Enter the 2020 PBS KIDS Writers Contest

For the 26th year, Idaho Public Television is hosting the PBS KIDS Writers Contest. IdahoPTV’s three regional stations — KUID/Moscow, KISU/Pocatello and KAID/Boise — encourage children in kindergarten through third grade to write and illustrate their own imaginative story and submit it by Saturday, March 21, for a chance to win prizes and have their work published online.

Entry forms, rules, FAQs and teacher tips are available at idahoptv.org/kids/writers.  The contest is open to children in kindergarten through third grade residing within IdahoPTV’s over-the-air service area, which includes all of Idaho and parts of Washington, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Oregon and Nevada.

Regional volunteer panels will judge the entries on creativity, originality, language skills and illustrations. Winners in each grade level from each region of Idaho will be selected and will receive prizes including toys, books, and a $100 contribution to an IDeal Idaho College Savings account. Winners will be announced on or around May 1, 2020.

In May, an awards ceremony will be held in each region of Idaho to celebrate the winners and their stories. By June 1, the winning books will be uploaded in full color onto the IdahoPTV website: idahoptv.org/kids/writers.

IdahoPTV thanks the sponsors of this year’s contest: The F.M., Anne G. & Beverly B. Bistline Foundation in the Idaho Community Foundation and IDeal – Idaho College Savings Program.

Former US Treasurer Discusses Honoring Historical Women on ‘Dialogue’

In a new Dialogue interview that premieres Friday, Jan. 10, at 8 p.m., host Marcia Franklin talks with former U.S. Treasurer Rosie Rios about her mission to honor more American women in history. Her effort included the attempt to put a woman on U.S. Federal Reserve notes for the first time.

After a public process, the Department of the Treasury chose Harriet Tubman to appear on the $20 bill. That project is now stalled, but Rios, who served in office from 2009-2016, has developed Notable Women, which allows users through virtual reality to superimpose an image of a famous woman in history onto a bill.

Rios is also working on a women’s history curriculum in schools, and is spearheading a project to honor more women in history with statues in major cities around the country. 

'Idaho Reports' Returns for New Season Covering Idaho Politics

Keep up-to-date on Idaho’s government with Idaho Reports and Idaho in Session.

Idaho Reports returns for a new season Friday, Jan. 3, at 8:30 PM. Beginning Jan. 17, the show moves to 8 PM. Reporters and pundits bring you highlights from the statehouse every week in the Northwest’s longest-running public policy show. During the 2020 legislative session, lawmakers will tackle funding for Medicaid expansion, shrinking state agency budgets, higher education funding and more. Each episode will be available for same-day streaming through the PBS Video app and online at video.idahoptv.org/show/idaho-reports.

Idaho Reports will provide special coverage of Governor Brad Little’s State of the State and Budget Address 2020. On Monday, Jan. 6, at 1 PM Mountain/noon Pacific, Gov. Little will share his vision for Idaho, along with his proposed budget for the coming year, with the Idaho Legislature and the state’s citizens. Idaho Reports coverage of the address will air live and repeat at 8 PM Mountain/Pacific. It will also stream live on YouTube and the Idaho in Session website, where it will be archived for viewing on demand.

Idaho in Session is IdahoPTV’s gavel-to-gavel service that includes live on-air and online coverage of the Idaho Legislature. Coverage of the Joint Finance-Appropriations Committee (JFAC), the Lincoln Auditorium WW02 and East Wing 42, as well as the eight committee legislative hearing rooms can be viewed online at idahoptv.org/insession. Coverage of the House and the Senate can be viewed live on our CREATE and WORLD channels, as well as online.

IdahoPTV thanks the sponsors who make Idaho in Session possible: Idaho State Broadcasters Association, Union Pacific Foundation, Boise State School of Public Service, Idaho Cable Broadband Association, Associated Taxpayers of Idaho, Association of Idaho Cities, University of Idaho James A. & Louise McClure Center for Public Policy Research, and the Idaho Public Television Endowment.

Idaho's Governor, College and University Presidents Discuss the Future of Education

According to public surveys, education is the key to economic success and the most important issue facing Idaho. But what changes need to be made to ensure every child gets the education he or she needs?

