Bob Leweke

Step onto (or into) the Front Porch Roots Music School with WMRA's Emily Richardson-Lorente....  Jessie Knadler has the lowdown on the shady side of sunscreen -- it may be killing the world's coral reefs, according to a study from a Virginia lab.... Virginia Public Radio has the report on waste in the state's Medicaid benefits, and on Dominion's vision for the future of power in Virginia, and how it may rely on more nuclear power.... and we go way out into the universe, and way back in time to the Big Bang, with Our Island Universe.

Arrested?  Your mugshot may get published.  Want to get it out of publication?  Pay a hefty fee to the publisher.  And that's perfectly legal, if not entirely ethical, under the First Amendment and the Freedom of Information Act.  Kara Lofton reports on "Crime Times".... We also look at why there was NO change in state senate seats this election season, and how online voting might help raise turnout.  Plus, The Spark (with mule thoughts and mule body language), and Our Island Universe looks at our ever-expanding universe.

In this special one-hour show, hear Bob Leweke's interviews with each of the candidates for the 26th state Senate district, Democratic challenger April Moore, and Republican incumbent Mark Obenshain.... Tag along with Jordy Yager and a Meals on Wheels volunteer bringing meals, and a human touch, to the homebound in Charlottesville.... Visit a grade-school classroom with Kara Lofton, where restorative justice practices are used to build trust and deal with conflict.... and, catch the radio re-broadcast of the televised debate between Moore and Obenshain from October 13th on WHSV-TV3.

We've got Jordy Yager's third installment of our series on Food Insecurity in Virginia, with a focus on hungry kids.... the unlikely path to behind-the-scenes fame taken by a pair of videographers, through music videos, in Charlottesville, with Emily Richardson-Lorente... an exploration of the cohousing movement, with Kara Lofton... and Virginia Public Radio reports on the debates over guns, and over the proposed natural gas pipeline, in Virginia.

This week's show includes one story from the previous week (the October 4th show was knocked off the air by a technical glitch!) -- we include Jordy Yager's first two installments of our "Food Insecurity in Virginia" series....  and, two stories at the intersection of economics and the environment, one by Jessie Knadler on the fast-growing Sigora Solar of Waynesboro, and one by Kara Lofton on Harrisonburg's new "single-stream" trash and recycling collection program.

WMRA's Emily Richardson-Lorente spends some time with young (she's only 19!) entrepreneur LeiLei Secor, making a big splash (and some big bucks) with her Etsy shop.... Jordy Yager serves up his first story for us, with the first in a series on food insecurity in Virginia.... plus, this week's episode of The Spark and Our Island Universe.

Emily Richardson-Lorente files her first story from Charlottesville, about the i.Lab at the Darden School of Business.... Also at UVa is a new experiment called the Compassionate Schools Project, and Kara Lofton checks that out.... And Jessie Knadler visits the outdoor classroom of Col. Grigg Mullen, Jr., who is bringing timber framing back, for the purpose of teaching his civil engineering students.

This week, Jessie Knadler got an update on solar power co-ops in the Shenandoah Valley, growing fast.... Brit Moorer filed her first report for WMRA with a visit to classrooms in Albermarle County Schools where the Maker Curriculum is building knowledge from creativity.... and Kara Lofton attended the most recent active shooter drill at UVa's Medical Center.

It's a special edition of the show, devoted to the complete version of "Schrödinger's Cougar," as Andrew Jenner and Brent Finnegan explore the science, and the myth, of the Eastern mountain lion in Virginia.

WMRA's Kara Lofton filed three stories this week with datelines from Charlottesville, to Richmond, to Harrisonburg.  First, she talked to the project team at the Center for Open Science about their big Reproducibility Study....  She also sat in on a meditation and yoga class for the inmates at the Goochland Women's Correctional Facility.... And she attended the early morning vigil for journalist Alison Parker.....

Jessie Knadler explores the new horizon of stem cell therapy for the family pet... Kara Lofton checks in with two Methodist pastors suspended for officiating the weddings of two same-sex couples... and we've got this week's episodes of The Spark and Our Island Universe.

Another story that hit close to home for many of us was the murder of Alison Parker and Adam Ward, reporters for WDBJ TV, on August 26, while they were doing their jobs.  There are links through the WDBJ website to memorial funds in their honor.  To find out more, click here.

