- [Jim] This week on "A Lively Experiment," as Rhode Island faces a looming healthcare crisis, what are state officials doing to address it?

And developers of an affordable housing complex being blocked by one local mayor say, "See you in court."

- [Announcer] "A Lively Experiment" is generously underwritten by- - Hi, I'm John Hazen White, Jr. For over 30 years, "A Lively Experiment" has provided insight and analysis of the political issues that face Rhode Islanders.

I'm a proud supporter of this great program and Rhode Island PBS.

- Joining us on this week's panel, attorney and former Mayor of Providence Angel Taveras, political contributor Pablo Rodriguez, and former State Representative Barbara Ann Fenton-Fung.

Welcome to this week's "Lively."

I'm Jim Hummel, and we appreciate you spending part of your weekend with us.

Doctor shortages, hospital systems under financial strain, and an ongoing discussion about reimbursement rates.

They are just some of the factors creating a perfect storm for the healthcare system in Rhode Island, and the state of Rhode Island has largely been late to the game addressing the problem.

So folks, I know we could do a whole half hour on this.

First of all, Barbara Ann, welcome.

- Thank you, Jim, the hazing's begun, yes- - This is your first time on the show, and it's actually appropriate, because a lot of people know you as a former state representative- - Mm-hmm.

- As a politician, but your job is healthcare.

- I do, I work for Brown University Health, and, you know, we're in the biggest healthcare sector here in Rhode Island.

You know, we're talking about trying to keep all of our hospitals afloat, and they're under enormous financial pressures coming from many different angles.

And, you know, one of the things that President Fernandez of Brown University Health has been so vocal about is that we need a better case mix here in the state, that we need more people with commercial insurances to counteract the fact that we're struggling with Medicaid, okay?

At the State House, you know, Governor McKee's budget was very detrimental for the hospitals.

He's talking about increasing licensing fees by tens of millions of dollars.

They're not going towards what, we have statutory increases in Medicaid reimbursements.

He's ignoring that right now, and that means a cut of several million dollars to the hospital.

So we're seeing lots of financial pressures up top there.

We don't have the business environment, we've been saying this for decades, to counteract the fact that, you know, we treat a lot of people, about 1/3 of the state's on Medicaid, and that system itself doesn't cover costs.

We had a lot of, you know, news recently that if you just went over the border to Massachusetts or Connecticut, their Medicaid systems do actually pay for costs plus a little bit.

But right now, if you were getting your hip replacement here in Rhode Island, the hospital's basically losing money the second you walk in the door.

- So these are things we should've been addressing 20 years ago, and all of a sudden, everybody wakes up, and said, "Oh, there's a doctor shortage.

"What are we gonna do?"

- We've had a doctor shortage for years here in Rhode Island.

Right now, if you try to get a primary care provider, you're not gonna find one.

We have at at least three, a deficit of 300 doctors in Rhode Island in order to just keep up with the population and their need for primary care.

The thing that I wanna make sure that we don't lose sight of is that Medicaid, cuts to Medicaid are not the way to save the healthcare system.

- Yeah.

- Because especially here in Rhode Island, for every $6, for every $3 that you save in Medicaid, you lose $6 of federal contribution.

So a $3 cut really is a nine to $10 cut, and that would be devastating to the hospitals- - Absolutely.

- To the doctors, and create a situation where things are getting worse- - Yes.

- Instead of getting better for the providers.

- And since Memorial closed, we can't have one more hospital close.

This system cannot handle that strain.

- Angel?

- Yeah, I'm on the board of Brian University Health, and so, we deal with these issues frequently, and I actually agree with Barbara Ann on this, and that is that the budget is a big, big problem for us.

Look, Nancy Lavin wrote in Rhode Island Current, and she had a great article about this, and she pointed out the net income for the 10 hospitals, so that's beyond Brown University Health, 10 hospitals includes Fatima, Roger Williams, the Westerly Hospital, Kent County, South County, Landmark, it was about $16.9 million.

The governor's budget, if it passes as it is, will have a negative impact of 39.9 million on the hospitals, okay?

