WV PBS Story Archives - Page 4 of 4 - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

Halloween programming on WV PBS tonight

Watch WV PBS tonight beginning at 9 p.m.9:00 p.m. — Haunted Texas: Peyton Colony — Host Jeanine Plumer investigates ghost sightings at an abandoned…

Watch WV PBS tonight beginning at 9 p.m.

9:00 p.m. — Haunted Texas: Peyton Colony — Host Jeanine Plumer investigates ghost sightings at an abandoned settlement established by former slaves after the Civil War in Peyton Colony, Texas, also known as Freedman’s Colony. Residents in the area have reported visions of African Americans dressed in period clothing, as if time never passed.

Plainspirits reveals the truth behind many of the Great Plains’ most fanciful and mysterious ghost stories. Pictured, an elevator for transporting coffins in the Holton House.

9:30 p.m. — Plainspirits — presents history with a twist. Based upon Beth Cooper’s book, Ghosts of Kansas, longtime residents and business owners explain the historical significance of haunted venues, including former funeral parlors, hotels, underground cities and a former governor’s mansion. Each interviewee describes their encounters with inexplicable spiritual activity, ranging from mysterious shadow figures and stirrings in the attic to phantom cigar smoke and baffling piano music.

10:00 p.m. – The Devil We Know — The image of the devil is recognized throughout the world. Commonly referred to as Satan, Beelzebub, demon, Lucifer, old serpent, and the wicked one, the devil conjures up a variety of names and representations in spoken and written language and in the arts. But just who is the devil? Where does the familiar image of the devil come from? What does it mean? And why are we both attracted and repulsed by it?

NOVA's David Pogue keynote speaker at 2013 STaR Symposium in Morgantown

Science journalist and public television host David Pogue will be the keynote speaker for the fifth biennial Science, Technology and Research Symposium, sponsored by the Division of Science and Research of the WV Higher Education Policy Commission.

The symposium takes place Oct. 22-23 in Morgantown.

Pogue is a New York Times columnist, author, CBS News correspondent and host of NOVA Science Now.

His new series Making More Stuff takes a wild ride through the cutting-edge science that is powering a next wave of technological innovation. Pogue meets the scientists and engineers who are plunging to the bottom of the temperature scale, finding design inspiration in nature, and breaking every speed limit to make tomorrow’s “stuff” “Colder,” “Faster,” “Safer,” and “Wilder.”

Watch Making Stuff on Wednesdays at 9 p.m. on WV PBS beginning Oct. 16 with “Making Stuff Faster.” (“Making Stuff Wilder” will air on Oct. 23 and “Making Stuff Colder” will air on Oct. 30.)

The STaR Symposium is open to students, faculty, researchers, industry and business people wanting to learn about energy use, energy conservation and energy research in the Mountain State. Learn more about the STaR Symposium and registration details. Advance registration ends Monday.

Nature dives into "Saving Otter 501"

Nature tells the story of the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s 501st attempt to save a stranded orphan otter and teach it to fend for itself in the wild when…

Nature tells the story of the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s 501st attempt to save a stranded orphan otter and teach it to fend for itself in the wild when Saving Otter 501 airs on Wednesday, October 16 at 8 p.m. on West Virginia PBS.

http://video.wvpubcast.org/video/2365094383/

After the broadcast, the episode will be available for online streaming at pbs.org/nature.

From her discovery as a newborn pup crying on the beach, through her rehabilitation in secret roof tanks atop the Monterey Bay Aquarium, follow Otter 501 as she learns how to survive in the wild. Watch as she is introduced to her surrogate mother — a method invented by marine biologist Karl Mayer and his team in 2005 — and follow as she struggles to learn how to dive, hunt, eat, and fend for herself in an artificial environment meant to mimic the “real world.”

It is a tale of mysterious threats, persistent failures and small victories, where survival is a long shot at best. Throughout, Otter 501 acts as a lens. Her story reveals a previously unseen world of otter behavior and also acts to illuminate some of the most difficult ecological questions of our time: Do we have a responsibility to save species that hover on the edge? Are our actions the cause of the illnesses sweeping through the sea otter population? And since we simply can’t return the world to its pristine pre-human form, are preservation efforts like this doomed to fail?

Otter 501’s survival may hold the hint of an answer. California sea otters are struggling in the wild and no one quite knows why. Hunted to near extinction for their fur since the mid-18th Century, the hidden enclave of approximately 50 otters discovered near Big Sur in 1938 was a surprise to many along the California coast. The entire current population of about 2800 can trace their origins to that group of 50, but they all live in one small area which is a problem. One localized event, like an oil spill, could wipe them all out. That’s why their status is listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act.

Find video clips, educational materials, and more at the PBS Nature website.

Toola the southern sea otter (Enhydra lutris nereis), acting as a surrogate mom to orphaned SORAC pup #327. Monterey, CA.

Frank Kearns: American Correspondent Screening

Frank Kearns: American Correspondent

Screening and panel discussion

Room 205, Martin Hall

West Virginia University, Morgantown

Monday, September 30 at 7 p.m.

West Virginia University’s chapter of RTDNA (Radio Television Digital News Association) is hosting a screening of the Emmy award-winning documentary, Frank Kearns: American Correspondent. The event is free and open to the public. A panel discussion with the documentary’s writer, director, and producer Gerald Davis; producer and director of photography Chip Hitchcock; and editor John Nakashima will follow the screening.

The documentary introduces the life and award-winning work of CBS News correspondent and former WVU School of Journalism professor Frank M. Kearns. For 20 years, beginning in the 1950s, Kearns reported for CBS News from Africa and the Middle East. In 1971, he returned to his alma mater in to teach and was named the distinguished Benedum Professor of Journalism. He retired in 1983. During that time, a former CBS news executive told Congress that Kearns also worked for the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency while he was reporting for CBS in the 1950s. Kearns denied this accusation until his death from cancer in 1986.

This documentary premiered on West Virginia PBS and also aired on select PBS stations nationwide in 2012. It won a regional Emmy this year.

Clifftop – the Appalachian String Band Music Festival.

A documentary look at the Appalachian String Band Music Festival -aka Clifftop – where many of the participants are musicians. Each night at any given moment,there are literally a hundred jam sessions going on. The documentary also explores the evolving concepts behind Old Time. Also featured are interviews and performances of legendary West Virginia fiddler Lester McCumbers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03lusDmD_v4