All Things Considered
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Draco Rosa: A Pop Survivor Returns From The Brink, With...
In the 1980s, he was Robi Rosa, the lead singer of Menudo at the boy band's peak of popularity. Rosa went on to write hits for bandmate Ricky Martin and develop a solo career. When Rosa was diagnosed with cancer several years ago, some of the biggest names in Latin music assembled to support him.
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'Waiting To Be Heard' No More, Amanda Knox Speaks Out
Less than two months into her study abroad program in Italy, Amanda Knox was accused and eventually convicted of murdering her roommate, Meredith Kercher. After her conviction was overturned, Knox returned home to Seattle — and now faces a potential retrial. Knox tells her story in a new memoir.
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Three-Minute Fiction Reading: 'Plum Baby'
NPR's Susan Stamberg reads an excerpt of one of the best submissions for Round 11 of our short story contest. She reads Plum Baby by Carmiel Banasky of Portland, Ore.
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New 'Trek' Goes 'Into Darkness,' But Not Much Deeper
NPR's Bob Mondello says J.J. Abrams' latest Star Trek film knows how to make the sparks and feelings fly, but doesn't bother making the sparks and feeling matter very much.
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Impossible Choice Faces America's First 'Climate...
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says the tiny town of Newtok, Alaska, could be completely underwater by 2017. Its 350 residents must relocate or stay to face the floods, but a move is easier said than done.
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Internships: Low-Paid, Unpaid Or Just Plain Illegal?
Fed up with working for free, some interns are suing their employers. Last week, a judge ruled that interns could not sue the Hearst Corp. as a class action, which could be a legal setback for young workers tired of exploitative unpaid internships.
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Week In News: A Rough Week For The White House
With the White House embroiled in three concurrent scandals this week, Weekends on All Things Considered host Jacki Lyden speaks with James Fallows, national correspondent with The Atlantic, about the way forward for the president and for Congress, with recent history as their guide.
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Alzheimer's Cases Rise, But Hope Remains
More than 5 million Americans currently have Alzheimer's disease, and the number is only going to increase — in part, due to aging baby boomers. But researchers say increased awareness and early detection is helping patients live with the disease.
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'Venus And Serena': An Extraordinary Story, Told On Film
The amazing tale of two sisters from a poor neighborhood — who play tennis unlike anyone before them and each reach No. 1 in the world — is one we're not likely to see again.
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New Pro Women's Soccer League Learns From Past Mistakes
The Portland Thorns women's soccer team drew 17,000 screaming fans to its recent home opener. That's a huge number and one that dwarfed turnout for the other seven teams in the new National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The NWSL is the latest attempt to bring sustainable women's pro soccer to the U.S. Soccer federations in the U.S., Mexico and Canada help fund it. NPR's Tom Goldman examines how the Thorns and the NWSL have done so far.
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Hi-Tech Catamarans Criticized After Sailor Dies
As America's Cup officials investigate the tragic drowning of Olympian Andrew Simpson last week in San Francisco, some in the sailing community are questioning the safety of the ultra-fast high tech catamarans featured in the upcoming race.
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Bobby McFerrin: Spirituals As Sung Prayers
On Spirityouall, McFerrin performs classic black spirituals with roots in enslaved communities, as well as songs he composed himself. Throughout the album, he says, he hears the influence of his father, Robert McFerrin Sr., a renowned operatic baritone.
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Obama U: What Graduation Speeches Say About The President
President Obama's commencement speeches often seem more about the big-picture state of the union than do his State of the Union addresses, which read like to-do lists. And his assessment of where the country stands and where it's going has changed over the past four years.
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Architect Of Argentina's 'Dirty War' Dies In Prison
Jorge Rafael Videla was a former senior commander in the Argentine Army who was the de facto president of Argentina from 1976 to 1981. He came to power in a coup d'etat that deposed Isabel Martinez de Peron. After the return of a representative democratic government, he was prosecuted for large-scale human rights abuses and crimes against humanity that took place under his rule, including kidnappings or forced disappearance, widespread torture and extrajudicial murder of activists and...
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Boston Bombings Prompt Fresh Look At Unsolved Murders
Authorities are revisiting a triple murder in the Boston suburb of Waltham. One of the victims may have been a friend of bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Tsarnaev would sometimes spar at the same mixed martial arts gym where the victim worked as an instructor.
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Doctor: 'We Truly Are Failing The Syrian People'
Stephen Cornish of Doctors Without Borders was recently in Syria. He talks to Audie Cornish about how medical personnel are managing to reach patients in the war-torn nation where he says there is a lack of respect for doctors on both sides of the conflict.
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U.N. Tries To Get Syria Peace Talks Back On Track
U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, saying it is important not to lose momentum in the effort to convene a peace conference on Syria. Ban was only the latest in a string of foreign dignitaries who have come to Russia, seeking Putin's blessing for such a conference, expected to be held in early June. There's a lot at stake. Russia has been a long-time supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and continues to supply weapons to his...
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Quinto Turns Inward To Find Spock's Soul
Playing the famous half-Vulcan requires a little meditative depth and a lot of brow-shaving. Heroes villain Zachary Quinto plays Spock in the reboot of the Star Trek franchise, with the blessing of original Spock Leonard Nimoy. Quinto tells NPR about befriending Nimoy, shaping eyebrows and more.
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After Deadly Chemical Plant Disasters, There's Little...
Proposals for chemical plants to use inherently safer design practices have been blocked by industry executives and their allies in Congress, despite deadly accidents and the risk of a potential terrorist attack that could harm an entire community or city.
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Michigan LGBT Youth Center Does Outreach With A Dance...
The Ruth Ellis Center in Highland Park, Mich., is making an effort to meet its clients where they are — on the dance floor, specifically with the dance form known as vogue. From there, the center can connect them with counseling, health services, tutoring and clean clothes.
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Scientists Agree On Climate Change, Why Doesn't The...
A new study confirms that the vast majority of scientists who research the climate accept that the planet is warming and human beings are largely responsible. Yet a large slice of the American public believes that scientists are deeply split about global warming.
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Week In Politics: IRS, Benghazi Emails, AP Phone Logs
Audie Cornish speaks with political commentators E.J. Dionne of The Washington Post and Brookings Institution and David Brooks of The New York Times. They discuss controversial IRS audits, the release of White House emails on Benghazi talking points and the Justice Department's seizure of AP phone logs.
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Outgoing Acting IRS Director Grilled By House Lawmakers
The House Ways and Means Committee became the first oversight panel in Congress to weigh in on the IRS tax-exempt group controversy on Friday morning.
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Daft Punk On 'The Soul That A Musician Can Bring'
In spite of the robotic persona they've cultivated for years, Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo elected to make their new album, Random Access Memories, in a real studio, with real musicians. Hear the elusive electronic duo in conversation with All Things Considered's Audie Cornish.