What's that gonna do to the bottom line for the hospitals?

We can't afford that, and Pablo talked about this as well.

Medicaid is crucial.

Medicaid is crucial, because in Rhode Island, we have so many people on Medicaid, and on top of that, our reimbursement rates are much lower, and we're losing the matching piece on that as well.

- Yeah.

- So we need to do, we need to work together as a state, and realize that this is a crisis, and you're making it worse if you pass this budget.

- You sat in the House Chamber for years.

Were there- - Four years.

Don't make me- - Were they, yeah, well, I mean not as far as some.

What were the discussions going on?

Is healthcare kind of like, "Well, we'll get to that eventually"?

- I will say, and this is a criticism, our entire healthcare industry, we have not been good at playing the political game, okay?

It is 1/3 of the state budget, and we could be doing more, getting there every single committee meeting and hearing, and kind of raising that issue, because if you're not there at the table, you're on the menu.

That's the classic saying up at the State House, and everything, you know, when you watch the show, every single week, we have another crisis.

It's the infrastructure crisis.

It's the housing crisis.

Eventually, it's not like one big event that went through.

It's just years of leadership that was not, you know, keeping the eye on the long ball here.

And so, I think that us as an industry has to do a better job, all of us together, being at that State House, being more involved in the political game.

When I was up there, I was one of only six people in the entire chamber with any healthcare background, and that included, you know, pharmacist, an eye doctor, people in the EMT world.

We need to have us much more involved, you know, not only just at the State House, but in these, when we're talking about the governor race coming up in two years, and making sure that those concerns are the top of the menu.

- And I sound like a broken record, because every time I'm here in the show, I keep talking about increasing revenue.

We cannot, you know, prosper in Rhode Island by cutting.

- Yeah.

- We need to raise revenue, and this proposal that is before the legislature to increase, to add a 3% surcharge for people making more than $625,000 can bring $190 million to the budget, and I think it's important because, you know, the people that are making that kind of money already have had four major tax cuts in the last four years, including the tax cut right here in Rhode Island that went from 9.9 to 5.9% of federal income tax.

- The last time you were on, we talked about the governors, I just remembered this.

We talked about the governor putting in his budget forgiveness for some loans for medical students.

It's $400,000.

- It's the kind of thing- - How many people will that, even if it was 50,000, that's eight people.

- I thought it was 200,000.

(Barbara Ann laughing) It's only two doctors, you know?

- I mean, wouldn't that have been an (mumbles), I know everybody wanted to get their hands on the ARPA money, but talk about one-time expenditures not built-in.

Let's put $5 million- - Dollars.

- Toward doctors to keep them here.

- And you have to do it for a longer period.

I think the current proposal's only two years.

If you said, "Hey, look, over 10 years, "we're gonna pay down so much of your loans each year, "and kind of wipe out your medical school debt," then you have an established practice.

- Yes- - Then they've probably bought a home, they probably have a family started here, "So it's harder to leave," quote, unquote.

- They've been talking about a potential med school down at URI.

- Yeah, I think the big issue here in Rhode Island in terms of government, based on my experience, is that people don't deal with things until they become a crisis.

- Right.

- And we are deep into this crisis, and we're about to make it worse if we pass this budget.

And so, I think that these investments and these decisions need to be made with an eye toward the future, and not waiting 'til things become a crisis.

I know I've dealt with some in my time.

I also think the other issue is that people, I agree with Barbara Ann again on one thing- - You're like a Republican today.

- We need, no, no, no, I'm far from that.

Are there any Republicans left- - No, we're just, we're- - But- - We're all happy.

- But the issue is educating people about what this means.

I think some people at the State House may believe that some of our hospitals are too big to fail, and that is not the case.

There's evidence of it here.

There's evidence of it in Massachusetts.

There's evidence of it across the country.

And God knows we need our healthcare system to be strong, not simply because they're the biggest employer in the state, private employer in the state, but because all of us, all of us are depending on it.

- Would you label this a category five for the healthcare sector?

