The Point

The Cultural Center of Cape Cod is now providing entertainment and social events that don’t include drugs or alcohol. Sober Social Evenings offer an opportunity for people to socialize and enjoy each others’ company in a festive, joyful environment. While the program is geared towards those in recovery, all are welcome to attend.

Circuses and other traveling acts have long made use of wild and exotic animals to entertain humans. On The Point, we discuss growing opposition to such exhibits, the impacts on the health and welfare of the animals, and what happens to them when circuses and other traveling acts close.

Dwindling habitat and elephant poaching for ivory have combined to cause serious threats to elephant populations. On The Point, we talk about international efforts to reduce demand for ivory, including a recent announcement from China that they will close the domestic ivory market next month.

It’s estimated that somewhere between a quarter and a third of the food we eat requires the help of pollinators, like honeybees. Unfortunately, beekeepers have been reporting dire declines in bee populations in recent years, and several species of bees have been added to the Endangered Species List in recent months. There is a whole host of likely culprits, including habitat loss and pesticides. But bee researcher and advocate Noah Wilson-Rich points the finger squarely at one event in the year

47 New Bedford High School students have completed an apprenticeship through the New Bedford Whaling Museum , since 2010. The program gives students real world and work experience, and allows them to identify and pursue topics of interest.

Log books and journals from whaling voyages are often filled with weather and sea observations and can make for dry reading. Around the World in Search of Whales, A Journal of the Lucy Ann Voyage 1841-1844 by John F. Martin is an exception. This droll narrative with vivid watercolors are a literary and visual feast. Joining us on The Point to discuss the Journal of the Lucy Ann Voyage is Michael Dyer , Senior Maritime Historian at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. Mindy Todd hosts.

Whales are highly social and usually travel in groups. So when scientists discovered a whale that seems to swim alone, they were surprised. The whale calls out regularly. And, to our knowledge, no other whales respond. Some people have taken to calling him “the loneliest creature on earth.” Scientists call him “52 Hertz.” Lilly Sullivan produced this piece as part of the Transom Story Workshop .

WCAI's Sean Corcoran hosts a roundup of local stories with journalists from across the region. Joining Sean this week are Gwenn Friss of the Cape Cod Times; Sam Houghton of the Mashpee Enterprise; Sara Brown of the Vineyard Gazette; Tim Wood of the Cape Cod Chronicle; Jim DeArruda of the New Bedford Standard Times; Ed Miller of the Provincetown Banner; and Barry Stringfellow of the Martha's Vineyard Times. Among the stories they discuss this week: Barnstable police report that accused drug

Evidence of the positive impacts of youth mentoring programs is overwhelming. Students engaged in these programs are more likely to stay in school, have a better chance of enrolling in higher education and are less likely to engage in risky behavior. On The Point, we discuss different student mentoring programs and hear from both mentors and mentees about why they participate.

On The Point, we talk about books with a theme of money. Mindy Todd sits down with book experts Jill Erickson of Falmouth Public library and author Jacqueline Mitchard to discuss their top picks, and we hear from listeners. Click here for a list of books that we talked about on the show.