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The Rich And Furious Inner Life Of 'The Woman Upstairs'
Claire Messud's The Woman Upstairs is about a lonely third-grade teacher who falls in love with the family of one of her students. Reviewer Lionel Shriver says the book so bursts with rage and desire that it barely squeezes between hard covers.
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Left Without New Star Trek Episodes, Fans Create Their...
The next Star Trek movie comes out this week. It's been four years since the last one came out, and more than 40 years since the final episode of the original Star Trek series aired on television. Some fans moved on. Some spent the intervening decades pining away for Captain Kirk, Mr. Spock and the rest of the crew of the Starship Enterprise. And some took up the gauntlet Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry threw down in 1966 and started making episodes of their own.
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Why Is Psychiatry's New Manual So Much Like The Old One?
Unlike cardiology and most other fields of medicine, psychiatry still hasn't developed discrete, biological tests for diagnosing illnesses of the mind. That's because the brain hasn't yielded its secrets yet, one psychiatrist says.
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Letters: Inspiration Behind 'I Drive Your Truck'
Melissa Block and Audie Cornish read emails from listeners about the true story that inspired the hit country song, I Drive Your Truck.
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At Least Six Dead After Tornadoes Tear Through North...
A series of tornadoes ripped across north Texas on Wednesday night, killing six people and injuring dozens of others. The strongest tornado hit the city of Granbury with winds approaching 200 mph. Rescue crews were going door-to-door on Thursday searching for survivors.
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DOJ Report Details Lapses In Witness Protection Program
A new report from the Justice Department's watchdog points to several lapses in the government's witness protection program. The most significant are that U.S. Marshals at one point lost track of two known or suspected terrorists; and that some witnesses inadvertently were not placed on a no-fly list and flew using new identities. The FBI says there are no known current threats from any witnesses.
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Women In Combat: Some Lessons From Israel's Military
The U.S. will soon begin to open combat positions to women. That's already the case in Israel, where women say it is an important step but doesn't guarantee full equality. The military's upper echelons remain male-dominated.
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Senators Lead Push To Change Military's Sexual Assault...
New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is sponsoring legislation cracking down on sexual assault in the military.
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Baseball's 'Most Durable Batboy' Marks 55 Years On The...
Stan Bronson is an icon of the University of Memphis baseball team. His is an honorary position without pay, so the university provides his food and medical care. At 84, he's remained healthy for his age, but there are concerns about the medical care he may require as he ages.
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David Beckham Retires As One Of Soccer's Most Famous...
One of the best known athletes in the world has announced his retirement. Soccer player David Beckham will play his final game later this month. Melissa Block talks with Grant Wahl, a senior writer for Sports Illustrated and the author of The Beckham Experiment.
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From The Heart Of Egypt's Revolt, The Pulse Of Artistic...
Egypt's capital has been associated with protest and political upheaval. But an arts festival attempts to clear away the dust and revitalize a once-glorious cultural hub.
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Strict Firewall Exists Between IRS And White House
Audie Cornish talks to Marcus Owens, former director of the Exempt Organizations Division of the Internal Revenue Service. The division is the same one under scrutiny for targeting conservative groups. He talks about the IRS's vetting process in determining tax exempt status and where they may have gone wrong.
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Some Lawmakers Want Big-Budget Groups Included In IRS...
The Justice Department is investigating the IRS's flagging of grass-roots conservative groups that sought nonprofit status. But some lawmakers want the debate extended to look at the well-financed activities of existing 501(c)(4) groups that spent millions in the 2012 elections.
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A 'Wake-Up Call' To Protect Vulnerable Workers From Abuse
For decades, a turkey-processing company housed intellectually disabled men in squalid conditions, subjecting them to physical and emotional abuse while paying them $2 per day. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission recently won a huge judgment against the company.
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House Republicans Take Another Stab At Repealing...
The House held a vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act — again. This time it was to make freshman Republicans happy by giving them a vote to take home.
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Pressure Grows In Australia To Legalize Same-Sex Marriage
There's growing pressure in Australia for the government to legalize gay marriage after New Zealand became the 13th country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage earlier this month. Last year, a vote on the issue in Australia's parliament failed to change the law and both political party leaders — the unmarried, atheist Prime Minister who lives with her long-term boyfriend and the staunchly Catholic opposition leader who once studied to become a priest — remain officially opposed to gay...
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Emails Track How Erroneous Benghazi Talking Points...
The White House's release of e-mails this week was intended to settle questions regarding the administration's response to the attack on the Benghazi consulate in September. But while some questions may have been laid to rest, others remain and will feed a critical story line.
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Obama Responds To Questions On IRS, Benghazi, AP Phone...
President Obama met reporters briefly on Thursday with Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan, but the American side of the news conference was all about domestic controversies involving the IRS and the Justice Department.
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White House Addresses Benghazi Emails, IRS Audits
The White House has released 100 pages of internal emails related to the development of talking points after the attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, last year. President Barack Obama also addressed the controversy surrounding the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative groups. Audie Cornish talks to Scott Horsley.
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Dam Removal Ushers In New Life In Washington State
New life is coming to Washington State's Olympic Peninsula. Two dams along the Elwha River are being removed, bringing a rush of sediment downstream and exposing hundreds of acres of once-submerged land. The dams were built in the early 1900s to power nearby timber mills. But they blocked salmon migration and their power is no longer needed, so they're coming out. This story originated as part of the public media collaboration, EarthFix.
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Go Fish (Somewhere Else): Warming Oceans Are Altering...
Fish are moving away from the equator and toward the poles to maintain their preferred water temperature. That means, for example, that fishermen are seeing swordfish normally found in the Mediterranean swimming near Denmark. But in the tropics, there are no fish to replace the ones that are leaving.
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Fund To Help Boston Bombing Victims Raises $30 Million
It's been one month since the Boston Marathon bombings that killed three people and injured more than 260 others.
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A Songwriter And An Army Dad Share One Touching Story
The song I Drive Your Truck is a No. 1 country hit. It began with a father's remembrance of his son, who was killed in action in Afghanistan — and a songwriter who just happened to be listening.
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Can Economics Save The African Rhino?
Poachers kill rhinos for their horns. Some economists think legalizing the horns could save the rhinos.
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A New 'Smart Rifle' Decides When To Shoot And Rarely...
A new rifle goes on sale on Wednesday, and it's not like any other. It uses lasers and computers to make shooters very accurate. A startup gun company in Texas developed the TrackingPoint rifle, which is so effective that some in the shooting community say it should not be sold to the public.
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AP Targeted By Justice Department After Yemen Bomber...