- What's category six?

- Is that appropriate?

- Listen, the last time I said that, I lost weight.

So I'm gonna just be- - You don't wanna do it.

You can't lose anymore weight.

Just quickly before we move on, med school at URI?

- We need to make more doctors.

We need to create more doctors in this state, and we need to attract more doctors- - And if it's URI, maybe that's people who might wanna stay in Rhode Island- - And we have to have a system that if we support you, you need to stay in the state, and if you leave, you have to pay the investment back.

- Correct.

- That's what many states do.

That's what the federal government does with the National Health Service.

- Yeah.

- What about that?

- No, I'm actually agreeing with you completely on this.

I think the med school is a great thing.

That's a decade out, though.

- Yeah.

- Okay?

The number one thing you can do tomorrow to keep more doctors here is to raise reimbursement rates.

- Yeah.

- Private and Medicaid, it's the one thing that will stop the bleeding.

- Okay.

We talked about this when it happened.

Joseph Polisena, Jr., who is the Mayor of Johnston, is talking about taking a parcel that they were designating for affordable housing, and taking it by eminent domain, and turn it into a public safety complex.

This goes to the larger issue, Pablo, of affordable housing.

And so, the news this week is that the developers, not surprisingly, are going to court to sue him.

I have problems, maybe the libertarian in me, of taking anything by eminent domain if it's not an absolute, you know, need to have.

Your thoughts about this, and the larger issue of affordable housing?

- Yeah, it's the deja vu all over again.

I mean, last time I was on the show, we talked about- - Were we talking about that, yeah?

- And now, it's again.

- Yeah.

- And, you know, it's dishonest.

It really is, you know, to use eminent domain at a time when there was no discussion about this, you know, at the city hall about creating this new building that he says that he needs to do for eminent domain.

Eminent domain has a role in government, but is for circumstances that are just absolutely essential, and that are planned and thought out, not because you want to prevent affordable housing to go into your town.

- Yeah, no, listen, as a lawyer, I would just say there's a process for this, right?

And it's called discovery, and discovery, when you sue someone, is when you get a chance to find information.

I can't wait to see the discovery in this case, because it certainly seems- - When did you start talking about the public safety complex, right?

- You may not be a lawyer, but you're playing one right now.

(group laughing) - Isn't that the first question you'd ask?

It wasn't- - And you get documents, and you get texts, and you get messages, and you get all of these different things going on, so you can then start piecing it together, and see exactly what people have said behind the scenes.

So I think this is gonna be a very interesting case, and I look forward to following it closely.

I know the plaintiff's lawyers very well, and she's an outstanding lawyer, and she also has a foundation that's helping her.

So it should be interesting to see what comes out.

But again, affordable housing, another issue that we've allowed to become a crisis in our state, and here we are.

Now we're dealing with it, because it's a crisis - [Jim] Mm-hmm.

- One and the other, right?

And I'm gonna stay a little bit away from Johnston, 'cause my husband does work in there, but it's one of, this is just kind of like a symptom of a problem, where we're looking at, all right, there are certain communities, especially the smaller ones, who are trying to figure out how to build more housing stock, but do it in a way that actually makes sense for their community.

Like in Cranston, we need a lot more housing when it talks about people 55 and older, okay?

They're getting priced out because of the tax hikes, 'cause of their energy costs.

We've had a big deal about Rhode Island Energy recently, so we need more 55-plus livable communities where people can age in place.

But when we're looking at certain communities, especially the smaller ones, whether it's Johnston, whether it's Exeter, you also just can't put a building in the middle of, you know, a place that doesn't have the sewer infrastructure, that doesn't have public transportation- - [Jim] Foster doesn't have the RIPTA line, right- - Exeter doesn't.

I remember, you know, talking to Megan Cotter, and she's like, "I would love to put some housing down here, "but we just don't have the whole setup," and I think that needs to be a much more comprehensive approach.

