News

One difference between shows On and OFF Broadway is that off-Broadway shows frequently have short runs.

Theater critic Michael Bourne reviews Final Follies by A.R. Gurney and A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur by Tennessee Williams, a couple of shows he enjoyed -- and are closing soon.

Click above to hear Michael's full review.

It’s the last hurrah for the mid-century WASP, those men born before WWII, come of age after it, and built or dodged the System, the Death Star of the Military Industrial Complex Eisenhower warned us about in his farewell address in 1960. Time to consider the corporate white male who pre-dated the rise of the Boomers, my crowd, who inherited much, did little but resisted BS in all its manifold guises and forms.

A recent independent study of Newark’s water supply showed a portion of the system as ineffective against preventing lead exposure to residents.   

“Those folks that are affected in areas of the city will be getting a filter until we put the right chemical to provide the necessary corrosion control in people’s lead service line’s, so they won’t be affected by the lead that enters into their water at all,” Mayor Ras Baraka said.

When doing research papers students do not necessarily consider the fact that representation on Wikipedia affects the way cultures and people can be viewed.  And that's probably the case for the general public as well.

As part of the National Hispanic Heritage Month activities at Berkeley College, the Berkeley College librarians in Newark have started Wikipedia Edit-A-Thons with select faculty and students in courses such as Gender, Race and Class, taught by Professor Gloria Davy, and Introduction to Ethics by Professor Gregory Hotchkiss.

WBGO's Gary Walker chats with trombonist Steve Turre about playing for the Emmy's as part of the Saturday Night Live Band and Turre's new album The Very Thought of You.

Click above to hear the interview.

Theater critic Michael Bourne returns to Broadway to review the new comedy "The Nap."

Richard Bean is the playwright.

Click above to hear the review.

In the first 21 months of President Donald Trump's term he has made good on his pledge to crack down on immigration. Now, some public health officials are warning his policy poses a significant risk to the public health of all Americans because immigrants are now avoiding seeing the doctor. That, experts warn, sets the stage for outbreaks of communicable diseases like tuberculosis that would impact the entire population.

WBGO's Alexandra Hill chats with Associate Program Officer with Greater Newark LISC (Local Initiative Support Corporation) Tenisha Malcolm, about this weekend's 6th Annual Growing Leadership Building Community Conference, taking place this Saturday October 6th at Rutgers Newark. The annual day long conference gives participants the opportunity to attend two of six concurrent ninety-minute workshops. Workshop topics to be covered include: environmental justice, how to become a citizen journalist, empowering the next generation of leaders, and tapping your leadership potential. 

New Jersey Congressman Tom MacArthur is calling for the federal government to open Nevada’s Yucca Mountain Repository to take in nuclear waste from 39 states. It comes on the heels of the recent shut down of the Oyster Creek Nuclear Plant in Lacey Township. Nevada’s U.S. Senators remain vehemently opposed to opening the site. Since there is no permanent nuclear waste storage site available, spent nuclear fuel will have to remain in Lacey.

A report from New Jersey Policy Perspective is urging state lawmakers to gradually increase the minimum wage to $15 an hour. 

Brandon McKoy with New Jersey Policy Perspective is encouraged by Governor Phil Murphy's economic plan to increase the minimum wage, but he says it should happen this year.

Governor Murphy says New Jersey should consider high wage innovation sectors that will bring the most jobs and investment into the state.  

“Clean energy, life sciences, advanced manufacturing, food and beverage, advanced transportation and logistics, information and high tech, film and digital media, and finance and insurance.”

Murphy hopes to create 300,000 new jobs by the year 2025.

This sunday a Funeral will take place throughout New Jersey's largest city.....A funeral for violence and anger in Newark. WBGO's Alexandra Hill sat down with Dupre Kelly, one third of legendary hip-hop group Lords of The Underground and the founder of 211 community impact group, to talk about how he hopes the event will impact not only the the victims of violent crime, but those who are committing acts of violence within their own communities. 

Sunday, September 30

Hearses begin parade: 11 a.m.

Funeral Service: 1 p.m. to 3 p.m.

Theater critic Michael Bourne stays off-Broadway this week to review the new play about the drama that is politics, The True.  Edie Falco stars in the new production.

Click above to hear Michael's review on the WBGO Journal.

Alzheimer's New Jersey is holding several fundraising walks in the state.  This next one is this Sunday, September 30th on the campus of the College of Saint Elizabeth in Morristown.

The President and CEO of Alzheimer's New Jersey is Ken Zaentz.  Zaentz joined host Doug Doyle on the WBGO Journal to talk about the upcoming walk.

Alzheimer's New Jersey says more than 600-thousand people in New Jersey are impacted by Alzheimer's.

After New Jersey hiked its gas tax 22.6 cents a gallon, drivers bought less fuel in the Garden State, according to a new analysis from AAA.

