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WEMU Honored At The 2017 Detroit Music Awards

On May 5th the Detroit Music Awards honored WEMU for 40 years of jazz broadcasting with a Distinguished Service Award at the Fillmore Theater in Detroit.




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Hear Diana Krall Play an Exclusive Live Session, and Talk About Her Sleek New Album

Early in her musical career, in the ‘90s, Diana Krall played a regular gig on Saturday evenings in Boston. When she drove down to New York City on Sunday mornings, she’d plan the trip so she could get close enough to hear the FM signal of WBGO in time to hear Singers Unlimited. She’s been hearing herself playing piano and singing ever since on WBGO. Diana Krall performs live in-studio, and speaks with Michael Bourne. Recorded 5/5/17. Nowadays, she can listen to wbgo.org during her travels around the world or in her hometown, Nanaimo, British Columbia. “I listen to you all the time,” she said when she came in for a recent session with a killer band, featuring frequent quartet-mate Anthony Wilson on guitar, along with bassist Robert Hurst, drummer Karriem Riggins and violinist Stuart Duncan.




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Celebrating Art Tatum's 108th Birthday And His Toledo Roots

Today would have been the great pianist Art Tatum's 108th birthday. WEMU celebrated his birth in 1909 with Dr. Imelda Hunt, author Does A Genius? - A Tribute To Art Tatum. Dr. Hunt is a new faculty member of the Department of Africology and African Studies at Eastern Michigan University. She brings a deep understanding of African-Americans in the midwest including her hometown of Toledo, Ohio - also Art Tatum's hometown. Dr. Hunt's research revealed Art Tatum's neighborhood, the legendary department stores, dance halls, and nightclubs where he performed and details about his loving and supportive family. Dr. Hunt also shared how the experience of listening to Art Tatum's brilliant music inspired her to write many poems, two of which she shared in conversation. Enjoy the genius of Art Tatum and a heartfelt appreciation from Dr. Imelda Hunt.




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Hannah Baiardi: Aspiring Jazz Pianist, Composer And Guest DJ

If you want to know where jazz is going today, you must check in with the next generation of musicians who are taking it in new directions. One such musician is pianist, vocalist, lyricist, and composer Hannah Baiardi. Hannah is in her fifth year of studying jazz and improvisational music at The University of Michigan with the esteemed professional music faculty including Ellen Rowe, Benny Green and Dennis Wilson. Hannah has taken full advantage of the opportunities at UM. That means she was able to record in the outstanding studios of The Duderstadt Center.




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The Roots Music Project: Corndaddy Celebrates 20 Years With Live In-Studio Performance

The first Roots Music Project of 2018 is a special one! Host Jeremy Baldwin welcomes Ann Arbor's own Americana band Corndaddy to the WEMU studios for a live interview and performance!




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SUNY Chancellor Calls Excelsior Scholarship A Success Despite Low First-Year Numbers

SUNY Chancellor Kristina Johnson is calling the Excelsior Scholarship a success despite statistics that show it was used by only 3.2% of SUNY students to help pay tuition costs in its first year.




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Arguments Begin In Connecticut School Racial Quota Case

A federal court in Bridgeport heard arguments Thursday in a lawsuit that challenges a state law designed to promote racial diversity in Connecticut’s schools.




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Dalio's Partnership For Connecticut, Up And Running By Summer

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont says the state’s educational partnership with the Dalio Foundation is on track to start funding programs by the summer.




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Connecticut Settles 30-Year-Old School Desegregation Case

Connecticut has reached a milestone settlement agreement in the 30-year-old Sheff v. O’Neill Hartford school racial discrimination case.




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Giant Marine Fossils Discovered In Trans-Saharan Seaway

The Sahara – the world’s largest desert – was once underwater. Now a 20-year study led by a Stony Brook University professor has profiled the aquatic animals that once lived there.




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Flavored Juul E-Cigarettes Contain Unlisted, Toxic Compounds, Yale Study Shows

A new study from Yale University found some users of the popular e-cigarette brand Juul might be inhaling unexpected chemicals.