And Joe Shekarchi, I have a great relationship with him, and he usually, one thing about Joe is he's very open to feedback, and I think some of these small communities who are having a struggle, instead of it getting to this, it'd be great if they could kind of get together again, and be like, "These are the tweaks we need."

A lot of times, success is really just one or two little tweaks away, and I think that would be a good thing, especially if, you know, Speaker Shekarchi's talking a lot about perhaps running for higher office and whatnot.

I think it'd be good to get on the page with some of the smaller communities to get this to success.

- You invested, we invested so much money in it, though, and the frustrating thing is we're not seeing, the results are gonna be years off.

- Yeah.

- It is about zoning.

We have to reform the zoning laws here in Rhode Island to allow for high density living to be allowed in communities that today have complete and absolute not-in-my-backyard situations.

This is going to get worse with this new administration in Washington.

There's gonna be less money available for public housing, and people are gonna be living in the streets, and that's not what we want here in Rhode Island.

- And we don't, 'cause the seniors are the- - Absolutely.

- Actually the fastest growing homeless population.

- Absolutely- - We see that a lot at the hospital.

But yeah, I mean, and the other thing that's a challenge too is the rising costs, and whether, you know- - Yes.

- We're talking about tariff wars, and whatnot, when you're talking a building, this is, everything is kind of going against having that housing stock come online quickly.

So it's kudos to Warwick.

We drove by the other day, right by the airport, and a very large complex is going up there, too- - What about some of the local resistance, Angel?

There's been a feeling that, as Barbara Ann was saying, that one size may not fit all, and I know this has been the speaker's priority, but there's some people in some of the outlying communities that are like, "Well, this is not (mumbles)," I don't know if it's appropriate the right word, "It doesn't fit with our community."

- Yeah, I think that's something that's very common, and you're gonna continue to see that, and in terms of the zoning, one of the toughest things on that is that every city and town has their own zoning.

So to the extent that you try to impose zoning or uniform zoning on them, you're gonna have a lot of resistance.

But the bottom line is that if you have laws on the books in Johnston, or if you have laws on the book where I live in Lincoln, or if you have laws on the book in Tiverton, you should follow those laws, and in terms of the permitting process- - But are they gonna get trumped by state law in some cases?

- Oh, they may, they may very well get trumped by state law, and I think that you're gonna just see even further resistance from local municipalities that are being trumped by state law, I think, without a doubt.

- And then it drags out, and then it becomes for the developer, you know, it's just they can't wait five or six years for this to come online, and that's what is happening.

- Just before we move on, as you were sitting there, you heard a lot of the discussion the last couple of years.

This was Speaker Shekarchi's.

Do you get the feeling there was some frustration that the, you know, you've allocated the money, but, you know, a lot of times, you allocate money, and then people use it, and it goes that it really is not getting out the door, and I was thinking about this as I was driving in today with what's going on in Washington, which we'll get to momentarily.

Some of those ARPA funds need to be spent by a certain period of time- - '26, yeah.

- Right?

And so, if that isn't getting out the door for affordable housing, then what?

- And what are all these missed opportunities that we might have?

It was very frustrating year after year.

It's not just in the housing.

There were other parts of ARPA that we were sending money out, especially when it came to the homelessness situation here in Rhode Island.

I think that perhaps in the past maybe there were better communications between the governor and the speaker, and just trying to get those things synced up.

Right now, that appears to be sometimes a lot of friction, and I don't, we wanna see results, and that's a thing that just, it's not a I turn the switch on and tomorrow we're building houses.

- No.

- It's longer.

- Okay, another week, more chaos in Washington, which is a, I can't believe it's only been, it's only been two months.

It feels like two years that the Trump administration has been there.

I'm not sure where to begin.

It is interesting that there has been some judicial intervention.

One of the circuits, Angel, let me start with you as the lawyer, one of the circuit courts said that DOGE and Elon Musk, they had to bring back probationary officers.

I think that, I guess in a lot of our minds is is the Trump administration gonna listen to the courts?

'Cause then you're gonna have a problem if that, if he doesn't.

- Yeah.