Plastic carryout bags, plastic straws, and Styrofoam containers would be banned in New Jersey if a measure advanced by the Senate Environment Committee is enacted.

New Jersey Sierra Club director Jeff Tittel says the measure targets three of the worst offenders of plastic pollution.

“This is the strongest and most comprehensive plastics legislation in the country right now. This bill is a huge leap forward environmentally for the state and for this county because I believe if we pass this bill, other states will be looking the same way.”

Investigators in New Jersey say children as young as 8-years-old are involved in neighborhood juvenile gangs that are a threat to public safety.

Edwin Torres is an investigator who monitors gang activity for the State Commission of Investigation. He says neighborhood-based juvenile gangs are more dangerous and violent than traditional gangs. And the violence is offered generated by a perceived slight from something they post through their cellphone on social media.

New Jersey Republican US Senate candidate Bob Hugin is laying out a framework of ideas he says could make health care more accessible to Americans.  He believes the current system is dated, and information technology could create more transparency in health care.

The number of opioid overdose deaths in New Jersey is increasing. The New Jersey Reentry Corporation has a blueprint to change that.

Researchers say overdose deaths in the Garden State rose nearly 30 percent last year and project 3,000 deaths this year.

Former Governor Jim McGreevey is chairman of the Reentry Corporation. He says the challenge for many families is the lack of a coordinated addiction treatment system in the state.

A New Jersey lawmaker believes the state could save taxpayers a lot of money by hiring a private company to monitor the insurance companies that administer health care claims for state and local government employees.

Senate Budget Committee chairman Paul Sarlo says that would ensure the state gets the benefit of potential savings from bills settled between medical providers and the insurers.

This coming Wednesday will be another opportunity for WBGO listeners to support their public radio station while helping others in need. 

WBGO is partnering with the Community Food Bank of New Jersey and Stop & Shop to help provide "family packs" of food for the hungry in the area. 

Carlos Rodriguez, President and CEO of the Community Food Bank of New Jersey chats with WBGO's Doug Doyle about the partnership and the hunger issue in New Jersey.

You will be able to help by calling 1-800-499-9246 or making a pledge at www.wbgo.org/support.

The second annual Believe in a Healthy Newark conference at NJIT is set for September 27th.

The initiative is led by leaders of Rutgers Newark , RWJ Barnabas, the United Way and others.

One of the organizers of the conference and chair of the steering committee is Dr. Denise Rogers who is with Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences.

You can get the details of the conference by going to www.believeinahealthynewark.org.

Click above to hear the entire interview with Dr. Rogers and WBGO News Director Doug Doyle.

Theater critic Michael Bourne was on Theatre Row again this week to review the revival of Days To Come.

The Mint Theater Company's Days To Come was the second play of Lillian Hellman, first performed in the 1930's.

Click above to hear Michael's review.

This month marks the 10 year anniversary of the start of the financial crisis and market crash.

It was September 15th, 2008 when Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy. The collapse of the big bank shattered the too big to fail theory setting off the start of a financial crisis and huge plunge of the stock market over the months to come.

Ultimately, the government bailed out the banks. September 29th, 2008. The Dow, Nasdaq and S@P 500 all dropped between roughly seven and nine percent.

Michael Carig who runs a brokerage firm recalls that day.

A bill awaiting action in the New Jersey legislature would require electric companies to request information from residential customers about whether any person living there would suffer a serious impairment to their health of safety it the power was cut off.

Senator Gerald Cardinale says he introduced the legislation in response to the death of a 68-year-old Newark woman in July. She relied on an electric-powered oxygen tank and JCP&L shut off her electric service because of an overdue bill.

This summer will be remembered as one of the hottest ever in New Jersey.

State climatologist Dave Robinson says this was the 5th warmest summer on record in Garden State.

“Our nighttime temperatures were more unusually warm than were our daytime temperatures, in part because it was so darn humid for much of the summer and the humidity helps to hold in the daytime heat during the night. It doesn’t allow that daytime heating to escape.”  

The New Jersey Legislature is considering bills that could better prepare electric providers during future storms. The bills require the utility companies to better monitor threats to power lines and take steps to get the power back on sooner. 

Assembly Telecommunications and Utilities Committee chairman Wayne DeAngelo says maintenance at aging switch yards and substations has been questionable during power outages.  

Political analysts expect many of the Congressional races in New Jersey will be tight and that Democrats could gain some seats in the November election.

Seven Democrats and five Republicans now represent New Jersey in Congress.

Monmouth University Polling Institute director Patrick Murray says four GOP seats could flip to Democrats.

“We’re looking at a strong anti-Trump environment.  Trump is not popular across the state. Some of the Republican initiatives such as the tax plan are particularly unpopular in New Jersey.”