On a gloomy day that marks two years since Russia's unprovoked wide-scale invasion of Ukraine, Otto and Joe discuss major stories of the week such as Latvia's massive assistance to Ukraine, a new depth to Rēzekne's financial governance troubles, a farewell to one of Latvia's most controversial members of parliament, and much more!

Photo: Valsts kanceleja / Evija Trifanova, used with a Creative Commons BY 2.0 DEED Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Theme song "Mēs esam ārzemnieki" by Aarzemnieki, used with permission

Closing theme song: Think Tank by Audionautix audionautix.com​ Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: bit.ly/_think-tank​ Music promoted by Audio Library youtu.be/mbV9t1Z0rA8

LW #216: Somewhat Spring and News from February 6th - 15th, 2023 by Latvia Weekly

With temperatures fluctuating between around -30 and +5 degrees Celsius throughout Latvia over the past week, Otto and Joe discuss the effects on infrastructure as well as a number of other news stories from the week.

Photo: Emilian Robert Vicol, used with a Creative Commons BY 2.0 DEED Attribution 2.0 Generic license

Theme song "Mēs esam ārzemnieki" by Aarzemnieki, used with permission

Closing theme song: Think Tank by Audionautix audionautix.com​ Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: bit.ly/_think-tank​ Music promoted by Audio Library youtu.be/mbV9t1Z0rA8

After briefly discussing the bitter cold that's caused more than a few problems for Latvia's new electric trains, Otto and Joe count down the top 10 biggest stories of 2023 and announce the Latvia Weekly person of the year.

"Auld Lang Syne" performed by Starlifter and Roots in Blue of the United States Air Force Band of Mid-America. Track 11 from the ensembles' 2020 album The Spirit of the Season.

It's an exciting time for Latvian passenger rail, as not only long promised new electric trains are finally in service, but daily train service to Vilnius has finally been reestablished! Joe discusses the exciting news along with a number of other news stories from the past month while he was recovering from illness including the ratification of the long-discussed Istanbul Convention, better than expected economic news, more trouble for Rezekne, pricier passports, and much more! Make sure to also let us know your nominations for the Latvia Weekly person and stories of the year here! https://forms.gle/VD2gBYiEqLWdHf9r9

Theme song "Mēs esam ārzemnieki" by Aarzemnieki, used with permission

Closing theme song: Think Tank by Audionautix audionautix.com​ Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: bit.ly/_think-tank​ Music promoted by Audio Library youtu.be/mbV9t1Z0rA8

Photo: Gatis Rozenfelds, Valsts kanceleja, used with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license. https://www.flickr.com/photos/valstskanceleja/53423988023/

Every Saturday until December 23rd, German musician Jöran Steinhauer will be playing a series of free holiday season concerts at St. Peter's Church in Riga that all are welcome to attend. Joe sits down with Jöran to discuss German, Latvian, and American holiday traditions, the internationalization of the holiday season, and much more!

Music: Jingle Bells, Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license.

Joe sits down with Eamonn Shanahan (IE) and Katrīna Tračuma (LV), artists of the international "Nua Collective" which will be opening an exhibition called "Blackout" about climate change and the energy crisis on December 9 in the Jelgava Old Town House. To find out more about the exhibition, you can visit their website here!

https://nuacollective.ie/blackout/

Opening and closing music by Austra Apsīte

As temperatures drop to -10 Celsius in parts of Latvia, Otto and Joe discuss major stories such as Sigulda's renewed Olympic dreams, President Rinkēvičs' trip to Israel and the West Bank, the strangest police confiscation of white powder imaginable, and much more!

Theme song "Mēs esam ārzemnieki" by Aarzemnieki, used with permission

Closing theme song: Think Tank by Audionautix audionautix.com​ Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: bit.ly/_think-tank​ Music promoted by Audio Library youtu.be/mbV9t1Z0rA8

Otto and Joe sit discuss the meaning of the 18th of November in Latvia along with some major stories from the previous week, such as the passing and then pausing of new amendments to the civil partnership laws, the announcement of major new transit infrastructure projects in Riga, sentencing for two badly behaved former parliamentarians, and much more!

Theme song "Mēs esam ārzemnieki" by Aarzemnieki, used with permission

Closing theme song: Think Tank by Audionautix audionautix.com​ Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: bit.ly/_think-tank​ Music promoted by Audio Library youtu.be/mbV9t1Z0rA8

Photo: ScAvenger. This image is used with a

Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike License v. 4.0: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ noteikumiem.

Otto is back with Joe to discuss commemoration of Latvia's most important military victory in its history, as well as other stories such as controversy over a new sign for Riga Central Station, Major new legislation projects over hot button issues, the dismissal of Rezekne's mayor, good news for regional train service, and much more!

With Otto in America, Joe takes a look at some of the biggest stories of the week including new survey results regarding language, the opening of a new high speed road, troubles with teacher salary calculations, the shelving of a chaotic income declaration proposal, help from Estonia for Latvia's border situation, and much more!

Theme song "Mēs esam ārzemnieki" by Aarzemnieki, used with permission

Closing theme song: Think Tank by Audionautix audionautix.com​ Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0 Free Download / Stream: bit.ly/_think-tank​ Music promoted by Audio Library youtu.be/mbV9t1Z0rA8

Photo: Toms Norde, Valsts kanceleja, used with a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license