Catalog Search Results
3) Lawmakers
Language
English
Description
This program focuses on those who choose to become legislators, and why. Many senators and representatives, from all walks of life, speak about what motivates them to seek public office. Interviews with factory workers, farmers, housewives, and policemen, who also serve in their state legislatures, dispel preconceptions about overly ambitious politicians. We learn that campaigning has become a nearly continuous process for representatives. The program...
4) Lawmaking
Language
English
Description
This program shows the process of lawmaking. Through dozens of interviews at state capitols across the United States, we meet officials in state legislatures and learn about their respective roles in the making of laws. We meet the speakers of the Senate and House, the minority leaders, the chief clerks; see caucuses, committees, and lobbyists in action; and develop an understanding of how they interact. Students learn how legislators compromise to...
Language
English
Description
Did our founding fathers envision today's political campaigns? Do political races serve our democratic ideals? How do candidates get voters to choose them? Viewers learn how running a campaign has turned from the noble pursuit our founders planned into a manipulative science. Although campaigns from the beginning suffered from negative rhetoric, in the age of television they have become even more harsh and a lot less truthful. Viewers learn about...
Language
English
Description
This documentary zeroes in on the price candidates pay to win election to public office. Media drives campaigns; money drives media. As a result, modern political campaigns have become enormously expensive, with winners often decided by the size of their campaign expenditures. This video investigates where candidates get their money and what they trade in their quest for political power. This thought-provoking program takes a look at wealth and its...
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English
Description
Every decade, after each United States census, states engage in redistricting, the redrawing of congressional and state legislative boundaries. This process often becomes politicized, with district lines drawn to create partisan advantages and disadvantages, a tactic known as gerrymandering.
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English
Description
Thousands of people rallied in Florida, demanding justice for Trayvon Martin, the unarmed black teenager shot in February 2012 in a gated community. NewsHour correspondent Jeffrey Brown explores the many issues raised by the case with The Atlantic's Ta-Nehisi Coates, The Daily's Reihan Salam, author Donna Britt, and Florida state Rep. Dennis Baxley. Origina?
12) Sanctuary cities
Language
English
Description
Presents opposing arguments on the topic of sanctuary cities, discussing whom they protect, their crime rates, and their impact on national security and democracy. Includes a list of relevant organizations and discussion questions.
Language
English
Description
The Supreme Court heard arguments on Arizona's contentious immigration law in April 2012, with focus on so-called show-me-your-papers provisions that authorize police to verify the immigration status of anyone suspected of being undocumented and arrest anyone believed to have committed a deportable offense. NewsHour correspondent Tom Bearden reports. Origina?
14) Gerrymandering
Language
English
Description
Gerrymandering is defined as the carving up of a state into districts in a way that allows one political party to gain more clout than another. It has also been called the most effective way to manipulate an election's outcome short of outright fraud. Focusing on the fight to pass Proposition 11 - drafted to give redistricting power to a bipartisan rather than legislative group - this documentary explores the ethical implications of gerrymandering...
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English
Description
"There's a dark cloud over Sunny Jim's Safety First Parasailing and Stand-Up Paddleboarding business on Florida's Riggs Beach--especially after one of his clients is killed in a tragic paddleboarding mishap. Sunny Jim is sure it was no accident, and he hires Helen and Phil to find the murderer. Between cutthroat competitors poaching his territory, the city threatening to revoke his license, a restaurant owner wanting his beach spot for a parking lot,...
Language
English
Description
Crafting a unified response to economic turmoil is no easy task at the federal level, but towns and cities across the U.S. have faced the aftermath of the 2008 recession in ways that are quick, innovative, and authentic. Their methods, while not always successful, offer a wealth of teaching points for studies in civics, economics, sociology, and political science. In Great Barrington, Massachusetts, a new local currency circulates. In Austin, Texas,...
19) Townscapes
Author
Language
English
Description
Three graphic tales of modern day towns caught up in fantastic circumstances. The Cruise of Lost Souls tells of a mysterious device and its surprising effects on a farming town. Ship of Stone is about a fishing village and a local warlock who confront unscrupulous property developers. The Town That Didn't exist relates the story of a small town revitalized by a young woman's insights.