Native Public Media has hired policy analyst Traci Morris as its director of operations, it announced today (May 5). She’s the founder of  Homahota Consulting, which provides research on Internet use and development of broadband in Indian Country. Morris was co-author of the first quantitative and qualitative broadband study commissioned by Native Public Media, “New Media, Technology and Internet Use in Indian County.” She is a member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma, and has a doctorate in American Indian studies and comparative culture and literary studies from University of Arizona. Morris has taught for more than a decade there, at Arizona State University and East Central Oklahoma University.

Public broadcasters in Minnesota could lose millions in state support for arts and cultural heritage programs under a proposal floated by Republicans in the statehouse. The Minnesota Legacy Fund, financed through a sales tax increase that Minnesota voters approved in 2008, awarded $11.6 million to the state’s public broadcasters and community radio stations in its first two years. Republican lawmakers in the House want to end direct Legacy funding to specific organizations such as Minnesota Public Radio and adopt a competitive grant-making process. The Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that conservative lawmakers object to monies earmarked for MPR, which received $2.6 million in the last biennial funding cycle.

When I first started working in public radio 30-plus years ago, I was a college dropout and my day job was butchering fish on the docks in Sitka, Alaska. That’s the village where I grew up. That little public radio station was about as rural and rooted as you could want. Sure, there were jazz shows, and you could sometimes smell a little pot in the air room. But there were also shows about hunting and fishing. At night, we broadcast “muskeg messages” to trollers and long-liners anchored out near the commercial fishing grounds. And they let me, a local guy in rubber boots and Carhartts, start volunteering.

Henry Becton, former president of Boston’s WGBH, will receive the Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE) from Prince Charles during the royal’s visit this week, according to the Washington Post. The order of chivalry was established in 1917 by King George V.

CPB kicked off its American Graduate initiative Tuesday (May 3) at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. The $4.4 million project aims to boost graduation rates in 20 communities nationwide, using multiplatform content for at-risk students and their teachers. Host Ray Suarez, a senior correspondent for PBS NewsHour and the event’s host, said the graduation rates among Hispanics and African-Americans was only about 54 percent in 2007. “This is something we really don’t have an option to fix — we have to,” Suarez said. Appearing were Hill Harper, star of CSI:NY, a graduate of Brown University and Harvard Law School; he also wrote the best-selling Letters to a Young Brother: Manifest Your Destiny.

Laura Savini is leaving her post as v.p. of marketing and communications at New York City’s WLIW21 to launch her new company, Untamed Hair Productions & Consulting. She’ll continue her work as an on-air host at the station, where she’s been for two decades. During her marketing tenure, Savini and former WLIW21 President Terrel Cass helped establish a national reputation for WLIW21 as a producer of fundraising specials. Savini earned a New York Emmy Award as executive producer of one, the 2010 special Music of Ireland — Welcome Home. “Savini has also raised hundreds of millions of dollars for stations coast to coast with her on-air fundraising savvy,” a press release from the station noted.

Ralph Jennings, station manager at WFUV-FM/90.7 at Fordham University since 1985, will become director of internal and external relations on June 30. Stepping up as interim general manager will be Chuck Singleton, program director and chair of the station’s strategic planning committee. Under Jennings’ tenure WFUV has grown from an operating budget of $300,000 to more than $3.5 million annually. It’s also gone from a student-run operation to a staff of 27 professionals and more than 90 paid interns. Singleton joined WFUV in 1987 as its first director of news and public affairs; he began directing programming in 1992. Singleton created the magazine show Cityscape, expanded its schedule of Triple A music programming, and led the development of WFUV’s “The Alternate Side,” a online stream and HD Radio channel devoted to new artists and local music.

The 2011 Webby Awards from the the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences were announced today (May 3), and pubcasters made a strong showing. PBS won two Webbys and two People’s Voice honors, and NPR won two Webbys and four People’s Voices. PBS won in the categories of entertainment/tablets and all other devices; charitable organizations/nonprofit; and religion and spirituality. NPR won for news, politics, podcasts and news/hand-held devices. A full list is here.

Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell has used a line-item veto to cut the commonwealth’s funding for public broadcasting, calling it “a smart, practical budgeting decision to make Virginia government smaller and more efficient and save taxpayer dollars,” the Roanoke Times reports today (May 3). The move reduces support that lawmakers had approved for educational programming and radio reading services by $424,000, or about 16 percent, in the fiscal year beginning July 1. Total funding for Virginia public broadcasting has been cut by about 25 percent since last year, according to the governor’s office. Pubcasters in several other states also face funding hurdles in their legislatures (Current, April 18).

Happy 40th birthday, NPR and All Things Considered! There are all kinds of nifty opportunities to congratulate the pubradio network today (May 3), from Facebook greetings to an organized Tweet wave. Also, if you happen to be in D.C., stop by headquarters (635 Massachusetts Ave. NW) at 2 p.m. for a free frozen goodie from the Pleasant Pops truck. And don’t miss the archival photos of all those years ago.

Seattle’s Classical KING-FM has transitioned from commercial to noncom, according to local news site Crosscut.com. In preparation for the shift to listener-supported operations, KING-FM has raised about $1 million of a $2 million campaign. Late last week, the station announced a $250,000 challenge grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and is now looking to secure $750,000 from KING-FM listeners to reach its goal. The station’s first on-air pledge drive comes later this month. Declining ratings when Portable People Meters hit the market in 2009 led to challenges with advertising and sparked the change, which was announced last March.

The sale of Pittsburgh’s WDUQ-FM/90.5 advanced on Monday (May 2) when Essential Public Media and Duquesne University formalized an asset purchase agreement, reports the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. EPM is a partnership between another local public radio station, WYEP-FM, and Public Media Co., a nonprofit based in Boulder, Colo., that was formed by Public Radio Capital. WYEP board President Marco Cardamone said the partners plan to file documents with the Federal Communications Commission soon, which will trigger a 30-day public comment period. They had announced the sale earlier this year (Current, Jan. 24, 2011).

OpenCourt.us, one of the first initiatives in the nation to bring digital access to courtrooms, went live today (May 2). It’s a project of WBUR in Boston in collaboration with the Massachusetts courts, and funded by a grant from the Knight Foundation’s Knight News Challenge. There’s a live stream of Quincy District Court proceedings and WiFi in the courtroom for citizen journalists. “Of the three branches of government, the judicial system has become the least accessible to the public,” said John Davidow, executive editor of WBUR.org and the project’s lead. “The goal of OpenCourt is to reconnect the public with this important part of our democracy and provide the greater understanding that comes with accessibility.”

Edward Schumacher-Matos, a journalist, educator and columnist, is the new NPR ombudsman, the pubradio network announced today (April 29). He begins a three-year term on June 1. Schumacher-Matos has been ombudsman for the Miami Herald since 2007. He founded Meximerica Media and Rumbo Newspapers in 2003, launching four Spanish-language daily newspapers in Houston, San Antonio, Austin and the Rio Grande Valley. He is also founding editor and associate publisher of Wall Street Journal Americas, the business newspaper’s Spanish and Portuguese insert editions in Latin America, Spain and Portugal. Until recently he also wrote a syndicated column for the Washington Post.

The South Carolina Senate is fighting Gov. Nikki Haley’s move to defund public broadcasting in the state, reports The State newspaper. The GOP-controlled Senate on Thursday (April 28) approved a measure 25-18 that uses general funds to pay for South Carolina ETV. It’s part of the debate over the state’s $5.8 billion spending plan for the next fiscal year. The governor also replaced the entire public broadcasting board last month.