Attorney General Eric Holder is defending the Justice Department against allegations of overreach after officials revealed that investigators had obtained phone records from the Associated Press. The unusual action is the latest in a year long investigation into a 2012 AP story that revealed details of a terrorist plot out of Yemen. Attorney General Eric Holder summed up the leak this way: This was a very, very serious leak. It is within the top two or three most serious leaks that I have...
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Holder Questioned Over Justice Department's IRS...
Attorney General Eric Holder faced critics in both parties at Tuesday's House Judiciary Committee hearing because his Justice Department has subpoenaed two months of phone logs from the Associated Press following a security leak in 2012.
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Television's Fall 'Upfronts' A Relic Of Advertising Past
TV Networks are revealing their plans for the upcoming season. Audie Cornish speaks with media and television critic Eric Deggans of the Tampa Bay Times for more on the new shows, trends and surprises.
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LA Schools Throw Out Suspensions For 'Willful Defiance'
Students deemed willfully defiant accounted for nearly half of California's 700,000 suspensions last year. Many educators are cheering the Los Angeles Unified School District's decision to ban such suspensions, arguing the category is too broad and disproportionately targeted black students.
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One Reason To Apply For Tax-Exempt Status: Anonymity
The IRS scandal has put a spotlight on a part of the tax code increasingly popular with political groups. Donors can't get tax deductions for giving to 501(c)(4) organizations like they would for charities. But the names of those donors can stay private.
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Syrian Minister: Removal Of Assad Means Destruction Of...
Melissa Block talks with Syria's Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, Faisal Mekdad, about the upcoming international conference on Syria in Geneva and about the Syrian government's view of the civil war. Mekdad says the government of President Bashar al-Assad believes a peaceful settlement is necessary to solve the conflict in Syria. However, Mekdad says the replacement of President Assad means destruction of Syria, means no international conference, and means support of terrorism. Mekdad...
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Laura Mvula's Velvet 'Moon' Is A Revelation
Mvula's debut is ambitiously distinct and confident, as if she and her band had perfected their sound years ago but only now decided to share it with everyone else.
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Google Launches A Streaming Music Service
On Wednesday the company launched All Access, a paid subscription service that will put it in direct competition with Spotify and Pandora.
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Take Your Seat, The 'No Photography' Sign Is Lit
A viral video from an American Airlines flight highlights a little-known airline policy: no unauthorized photography.
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Military's Sexual Assault Problem Is A Cultural One
On Tuesday, details were revealed about a second military officer accused of sexual offenses, even though he was supposed to be helping to educate people about the danger of sexual assault. The military has developed an elaborate system to deal with continuing waves of assault, and has a plan for dealing with the problem. But getting service members to report the crimes remains a huge challenge because of the unique workplace and chain of command issues. Melissa Block talks to Larry Abramson.
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Scientists Clone Human Embryos To Make Stem Cells
The achievement is a long-sought step toward harnessing the potential power of such cells to treat diseases. But the discovery raises ethical concerns because it brings researchers closer to cloning humans.
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IRS Inspector General Faults 'Ineffective Management'
Audie Cornish talks to Scott Horsley about the IRS Inspector General's report on the agency's audit of conservative groups.
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Vampire Weekend: New Sounds Signal The End Of An Era
Singer Ezra Koenig says the band's new album, Modern Vampires of the City, is the final part of a trilogy — and the product of a lot of reflection on time and aging.
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With No Unified Database, Many Murder Victims Remain...
Israel Keyes confessed to murdering as many as 11 people across the country before killing himself in 2012. But Keyes didn't name his victims, and efforts to identify them have been frustrated by a lack of a federally mandated national missing persons database.
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Who Hides Money Outside The Country?
Over the past decade, 39,000 people have come forward to tell the government they've been hiding money overseas. Here's what they tell us about offshore money.
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U.S. Battling Other Countries To Be Cheapest Source Of...
Audie Cornish talks with Adam Davidson about the Labor Department's release of the import and export price indexes on Tuesday. The data underscore the difficulty of managing the U.S. economic recovery in the interconnected global economy.
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A Sign Of Disunity? Iranian Candidates Jockey For...
The country is gearing up for a presidential election next month, and the lack of a clear front-runner, analysts say, is a sign the political elite isn't united behind a single candidate. The late entrance of a former president, in particular, will likely alter the shape of the race.
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India, China Could Soon Demand More Oil Than U.S. And...
The United States has emerged as the star performer on the global oil scene, according to the latest oil outlook from the International Energy Agency. Oil production from the United States grew at a record pace last year for a non-OPEC nations. Meanwhile, emerging economies have become the big oil buyers.
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For Palestinians, Google's Small Change Is A Big Deal
Google unilaterally changed Google: Palestinian Territories to Google: Palestine. Many Palestinians were thrilled, while Israel's Foreign Ministry questioned the move.
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DOJ Seizure Of AP Call Logs Unusual In Its Broad Scope
A recent federal seizure of two months of phone records for Associated Press reporters and editors highlights the aggressive approach the Obama administration has taken to investigating leaks. Melissa Block speaks with Steven Aftergood, who monitors government secrecy as a senior research analyst for the Federation of American Scientists, about how the Obama administration stands out for its rigorous pursuit of leaks.
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Justice Department Under Fire For IRS Audits, AP Phone...
Attorney General Eric Holder met reporters on Tuesday for the first time since reports surfaced of his Justice Department secretly seizing telephone logs from the homes and offices of Associated Press journalists. Holder said he himself had not been involved in that subpoena, but that it had been part of an investigation into a national security breach he called a threat to American lives. Audie Cornish talks to Carrie Johnson about the news conference and about her own interview with the...
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With Rising Seas, America's Birthplace Could Disappear
By the end of the century, ocean levels could rise by 2 or 3 feet. That's enough to flood the colonists' first settlement at Jamestown, Va. And it's putting pressure on archaeologists to get as many artifacts out of the ground as quickly as possible — before it's too late.
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'Ice Shove' Damages Some Manitoba Homes Beyond Repair
Residents of Ochre Beach, Manitoba, were surprised when heavy ice floes were pushed up on their beachfront properties last week, damaging many homes to the point of no repair. The ice event is the first for the area, but the second weather event to wreak havoc after severe flooding in 2011.
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How A Florida Medical School Cares For Communities In...
Florida International University's medical school has made community-based health care a central part of its curriculum. With home visits and a mobile health clinic, students connect with families in neighborhoods where medical care is scarce.
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Genetic Counseling Can Help Women At Risk For Breast...
Following Angelina Jolie's op-ed in the New York Times revealing her double mastectomy, Audie Cornish talks with Sue Friedman, founder and executive director of FORCE: Facing Our Risk of Cancer Empowered, about access to genetic testing and preventive surgery.