Sefe Emokpae tells us what the Music Resource Center in Charlottesville has been up to during its 20 years, and Emily Richardson-Lorente takes a seat in the audience at the Garage, a different kind of music venue there.... Also, Kara Lofton filed two stories, one of which went viral big time: first, her account of "The Pause," a relatively new practice among trauma and emergency medical workers after the death of a patient, and then a look at local "Nones," particularly millennials, who are increasingly checking the "None" box for religious affiliation.... We also step into the Wayback Machine to Day 1 of the WMRA Newsroom, for Andrew Jenner's first WMRA story, one year ago.

Sefe Emokpae takes us to a winery near Charlottesville that's trying hard to stand out in Virginia's wine country... Kara Lofton concludes our "Clean Virginia" series with a look towards the sun... and because there may be a mountain lion roaming around Milwaukee, what better excuse to revisit "Schrodinger's Cougar"?  Also, this week's Spark.

This week, Scott Lowe toured the 20-year-old Virginia Quilt Museum, containing centuries-old quilts.... Kara Lofton brought us new water consumption guidelines for athletes, and the views of opposite sides over the Confederate flag.... and Jessie Knadler finds out why the cash-strapped Buena Vista Police Department spent nearly $50,000 on a new drug-sniffing dog.

WMRA’s Kara Lofton took a tour of Harrisonburg's booming food trucks, which are so popular they have their own parks.... Jessie Knadler exposes the invasive bug killing Virginia's hemlock trees, and explores solutions.... And we revisit Kara's story of a same-sex married couple fighting for parenthood rights.  Plus, this week's installment of The Spark.

WMRA's Kara Lofton was busy again this week, with a conversation with Trent Wagler of the Steel Wheels about the "roots" of Red Wing... she also reported on an appeals court victory by the EPA and Chesapeake Bay activists, and on Virginia's air quality as part of "Clean Virginia"... and she explained the connection between the University of Virginia and the New Horizons mission to Pluto... and, finally, we replay Andrew Jenner's "Pipeline Air Force" story, which is now the winner of an Outstanding Feature Reporting award from the Virginia Association of Broadcasters.

Welcome WMRA's Amy Loeffler to the newsroom.  She posted a story about what could be the hot new thing for gastronomes in Virginia agriculture:  Truffles.... Kara Lofton posted the next installment of our "Clean Virginia" series.... and, because it's Independence Day weekend, we dip into the archives from the "Becoming American" series.  And, in this week's Spark segment, Martha Woodroof talks with former Bridgewater -- and soon-to-be Sweet Briar – College president Philip Stone.

This week, WMRA's Kara Lofton posted the next in our "Clean Virginia" series, with a look at the legacy of Mercury contamination in the Shenandoah Valley.... and she also looked at the death and resurrection (at least for now) of a small, private college -- Sweet Briar.  Bob Leweke also had a conversation with Nancy Insco, an advocate and case-worker for women getting out of prison, and the News Leader's Patricia Borns, about the conversation that newspaper hosted, called "Roadmap to Re-Entry," in Staunton earlier in the week.

This week we took a deep look at a struggling wind power project proposed for the shores off Virginia, and Kara Lofton took the measure of honeybee health in Virginia, plus a "moon art" project involving a JMU art professor, and a teenager doing her part to find homes for stray dogs.

WMRA's Kara Lofton brought us the stories of: new 3-D human tissue bioprinters at UVa; the legacy of coal-fired power on Virginia's water health; aerial yoga in Charlottesville; and a new park plan in Harrisonburg.  And Andrew Jenner told the story of one couple resisting Dominion surveyors in Nelson County, and Andrew and Brent Finnegan have teamed up for a deep look into reality itself -- and whether there really could be wild mountain lions in Virginia.

Agriculture is one of the leading causes of pollution in Virginia’s waterways.  WMRA’s Kara Lofton has the first in our occasional series on “Clean Virginia,” with a tour of one farm aiming to protect the water that runs through it....  Jessie Knadler gets us up to date on the Natural Bridge Zoo, now reopened for business.... Kara also took us to the roller derby to meet Charlottesville's Derby Dames.... and we've got this week's installment of The Spark.

We meet a few of the growing number of male nurses, and find out why they make more money than female nurses, in a report by Kara Lofton....  Luanne Austin takes us to a truck stop medical clinic in Raphine, run by the "Country Doctor of the Year".... and Rebekah Greenfield unpacks the "Suitcase Clinic," which provides mobile health care for the homeless in Harrisonburg.  And, we learn how to photograph the night sky in this week's installment of The Spark.