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Yale Study: Doctors’ Attitudes Toward LGBT Patients Change During Training

A new study from Yale University and Oregon Health and Science University looks at how doctor’s prejudices toward LGBT patients change during medical school.




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Video Games May Ease Depression In Adults, Say UConn Researchers

Video games often get a bad rap for isolating young people. However, they might be an effective treatment for older adults with depression. Scientists from several universities, including the University of Connecticut, are investigating.




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Yale Pioneers Medical Marijuana Trials

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved a medical marijuana clinical trial led by the Yale University School of Medicine. Researchers say it’s the first of its type to be run on human subjects.




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By Mapping Oceans, Scientists Identify Areas Most In Need Of Protection

A team of marine scientists are on a mission to preserve biodiversity in oceans around the world. To do it, they need accurate maps that will help them identify areas in need of protection. There are several ongoing projects to create these maps. But they’re led by different groups, using different methods that can produce conflicting results.




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Cold Spring Harbor Lab Wins Grant For Cancer Research

Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory has won a $750,000 grant from TD Bank to support its new cancer research facility.




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New Spinal Muscular Atrophy Screening For Connecticut Infants

Connecticut’s public health laboratory has begun screening newborn babies for a genetic disorder called spinal muscular atrophy.




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Study: PFAS Linked To Miscarriages

PFAS, common chemicals used to make everything from pizza boxes to take-out containers, are associated with risk of miscarriages, according to a new study from Yale.




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Hartford Lawmakers Consider Paid Family Leave

In Connecticut supporters of paid family and medical leave made their case to state lawmakers on Thursday.




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Lamont Calls His Budget 'A Path Forward' For Connecticut

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont presented his first, two-year budget plan to state lawmakers in Hartford on Wednesday.




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Capitol Lobbying Heats Up In Albany As Budget Deadline Nears

It’s a busy time at the state Capitol, with just over one month to go until the state budget is due. Groups are bringing advocates by the hundreds to try to get their favored items placed into the spending plan. Meanwhile, there are lingering recriminations over the failed Amazon deal.




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Secretary Merrill: Voters Can Trust Conn. Electoral System

Connecticut Secretary of the State Denise Merrill stands by her office’s ability to protect voters’ access to polling centers.




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Suffolk County Legislator Charged With Ethics Violations

Suffolk County prosecutors have charged a county legislator with perjury and ethics violations.




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Public Financing Hearing In New York Overshadowed By Fusion Voting Controversy

The first hearing of a state commission to implement a public campaign finance system for New York’s elections was overshadowed by the issue of whether to end fusion voting, which allows candidates to run on multiple ballot lines. Critics of the proposal say Governor Cuomo wants to strike against a left leaning party that he’s been feuding with, something the governor denies.




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Eighth New York State Senator Announces Departure After 2020

Senator Rich Funke of Rochester is the latest Republican lawmaker to announce he will not seek reelection. Funke joins a growing list of seven other minority party GOP senators who say they are moving on to other things, after less than a year under Democratic rule in the Senate.




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What Recent College Graduates Are Going Through During The Pandemic

NPR's education reporter talks about what graduating seniors are going through right now as the colleges are closed due to the pandemic and answers their questions.




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Public Health Experts Say Many States Are Opening Too Soon To Do So Safely

As of Friday in Texas, you can go to a tanning salon. In Indiana, houses of worship are being allowed to open with no cap on attendance. Places like Pennsylvania are taking a more cautious approach, only starting to ease restrictions in some counties based on the number of COVID-19 cases. By Monday, at least 31 states will have partially reopened after seven weeks of restrictions. The moves come as President Trump pushes for the country to get back to work despite public health experts warning that it's too soon. "The early lesson that was learned, really, we learned from the island of Hokkaido in Japan, where they did a really good job of controlling the initial phase of the outbreak," said Bob Bednarczyk, assistant professor of global health and epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta. Because of that success, many of the restrictions on the island were lifted. But cases and deaths surged in a second wave of infections. Twenty-six days later