- We don't have any indication of that yet, but- - Yeah, I mean, and I don't have an answer to what happens if they don't listen to the court.

So far, they have been appealing, which is what you should do when you disagree with a- - [Jim] 'Cause they wanna get to the Supreme Court- - They wanna get to the Supreme Court because this is a Supreme Court that is very result-oriented, and they will use original intent when it suits them, and they will ignore it when it doesn't.

- Yeah.

- And that's what they did with the immunity decision, which is nowhere in the Constitution for executive immunity.

There is actually immunity for legislative immunity in this, in the- - Imagine that, right?

- However, nothing there yet.

They gave Trump a broad, broad immunity there.

But what we've seen is the lawyers and attorney generals, and it'll be one of my kudos later as we talk about Attorney General Neronha- - Don't get ahead of yourself.

- That's right.

They have really been at the forefront of battling this Trump administration, and I think that the judiciary has stood up in a way that, quite frankly, the legislature has not.

And so, I'm happy to see that, but the real question is what you said, and what happens if we get to a point where Mr. Trump does what President Jackson said years ago, and that's, "The Supreme Court made its ruling.

"Now, let them enforce it."

That's when I think the real crisis comes in.

- When I was in clinical medicine, in clinical practice- - Back in the 1800s- - Back I the 1800s, my patients would ask me, "What is the most efficient way to lose weight?"

And I would tell them, "Amputation," (group laughing) because really that's the- - It wasn't diet, it was- - That's, you know, no, that's the most efficient way, but, you know, you don't want that, right?

- Yeah.

- That's what we have right now in Washington.

We have Elon Musk with a bunch of teenagers, you know, on a weight loss program for the government using amputation, firing people because they can, not because they have to, or not because they know what they do.

In other words, they're pulling the plug on the server, and then trying to figure out, you know, what does the server do, or making the patient walk again after they cut the leg off.

It really is an irresponsible way of managing.

No business in this world will take two or three days to cut significant portions of the workforce.

- You know, the Trump administration is where it was eight years ago.

They have the House they have the Senate, so, and I know they wanna get this done yesterday, because the clock is ticking on his last, hopefully, his last four years.

We know that it's to be continued, but they could craft a budget for next year that says, "Let's get all this."

That's not quick enough.

So as you look at this, you're sitting between two Democrats- - Yes.

- What are you thinking?

- So I think that the Trump administration's moving incredibly fast, and that's creating a lot of angst.

And so, you're taking a look at, you know, you're looking at the markets, they've had a very rough week so far, 'cause one day we have tariffs, the next day we don't, the next, that instability is very difficult not just for families at home, but also the market abroad, okay?

So it feels sometimes like the Trump administration's trying to find their groove about where to go.

I don't think they care about public opinion right now.

They're gonna have to very quickly, because, you know, they're not up for reelection, but the congressional offices are in two years- - And the House margin is about this big- - Is very, very tiny.

So you're gonna have to see some stabilization.

I think it'll get there, but right now, it does feel like we're back to the days of the 2016, a little more chaotic than we've been used to for the past four years, and I think that, you know, great leaders, they always show a vision, and I think we need to hear more about the vision, 'cause it feels very piecemeal right now, and I think we have to get back to where are the results.

People, independents, Democrats, a lot of them voted for him because they wanted to see results on the economy.

- The guy to your right's smirking.

- Yeah- - The guy to the right smirks all the time with me, so- - Certainly, if you're waiting for a great leader, I wouldn't look to the White House.

- I'm just- - That's the first thing.

And I would say that I'd just change one word that she said.

She said fast.

They're reckless.

They really don't care, and the president at this point, he had one term, he has immunity for anything that he does in office, and everything that he's done, in many ways, I like to say it's almost like giving the middle finger to a lot of people, and that's what we've seen, I think, with the selections on the cabinet.

That's what we've seen with some of his actions.

I do agree that because elections are hopefully gonna take place next year, they will be sensitive to that, because they know what happens in the midterms of a president's- - It'll flip- - Administration.