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The Enemy Inside: Rhino's Protectors Sometimes Aid...
The defenders of Africa's rhinos are battling a well-financed and well-informed enemy. Poachers clear $40,000 or more for a single rhino horn. They have cash for the latest weaponry and to pay for inside information from some of the very people whose job it is to protect the rhinos.
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Russia Orders Alleged U.S. Spy To Leave Country
Russia's Federal Security Service says it apprehended a U.S. Embassy officer and accuses him of trying to entice a Russian official to provide classified information to the CIA. Russian authorities provided a photo, allegedly of third secretary Ryan Christopher Fogle, wearing a wig, and a photo of cash he was carrying along with a compass and a Moscow street map. Vogel was handed over to the U.S. Embassy after being questioned.
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Living On The Border, Driven — Literally — Underground
After living underground in the United States — figuratively speaking — some undocumented immigrants deported to the Mexican border city of Tijuana have been driven — quite literally — underground. They're living in holes along Tijuana's fetid sewage canal for protection against police.
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Immigration Reform Bill Holds Together In Senate...
The Senate Judiciary held its second round of debate on changes to the bipartisan immigration bill. Tuesday's focus was visas for workers, including visas for skilled technical work. David Welna talks to Melissa Block.
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U.S. Obtained AP Journalists' Phone Records
The Associated Press says the Justice Department secretly obtained two months of its journalists' telephone records as part of a secret government investigation.
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When The Right One Comes Along: How 'Nashville' Tells...
The mostly unreleased songs on the TV show Nashville are easily woven into the drama. They appear organically in living room songwriting sessions, late night honky-tonks or stadium dress rehearsals. But someone has to track them all down.
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Minnesota Poised To Legalize Same-Sex Marriage
Minnesota is poised to become the 12th state to legalize gay marriage. Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton is expected to sign the bill on Tuesday, making Minnesota the second state in the Midwest to allow same sex couples to marry. Iowa's Supreme Court legalized it in 2009. Minnesota's embrace of gay marriage caps a dramatic political story that's dominated state politics for two years.
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Facebook Users Question $20 Million Settlement Over Ads
Facebook is expected to pay out $20 million in a settlement over its Sponsored Stories advertising service, after placing user images in personalized ads. But the settlement doesn't stop the service, and a legal expert says Facebook's option to let users opt out creates more problems.
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ABC's Live Streaming Aimed At Keeping Cable Cords Intact
Starting Tuesday, ABC will let viewers in New York and Philadelphia watch their local stations over the Internet. But this is not a way to cut your cable bill. The new Watch ABC service will require a cable account to log in.
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Vietnam's Appetite For Rhino Horn Drives Poaching In...
Demand for rhino horn, used in traditional Chinese medicine, is fueling a slaughter of the animals in Africa. In Vietnam, the sought-after commodity is fetching prices as high as $1,400 an ounce, or about the price of gold. There, some believe ground horn can cure everything from hangovers to cancer.
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Abortion Doctor Found Guilty Of Murder, Manslaughter
A Philadelphia doctor who performed abortions has been found guilty on three counts of murder. On Monday, a jury convicted Kermit Gosnell of performing late-term abortions that killed three babies after they were born alive. The physician argued that they had actually died in the womb. Gosnell is also charged in the death of a female patient who was killed by a lethal dose of sedatives and painkillers.
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For Supreme Court, Monsanto's Win Was More About Patents...
The high court ruled unanimously that when farmers use patented seed for more than one planting in violation of their licensing agreements, they are liable for damages.
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For Tax-Exempt Groups, How Much Politics Is Too Much?
The IRS is under fire for directing additional scrutiny toward conservative groups seeking 501(c)(4) status. But the controversy reveals a question with no clear answer: Precisely what are so-called social welfare organizations allowed to do in electoral politics?
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Creator Of Popular Schwinn 'Sting-Ray' Bike Dies
Al Fritz, creator of the Sting-Ray bike for Schwinn, died last Tuesday at 88 in Barrington, Ill. His bike had a banana seat and high handlebars that curved like longhorns. It was a huge hit for Schwinn in the 1970s.
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As Stigma Eases, Single Motherhood In Mexico Is On The...
Single moms have faced a tough time in Mexico for generations. But as in the U.S., the number of households headed by a woman has been rising, and now accounts for a quarter of all families in Mexico.
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Bloomberg News Apologizes For Tracking Subscribers
Bloomberg News' Editor in Chief Matthew Winkler has apologized for the use by reporters of proprietary data about subscribers to the company's business terminals. The practice was entrenched in a newsroom that was carved out of the lucrative terminals leasing division.
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An 'Entrepreneurial Seedling' Sprouts In Detroit
Young entrepreneurs are revitalizing parts of the city, starting up businesses in what were once empty warehouses. They're creating buzz and enthusiasm. But in a city where the population is declining and the tax base is crumbling, there are doubts about how much impact their efforts will have.
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Five Years After A Quake, Chinese Cite Shoddy...
A massive 2008 temblor in Sichuan province killed some 90,000 Chinese and pointed to the poor construction practices in China. The rebuilding effort was supposed to showcase modern China. But today, many survivors are angry over what they say is official corruption, ranging from poor construction and unpaid workers to bribes and improper compensation for seized land.
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Fashion Retailers Agree To Safety Plan After Factory...
Three of the world's largest clothing chains, including HM and the owner of the Zara chain, have agreed to pay for fire safety and building improvements in Bangladeshi factories. The announcement comes three weeks after a building collapse that killed more than 1,100 workers in Dhaka.
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Does Obama Administration Have The Second Term Curse?
The second term curse has plagued the last five two-term presidents, but President Obama's administration had been confident they'd be the ones to break the streak. But instead the administration finds itself on the defensive about the Benghazi and now IRS questions targeted at Tea Party groups.
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White House On Defense Over IRS Audits, Benghazi
At a news conference in the White House East Room on Monday, President Obama responded to criticism surrounding the IRS targeting conservative groups and the administration editing talking points about September's terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya.
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Balancing Influences: Saxophonist Mahanthappa Blends...
Rudresh Mahanthappa's work always seems to be filed under jazz, but it's hard to find a style he doesn't touch: hip-hop, country, metal and soul fused with traditional sounds from India, Africa and Indonesia. And he makes it rock.
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Three-Minute Fiction
NPR's Three-Minute Fiction contest will close Sunday night. Contestants should submit their stories at npr.org/threeminutefiction.
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After Long Wait, Novelist James Salter Shares 'All That...
Salter's first book, in 1957, won the admiration of writers and critics alike. But he hadn't written a novel since 1979, until now. All That Is sets out to give a sweeping portrait of human experience, with a main character who appears suspiciously similar to Salter himself.