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Top 5 Moments From The Supreme Court's 1st Week Of Livestreaming Arguments

For the first time in its 231-year history, the Supreme Court justices heard oral arguments remotely by phone and made the audio available live. The new setup went off largely without difficulties, but produced some memorable moments, including one justice forgetting to unmute and an ill-timed bathroom break. Here are the top five can't-miss moments from this week's history-making oral arguments. A second week of arguments begin on Monday at 10 a.m. ET. Here's a rundown of the cases and how to listen. 1. Justice Clarence Thomas speaks ... a lot Supreme Court oral arguments are verbal jousting matches. The justices pepper the lawyers with questions, interrupting counsel repeatedly and sometimes even interrupting each other. Justice Clarence Thomas, who has sat on the bench for nearly 30 years, has made his dislike of the chaotic process well known, at one point not asking a question for a full decade. But with no line of sight, the telephone arguments have to be rigidly organized, and




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Week In Sports: Competitive Cornhole To Air On ESPN, NASCAR Slated To Return

Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.




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Pandemic Gardens Satisfy A Hunger For More Than Just Good Tomatoes

In this time of fear and uncertainty, people are going back to the land — more or less. Gardening might just be overtaking sourdough baking, TV binging and playing Animal Crossing as our favorite pandemic coping mechanism So here I am in my back yard, where I've got this lovely four foot by eight food raised garden bed — brand new this year, because yes, I'm one of those people who are trying their hand at gardening. I've got tomatoes, I've got cucumbers, I've got radishes, I've got beets sprouting up, I've got what I think might be a zucchini and a spaghetti squash, but the markers washed away in a storm. And I had some watermelon seedlings, but they died in the last cold snap. So that's why I'm out here today — driving in stakes and draping plastic wrap for the next cold snap. I have to be extra careful now, because I couldn't actually replace my watermelon seedlings — garden centers and hardware stores have been picked clean. Jennifer Atkinson is a senior lecturer in environmental




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Women Bear The Brunt Of Coronavirus Job Losses

Very briefly, at the end of 2019 and the start of 2020, there were slightly more women on American nonfarm payrolls than men. That's no longer true. The historically disastrous April jobs report shows that the brunt of job losses fell on women. Women now account for around just under half — 49% — of American workers, and they accounted for 55% of the increase in job losses last month. One way of looking at why that matters that is to look at the gap that opened up between women's and men's unemployment last month. The below chart shows women's unemployment rate minus men's unemployment rate since 2007. Usually, the line bumps around near or just below zero — meaning men's unemployment is usually near or slightly higher than women's. But that spike on the far right shows how women's unemployment leapt to be 2.7 points higher than men's in April. Women had an unemployment rate of 16.2% to men's 13.5% last month. That's uncommon for a recession. The below chart is a longer view, and the




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How The Approval Of The Birth Control Pill 60 Years Ago Helped Change Lives

Updated at 9:44 a.m. ET As a young woman growing up in a poor farming community in Virginia in the 1940 and '50s, with little information about sex or contraception, sexuality was a frightening thing for Carole Cato and her female friends. "We lived in constant fear, I mean all of us," she said. "It was like a tightrope. always wondering, is this going to be the time [I get pregnant]?" Cato, 78, now lives in Columbia, S.C. She grew up in the years before the birth control pill was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, on May 9, 1960. She said teenage girls in her community were told very little about how their bodies worked. "I was very fortunate; I did not get pregnant, but a lot of my friends did. And of course, they just got married and went into their little farmhouses," she said. "But I just felt I just had to get out." At 23, Cato married a widower who already had seven children. They decided seven was enough. By that time, Cato said, the pill allowed the couple to




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Little Richard, The 'King And Queen' Of Rock And Roll, Dead At 87

