Author Archives: Laura Hertzfeld

The pricey (and icy) road to Vancouver

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Olympic Torch relay/ Credit: Flickr user jp1958

Olympic Torch relay/ Credit: Flickr user jp1958

It’ll cost a lot to host the Winter Olympics — over $6 billion CDN, to be exact. Will the Olympics pay off for Vancouver? The World’s Jason Margolis looks at the numbers behind the games in the first of a series of pieces.

While the Vancouver Olympics are costing a pretty Canadian penny, the Globe and Mail reported this week that the games will actually help lead the economic recovery in Canada.

The city is expected to tally economic growth of 4.5 per cent this year, the biggest expansion among all 27 cities in the report’s metropolitan outlook. It’s a reversal for the city that saw a 1.8-per-cent contraction last year amid factory and construction woes.

But there are still some question marks for the games. KUOW in Seattle reported that one of the main skiing venues, Blackcomb, in Whistler, Britsh Columbia, is on the auction block, but Olympics officials insist there’s little risk in relying on those slopes.

Lenders have moved to sell the assets of struggling ski resort operator Intrawest, including the Winter Olympics venue at Whistler. The creditors filed notice that they intend to auction off the ski resort in the middle of the Olympics next month.

Economics aside, there are hundreds of inspiring stories of athletes from around the U.S. competing later this month. In “From Vermontville to Vancouver”, North Country Public Radio’s Brian Mann profiles Bill Demong, who suffered a fractured skull in 2002 and recovered to continue competing.

Vancouver is a little bigger than tiny Lake Placid, New York, near where Demong is from, and played host to the Olympics thirty years ago. NPR’s Melissa Block found out about the past and present of Olympic tradition in upstate New York.

Musical notes

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You wouldn’t know there was a recession by watching last night’s Grammy Awards – the chorus of Beyonce’s winning song, “Single Ladies (Put A Ring On It)” has echoes of “Diamonds are a Girl’s Best Friend” and the glitz and glamour exhibited in the nominees outfits – like Lady Gaga’s silver ensemble — were far from recession-chic.

But it hasn’t been a great year for the music recording industry overall. With record stores shuttering, ticket brokers consolidating, and album saless tanking, big music has taken a big hit. Could Lady Gaga-esque antics be an antidote to low record sales? The Wall Street Journal reported this morning that while Lady Gaga may be the ultimate example of excess, she’s also representative of a new business model for the industry.

Underneath Gaga’s haystack wigs is a case study of what it takes to succeed in the music business today. Gaga, 23 years old, has made shrewd use of new digital platforms, while still leveraging the clout of a major label, an institution deemed obsolete by many proponents of DIY culture. She is a product of a new kind of recording contract which goes beyond just selling records to encompass everything from touring, merchandise–even her make-up deal. Though she writes her own material, she is as focused on visual theatrics, fashion, and global appeal as she is on the music.

While Lady Gaga may be bucking the trend with her glam style, singing about the recession is best left to other end of the musical spectrum — bluesmen. The NewsHour’s Paul Solman spoke with investment advisor-cum-country singer Merle Hazard (not to be confused with Merle Haggard) who’s created a new genre of musical comedy using country and blues tunes — economics humor.

“In his song H-E-D-G-E, for example, he takes on the persona of a hedge fund manager watching his fund go bust, to the tune of Tammy Wynette’s D-I-V-O-R-C-E:

I was leveraged 10-to-1
But it should have been 2 or 3.
Oh, how I wished I had a working
H-E-D-G-E.”

Hoping to get to the Super Bowl? Have your connections ready

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Abita beer isn’t the only thing brewing for the Super Bowl. Every year, the NFL allows public officials and corporations to buy set-aside tickets for the biggest sporting event of year – but who gets to tag along is a question of connections, donations, and the nature of the perk. WNYC and ProPublica are asking for your help in figuring out who gets what:

Comments are already flowing in on the site, both for and against the perk system.

AQ from Manhattan writes: “A lot of times the perks are actually given to important members of the staff who in turn team up with the congressman in giving the corps priority and preferential treatment.”

Fluke Fisherman from New York isn’t so sure about the validity of perks: “A large number of law enforcement agencies under the guise of “security” go to the Superbowl on government perdiem.”

Contribute to the project by calling your congressional representative and getting the scoop before the big game on February 7. All the info is you need to help is here.

While most of us won’t be able to get to the game, seeing the competing cities get geared up is half the fun. WWOZ has a great list of Saints fight songs and WFYI in Indianapolis has the untold history of how the Colts came to Indianapolis.

How to watch the State of the Union

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It’s hard to believe that it’s been just over a year since President Obama took office. Tonight he addresses Congress and the country in his first State of the Union address, which will focus on the economy, health care, and the outlook for 2010.

In the age of digital technology, we’d be remiss not to share with you some cool ways to follow along with the President’s speech, and share your thoughts, and respond during tonight’s event.

NewsHour is streaming the State of the Union live, and you can submit your reactions via YouTube to share them with Jim Lehrer and the NewsHour staff.

You can also share your ending to the sentence “The State of our union is ___” by posting it on WNYC’s site looking at the state of the presidency. In past years, “strong” has been a pretty popular choice.

What happens at a State of the Union? This behind the scenes look from Benjamin Shaw at WFUV in 2007 shows the pomp and circumstance of how a president prepares for the event. There’s also a new teacher’s guide from the NewsHour to help students understand how the State of the Union works and its significance in presidential history.

The State of the Union may also give some clues as to how the Democrats will fair in the 2010 midterm elections. Patchwork Nation’s Dante Chinni provides pre-speech analysis from communities around the country.

Mr. Obama’s approval ratings have slipped in nearly all 12 of Patchwork Nation’s community types in recent months. But, more important to the 2010 elections, there is also a disconnect between how people feel about Obama and how they feel about the Democratic Party, according a recent poll from the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. As it turns out, Obama numbers look OK compared with some numbers for the Democratic Party.

For more video features on the Obama presidency, check out this PBS video collection, which includes clips from the past year about the president’s work and the challenges he’s faced so far.