KGOU

Robert Benincasa is a computer-assisted reporting producer in NPR's Investigations Unit.

Since joining NPR in 2008, Benincasa has been reporting on NPR Investigations stories, analyzing data for investigations, and developing data visualizations and interactive applications for NPR.org. He has worked on numerous groundbreaking stories, including an exclusive on the independence level of nursing home residents, the safety of automated aircraft, and a government mandate to produce $1 coins that Americans don't want.

Prior to NPR, Benincasa served as the database editor for the Gannett News Service Washington Bureau for a decade. In 1995, he joined the Burlington VT Free Press as a staff writer.

Benincasa's work at NPR has been recognized by many of journalism's top honors. In 2011, he was part of the team that received a Sigma Delta Chi Award for Excellence in Journalism, a Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award, Dart Award for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma, George Foster Peabody Award, and a National Journalism Award – Jack R. Howard Award for Excellence in Radio Reporting for work on NPR's story "Seeking Justice for Campus Rapes."

Also in 2011 he received numerous accolades for his contributions to several investigative stories including an Edward R. Murrow Award for Excellence in Coverage of Trauma, an Investigative Reporters & Editors Radio Award, the While House News Photographers Association's Eyes of History Award for multimedia innovation, and George Polk Award.

Since 2008, Benincasa, has served on the faculty of Georgetown University's Master of Professional Studies program in journalism.

Benincasa earned a master's of arts degree in journalism from University of Maryland and a bachelor's of arts in psychology from Villanova University.

Lexington native Brenna Angel anchored local morning newscasts for WUKY through May 13. She joined the station in March 2010 after previously working for WHAS-AM in Louisville.

Her work has been honored by the Hearst Foundation, the Radio Television Digital News Association, and the Associated Press. Several of Brenna’s stories have aired on NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered.

Brenna accepted a position with the Lexington Mayor's Office in May 2013.

Severe Storms

1:47 pm

Thu May 30, 2013

Tornado Watch Issued for Central and Eastern Oklahoma

Credit National Weather Service / Storm Prediction Center

By Brian Hardzinski

The National Weather Service has issued a Tornado Watch for most of Central and Eastern Oklahoma until 10 p.m.

The Storm Prediction Center in Norman warns there is a moderate risk of severe weather over much of eastern and central Oklahoma on Thursday.

“We have a very complex forecast again today,” says National Weather Service warning coordination meteorologist Rick Smith. “We do look into the atmosphere and see more ingredients in place today for supercells and tornadoes than what we saw yesterday.”

World Views

11:52 am

Thu May 30, 2013

How Turkey Became The Nicest House In A Rough Neighborhood

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Credit Joshua Landis / Facebook

The Golden Horn and Bosporus from the Suleiman Mosque, Istanbul.

Credit Joshua Landis / Facebook

The Virgin and child, painted dome of the parecclesion of Chora Church.

Credit Joshua Landis / Facebook

Kayakoy, the Greek Ghost town near Izmir. It was emptied out in 1923 with the massive population transfer that ended the long process of ethnic cleansing in Anatolia, Greece, and much of the Balkans.

Credit Joshua Landis / Facebook

The Library at Ephesus

Credit Joshua Landis / Facebook

Topkapi Palace, Istanbul

Credit Joshua Landis / Facebook

Kaunos Rock Tombs in Dalyan

Credit Joshua Landis / Facebook

Dolmabahce Palace, Istanbul

Credit Joshua Landis / Facebook

KGOU "World Views" Contributor Joshua Landis at the amphitheater at the Shrine of the Goddess Leto at Letoon, where the Lycian Federation celebrated its national festivals. It later became a center of Christian worship.

Credit Joshua Landis / Facebook

"World Views" host Suzette Grillot taking a rest at Letoon

By Suzette Grillot and Brian Hardzinski

Listen

Over the last decade, Turkey has averaged at least five percent growth of gross domestic product per year with a per capita income now more than $17,000, according to the country’s Ministry of Finance.

Those numbers are only expected to rise, even as a revolution continues to boil over next door in Syria, Iran faces severe economic sanctions, and economies in Greece and Cyprus melt down.

Joshua Landis, the Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma, says after Turkey’s attempt to join the European Union failed, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan forged a new path, facing neither East nor West.

Milo Miles is Fresh Air's world-music and American-roots music critic. He is a former music editor of The Boston Phoenix.

