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.

When NPR general counsel Joyce Slocum took over after Vivian Schiller’s March departure, “the move was sudden, but not unscripted,” notes Law.com. In 2009 NPR’s board of directors drew up a succession plan that designated Slocum as the replacement if Schiller left unexpectedly. Carol Cartwright, vice-chair of NPR’s board, says one of the main attractions was that Slocum didn’t want the job. “We did not want an interim c.e.o. who would be actively pursuing the role on a permanent basis,” Cartwright says.

Several residents of the Orlando, Fla., area have contacted the Federal Communications Commission with their concerns about the sale of WMFE-TV (Current, April 18) to religious broadcaster Daystar, according to the Orlando Sentinel. Several noted that the community did not have advance warning of the sale, which WMFE management announced on April 1.

The PBS NewsHour’s recent series on autism has reignited the debate on the role of vaccines in the childhood syndrome, reports the Los Angeles Times. It’s a personal issue for former NewHour co-anchor Robert MacNeil: Viewers meet his grandson, Nick, who is on the autism spectrum.

Public media outlets scored five honors in this year’s Overseas Press Club Awards, announced today (April 28). — The Lowell Thomas Award for radio news or interpretation of international affairs goes to David Baron, Patrick Cox and Sheri Fink of PRI’s The World for “Rationing Health: Who Lives? Who Decides?” — The Carl Spielvogel Award for international reporting in the broadcast media showing a concern for the human condition goes to Landon van Soest and Jeremy Levine of Transient Pictures for American Documentary / P.O.V. on PBS, “Good Fortune,” on how efforts to eliminate poverty in Africa may be undermining communities.

Three-dimensional sound! That’s what’s coming this weekend on Studio 360 from PRI and WNYC. The show says in a statement that this will be “the exclusive radio debut of 3D sound.” “Until now, only a handful of audiophiles and industry insiders have had access to this emerging technology that makes surround sound seem ancient,” it notes. Host Kurt Anderson will be joined by Edgar Choueiri, a professor of applied physics at Princeton University, whose decades-long passion for recording technology led him to develop a digital filter that produces what he calls “pure stereo.” The filter will work on any stereo recording played through an ordinary pair of speakers.

It was Public Radio Day at the Minnesota State Capitol Wednesday (April 27), as supporters gathered to ask legislators to continue funding Minnesota Public Radio. Standing in the rotunda, MPR founder and president Bill Kling told volunteers to wave their signs, bend the ears of legislators and “give them hell,” according to the Star Tribune. The network is requesting $3.3 million over the next two years.

What do young, up-and-coming public broadcasters dream about? The retirement of older public broadcasters. That’s one of the many topics that Jesse Thorn, host of The Sound of Young America, discussed during an interview today (April 27) on the Nieman Journalism Lab site. As Thorn says: “I have these conversations with public radio people, and they say, ‘Well, you know, Terry Gross is going to retire, and Diane Rehm is going to retire, and Garrison Keillor is going to retire, and they’re need a show with a proven track record to fill in.’ And I’m like, Terry Gross is only like 50!

A campus broadcaster group has called for its constituency to observe a national “Minute of Silence” Thursday at noon, Central time, on Thursday (April 27) to raise awareness of college station closings. “College broadcasters need to do a better job of explaining their value and purpose to the schools and communities they serve,” said Candace Walton, board president of College Broadcasters Inc. In many cases, she said, local programming is replaced by shows piped in from out of town. Houston: Thursday is the day that Rice University student station KTRU-FM in Houston is to be transferred to pubradio station KUHF at the University of Houston.