Updated at 1:55 p.m. ET Little Richard, the self-described "king and queen" of rock and roll and an outsize influence on everyone from David Bowie to Prince, died Saturday. He was 87 years old. Wayne Chaney, his longtime bandleader and tour manager, tells NPR that Little Richard died at his brother's home in Tullahoma, Tenn., after a battle with cancer. Rolling Stone was the first to report on his death. With his ferocious piano playing, growling and gospel-strong vocals, pancake makeup and outlandish costumes, Little Richard tore down barriers starting in the 1950s. That is no small feat for any artist — let alone a black, openly gay man who grew up in the South. He was a force of nature who outlived many of the musicians he inspired, from Otis Redding to the late Prince and Michael Jackson. His peers James Brown and Otis Redding idolized him. Jimi Hendrix, who once played in Little Richard's band, said he wanted his guitar to sound like Richard's voice. The late David Bowie was 9




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U.K. Airlines, Airports Fear 'Devastating Impact' Of Possible Quarantine Rules

Airlines and airport operators in the United Kingdom are not waiting for the British government to publicly confirm their fears. Already, the groups representing major players in the U.K.'s air travel industry are pushing back on a proposal that would require travelers to quarantine after arriving from outside the country. A spokesperson for Airlines UK — a trade body with British Airways, EasyJet and Ryanair as members — says the group understands from government officials that plans for a quarantine are in the works, but that details remain scarce at the moment. "We need to see the detail of what they are proposing. Public health must of course be the priority and we will continue to be guided by Sage advice," the group said in a statement emailed to NPR, noting that support measures will be necessary to ensure "that we still have a UK aviation sector once the quarantine period is lifted." "We will be asking for assurances that this decision has been led by the science and that




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Ypsi Group Continues To Offer Narcan During The Pandemic

To help continue addressing the opioid crisis in Washtenaw County during COVID-19, an Ypsilanti community health group continues to offer Narcan.




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County Commission Discussing Working Plans Moving Forward

The Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners will discuss tonight how they may move forward with county operations amid a COVID-19 crisis.




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The Ride Awarded $20.7 Million In Federal Funding To Help With COVID-19 Costs

The Ann Arbor Area Transportation Authority is getting a boost in funding from the federal government to help cover operational costs during the coronavirus pandemic. We get the details from WEMU’s Taylor Pinson.




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Ann Arbor Police Oversight Continues

The Ann Arbor Independent Community Police Oversight Commission continues to operate during the COVID-19 crisis. Their focus has changed a bit during the pandemic.




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Ann Arbor Art Fair Cancelled This Year Due To Current Global Health Crisis

Saying it would be “impractical and implausable to maintain social distancing” due to COVID-19, the Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair has been cancelled this year, July 2020. WEMU's Lisa Barry talks with Maureen Riley, the executive director of the Ann Arbor Art Fair-The Original, about all that went into making the very difficult decision to cancel the annual Ann Arbor Art Fair.




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Washtenaw County Commissioners Approve Hazard Pay

The Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners has approved hazard pay for some of the county’s first responders as a result of COVID-19.




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Art & Soul: The Culinary Arts - Local Chefs Get Creative Helping Diners During Health Crisis

Restaurants were one of the first and hardest hit by our current health crisis and looks like they will remain closed for a while. WEMU's Lisa Barry talks with John Reyes of Eater.com about how Washtenaw County restaurants are evolving during the current health crisis and what they are doing to try and still serve customers and maintain their bottom line.




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Ann Arbor Looking Into Ways To Assist With Social Distancing

The City of Ann Arbor is in the process of creating a plan to make sure residents have social distancing options when it comes to being outdoors.




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Dingell Supports Slow Start To Reopening The Economy

Governor Gretchen Whitmer has extended her stay-at-home order through the end of May, while introducing a multi-step plan to get Michigan's economy going again. 12th District Representative Debbie Dingell expressed her optimism to WEMU for a safe start to the process while calling for more bi-partisan efforts to support those in need.