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The Movie Mark McKinney Has 'Seen A Million Times'
Writer-comedian Mark McKinney could watch Hayao Miyazaki's anime film My Neighbor Totoro a million times. It still makes me laugh, it still makes me smile, he says.
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New Closed-Captioning Glasses Help Deaf Go Out To The...
This is a big moment for the deaf, many of whom haven't been to the movies in a long time. The new glasses display closed captions just for the wearer, and they're headed for 6,000 theaters across the country.
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For Year-Round Buzz, Beekeepers 'Fast-Forward Darwinism'
Honeybees are in trouble across the U.S., but one association in Massachusetts is hoping to boost the population in its own area. The bees it currently uses have a hard time surviving the winter and battling other foes that have been killing bees nationwide. So beekeepers in Plympton decided to breed their own.
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Revisiting The McAfee Saga
Billionaire entrepreneur John McAfee went on the run in 2012 after his neighbor in Belize was found shot in the head. Journalist Jeff Wise profiled McAfee from 2007 to 2012, and says he found himself taken in by McAfee's charm. He's written about the experience in Psychology Today. Ultimately, Wise says he was duped.
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Checking More Than One Box: A Growing Multiracial Nation
The last Census showed 9 million people, about 3 percent of the population, reporting more than one race. That's an increase of one-third from the decade before — and that number is only going up.
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The 'Curious' Story Of Robert 'Believe It Or Not!' Ripley
Neal Thompson's new biography traces the life of the newspaper cartoonist who became an international celebrity and media superstar. Ripley's pioneering mix of the strange, the shocking and the barely believable shaped the way Americans saw the world.
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Reminder: Three-Minute Fiction Round 11 Closing Soon
Weekends on All Things Considered guest host Arun Rath reminds fans of NPR's Three-Minute Fiction contest that Round 11 will be closing in two days and they should submit their stories now at npr.org/threeminutefiction.
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In Hollywood Twist, China Gets Its Own 'Iron Man'
Entertainment Weekly senior writer Anthony Breznican gives Weekends on All Things Considered guest host Arun Rath the latest news from Hollywood.
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Combating The Rise In Teen Suicide
Weekends on All Things Considered guest host Arun Rath talks to pediatrician Stephen Teach about teen suicide and how to prevent it. Teach recently published new research on how and why children as young as 10 years old commit suicide.
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Pakistanis Brave Violence To Cast Historic Votes
Pakistanis voted in parliamentary elections Saturday after a violent campaign season that left dozens dead. NPR's Julie McCarthy is in Lahore and tells Weekends on All Things Considered guest host Arun Rath the latest.
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Week In News: Hacking — Made In China
This past week, the Pentagon fired off a stern warning about Chinese computer hacking, and the Chinese responded with a tense rebuttal. Weekends on All Things Considered guest host Arun Rath speaks with James Fallows, national correspondent with The Atlantic, who's been in Beijing all week and saw the response firsthand.
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In Guantanamo, Have We Created Something We Can't Close?
The crisis at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp keeps growing in size and intensity. According to the military's own count, 100 of the 166 men held in the prison there are now on hunger strike. The strike has brought renewed attention to the issue of closing the prison, but some wonder if that's even possible.
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Former Guatemalan Dictator Found Guilty Of Genocide
The genocide trial of former Guatemalan dictator Efrain Rios Montt ended Friday with a conviction. A panel of judges found him guilty after a six-week proceeding. Rios Montt, however, denies responsibility for massacres and other crimes committed against Mayans during his 1982-1983 rule.
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'It Led Us On A Journey': The Musical World Of 'The...
In overseeing the new film's soundtrack, music supervisor Anton Monsted says he hoped to create a sliding door effect between the Jazz Age and the hip-hop era.
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Not Even Instant Replay Could Prevent These Bad Calls
There have been a slew of bad calls in Major League Baseball recently, including one that was made despite the advantage of instant replay.
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Book Review: 'A Nearly Perfect Copy'
Book critic Alan Cheuse has a review of A Nearly Perfect Copy by Allison Amend.
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Study Reveals Wild Disparities In American Hospital...
On Wednesday, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services released a massive spreadsheet containing a comparison of what hospitals across the country bill for the 100 most popular medical procedures. The document revealed wild disparities in pricing from hospital to hospital. Robert Siegel speaks with Princeton professor Uwe Reinhardt, who studies health care economics, about how the American hospital system evolved this way.
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Letters: Teenage Diaries Revisited And Turkey Tails
Audie Cornish and Robert Siegel read letters from listeners about the Teenage Diaries Revisited series and turkey tails.
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'Dangerous Territory': Carbon Dioxide Levels Reach...
The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has crossed the psychological threshold of 400 parts per million. That number is one of the clearest measures of how humans are changing the planet by burning fossil fuels.
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The Search Is Over: Boston Bombing Suspect Has Been...
Audie Cornish talks to Martha Mullen, who spearheaded the effort to find a place to bury the body of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev.
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Two Years In, A Look At Obama's Syrian Civil War Record
Syria's civil war is becoming the defining foreign policy challenge of President Obama's second term.
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With Rebels In Disarray, Syrian Regime Appears Confident
Analysts explain that Assad defines victory as holding on to key territory, including Damascus, and they say Assad's goal is to stay in place until 2014, as he said he would, to run in a presidential election. The overall commander of the Free Syrian Army says his rebels are getting hammered by the regime in the south because arms shipments stopped over a month ago.
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Teenage Diaries Revisited: Mother And Son Listen To The...
In 1996, after 12 years living in the foster care system, Melissa Rodriguez recorded a diary about getting pregnant and becoming a mother. Now, her son Issaiah is a teenager, and she shares her teenage diary with him and reveals things about her past that she's never mentioned.
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After Targeting Conservative Groups, IRS Apologizes
On Friday, the IRS officer in charge of tax-exempt groups apologized for the agency's use of the terms tea party and patriot on paperwork as a reason for giving applicants additional scrutiny. Conservative groups say the admission validates their complaints from last year that they were being singled out by the Obama administration.
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Benghazi Investigator Reacts To Criticism Of His Report
Robert Siegel speaks with former top diplomat Thomas Pickering, who led the State Department's investigation into the September 2012 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Pickering's report was criticized by witnesses at this week's congressional oversight hearing about the administration's handling of the attacks.
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Polley's 'Stories': A Family Saga Strikingly Spun
A director's film memoir of her theatrical family is transformed by surprising discoveries about her parents' past — and her own heritage. Sarah Polley's film becomes a superb meditation on how we dramatize memory. (Recommended)
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Week In Politics: Immigration Benghazi
Robert Siegel speaks with political commentators E.J. Dionne of The Washington Post and Brookings Institution, and Reihan Salam of National Review Online's The Agenda blog. They discuss immigration and the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
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President Asks Moms For Help Promoting Obamacare
President Obama met with a group of mothers on Friday to talk about selling relevant aspects of Obamacare to a young generation that often takes its healthy condition for granted and avoids the cost of insurance.
