Author Mirta Ojito & More Set for Next METROFOCUS

A new edition of the award-winning MetroFocus premieres in the New York metro area tonight, December 18 at 7:30 p.m. on WLIW21 and Thursday, December 19 at 8:30 p.m. on THIRTEEN and at 10:30 p.m. on NJTV.

Preview video here!

On the next edition of MetroFocus, in the wake of Detroit's bankruptcy, a look at what the eight billion dollar cost of public pensions in New York City may mean for Mayor-Elect Bill de Blasio. It's part of a new project called "The Pension Peril" that will examine public pension shortfalls and the impact on governments, workers, retirees, and taxpayers. Host Rafael Pi Roman asks Nicole Gelinas of the Manhattan Institute and James Parrott, deputy director and chief economist at the Fiscal Policy Institute if New York City could be headed to financial ruin as Mayor Bloomberg implied a few months ago. "We're not on the road to Detroit, in that we're not going bankrupt anytime soon," Gelinas said. "The problem is if we don't think about this as a serious issue, it's something that could happen 5 years, 10 years, even longer down the road."

In November 2008, a gang of white teenage boys attacked and murdered Ecuadorian immigrant Marcelo Lucero in Patchogue, Long Island. The crime brought to light a culture of hate crimes and attacks on Hispanic residents that still affects the residents, government officials and police in the Suffolk County town. And this month, a new report shows hate crimes are on the rise all across New York, up thirty percent from 2011 to 2012. In her new book, "Hunting Season: Immigration and Murder in an All-American Town," Pulitzer-prize winning reporter and Columbia School of Journalism professor Mirta Ojito re-examines the Lucero murder and what still needs to change.

Before upgrading your electronics this holiday season, check out where the old devices end up. Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism student Thomas Shomaker visits an e-waste recycling center in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn. The Lower East Side Ecology Center E-waste Warehouse expects an uptick in drop-offs of everything from keyboards to computers now that a new law will ban dumping many electronics into landfills.

And a story about art in the public domain. Author and painter Glenn Palmer-Smith and photographer Joshua McHugh, bring the stories of 33 of New York's public murals to life in "Murals of New York City: The Best of New York's Public Paintings from Bemelmans to Parrish." Palmer-Smith says New Yorkers sometimes miss the murals all around them, "You walk through the streets and through these buildings surrounded by these incredible works of art and they become like wallpaper."

MetroFocus Series Overview

MetroFocus is an award-winning multi-platform news magazine focusing on the New York region. The MetroFocus television program features interviews, in-depth reporting, content from many partners and solutions-oriented reports from the community. Major areas of coverage include sustainability, education, science and technology, the environment, transportation, poverty and underserved communities. MetroFocus.orgamplifies that reporting with daily updates and original stories that also cover culture, government and politics, the economy, urban development and other news in the metropolitan region. More information at: thirteen.org/metrofocus/about-us-faq/

MetroFocus is a production of WLIW21 in association with WNET, parent company of THIRTEEN and WLIW21. For 50 years, THIRTEEN has been making the most of the rich resources and passionate people of New York and the world, reaching millions of people with on-air and online programming that celebrates arts and culture, offers insightful commentary on the news of the day, explores the worlds of science and nature, and invites students of all ages to have fun while learning.

MetroFocus is made possible by James and Merryl Tisch, the Ford Foundation, Cheryl and Philip Milstein Family, Charlotte and David Ackert, Jody and John Arnhold, Betty and John Levin and the Dr. Robert C. and Tina Sohn Foundation. Corporate funding is provided by Mutual of America.

Website: thirteen.org/MetroFocus (full episode available to view after 11/20 broadcast)

Facebook: facebook.com/MetroFocus

Twitter: @MetroFocus

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