Rebuilding NYC after Superstorm Sandy Set for THIRTEEN's MetroFocus, 6/19

The next edition of MetroFocus, premiering on Wednesday, June 19 at 7:30 p.m. on WLIW21, and Thursday, June 20 at 8:30 p.m. on THIRTEEN, looks at the $20 billion plan proposed by Mayor Bloomberg to strengthen New York City's defenses and infrastructure in the wake of Superstorm Sandy.

In a wide-ranging interview, host Rafael Pi Roman asks the man behind the plan, Seth Pinsky, President of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, if the risk of a changing climate is worth the price tag. The aftermath of Sandy lingers on as summer starts. NJTV's Lauren Wanko takes us to the beaches of Middletown, New Jersey where swimming is not permitted this year due to debris left behind by Sandy.

Want to know what the discussion was about at a recent screening of the documentary film Wonder Women!: The Untold Story of American Superheroines at the Macaulay Honors College? This week's "Listening In" segment has an excerpt from feminist Shelby Knox that may get you thinking. On the occasion of the 50th anniversary year of DR. Martin Luther King's "I Have A Dream" speech, MetroFocus examines the story behind the letter King wrote from a jail cell in Birmingham, Alabama a few months before the famous speech.

Pi Roman talks to Columbia University's Barnard College professor Jonathan Rieder about his new book, Gospel of Freedom: Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Letter from Birmingham Jail and the Struggle That Changed a Nation. And, The Star-Ledger/NJ.com video journalist Nyier Abdou takes viewers on a walk down a very unusual wedding aisle.