Robert Siegel will host NPR's coverage of President Obama's State of the Union address on Tuesday, Jan. 28, followed by the Republican response. He'll be joined in-studio by White House Correspondent Tamara Keith, National Political Correspondent Mara Liasson and Senior Washington Editor Ron Elving.

Additional analysis will come from Ramesh Ponnuru, Senior Editor of National Review magazine and E.J. Dionne, columnist at the Washington Post as well as NPR reporters knowledgeable about such issues as income inequality, immigration and education, or other issues that might be addressed. Special coverage on KGOU begins at 8 p.m.

 

The Oklahoma Legislature begins a new session on Monday, Feb. 3, starting with Governor Mary Fallin's State of the State address. KGOU plans to broadcast her speech -- stay tuned for the exact time.

Some of the issues lawmakers will be debating and deciding could include personal income tax rates, education, school testing and academic standards, prisons, poverty, health care and Medicaid expansion, and public pension reform. KGOU's news department will be reporting on these issues. Previous reports are archived in the Politics and Government section of KGOU.org.

Our statewide public media collaboration, StateImpact Oklahoma will be looking into issues that may have a legislative component, including tax breaks for horizontal drilling and severance taxes for mines, not to mention the topics of earthquakes, water, the environment, and the economy.

 

Around the world, athletes are training for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, running Feb. 7 through 23. Snowboarders, skiers and skaters are all looking for ways to get the edge over their competitors.

NPR correspondents are chronicling the athletes' journeys to Sochi on NPR's newsmagazines; Olympic stories are in the online archives, with more on the way as they air. Once the games begin, NPR's Robert Smith, Tamara Keith, Sam Sanders and Sonari Glinton will cover the action. Stationed nearby, Moscow Correspondent Corey Flintoff will cover politics, security and all things Russia.

 

NPR examines the effects of the oil boom in the northern plains in a series re-scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 29 through Sunday, Feb. 2, on Morning Edition and All Things Considered. NPR's Jeff Brady and Kirk Siegler, Prairie Public Radio's Meg Lindholm and Dan Boyce of Montana Public Radio contribute.

 

With the beginning of a new semester at the University of Oklahoma, KGOU's student employees are shuffling duties. Our newest student worker, Alex Hilton, is taking on the KGOU Community Events Calendar and picking his favorites for the online entertainment blog OneSix8. The blog is available as an RSS feed, delivered straight to you if you wish.

Hayley Thornton is gearing up to produce the new season of Assignment: Radio, our student-produced show, which is scheduled to begin airing in March. Sarah Hurd continues as Development Assistant, helping with membership record-keeping. We also have students working at KGOU for class credit; General Manager Karen Holp reported on their duties and activities in her Manager's Desk segment.

 

We're a long way from Maine, but Kitchen Window food writer Laura McCandlish has recipes for sea scallops that make us want to visit! Read her tips for shopping for scallops, and these recipes are sure to be the star of the meal.