South Pacific Tsunami Wreaks Havoc

A main road in the downtown area of Fagatogo, is seen flooded by water from a tsunami located in the main town area in American Samoa on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009. Towering tsunami waves spawned by a powerful earthquake swept ashore on Samoa and American Samoa early Tuesday, flattening villages, killing at least 34 people and leaving dozens of workers missing at devastated National Park Service facilities. (AP)

A main road in the downtown area of Fagatogo, in American Samoa on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 2009.(AP)

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A deadly tsunami following a powerful earthquake has devastated communities and tourist resorts in Samoa and American Samoa. We speak with Joyetter Feagamaalii, news assistant at KHJ Radio in Pago Pago, American Samoa.

Can Architecture Promote Civic Engagement?

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Architect William Rawn thinks buildings can engage communities. He says that buildings have neighbors and “shouldn’t be just always about standing alone and shouting look at me.” The architecture firm, William Rawn Associates, with just 32 employees, was named top architectural firm in the country by Architect Magazine. We speak with William Rawn and with Mayor Fred Armstrong of Columbus, Indiana- where William Rawn designed a fire house and recently broke ground on a new senior center.

See photos of Columbus, Indiana’s fire house, the Seiji Ozawa Hall and more

Sex Offender Camp Closed

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The nine sex offenders who had been directed to live in a makeshift camp in Cobb County Georgia have been ordered to leave the spot. Georgia has among the most restrictive laws banning sex offenders from living or working within a thousand feet of a place where children might gather, so the question is, where have the sex offenders gone? We’ll speak with Georgia Public Radio reporter John Sepulvado.

Supreme Court Preview

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Today, the Supreme Court added several cases to its docket for the term that begins October 5. We preview the session with Lyle Deniston of Scotusblog.com.

Cases mentioned in this segment:

New York Celebrates 400 Years

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In 1609, Henry Hudson, sailed up the river that now bears his name. In 1909, New York threw a massive celebration to mark the 300th anniversary. The celebration was meant to put the city on the map — and it did. We look back at the celebration with Kathleen Eagen Johnson, curator of Historic Hudson Valley in Tarrytown and author of the book “The Hudson-Fulton Celebration: New York’s River Festival of 1909 and the Making of a Metropolis.”

Events planned for this year’s 400th anniversary:

Music from the show

Steve Reich, “Music for Mallets”
Charles Mingus, “Boogie Stop Shuffle”
Christian McBride, “Theme for Kareem”
Joe Jackson, “Steppin’ Out”
John Phillips Sousa, “The Manhattan Beach”
“Dearie” arranged by Chris Calabrese

Tags: architecture, New York, Samoa, Supreme Court

Listener comments

I’m curious – was Robin’s guest this morning, “Joyetter Feagamaalii, news assistant at KHJ Radio” actually at the same radio station as everyone else?

A colleague of mine is very closely associated with two stations there, and they were very clear that EAS earthquate and tsunami warnings were issued from KHJ radio and .

BBC News also confirms this – see:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8282882.stm

I find it remarkable that the ‘news assistant’ wasn’t aware of what was going on in her own station.

I’m very sorry about the loss and the tragedy, but this is very disturbing that this was broadcast without being checked out more carefully.
Posted by Radio Listener, on September 30th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
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Posted by Patricia Myles, on October 1st, 2009 at 9:57 am
Only part of the story was presented on your show, ‘NY Celebrates 400 years,’ the other part being that the arrival of Henry Hudson was the equivalant of 9-11 to the Lenape Indians residing on Mannahatta. Even the analogy doesn’t capture the devastation visited upon the population unprecedented in terms of the loss of lives, culture and homeland.

Hardly an event to celebrate. Perhaps some investigative reporting can uncover the fate of those native people after their land was stolen (let’s disspell the myth that Manhattan was bought for a few trinkets and beads). At the Muncey reserve in Ontario a population of Delaware(Lenape) band lives, displaced from the east. In the 1700’s a missionary was appalled at the ethnic cleansing occurring in Connecticut by the Dutch and led them there to safety. Perhaps their NY brethren was included in the exodus.

Their descendents survival to the present would be an event worth celebrating and a story worth listening to. Another story is the environmental distruction of the land, lush with ecosystems and wildlife before the arrival of Europeans, deviants of traditional lifestyles, that’s compromising the future of all. Patricia Myles, Ypsilanti, MI
Posted by Patricia Myles, on October 1st, 2009 at 10:17 am