UPDATED 4:30 PM SUNDAY
Alex Goldmark spending Super Bowl Sunday watching the news wires and the TV screen at the same time. Yes, it's quite manageable multi-tasking.
We're monitoring the power plant explosion in Connecticut. It's an interesting study in breaking news. Original reports said "mass casualties" and potentially 250 injured. Those reports have been been scrubbed from websites, but I'm sure they will surface again soon if you're following the story. At The Takeaway, we're waiting to see what the scope of the damage is, both human and material.
And if the Saints win the Super Bowl, we expect New Orleans to party like its Fat Tuesday eight days early. And since we like a party, at least us on The Takeaway night shift, we're lining up someone to shake off the hangover and wake up early to bring us the highlights of the after party. If the Colts win, well, then we'll see how to cover in the morning. Sorry Peyton.
Car trouble continues for Toyota. But was it a problem of outsourcing... to the USA? We'll take a look at how much Toyota's foreign status played a part in the causes, and the exacerbation of their acceleration problems.
POSTED: 12:30 PM FRIDAY
Anna Sale here on the day shift.
After the news this morning about the slightly improved employment numbers, we're sorting through this confused economic picture. For Monday's show, we will look at one of the economic downturn's biggest cultural shifts — the increasing social acceptance of walking away from debt.
A court decision about education funding in Washington state caught our eye. The judge found that the state was not upholding its constitutional responsibility to provide an "ample" education, and ordered the legislature to figure out a better way to pay for it. This comes as governors across the country are submitting their proposed budgets, so we'll look at the basic state services that are taking the hit from collapsed state revenues.
As we do every Monday, we'll look ahead to the week's news agenda. In our weekly conversatio about the family, we'll pull back from the headlines about child abductions in Haiti to look at the complicated emotional, ethical and legal issues at play in international adoption — even when everyone follows the law. We will also consider whether black history month is still necessary with The Atlantic's Ta-Nahesi Coates and Newsweek's Raina Kelly.
And we'll be looking to you for your takeaways from the big ball game on Sunday night. What got you talking during the Super Bowl? A key play? A clever (or really bad) commercial? Your food spread? The half-time show? Call us with your post-game impressions at 877-8-MYTAKE or post a comment here.
That's the plan for now. In the words of soul legend Bill Withers, have a good weekend, sugar.
Anna Sale covers politics for WNYC, including the 2013 mayoral race. During the 2012 presidential election, she traveled the country to tell the stories of voters in early primary battlegrounds and swing states. She has hosted The Brian Lehrer Show and The Takeaway and contributed to NPR, Marketplace, PBS Newshour, the BBC, Slate, WGBH World Channel, Current TV, and NY1.
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The show is a co-production of WNYC Radio and Public Radio International, in collaboration with New York Times Radio and WGBH Boston.
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Comments [1]
Black History Month was born out of the need to educate black children but also served to humanize the ‘negro race’ and to effect a change in the racist views which carried the day in far too many quarters of early 20th Century America.
Now that we have an African American President, questions persist on the necessity, relevance and utility of celebrating Black History Month. I believe it is a tradition worth preserving and an American legacy worth celebrating.
Black History Month achieves several important goals. It successfully promotes the idea that recognizing and celebrating America’s diverse demographic heritage is a worthwhile endeavor. It serves as the model, inspiration and catalyst for any number of ethnic and social group pride and heritage traditions. It promotes universal recognition significant of Black contributions to the common good. It adds credence to the ideal that the things we have in common are far greater than the things which separate us and it reinforces the reality that mutual respect is a key component of our continued progress as a democracy and as a nation. The key lesson of Dr. Carter G. Woodson’s scholarship and determination is that ignorance and injustice often serve each other and both must be conquered if we are to realize our highest democratic ideals. In that light, Black History Month is as relevant today as ever.
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