! July 9-13, 2012

Happy Monday! Dankosky is back from vacation, I am back from staycation, and Tucker is excited to have his morning coffee crew back in action. We’re still working on (ahem, scrambling to) get some shows together this week. But who are we kidding, that’s how we work best.

Here’s what to tune in for this week. Check back for updates:

 MONDAY: Transforming the Local News
Some local newspapers have turned their attention to what they call “hyperlocal” news. But that doesn’t mean reporters are local.A recent This American Life story showed a new model for local content.The company behind it is called Journatic and their writers work from afar. A story that you might see about gas prices in West Hartford could be written by someone in California or even the Philippines.These reporters take on stories that the company says don’t need local reporters to tell. But this outsourcing often means replacing journalists at your local paper with writers making measly wages.So, is this the future of print journalism? Today we’ll discuss the role of Journatic in Connecticut newspapers. We’ll also talk with reporters and media writers about the future of local news.

TUESDAY: Rodney Butler, Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Council
Coming up on tomorrow’s show we’ll sit down with Rodney Butler, chairman of the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Council. The tribe’s Foxwoods Casino has been facing tough challenges in an increasingly competitive gambling world – and a struggling economy. We’ll find out how they’re faring, and what they think about gaming competition in neighboring states. We’ll talk about Governor Malloy’s tourism campaign and the impact of the casinos in Southeastern Connecticut.

WEDNESDAY: Reporter Roundtable
In Connecticut, we’re only one month out from an important primary in two key races. The Senate Race has lost a bit of its drama with front-runners Chris Murphy and Linda McMahon pulling out to big leads. But in the race for the open 5th district seat, it’s still a wild showdown with federal investigations into two campaigns. Republican Lisa Wilson-Foley didn’t want to come on Where We Live to talk about her relationship with former Governor John Rowland, but she tried to clear the air on an internet talk show. Democrat Chris Donovan hired a Republican former prosecutor to investigate claims that his campaign traded influence for cash. The investigation found no wrongdoing, but didn’t talk to the key folks involved. Political reporters Mark Pazniokas and Christine Stuart help us through the tangled web. Meanwhile – National politcal reporter Anna Sale is swinging through those states that will help elect the next president.  We’ll catch up with her, and with you.

THURSDAY: Take a Vacation!

FRIDAY: Women Left Out
Women have historically been excluded from clinical trials testing new drugs and medical devices that could one day save their lives, leaving the benefit of those treatments uncertain for women. Up until the mid-1980′s, clinical trials for new drug treatments drew subjects primarily from a pool of white males and only this month did the FDA recommend new guidelines encouraging the medical device industry to increase the representation of women in tests for medical devices like those used in joint replacement. Despite the fact that women are increasingly outpacing men with college, law and medical degrees, women still struggle breaking into a historically male world. In what other areas are women still underrepresented? We’ll talk to women who have risen to the top of their professions about their journey to the top and the challenges that remain for those that follow.