The Brief for 8/16/2010: Providence youth ask mayoral candidates the tough questions

Youth Vote, Rock the Vote, Young Voter Strategies — Chances are you’ve heard something before about organizations focused on getting young people excited about politics.
And maybe you’ve heard of the Providence-based alliance called Youth For Change, which brings together five local non-profit organizations with the common goal of making the youth voice heard by [...]

The Moneyball Trend: A Changing of the Guard in the Sports Industry

This piece originally aired on Monday, May 31st as part of the weekly BRU Brief. For complete transcripts and audio of the interviews with Theo Epstein, Daryl Morey, and Aaron Schatz, click on their names.
The sports industry is undergoing a transformation, as professional front offices are beginning to emphasize advanced statistics and objective analysis more [...]

The Brief, 04/26/2010: Rhode Island celebrates Earth Day

“I’ve been cleaning up the street… for Earth Day.”
That’s Nico DiCarvalo. He volunteered in Community Works Rhode Island’s first annual South Side Shines.

“We live in the neighborhood and we just love the idea of everyone coming together and cleaning up the streets.”
That’s Nico’s mother, Kate DiCarvalo.
On Saturday, their family celebrated Earth Day in [...]

The Brief, 04/19/2010: RI faith community and same-sex marriage

Several weeks ago, supporters of same-sex marriage gathered for a rally inside the Rhode Island State House. Speakers included politicians, gay rights activists and several candidates for governor, each taking turns vowing to fight for the right of same-sex couples to wed.
One person who spoke was Reverend Eugene Dyszlewski of the Riverside Congregational United Church [...]

The Brief, 04/12/2010: Labor dispute at the Providence Westin

Amid this economic downturn, businesses are stuggling to find ways to balance the books. In this week’s Brief, BRU’s Johnny Lin looks into the case of the Providence Westin, which has resorted to cutting employee compensation in order to make ends meet.
“We don’t make wages that make us rich. We barely reach middle class at [...]

The Brief, 03/15/2010: State’s first ever Jobs and Small-Business Resource Day

With Rhode Islanders dealing with a state-wide unemployment rate just over twelve percent, the current crumbling state of the economy is hardly news to Providence residents. What’s new, however, is Mayor David Cicilline’s latest plan to combat unemployment in the state’s capitol: His first-ever Jobs and Small-Business Resource Day, which was held this past [...]

The Brief, 03/08/2010: DIY Democracy with the UnCaucus

Now that Providence Mayor David Cicilline is running for Congress, who’s running for mayor? Let’s review: John Lombardi, Steven Constantino, Daniel Harrop, Christopher Young, Angel Taveras and—you? Well, one local group wants to think about it.
The group is called UnCaucus, and they’ve been reaching out to potential candidates in an unusual way. Just ask [...]

The Brief, 03/08/2010: Week In Review

Here’s Quyen Ngo with this week’s top news stories in your Week in Review.
Obama mentions Central Falls Firings
Rhode Island is Most Liberal
Jobless rate remains unchanged
But, US House passes Jobs bill
Good evening, I’m Quyen Ngo and here are some highlight stories of this past week.
At the start of the week, President Obama mentioned the [...]

The Brief, 03/01/2010: Not Quite News

Tonight, Stan laments the persistence of rock star geezers in a segment we like to call Not Quite News with Stan Sundel.

The Super Bowl was a couple of weeks ago. I’m not the world’s biggest football fan. Frankly, I usually watch the game for the commercials – or more importantly, the half [...]

The Brief: 01/03/2010: On The Record with Ian Donnis

When Patrick Kennedy dropped out of his race for reelection, he turned Rhode Island politics on its head. The announcement set off a ripple effect of politicians jumping from one race to the next, and offices at every level of government up for grabs. WBRU’s Emily Jones sat down with WRNI Political Reporter Ian Donnis [...]