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Could You Talk To A Caveman? Scientists Say It's Possible
Researchers at the University of Reading are speculating that today's languages share a common root dating as far back as the last Ice Age. Words like mother, man and ashes are categorized as ultraconserved, meaning they are survivors of a lost language from which many modern tongues are descended.
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Noticing: How To Take A Walk In The Woods
Refining our capacity to notice is an act of reverence that we can bring to everywhere and everywhen. It's an invitation, bringing the world's most basic presence into view, opening our horizons and restoring our spirits.
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Bangladesh's Powerful Garment Sector Fends Off Regulation
The deaths of hundreds of workers in Bangladesh are taking place in a garment sector that has seen explosive growth over the past three decades. Amid market pressures to cut prices, the country has managed to lure clothing-makers through a combination of low wages and light regulation.
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Samoans Await The Return Of The Tasty Turkey Tail
In 2007, Samoa banned the import of turkey tails from the U.S. to try to improve public health. But the ban kept the island nation from entering the World Trade Organization, so its days are numbered.
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At The Movies, A Swirl Of Style And Substance
Special effects date back to the dawn of film, but with today's tools moviemakers can put pretty much anything on-screen — which has NPR film critic Bob Mondello thinking about how movie style affects movie substance.
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House Questions Terrorism Detection Tools After Boston...
The House Homeland Security Committee held its first hearing on the Boston Marathon bombing and aftermath on Thursday. Witnesses included the Boston police commissioner and former Sen. Joe Lieberman. Panel Chairman Mike McCaul has been highlighting intelligence failures.
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Bond For Accused Cleveland Kidnapper Set At $8 Million
Just days ago, three women and a child escaped from a Cleveland house they'd been held in for years. On Thursday, accused kidnapper and rapist Ariel Castro appeared in court. A judge set bond for Castro at $8 million.
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Democrats Skeptical Of Republican 'Debt Prioritization'...
House Republicans have passed a bill that would tell President Obama which bills to pay first, should the U.S. Treasury run out of cash and risk default, like it almost did two summers ago. The proposal is not likely to move in the Democratic Senate, and the issue itself is fading in urgency as the deficit picture improves.
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Immigration Reform Amendments Target Border Security
The Senate Judiciary Committee is plowing through dozens of amendments to its immigration overhaul reform plan. Many of Thursday's proposed changes are Republican attempts to have tighter controls on the border with Mexico. David Welna talks to Audie Cornish.
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Teenage Diaries Revisited: Growing Up With Tourette's
In 1996, Josh Cutler, who has Tourette's syndrome, documented his efforts to live a normal life. Josh overcame Tourette's enough to become a schoolteacher. But it hasn't been easy. His new diary examines his life with a brain that often betrays him.
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Book Review: 'Our Man In Iraq'
Critic Alan Cheuse reviews the novel Our Man in Iraq by Robert Perisic.
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In Newsrooms, Some Immigration Terms Are Going Out Of...
In April, the Associated Press decided the word illegal should only be used to describe actions, not people. It's one of several major news outlets that have been reconsidering how to refer to people who are in this country illegally.
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How Can Identical Twins Turn Out So Different?
Scientists used to think that identical twins turned out differently because they were treated differently by friends, teachers or their parents. A study of mice supports the idea that small changes in behavior can lead to larger ones and eventually even resculpt brains in different ways.
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Pakistani Women Still Struggle For A Voice In Politics
Women account for only 36 of the more than 4,000 candidates on the ballot in Saturday's parlimentary election. On of them, Naz Baloch, is following her father into politics, but acknowledges it's a rough-and-tumble game in a country where opportunities for women are limited.
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Build-Up To Pakistani Election Marked By Violence, Drama
Robert Siegel speaks with Pakistani academic Adil Najam from Lahore about the mood in Pakistan on the eve of what many consider historic elections on Saturday.
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In France, A Renewed Push To Return Art Looted By Nazis
Nearly seven decades after the end of World War II, France is still attempting to locate the rightful owners of art that was looted by the Nazis. The Internet and improved technology have helped, but it's still a painstaking process.
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Reward For Christopher Dorner Will Be Split Four Ways
Four people will share the reward money associated with the capture of former Los Angeles Police Department officer Christopher Dorner. He was the cop who went on a killing spree after being dismissed from the force.
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Airport Hubs Become Busier As Airlines Cut Costs
A Massachusetts Institute of Technology study underlines the extent to which airlines have cut back service, especially at smaller airports, in order to return to profitability.
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Immigrants Tend To Complement, Not Replace American Jobs
The Senate Judiciary Committee is beginning work Thursday on a proposal to overhaul the nation's immigration laws. Audie Cornish talks with Adam Davidson of the Planet Money team about what academic research says about the economic impact of immigration.
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Black Voters Turned Out At Greatest Rate For 2012...
Much was made on election night about the importance of minority voter turnout. On Wednesday, the U.S. Census Bureau released new data on the racial and ethnic breakdown of voters in the 2012 presidential election. The census data provides better figures than what was available from exit polls.
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Why Bill Gates Thinks Ending Polio Is Worth It
The Microsoft founder and philanthropist is putting his money and time where his passion is: eradicating polio. Gates talks with NPR's Robert Siegel about why it makes sense to spend an estimated $5.5 billion to wipe out the disease once and for all.
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U.S. Diplomat Reports Little Help During Benghazi Attacks
A congressional committee on Wednesday heard testimony from three witnesses about the events that led to deaths of four Americans at Benghazi in September, 2012. The Benghazi attack has become a political controversy — Republicans accuse the Obama administration of mishandling security there and of misleading the American public after the attack. One new allegation: that a four-person team set to deploy to Benghazi the night of the attack was told not to go.
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With Texas Trip, Obama Tries To Steer Focus Back To...
It has been a difficult spring for the president. He couldn't get Congress to work with him on the sequester or gun control legislation. Now he appears to be making an effort to get back to the issues Americans say they care most about.
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Kidnapped Ohio Women Return Home To Families
Charges are expected Wednesday in Cleveland, where three women who'd been missing for years have been rescued.
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31 Suspects In 3 Nations Nabbed In $50 Million Diamond...
The brazen robbery at Brussels' main airport on Feb. 18 was one of the biggest diamond heists ever. Authorities say some of the stones turned up in Switzerland. Suspects have been taken into custody there and in both France and Belgium.
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Push To End Teens' Distracted Driving Targets Parents,...
Preliminary data show an increase in highway deaths among 16- and 17-year-olds last year. In response, the government is preaching a message of don't text and drive and has urged students to produce their own public service ads. Officials say parental involvement may be even more important.
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Teenage Diaries Revisited: From Kicking A Football To...
Frankie Lewchuk was a high school football star whose picture was in his hometown newspaper every week. Years after graduating from high school, Frankie was back in the hometown paper, this time for drug-related crimes. Now, he's attempting to repair his life and his relationship with his family.
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On Two New RB Albums, An Old Soul Sound That Glows
New York's Charles Bradley and London's James Hunter Six both mix inspiration and replication.
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Alex Ferguson: A Legendary Manager For An Iconic...
Alex Ferguson, who is stepping down after 27 years at the helm of Manchester United, is widely regarded as the most successful British soccer manager ever.
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Fitzgerald Might Disagree With His 'No Second Acts' Line
Audie Cornish talks to Kirk Curnutt, vice president of the F. Scott Fitzgerald Society, about the often misused and misquoted line, there are no second acts in American lives. A whole generation of American politicians has fallen from grace, only to rise again and disprove the line — Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, Eliot Spitzer and now South Carolina governor turned congressman, Mark Sanford.
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Half Of States May Not Expand Medicaid Under Obamacare
Florida is one of the latest states to decide to pass on the option to expand Medicaid coverage and have the feds pick up the tab. Over half of the states — including Texas and most of the states in the South — have decided against Medicaid expansion. We take a look at the consequences for hospitals and for millions of low-income Americans who, at least for now, will be left out of the healthcare overhaul.
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Government Data Reveals Wild Disparity In Health Care...
Data released for the first time by the government on Wednesday shows that hospitals charge Medicare wildly differing amounts. Government officials said that some of the variation might reflect the fact that some patients were sicker or required longer hospitalization. These charges are not paid by the government or by insurers, who set rates and pay according to them regardless of charges set by hospitals.
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Mark Sanford Wins House Race
South Carolina's former governor has defeated Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch in the state's special election to fill a congressional seat.
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'Love' Stories: Pierce Brosnan, Then And Now
The actor's new film, Love Is All You Need, has him playing a widowed businessman on vacation on the Amalfi Coast. He tells NPR's Audie Cornish it was a role he could identify with.
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Repeat Fires Put Maine Apartment Dwellers On Edge
Two hundred residents of the small city of Lewiston, Maine, are homeless after a series of dramatic fires downtown. On three different nights, neighbors have been awaked by smoke and flames as old wooden apartment buildings were engulfed. Susan Sharon reports a pair of arrests after the first two fires has done nothing to ease people's fears.
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Pistol Annies: Plain Truths, Sharp Humor, Three-Part...
The latest album from the trio of Miranda Lambert, Angaleena Presley and Ashley Monroe unites three distinct perspectives from some of the strongest voices in country music.
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Congressional Hearings Put Renewed Focus On Benghazi...
Security was a central theme as the Senate held a confirmation hearing Tuesday for Deborah K. Jones, who has been nominated to succeed Christopher Stevens as ambassador to Libya. On Wednesday, House Republicans will hear testimony about the attack that killed Stevens and three other Americans.
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Ray Harryhausen Was Pioneer Of Stop Motion Animation
Raymond Frederick Harryhausen created one of the earliest successful forms of stop motion animation. He and pioneer Willis O'Brien won an Oscar for their work on the film Mighty Joe Young. Harryhausen also created one of the most famous screen swordfights ever between Jason and a group of skeletons in Jason and the Argonauts. Harryhausen died Tuesday at the age of 92.
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Report: Sexual Assault On The Rise In The U.S. Military
The Pentagon reported on Tuesday that reports of sexual assault increased significantly last year. That's despite intensive efforts to combat the problem. The numbers could indicate that victims are more comfortable coming forward. But sexual assault advocates say it's a sign that the military's approach is not working. Larry Abramson speaks with Robert Siegel about the new report.
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Are Those North Korean Long-Range Missiles For Real?
When North Korea put its missiles on parade last year, experts were surprised to see what looked to be new long-range missiles that might be powerful enough to reach the U.S. But a closer look at details in the photos suggests the missiles on display might have been a bluff.
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Bishops Remain Missing After Capture In Syria
As orthodox Christians across the world celebrated a late Easter this year, Christian communities in Syria and neighboring Lebanon postponed all celebrations. Instead they gathered in churches only to pray for the safe return of two bishops kidnapped outside of Aleppo last month. While their whereabouts are still unknown, the Syrian opposition and the Assad regime continue to trade blame for the abduction the Syriac Orthodox and Greek Orthodox Archbishops of Aleppo. We speak to the Syriac...
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Kerry Appeals To Russia To Help End Syrian Civil War
Secretary of State Kerry met with Russian leaders in Moscow on Tuesday in another attempt to forge a consensus on Syria.
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'Show Boat' Steams On, Eternally American
A revival of the Hammerstein-Kern classic showcases once again the rich tapestry and timeless themes of an American saga that changed the course of musical theater — and confronted audiences with painful truths about our history.
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Letters: Burial Of Boston Bombing Suspect
Robert Siegel and Audie Cornish read emails from listeners about an undertaker who believes slain Boston Marathon bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev should still receive a proper burial.
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Teenage Diaries Revisited: Living Life Under The Radar
Juan came to the U.S. with his family, who crossed the Rio Grande illegally in 1992. He has made a life for himself in Colorado that might seem like the American dream: a house, a job, two cars, three kids. But he remains in the U.S. illegally.
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Filling In The Gap On Climate Education In Classrooms
Science education standards, issued in April, recommend teaching climate change for the first time. But one nonprofit says kids aren't learning enough, soon enough, about how their world will change in the coming decades. The group aims to remedy this with presentations in schools nationwide.
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Gov. Chris Christie Admits To Secret Weight Loss Surgery
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie confirmed on Tuesday that he secretly underwent weight loss surgery in February. Christie, who has struggled with his weight for 20 years, insists the decision was motivated by his family and not his political future.
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Bee Deaths May Have Reached A Crisis Point For Crops
The number of honeybees has now dwindled to the point where there may not be enough to pollinate some major U.S. crops, including almonds, blueberries and apples. And this year brought farmers closer than ever to a true pollination crisis.
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Majority Of Missing Persons Cases Are Resolved
Audie Cornish talks with Todd Matthews, director of communications for the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System, about how many people go missing every year, and who they typically are.
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More Questions Than Answers In Cleveland Kidnappings
Authorities in Cleveland, Ohio, are sorting out the details of a triple kidnapping that had lasted almost a decade. On Monday, one of the three women escaped from the house where she'd been held captive and was able to call police. Now, three brothers are in custody and there are more questions than answers.
