PBS has honored its former chair Alberto Ibargüen for his contributions to civic engagement. Ibargüen, c.e.o. of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and former PBS Board chair, received the PBS “Be More” Award celebrating individuals in pubTV who embody the spirit of helping Americans discover more, experience more and “be more.” The former publisher of the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald leads Knight Foundation efforts to promote quality journalism, advance media innovation, engage communities and foster the arts. “PBS applauds his commitment to informed and engaged communities, integrity and independence in journalism, and helping people reach their highest potential by ensuring that everyone has access to information that helps them understand more and be more,” said PBS President Paula Kerger.

As public television’s chief program exec and top producers unveiled highlights of the fall 2013 primetime schedule at the PBS Annual Meeting May 13–16 in Miami Beach, Fla., the network also signaled its willingness to invest in genres with track records of building viewership and differentiating public TV from its cable competitors. PBS paired with BBC Worldwide to acquire Last Tango in Halifax, a hit contemporary British drama starring Derek Jacobi and Anne Reid as childhood sweethearts who reunite after 60 years apart. Call the Midwife, a drama that PBS chief programmer Beth Hoppe bought to boost Sunday-night viewership in fall 2012, will return for a third season in 2014.

In a single video, for the song “All Is Not Lost,” rock band OK Go performed both the last-ever Tiny Desk concert at the former NPR headquarters and the first-ever concert at its new building. As Bob Boilen, Robin Hilton, Carl Kasell and others packed up and moved equipment from one location to another, the band played continuously (with the help of some creative editing) and even worked in some public radio–specific lyrics. OK Go, whose bandleader Damien Kulash formerly worked as an engineer for Chicago Public Radio, filmed the bit over two days in late March during NPR’s actual crosstown move.

Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), the last World War II veteran to serve in the Senate and a longtime supporter of public broadcasting, died today from complications of viral pneumonia. The five-term senator was 89.

Journalist and educator John Dinges will receive this year’s Leo C. Lee Award for significant contributions to public radio news. As head of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism’s radio curriculum, Dinges revamped the program to emphasize public radio journalism and helped launch the careers of award-winning pubradio journalists “from Wyoming to Washington, D.C.,” according to PRNDI’s award announcement. Earlier in his career, Dinges was a freelance correspondent in Latin America and contributed to Time, the Washington Post, ABC Radio, the Miami Herald and other news organizations. He became an assistant editor on the foreign desk at the Washington Post and later joined NPR to help bolster its foreign coverage.

Beginning July 1, the BBC’s Newshour will alter its show clock, ceding 4.5 additional minutes from its newscast for local cutaways. The change boosts the total allowance of local minutes within each Newshour broadcast to 16.

When Southern country singer Brad Paisley shared his awkward view of race relations in his controversial song “Accidental Racist” last month, the team at NPR’s Code Switch couldn’t have asked for better timing. The unit devoted to multimedia reporting and opinionating on matters of race, culture and ethnicity had just debuted on NPR’s website and social media under the Code Switch banner April 7. Two days later, Paisley’s cringe-inducing tune, which also featured LL Cool J delivering the lines “If you won’t judge my do-rag / I won’t judge your red flag,” whipped up a frenzy of dumbfounded disgust on Facebook and Twitter.

Assignment: The World, the longest-running social-studies instructional TV program in the country, broadcast its last episode May 23. WXXI in Rochester, N.Y., which produced the ITV series for 54 years, announced the cancellation May 20. “Assignment: The World has experienced an increase in news acquisition costs, which were unfortunately not offset by program funding,” said Elissa Orlando, WXXI v.p. for television, in the announcement. “WXXI is saddened by this decision, but will continue to discover new ways to serve the educational needs of students.” Every season, students could watch 32 weekly episodes, 15 minutes in length, in classrooms, either on the air or on-demand over the Internet.

Alaska Public Media has introduced a new weekly web-first series in what promises to be its “larger video renaissance.” Indie Alaska, a weekly YouTube series profiling unique Alaskans, is co-produced with PBS Digital Studios and partially funded with a $10,000 Digital Entrepreneurs Grant from PBS. The show launched May 6 with an episode about a ski train polka band. Producers will deliver 52 episodes in total, with new ones debuting each Monday. Patrick Yack, chief content officer at Alaska Public Media, said the dual licensee plans to eventually repackage the episodes in a magazine-like format for TV broadcast and may adapt some for radio as well.

Craig Patterson, the Sheriff's deputy in Arlington County, Va., who allegedly shot and killed PBS NewsHour shuttle driver Julian Dawkins May 22 while off-duty, has been arrested and charged with murder.

Michael Gartner, a former president of the Iowa Board of Regents, has filed a 41-page lawsuit complaining that the Iowa Public Radio Board of Directors violated state law when it conducted a closed meeting last December before terminating IPR C.E.O. Mary Grace Herrington in February, the Des Moines Register is reporting. The Board of Regents will next week consider a renewal of its operating agreement with Iowa Public Radio that includes a provision requiring it to follow state open meetings and open records laws, according to the Gazette in Cedar Rapids. This is Gartner’s second such lawsuit, the Gazette also notes.

“Sustainers,” as this increasingly commonplace breed of member is called, renew at higher rates than those responding to traditional pledge pitches.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation is waging a public battle against Texas-based technology company Personal Audio over a pending patent lawsuit over podcasts, and now it's taking the fight a step further.

WDET-FM in Detroit drew on the Motor City’s musical heritage by devoting its overnight broadcast schedule to Alpha, a new music block combining "electronic and progressive soul music."