So that will be helpful, I agree on that, but I think that you see a recklessness, and there's not a vision, because it goes from, you know, Ukraine is responsible for the war.

He's a dictator.

Did I say that?

- I- - So, I mean, so- - I'm not gonna defend- - And by the way, that is not my words.

I mean, we can show the video of that- - Absolutely.

- Of the president doing that- - The one thing you- - Zelenskyy is not a dictator.

- But the one thing you don't hear is nobody talked about the national debt during the campaign, and a lot of people, I think, would say, "Okay, some of these things are wasteful."

They're cutting them out, but they're going toward tax breaks.

It's not like we're going toward lowering the bottom line, and you don't hear any discussion about that- - $4 trillion of tax cuts, you know, that are going to be offset by $2 trillion in cuts- - Of amputation- - To services, of amputation.

- All right, let's do this.

Time is moving along.

Let's go to outrages and/or kudos.

Mayor, what do you have this week?

- My kudos is really to the Attorney General Peter Neronha and his team for the work that they've done really representing Rhode Island, representing citizens around the country in terms of taking on this administration, and he's got a great team.

I've seen some, I know some of the lawyers, Keith Hoffman, and Katherine Gradowski, Natalya Buckler, Jeff Kidd, they've all signed different pleadings.

Attorney General Neronha has been very involved in this.

We saw the decision here by Chief Judge McConnell that's been now appealed to the First Circuit and stopping the freeze, and I just wanna say kudos to them, and thank you for representing us in these turbulent times.

- And then do you think this all eventually, I mean, the Trump administration is gonna, they wanna play the short game and the long game that it goes to the First Circuit and then ultimately the Supreme Court?

Do you think all of these wind up with the- - Their goal is to get it to the Supreme Court, because- - That's the purpose- - That's where they think they have the court.

I am gonna predict that I think the First Circuit will uphold the Chief Judge McConnell in his decision, but the Supreme Court- - Did you read the decision?

- I have.

I have seen the decision.

I it's a long, like 60 pages- - All right.

- And I would say this.

The other thing is the Supreme Court, I have no idea what they'll do, because they're result-oriented.

It's, you can't, you know, this Supreme Court says you can't cancel student debt, but you can cancel billions of dollars of contracts, right?

- Yes.

- With respect to USAID.

So a president doesn't have power to do that when he's a Democrat, but when a Republican's president, he has the power to cancel USAID contracts.

- Pablo, what do you have?

- I think that the Trump family acquiring a financial stake on Binance, this is a cryptocurrency exchange that was convicted of money laundering for drug dealers, cyber criminals- - [Angel] Pardon will take care of that- - And the owner, the majority shareholder, is looking for a pardon from the president of the United States.

- He's chiming in already- - Shocking!

I'm shocked!

- We're mumbling under our breath- - I'm shocked.

- Hunter Biden, that's all- - So exactly, exactly- - It's gone both ways badly.

- Oh, no, it's not.

It's not even close.

- It is absolutely ridiculous, and the ultimate grift by this- - Yeah, and I think, look, we could again do a whole nother show, but the fact that you see the DOJ surgically going in now, and doing some, I mean, it's clear retaliation.

That judge talked about chills going down her spine on some of the stuff that's going on.

You gotta imagine some of the lawyers at DOJ, they were career guys.

- Yeah.

- So what's your prediction on that?

- My prediction is that as the news come out, they probably will just say, "Maybe we should hold on on the investment."

- [Jim] Okay, newcomer, you get the last minute- - Oh, I love it- - Of the show today.

- I love it, so kudos to a wonderful woman named Mia Love.

She was the first Republican Black congresswoman, and she was really instrumental in kind of moving environmental factors forward in the Republican Party.

She was a congresswoman from Utah.

She's been battling a glioblastoma brain tumor, the same type of brain tumor that led to John McCain and Ted Kennedy losing their lives.

She announced last week she's in the last lap.

She's no longer responding to treatment, and she- - How old is she?

- 49.

- Oh!