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A Picture Postcard From Wild Wrangel Island
Unless you have an icebreaker or a helicopter, you'll probably only see this remote Russian nature preserve in photos. It's inhospitable and practically inaccessible, but the island's wildlife — including arctic fox, polar bears and musk oxen — are a strong draw for scientists and photographers.
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From A Debut Writer, A Polished, Passionate, Must-Read...
Anthony Marra's debut novel, A Constellation of Vital Phenomena, takes place in war-torn Chechnya — a world of perpetual violence, fear and exploding land mines. But reviewer Meg Wolitzer says the characters are so vivid and the language so brilliant you want to stay there.
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Another Vote Ahead For Pot In Colorado: This Time, On...
As Colorado lawmakers debate rules regulating recreational marijuana use, one big question looms: how to charge taxes that will fund oversight of retail pot businesses. The tax requires a statewide vote. If it fails, some worry that underfunded enforcement will invite the feds to shut recreational pot down entirely.
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Vintage Sounds: The Crackle And Pop Of Vinyl Records
As part of our occasional series on All Tech Considered, Vintage Sounds, we remember sounds of older technology that brings fond memories to the minds of listeners. Today, three listeners share what they liked about vinyl records.
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Some Net Retailers Aren't Buying Online Sales Tax...
Proponents of the bill, currently before Congress, say collecting taxes from online sales should be relatively simple for retailers. But with close to 10,000 tax jurisdictions around the country, some online businesses say collecting the taxes and navigating potential problems will be a costly burden.
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Tech Week Ahead: YouTube's Subscription Service
Audie Cornish talks to Laura Sydell about the tech week ahead. They cover YouTube's new subscription service.
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Long-Lost Memo Stirs Allegation Of Cheating In D.C....
Washington, D.C., school officials are under fire once again for not thoroughly investigating an unusual number of erasures on standardized tests that took place in dozens of schools beginning in 2008. Allegations of cheating have cast doubt on the district's impressive gains and sullied the reputation of former schools chancellor Michelle Rhee
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Conservative Group: Immigration Reform Would Cost $6...
The Heritage Foundation is out with a new report on the Senate's immigration overhaul, and says it will cost the country more than $6 trillion. The influential conservative group issued a similar report that helped scuttle the 2007 immigration bill.
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Family Fights Sale Of Iconic Thomas Cole Painting
While serving as governor of New York, William Seward received a Thomas Cole landscape painting as a gift for his work on the Erie Canal. Since then, its value has exploded and its caretakers are looking to sell. On Tuesday, Seward's great-great-grandson will be in court to try to stop them.
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White House Still Divided On Further Action In Syria
Melissa Block talks to The New Yorker's Dexter Filkins about the debate over involvement in Syria inside the White House.
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Undertaker: Slain Boston Bombing Suspect Should Still Be...
Is there a code of ethics when it comes to burying a body, no matter what that person did while he or she was alive? The family of Tamerlan Tsarnaev is finding out, as they've received rejections from local cemeteries to bury the 26-year-old bomb suspect's body. Audie Cornish talks to undertaker and author Thomas Lynch for his perspective.
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Cemeteries Refuse To Take Body Of Boston Bombing Suspect
A funeral director in Massachusetts says he's having trouble finding a burial plot for the slain suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing. There are some efforts to send the body back to Tamerlan Tsarnaev's famly in Russia.
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New York Attorney General Plans To Sue Two Major Banks
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman says he's suing Bank of America and Wells Fargo for violating the terms of a national agreement over foreclosure abuses. Schneiderman claims he has documented 339 violations by the banks of standards that were part of the agreement.
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Teenage Diaries Revisited: A Gay Teen's Family, 'Evolved'
Amanda Brand is gay. Her family is conservative Catholic, and when she was a teenager, her parents were convinced she was only going through a phase. Recently, Amanda sat down with her mother and father in Queens, N.Y., in the same house she grew up in, to revisit her tumultuous teen years.
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Two Syrian Women, Two Very Different Perspectives On War
Melissa Block talks to two women in Syria. One is Susan Ahmad, the English spokesperson for the revolutionary council in Syria's Damascus suburbs. Ahmad is using a pseudonym to protect her identity. The other is Reem Dagman, who lives in western port city of Latakia, Syria. The city is considered the capitol and cultural center for Syria's Alalwite minority.
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Crowd Funding Effort Seeks To Save Venice's Everyday...
There are two types of gondolas in Venice — the fancy, expensive tourist boats, and then the traghetto, the everyday boat used by locals. But the traghetto is quickly disappearing, and gondola enthusiasts have harnessed 21st century technology to save this ancient form of transportation.
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Is Jeff Flake The Most Unpopular Senator In The Country?
Some of Sen. Jeff Flake's constituents in Arizona are still livid over his recent vote against expanded background checks for gun sales. They say the Republican is ignoring their calls for a public meeting.
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Some Democrats Back Same-Sex Amendment To Immigration...
When Americans marry noncitizens, their spouses become eligible for green cards and many of the benefits of citizenship — unless the couples are gay or lesbian. Some Democrats are hoping to extend the same benefits to same-sex couples by amending the immigration bill before the Senate.
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A Funky-Fresh Sound From Somalia, With A Political...
A dance band called Dur-Dur Band ruled the nightclub scene in 1980s Mogadishu, thanks to a unique sound made possible by access to Western culture and instruments.
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A Tale From The Delta, Born Of The Blues
Bill Cheng's debut novel, Southern Cross the Dog, is full of mythical characters who feel like they rose right out of the Mississippi Swamp, and narratives that churn and swirl like the river itself. Cheng calls the novel a love note to those old blues players.
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The Movie Derek Cianfrance Has 'Seen A Million Times'
Writer-director Derek Cianfrance could watch Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas a million times. It was just a perfect movie, and I returned to see it about 30 times in the theater that year, he says.
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The Price Glenn Burke Paid For Coming Out
Glenn Burke was an outfielder with the LA Dodgers in the 1970s. He was also gay — something that many of his teammates knew at the time though the general public did not. Documentary filmmaker Doug Harris discusses how Burke's sexuality sat with his teammates and the Dodgers' front office.
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A Search For Faith In 'Godless' Washington
When he first moved to Washington, D.C., White House faith adviser Jonathan DuBois had heard people in the nation's capital weren't serious about their religious beliefs. Instead, he found how those in the public eye keep a private faith.
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The Hidden Cost Of The Drone Program
One expert says the administration is operating drones with a kill-not-capture policy, adding that you don't get intelligence from those killed. But there's also a human toll — from the pilots who remotely operate the drones to those people who live in the areas that are targeted.
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