SDPB to feature coverage of legislative session

SDPB to feature coverage of legislative session It's time for Statehouse � South Dakota Public Broadcastng's comprehensive coverage of the 76th State Legislature.

Find out what's happening throughout the session, which begins Tuesday, Jan. 9, and continues into early March.

South Dakota Public Television will be back with daily half-hour reports on the highlights. SD Public Radio plans daily coverage. SDPB Online will offer the most comprehensive coverage ever. And, teachers across the state will be using Statehouse in the classroom.

The session opens at around 1 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 9, as South Dakota Gov. William Janklow presents his State of the State address. The address will air live on SD Public Television, SD Public Radio and SDPB Online at www.sdpb.org/statehouse.

SDPTV presents an encore later that day at 10:30 p.m. Archives of the speech will be available on SDPB Online for web users who have audio capabilities.

SDPR opens its January coverage with a weeklong Legislative Leadership series by award-winning reporter Nicole Nordbye. Reports air Jan. 8-12 at 7:30 a.m. during Morning Edition; during the South Dakota Forum Newshour at noon; and at 5:30 p.m. during All Things Considered.

Each day, SDPR will be on the air with legislative reports throughout the day and with a special forum at midday during the South Dakota Forum Newshour at noon weekdays. Reporters will be on the scene in Pierre throughout the session to catch the action.

This year, South Dakotans will have unprecedented access to their Legislature via SDPB Online at www.sdpb.org/statehouse. SDPB Online, in conjunction with the Legislative Research Council, will provide Internet broadcasts of every public committee and chamber session of the 2001 Legislature.

Interested web users have the option of signing up for an e-mail reminder before meetings begin. Plus, all of the meetings will be stored for users to access at any time.

In addition, live and stored SDPR reports and archives of some SDPTV reports will be available online.

Once again, SDPTV will offer the best reporting in the state with a nightly half-hour broadcast wrapping up each day's legislative news at 10:30 p.m. weekdays. The weekday programs begin on Wednesday, Jan. 10.

An encore of each show airs at 2:30 p.m. the following weekday for use by civics teachers across the state. Al Bahe will host the daily coverage.

South Dakota Focus will take a look at education-related issues with a show at 8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 19.

SDPB Educational Services will make the legislative session an educational tool by providing educators across the state with a comprehensive teacher's guide detailing how they can use Statehouse to teach kids about civics and democracy.