- Heartbreaking- - Oh, that's awful- - And she was wonderful, and she wrote a wonderful letter, and I hope everybody can take five minutes this weekend, and read it, and really about her wish for America, and when you read it, you realize how stupid this hyper-partisanship really is, and really the true vision for America is someone who's been there.

So kudos to Mia Love, a wonderful, far too short, but very impactful life.

- Crazy.

- Yeah.

- That is a good one.

All right, thank you.

That is all the time we have for now.

We appreciate you coming.

Angel and Barbara Ann, we didn't have to separate you too much today.

Welcome, will you come back?

- Maybe, only if this one's on.

- All right, we'll see.

Well, you can't dictate.

We have to figure this out, and it's funny, 'cause every time we talk, we're talking about the same things over.

So Pablo, good to see you again, okay.

Finally this week, I caught up earlier today with our new President and CEO of Rhode Island PBS and The Public's Radio Pam Johnston to talk about some important developments here at the station.

My conversation with her coming up momentarily.

So we are back with Pam Johnston.

Welcome, it's been six months since I had you here.

- Thank you so much for having me back.

- Does it seem like a long six months or a short six months?

- Both.

- Yeah.

- It seems like both, but it's been a lot going on since we talked last.

- Well, I wanted to talk about that, because every time I come here, I see a lot of construction going on, and we have a major milestone next week- - We do.

- With the radio and the TV coming together.

Talk about that.

- Really exciting, thank you.

- Yeah.

- Really exciting.

The Public's Radio is moving into what is currently Rhode Island PBS, and we are, this is really, we are becoming one.

We've talked about the merger.

We talked about our future.

But physically moving the radio team into this television station and having one organization under one roof, big deal.

That is official next week.

- And you've been working on coming up with a name.

That's always so difficult- - Yeah.

- When you put two together.

You're getting close on that?

- We're all working on that together, which has been so exciting.

We've been working with the staff, with the community, with stakeholders across Rhode Island and Southeastern Mass, and we're getting closer, but we need more help, and we'd love our audience, and those people who watch you, and this great show, and who care about public media, we want you to share your ideas with us- - You have a survey?

- We do, thank you- - So talk about that.

- Survey on our website.

You can go to both of our websites, Rhode Island PBS- - [Jim] And we're putting it up, we have a graphic- - Perfect.

- Right on now.

- There's a simple survey.

We wanna know what we do that you love, and what you wanna see more of, and what else we possibly could be doing, and what you think, how we could be of service to you, the folks who live here, and make a life here.

We wanna be of service, and we wanna do great work that matters to you, so tell us what that is.

- So that's up live now.

Just in the last minute we have, we have a great event every year called Uncorked, and I've been to this, it's great.

I mean, the food, folks, I'll give you the, I'll give you the plug.

The food and the drink is great, and you get to meet a lot of the people from PBS.

Talk about Uncorked.

- Thank you, yeah, it's coming up on March 28th.

It's at WaterFire Arts Center, and it is a wonderful event that we have been doing several years now.

It's our biggest fundraiser of the year.

Under the theme that we've been talking about today, this year, we're calling it Uncorking the Future.

We'd love for you to come check it out.

Great food, great entertainment, and it really will be a first sneak peek at this new brand that's to come- - And so, you can go to Rhode Island PBS, ripbs.org, or thepublicsradio.org.

A big banner across the front if you wanna get tickets.

- You got it.

- All right.

Will you come back with more updates?

- If you'll have me.

- You have an open seat here anytime.

- Awesome, then I'll be back.

- And if you wanna come on "Lively," you can weigh in on some of the issues of the day.

- I'm in.

- All right- - Thank you.

- Good, all right.

Pam Johnston, good to see you.

Folks, we appreciate you spending a little bit of time with us.

Come back here next week as "A Lively Experiment" continues.

Have a great weekend.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] "A Lively Experiment" is generously underwritten by- - Hi, I'm John Hazen White, Jr. For over 30 years, "A Lively Experiment" has provided insight and analysis of the political issues that face Rhode Islanders.

I'm a proud supporter of this great program and Rhode Island PBS.