Northwest Public Radio will host a Sept. 12 listener reception with an appearance by NPR correspondent and host Renée Montagne at the Richland Community Center, 500 Amon Park Drive. The reception begins at 5:30 p.m. with Montagne set to speak at 6:30. Also present will be NWPR’s Morning Edition host Gillian Coldsnow and classical music host Robin Rilette. NWPR, which operates out of the Edward R. Murrow Center at WSU’s Pullman campus, offers news and classical music programs to listeners across Washington state, as well as parts of Idaho and northeastern Oregon.
In the news
While home mortgage interest rates remain low by historical standards, they have moved up steadily from mid-summer, when home-buying and refinancing activity helped boost a struggling economy. Glenn Crellin, director of the Washington Center for Real Estate Research at Washington State University, says that higher mortgage interest rates are unlikely to have a dramatic overall economic impact for now. But they will effect the decision-making of two different types of home-buyers: people who were stretching to afford a home who now find themselves unable to do so and those with somewhat more buying power who have missed the bottom on interest rates, and now must decide whether to take the plunge anyway. Crellin can be reached at 509.335.1671 or crellin@wsu.edu
As the unemployment rate, both nationally and in Washington state, remains high, so do worker concerns about job loss. And a more stressed workplace can be a less safe one. A study by psychologists at Washington State University Vancouver has found that workers who are worried about losing their jobs were less safety conscious and had more on-the-job injuries. Tahira Probst, an associate professor in industrial/organizational psychology, can discuss the study and the issue of workplace stress and safety. She can be reached at 360.546.9746 or probst@vancouver.wsu.edu .
Patriya Tansuhaj, the director of Washington State University’s International Business Institute, has initiated and supervised research on one area of the “dark side of globalization,” trading in humans and human organs. This summer she and several doctoral students made a series of presentations on “International Trade of Human Beings and Globalization,” to the annual Academy of International Business Conference. Tansuhaj can be reached at 509.335.0940 or tansuhaj@wsu.edu.