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The Bug Black Market

Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit SCOTT SIMON, HOST: The black market for insects may have just gotten a whole lot bigger. And yes, there is a black market for bugs. Last month, thousands of insects were stolen from the Philadelphia Insectarium. Reportedly, it was an inside job by some disgruntled former employees. Well, wouldn't working with so many bugs gruntle you? The bugs are valued at around $50,000. BILL REYNOLDS: Butterfly specimens have been known to easily fetch a few thousand dollars. SIMON: That's Bill Reynolds, curator of the Arthropod Zoo at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. He told us over Skype the black market for exotic animals is rife with insects and spiders. Hobbyists, pet stores, even some adventurous home cooks all over the world are trying to avoid the red tape of animal exporting laws to get their hands on exotic insects. REYNOLDS: The modern day Internet has made it much easier for people to seek out and acquire. Generally, it begins in




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W.Va. Plan Would Allow Some Service Members To Vote Via Smartphone

Copyright 2018 West Virginia Public Broadcasting. To see more, visit West Virginia Public Broadcasting . SCOTT SIMON, HOST: When it comes to making voting more secure, cybersecurity experts say the U.S. should move away from electronic voting machines back towards paper ballots. West Virginia's headed in the other direction. That state is experimenting with allowing service members deployed overseas to vote using an app on their smartphone. But as West Virginia Public Broadcasting's Dave Mistich reports, there are some big security concerns about that app. DAVE MISTICH, BYLINE: Here's the challenge for West Virginia Secretary of State Mac Warner - federal law says military and overseas voters have the right to cast an absentee ballot. But... MAC WARNER: The real issue here is the difficulty it takes to get that absentee ballot to a deployed soldier on a hillside in Afghanistan or to a sailor under a polar ice cap. The U.S. mail simply doesn't reach those places. And so they do have




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The Actor Behind 'Robocop' On Detroit And Art History

Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit SCOTT SIMON, HOST: He's part-man, part-machine - all cop. (SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "ROBOCOP") PETER WELLER: (As RoboCop) Let the woman go. You are under arrest. UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As Creep's Friend) You better back up, pal. (SOUNDBITE OF GUNSHOT) WILLIAM SHOCKLEY: (As creep, screaming). WELLER: (As RoboCop) Your move, creep. SIMON: 1987's "RoboCop" is a cult movie classic set in a dystopian Detroit before dystopian became a word used by seventh-graders. WELLER: (Laughter). SIMON: Peter Weller played RoboCop. And today Peter Weller acts, directs and produces. But over the years, he's also become a Ph.D. in Italian Renaissance art history. Next week, he will return to Detroit to be a featured speaker at the annual art conference Culture Lab Detroit. Dr. Peter Weller joins us now from Hawaii Public Radio in Honolulu. Thanks so much for being with us. WELLER: Thank you very much. Appreciate it. SIMON: So what made you go back to school to study art at




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"Hammer" - cast: Mark O'Brien, Will Patton, Ben Cotton

Release date : TBA 2020
Synopsis : A father faces a personal crisis when he discovers his estranged son fleeing a botched drug deal. The two men ...




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"Da 5 Bloods" - cast: Chadwick Boseman, Delroy Lindo, Jean Reno, Jonathan Majors, Paul Walter Hauser, Clarke Peters, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Norm Lewis, Melanie Thierry, Jasper Paakkonen

Release date : TBA 2020
Synopsis : The film follows Vietnam veterans who return to the jungle to find their lost innocence. Searching for the remains of ...




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"Sweetness in the Belly" - cast: Dakota Fanning, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Kunal Nayyar, Wunmi Mosaku, Peter Bankole

Release date : TBA 2020
Synopsis : Lilly Abdal (Dakota Fanning) was orphaned in Africa as a child and experiences her parents' homeland of England for the ...




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"Babyteeth" - cast: Eliza Scanlen, Toby Wallace, Emily Barclay, Eugene Gilfedder, Ben Mendelsohn, Essie Davis, Andrea Demetriades, Charles Grounds, Justin Smith, Arka Das, Priscilla Doueihy, Zack Grech, Georgina Symes, Jack Yabsley

Release date : June 19, 2020
Synopsis : When seriously ill teenager Milla (Eliza Scanlen) falls madly in love with smalltime drug dealer Moses (Toby Wallace), it's her ...