By Rich Fisher
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kwgs/local-kwgs-970743.mp3
Tulsa, Oklahoma – On today's show, we speak with Todd Lasseigne, the newly named Executive Director of the Oklahoma Centennial Botanical Garden (OCBG). Lasseigne has a doctorate in horticultural science, and he formerly led a botanical garden in North Carolina for six years. He began his duties with the OCBG just last month, and he's the first executive director to lead this important, still-in-progress local organization with horticulture and botanical garden administration experience. As Burt Holmes, the chairman of OCBG's board, has stated: "Todd has the knowledge, background, and enthusiasm that is now needed to move the garden to the next stage of [its] development." We speak with Lasseigne about what exactly that "next stage" will mean for the OCBG. Also on today's StudioTulsa, our commentator Collin Hinds reflects on some interesting First Amendment issues that've been raised of late by the extremist, hate-driven antics of the shameful and ever-controversial Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas.