• U.S. Rep. John Dingell, who helped sign the 1967 Public Broadcasting Act into law and remained a staunch supporter of pubcasting, is retiring after a record 58 years in Congress. “I find serving in the House to be obnoxious,” the 88-year-old Michigan Democrat said at a Monday luncheon. “It’s become very hard because of the acrimony and bitterness, both in Congress and in the streets.” • March Madness is approaching quickly, but this bracket competition has nothing to do with basketball. WHYY in Philadelphia is sponsoring PBS vs. NPR: Public Media Madness, which encourages pubmedia fans to vote for their favorite TV and radio personalities.

At Vegas PBS and WHRO in Norfolk, Va., station leaders developed a “strategy of survival” that evolved into an innovative education-based model for public television sustainability.

A significant chunk of the money will be earmarked for Hispanic families.

• WTTW announced a major gift Monday from the family of Renée Crown, board vice chair of licensee Window to the World Communication Inc. (WWCI), and will name its northwest Chicago media center in her honor. The donation celebrates Crown’s birthday as well as her tenure as “an extraordinary trustee and leader” of WWCI since 1981, the station said. It did not reveal the amount of the contribution. • Premiums sure have come a long way. John Kerr, former WGBH development manager, recently ran across this Channel 2-Toy at a friend’s house. The sunny yellow 2-Toy was a gift to donors supporting children’s programs back in the days when Julia Child was pitching for dollars.

And the produce market gets a deal on Sesame Street's brand.

More threats to classical radio.

NPR is laying off 10 staffers in its member partnership and digital services divisions while creating five new positions as part of an internal restructuring. The decisions were made “after consultation with NPR and member station stakeholders” to “more closely align both divisions’ resources,” according to Member Partnership VP Gemma Hooley and Digital Services GM Bob Kempf, who outlined the changes in a memo sent Wednesday to member station A-Reps. The member partnership division will absorb seven of the layoffs. Director Marguerite Nutter’s position will be eliminated, along with those of senior managers Si Sikes, Patricia Cervini and Marc Pultuskier and associates Kristen Hartmann, Jeff Cabiness and Emily Dagger.

The New York–based outlet will add the money to its reserve fund, bringing it to more than $4.5 million.

A three-way transaction involving Los Angeles pubcasters KCRW and KUSC will bring more public radio options to listeners in Santa Barbara, Calif. Under a deal announced Feb. 18, KCRW will buy 93.7 KDB-FM, a commercial classical station for 88 years, but will not broadcast on the frequency. Instead, all-classical KUSC will move to the channel and transfer its 88.7 FM signal in Santa Barbara to KCRW. KCRW will turn its new acquisition into an outlet for its hybrid format of news and contemporary music, with localized content within NPR newsmagazines. KDB’s licensee, the Santa Barbara Foundation,  put the classical station up for sale in October after years of six-figure losses and a determination that radio fell beyond its core mission.

Maybe honey badgers do care?

• Minnesota Public Radio’s music station The Current will get its brand on a local craft beer this summer. The station is partnering with Minnesota-based brewery Schell’s on a limited-edition, Current-branded run of the brewmaker’s seasonal Zommerfest offering. Sixteen-ounce tallboys will be sold across the state, and all proceeds will support the station. • Public Radio International will make WGBH-FM’s popular weekly show Innovation Hub available for pubradio broadcast starting May 1. The show also airs at 10 p.m. Eastern time Saturdays on XMPR, SiriusXM’s channel of public radio programs. • Detroit Public Television will provide a live video stream of the Beyond the Connected Vehicle Conference, a look at the future of transportation, from 9 a.m.

• Frontline today won a George Polk Award for “League of Denial,” its investigation of the NFL’s efforts to downplay evidence linking head injuries of football players to long-term brain disorders. The nonprofit newsroom Center for Public Integrity also won a Polk for “After the Meltdown,” which explored the aftermath of economic crash caused by sub-prime mortgage lenders. A full list of Polk winners, presented by Long Island University, is here. • While CPB Ombudsman Joel Kaplan agrees with WNET’s decision to return a $3.5 million grant for its series reporting on public pensions, he remains troubled by “the lack of transparency by both WNET and PBS” in handling the controversy.

John Henson, the son of Muppets creator Jim Henson and a Muppet performer himself, died Friday of a heart attack. He was 48. Henson played the giant ogre Sweetums for decades beginning in 1987, when he took over puppeteering duties for the character from Richard Hunt, according to the Muppet Wiki. He appeared as the character in several commercial Muppets films and television shows and at Walt Disney World. As a child, Henson appeared in short films his father made for PBS’s Sesame Street. Henson was also a board member and shareholder of the Jim Henson Company. His mother, puppeteer Jane Henson, died in April.