KCET's Award-Winning 'SoCal Connected' Features an Unexpected Overpopulation Issue, The State of the Union Address & The Dream Act

Los Angeles, CA -

February 11, 2013 - This week, SoCal Connected analyzes President

Obama's State of the Union address with in-depth coverage including a panel

discussion and live reporting from Washington D.C. The award-winning program

also investigates how feral cats are overrunning the city of Los Angeles and

takes a look at how the Dream Act is affecting Californians.

Animal

lovers, with the help of pet and animal lobbyists, are trying to protect the

population of feral cats in Los Angeles by feeding and funding the care of

them. Correspondent Judy Muller takes a look at how the booming feral cat

population is causing tensions between cat activists and homeowners, and

examines its effect on public health and area wildlife.

Anchor

Val Zavala and Madeleine Brand host a special edition of SoCal Connected,

airing from 5:30-8 p.m. (with a repeat at 10 p.m. -12 a.m.), for the live

Presidential State of the Union Address. 

In the first half hour, Zavala and Brand will preview the Address with

additional reporting from Aaron Blake of

the Washington Post at the Capitol. After airing the full address live,

Zavala and Brand are joined by a panel of experts including Raphael J.

Sonenshein, Executive Director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs at

CSU Los Angeles, and Ange-Marie Hancock, Associate Professor of Political Science

at USC, with additional commentary from Nate Cohn of the The New Republic

live from Washington, D.C.

Link

TV will simulcast the special nationally via satellite on DirecTV and DISH

networks (9 p.m. EST)

The

segments will also be streamed in their entirety on socalconnected.org.

Correspondent

nation.

Also,

Brand speaks with Sam Lubell and Greg Goldin about the LA that 'could have

been' if a few urban planning proposals had been successful at the beginning of

the 20^th century. "Never Built: Los Angeles" is a reflection of

these proposals, and will be showing at the A+D Architecture and Design Museum.

California

leads the nation in students who pursue U.S. residency through The DREAM Act,

which was enacted by the Obama administration to grant residency to certain

undocumented immigrants as long as they continue their schooling. Nearly

500,000 applications have been received to date. Laurel Erickson profiles two

local students who have benefited from one arm of the legislation, Deferred

Amnesty for Childhood Arrival (DACA), as well as some local residents who

oppose the bill.

Then,

Madeleine Brand speaks with filmmakers Emad Burnat and Guy Davidi about their

Oscar nominated documentary "Five Broken Cameras."

Awards, 17 Emmy® Awards, 19 Golden Mikes, 41 LA Press

Club Awards, two Gracie Awards, and three regional Edward R. Murrow Awards,

including Best News Documentary and Los Angeles Magazine's "Best

New Local TV Program" of 2009, airs nightly at 5:30 p.m. with encores at

10:00 p.m. exclusively on KCET. For more information, to view episodes online

or to leave comments, please visit www.socalconnected.org.

SoCal Connected is made possible through the generous

support of The Ahmanson Foundation serving the Los Angeles community since

1952; Jim and Anne Rothenberg; the Maddocks Brown Foundation; The John Randolph

Haynes and Dora Haynes Foundation; and The California Endowment. 

On-air, online and in the community, KCET plays a vital role in the

cultural and educational enrichment of Southern and Central California. KCET

offers a wide range of award-winning local programming as well as the finest

public television programs from around the world. KCET currently produces the

Emmy®, duPont-Columbia and Peabody Award-winning SoCal Connected, a

hard-hitting prime-time nightly television news program that examines the

issues and people of Southern California. Throughout its 48-year history, KCET

has won hundreds of major awards for its local and regional news and public

affairs programming, its national drama and documentary productions, its

quality educational family and children's programs, its outreach and community services

and its website, kcet.org. KCET is a donor-supported community institution. For

additional information about KCET productions, web-exclusive content,

programming schedules and community events, please visit kcet.org.

CONTACT:

Ariel Carpenter

or Ayn Allen

KCET

Communications Department

747-201-5243; acarpenter@kcet.org

747-201-5886; aallen@kcet.org

or

Michelle Marron

or Liza Nedelman

MPRM

Communications

323-933-3399

mmarron@mprm.com

lnedelman@mprm.com

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