HOST: Rob Fried

WPKN Community Radio 89.5 for a special show featuring John Torres - Owner of Park City Music Hall, Amiee Turner - Executive Director of Woofgang & Co., and Ben Jaffe - Artistic Director for Preservation Hall Jazz Band! Don’t miss this hour of community-oriented fun and music with host Rob Fried (Recorded 5/22 WPKN Studios in Bridgeport, CT)

Organic Farm Stand -- May 18, 2023 -- Urban Greening! by WPKN Community Radio

-Chicago sees a “pneumonia front” is a rare weather event

-Stifling heat wave enveloping the Pacific Northwest

-A deluge of rain in the Denver metro area broke a record

-Asia remains in the grip of a blistering heat wave

-Spain is running out of water due to Drought

-Florida and regions of the Caribbean see influxes of Sargassum

-Treaty regulating hazardous pollutants agrees to add three new chemicals

-Avian flu is devastating the poultry industry in the US, Europe.

-Oregon the 10th state in the U.S. to ban polystyrene foam food containers

* Can Chinese Diplomacy Help End the Ukraine War?; Lawrence B. Wilkerson, retired US Army Colonel, former chief of staff to U.S. Sec. of State Colin Powell; Producer: Scott Harris.

* DOJ Ignores Trump Scheme to Steal 2020 Election Software; Susan Greenhalgh, Senior Advisor on Election Security with Free Speech For People; Producer: Scott Harris.

* 23 More Stop Cop City Activists Charged with Domestic Terrorism; Ayla King, activist arrested at Stop Cop City action; Producer: Melinda Tuhus.

-The Colorado River States reach an agreement on water use

-Jakarta is sinking, and Indonesia’s capital will be moved

-Alaskan ice jams and snowmelt lead to significant flooding

-Historic 2023 California snowpack is also melting

-Heavy flooding and mudslides in the northern Italian

-Human activities cause many of the world's largest lakes to shrink

-Britain has lost 73 million birds over the last 50 year

-France prepares for a warming planet

{This program originally aired live on Sunday May 21, 2023.}

Since April 15, there has been violent conflict between Sudan’s military, and a rival paramilitary faction known as the Rapid Support Forces, or RSF. Reports from the country have the current death toll at 850 people.

Joining host Mike Merli to speak about this urgent humanitarian crisis is Dr. Fawatih Mohamed Abouh, Assistant Professor at UConn Health, Epidemiologist with Yale New Haven Health System, and member of Connecticut's large and vibrant Sudanese-American community.

Organizations engaged in direct response work include:

Sudanese American Physicians Association (SAPA)

https://sapa-usa.org/sudan-war-crisis-emergency-relief/

https://www.facebook.com/SAPAinUS/

Sudanese American Womens Doctors Association (SAWDA)

https://www.sawda-us.org/

Community Medical Response Team (CMRT) is a team engaged in crisis intervention work on the ground in Sudan. It was created amid the COVID-19 Pandemic and continues to provide critical services to people in need. It is a branch of the American non-profit Sustainable Development Response Organization (SUDRO).

https://sudro.org/

For important background on the humanitarian crisis unfolding in Sudan:

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/5/16/women-speak-out-online-about-reports-of-sexual-violence-in-sudan

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2023/may/16/sudan-reports-of-women-being-raped-in-khartoum-by-armed-men

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20230517-sudan-increased-instances-of-rape-lead-doctor-to-post-details-of-measures-to-take/

https://www.nytimes.com/topic/destination/sudan

Rock Therapy with Rob Silber | Interview with Ian Anderson from Jethro Tull by WPKN Community Radio

HOST: David Green

The arts bring renewed vitality, energy, engagement and economic stimulus to our communities. The arts especially can breathe new life into old buildings when they are smartly and sensitively restored. This month we look at the journey that two groups took in finding the right space for their arts organization, how they redeveloped the buildings they found, and what the impact has been. The Norwalk Art Space opened in June 2021 and greeted 14,000 visitors in its first year. Metro Art Studios in Bridgeport opened in November 2021. Both buildings won Awards of Merit from PreservationCT in 2022. In addition, we look at a building that is currently being restored and renovated for use as an art space: The Granite Church in Redding.

Guests:

Jane Davila, Executive Director, Metro Art Studios

Robin Panovka, The Norwalk Art Space

Richard Wenning, Executive Director, Be Foundation, Co-founder at SpreadMusicNow & Granite Church

Christopher Wigren, Deputy Director, Preservation Connecticut

Bridgeport is a city rich with cultural diversity, as witnessed by Professor Anjali Wason, who teaches English is a second language at Housatonic Community College. Each month Anjali invites one of her students to WPKN to talk about their country of origin, their new life in the United States, and to share a some of the music from their homeland. In this inaugural episode of Homelands, Anjali speaks with Bettie Volcy from Haiti. [All music has been clipped to conform to copyright laws.]

* Biden's Invocation of 14th Amendment Would Neutralize GOP Debt Ceiling Threat; Robert C. Hockett, Edward Cornell Professor of Law AT Cornell Law School; Producer: Scott Harris.

* After Title 42 Biden’s New Immigration Policies Make it More Difficult for People Seeking Asylum in the US; Kica Matos, President of the National Immigration Law Center; Producer: Melinda Tuhus.

* The Fascist Republican Party Declares War on US Democracy, While Imposing Minority Rule; Jason Stanley, Jacob Urowsky professor of philosophy at Yale University; Producer: Scott Harris.