Education 2020 (Tuesday, Jan. 21, at 8 PM) takes an in-depth look at proposals for reforming K-12 education and plans to better integrate Idaho’s universities and colleges. The program repeats Monday, Jan. 27 at 6/5 PM and 10/9 PM MT/PT on our PLUS Channel. The discussion will be available for free streaming at video.idahoptv.org.

Guests for this hourlong discussion include Governor Brad Little and the presidents of Idaho’s four-year colleges and universities: C. Scott Green, University of Idaho; Kevin Satterlee, Idaho State University; Marlene Tromp, Boise State University; and Cynthia Pemberton, Lewis-Clark State College.

Explore the Shadowy and Lucrative World of Feather Theft

In a new Dialogue interview that premieres Friday, Jan. 3, at 8 p.m., host Marcia Franklin talks with author Kirk Wallace Johnson about his book The Feather Thief: Beauty, Obsession, and the Natural History Heist of the Century. The book details Johnson’s investigation into a major theft of 300 rare bird skins from a British museum in 2009 by a 20-year-old American, Edward Rist. Rist then illegally sold the feathers into the arcane world of Victorian salmon fly tyers.

Johnson discusses why he felt it was important to write the book, and how the crime and other heists like it damage the field of natural history. He also shares his thoughts on the “feather thief,” who he interviewed.

The founder of The List Project to Resettle Iraqi Allies, Johnson worked in Fallujah, Iraq, for the U.S. Agency for International Development. He wrote a book about his experiences called To Be a Friend Is Fatal. His third book, “The Fisherman and the Dragon: Two Dreams at War off the Texas Coast,” will be published in 2021.

He was in Boise to speak at The Rediscovered Bookshop.

'Howards End' and 'Sanditon' Come to Masterpiece

Two classics of British literature are adapted for the screen in new Masterpiece productions that begin airing Sunday, Jan. 12.

Howards End
Considered novelist E.M. Forster’s masterwork, Howards End is the story of two unconventional sisters navigating a changing world at the turn of the 20th century. Screenwriter Kenneth Lonergan brings a fresh take to the story in this new Masterpiece production.

Margaret Schlegel is an idealistic young woman who is courted by the older Henry Wilcox, a conservative businessman, after his wife dies unexpectedly and he becomes owner of the country estate Howards End. Meanwhile Margaret’s capricious younger sister, Helen, takes up the cause of a young bank clerk. In the absence of their late parents, the sisters’ interfering aunt tries to keep the young ladies on the straight and narrow.

Howards End airs in four parts Sundays at 8 PM beginning Jan. 12.

Sanditon
Jane Austen was chronically ill when she started work on a witty novel set in the seaside town of Sanditon. She never finished it. Screenwriter Andrew Davies brings the story to a satisfying conclusion in a new Masterpiece adaptation.

Sanditon tells the story of Tom Parker, who wants to turn the seaside village into a fashionable health resort. He enlists the backing of local bigwig Lady Denham. Through a mishap, Tom makes the acquaintance of the Heywoods and invites their daughter Charlotte for an extended stay at Sanditon. Meanwhile, Lady Denham plays matchmaker for her destitute nephew, Sir Edward. The arrival of mixed-race heiress Miss Lambe adds an interesting complication.

Episodes 1 and 2 of Sanditon air Jan. 12 beginning at 9 PM. The eight-part series continues Sundays at 9 PM.

Author Pete Fromm Featured on Next ‘Dialogue’

In a new Dialogue interview that premieres Friday, Dec. 27, at 8 p.m., Montana author Pete Fromm joins host Marcia Franklin to talk about his latest book, A Job You Mostly Won’t Know How to Do. The novel tells the story of a young man who has to raise his child when his wife dies in childbirth.

Fromm talks about how he developed the story, as well as his writing style. The two also discuss the success he’s had with his books in France.

Fromm also reminisces about the seven months he lived in the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness of Idaho, which he recounted in his award-winning memoir, Indian Creek Chronicles: A Winter Alone in the Wilderness.

A five-time winner of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Literary Award, Fromm is the author of five novels and five collections of short stories, including The Names of the Stars, a follow-up to Indian Creek Chronicles, and As Cool As I Am, which was made into a movie starring Clare Danes. He also teaches in the low-residency MFA writing program at the Pacific University Oregon.

Fromm, who lives in Missoula, was in Idaho to speak at the Rediscovered Bookshop in Boise and to members of the Selway-Bitterroot Frank Church Foundation in McCall.