In this edition of WYSO Weekend:

Next year will be the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Founded on April 22 in 1970 as a civilian protest against the environmental impacts from industrial development - that spring day sparked the beginning of the environmental awareness movement - and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency. Earth Day has now become a global event marked by civic participation and political action. Protect Our Species is the theme for this year, which falls on Monday, April 22. County Lines producer Renee Wilde is here with the story.

WYSO is partnering with Stats and Stories, a podcast produced at Miami University.

Autocratic or authoritarian leaders work to control just about everything that affects the lives of those they rule, particularly information. Restricting the news and information individuals can access makes them reliant on the state, as they make sense of the world. It can also make them easier to rule. Authoritarianism and information are the focus of this episode of stats and stories. Rosemary Pennington is joined by regular panelists John Bailer, Chair of Miami statistics department and Richard Campbell of media journalism and film. Their guest Arturas Rozenas, an assistant professor at New York University's Department of Politics. His research focuses on authoritarian states, electoral competition and statistical methodology. He came to the studio after traveling to Miami on a visit sponsored by the Havighurst Center for Russian and post-Soviet studies as part of the colloquium series on Russian media strategies at home and abroad. 

I just looked up Dave Barry's new book on Amazon and noticed that it is the #1 best seller in the "Mid-Life Management" category. I wish I had known to mention that to Dave when I interviewed him. I'm certain he would have had something funny to say about that.

Longtime Yellow Springs resident and musician George Bieri returned the WYSO studio to share songs and stories with Music Director Niki Dakota live on Excursions. 

George Bieri and Root Cellar Blues will perform at the Emporium in Yellow Springs on Friday, April 19, 7-10 p.m.

Songwriter Tracy Perkins visited the WYSO studios for a live set on Kaleidoscope.  He was accompanied by four local musicians with whom he's just begun to play and talked with host Juliet Fromholt about finding his musical community in Yellow Springs, songwriting, and more.

Tracy Perkins performs regularly in Yellow Springs. Hear his music at: https://soundcloud.com/tracy-perkins-schmittler