Miles is a contributing writer for Rolling Stone magazine, and he also writes about music for The Village Voice and The New York Times.

OneSix8

8:39 am

Thu May 30, 2013

Entertaining the Hours of Your Week: Giving Voice to Subjects & Artists

Invisible Eve

By Jim Johnson

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but as Ansel Adams once stated, “When images become inadequate, I shall be content with silence.” Fortunately, this week’s OneSix8 highlights two art events worth talking (and of course, writing) about.

8:36 am

Thu May 30, 2013

Survey: No Cuts Needed To Offset Disaster Spending

By Kurt Gwartney

Lead in text:

While Oklahomans continue to recover from last week's tornadoes, a new study shows a majority of people support spending on natural disasters without compensating for the cash by cutting other areas.

Source: People-press
| Via: Pew Research Center for People and the Press

Released: May 29, 2013 High Interest in Oklahoma Tornado Overview As Oklahoma recovers from severe damage caused by last week's tornado, a majority of Americans (59%) say federal spending in response to natural disasters is emergency aid that does not need to be offset by cuts to other programs, while

Read More: http://www.people-press.org

Drought

8:30 am

Thu May 30, 2013

Drought Only Partially to Blame for Oklahoma’s Withering Wheat Crop

Credit NET_EFEKT / Flickr Creative Commons

By Logan Layden

While the drought continues to ease in eastern portions of the state, it’s still raging in much of western Oklahoma, where the state’s wheat harvest is taking a hit.

The Oklahoma Grain and Feed Association recently released its estimate of this year’s wheat crop, which Oklahoma Farm Report summed up with one word: “dismal.”

World Views

8:21 am

Thu May 30, 2013

High-resolution Imaging Gives Art New Life Online

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Credit Sir Anthony van Dyck / Royal Collection © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Charles I (1600-1649), Oil on canvas, c. 1636

Credit Leonardo da Vinci / Royal Collection © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

The foetus in the womb, Pen and ink over red chalk, c. 1511

Credit London (place of production) / Royal Collection © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Queen Victoria's Dress, Silk and lace, 1851

Credit Claude Gellée / Royal Collection © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Harbour Scene at Sunset, Oil on canvas, c. 1643

Credit Jacques-Laurent Agasse / Royal Collection © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

The Nubian Giraffe, Oil on canvas, 1827

Credit Royal Armouries: Greenwich / Royal Collection © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Armour of Henry VIII for the field and tilt, Steel etched in relief, 1539

Credit Sir Peter Paul Rubens / Royal Collection © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Landscape with St George and the Dragon, Oil on canvas, 1635

Credit Philip Rundell / Royal Collection © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

The Shield of Achilles, Silver gilt, 1821

Credit John Bridge / Royal Collection © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Tureen, Silver gilt, c. 1826

Credit Willem van de Velde the Younger / Royal Collection © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

A Calm: A States Yacht under Sail close to the Shore with many other Vessels, Oil on panel, c. 1655

Credit Johannes Vermeer / Royal Collection © Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

A Lady at the Virginal with a Gentleman, 'The Music Lesson', Oil on canvas, c. 1662-5

By Hallie Arias and Suzette Grillot

Listen

Listen to Suzette Grillot's interview with Desmond Shawe-Taylor and Anna Somers Cocks.

Technology is changing the way we experience art. High-resolution imaging not only allows museum curators to catalog and preserve their collections, it also changes the structure and function of the museums themselves.

“If you look at almost any great museum, it starts either with the collections of private individuals, or else with the heads of state,” says Anna Somers Cocks, founding editor of The Art Newspaper. “If you go around the Met in New York, it's like a kind of series of chapels devoted to various donors – galleries that have not just been financed, but have actually been filled with works of art collected.”

Severe Storms

4:08 pm

Wed May 29, 2013

Tornado Watch Issued For Most Of Oklahoma

Credit National Weather Service / Storm Prediction Center

Storms will continue to move eastward through the evening and early overnight. Large hail and damaging winds will be the primary concerns for locations across central Oklahoma.

By Kurt Gwartney

A Tornado Watch is in place for most of Oklahoma as a storm system is poised to make its way through the state.

Forecasters with the National Weather Service say it's important to be aware of the weather over the next three days, though it's not time to panic.

“It’s very difficult and very challenging striking a balance between freaking people and telling them what they need to be ready for,” says warning coordinating meteorologist Rick Smith with the National Weather Service’s Norman Forecast Office.

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