The Best Story I've Heard Today

More than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled Burma’s Rakhine State since last August, hoping to escape a widespread campaign of ethnic cleansing. The atrocities committed by Burmese security forces, including mass killings, sexual violence, and arson are repeatedly denied by military and civilian officials, but human rights watch groups say this is the world's fastest growing humanitarian crises. Many of those people have found themselves in Bangladesh, and are now living among the largest...

Daniela Molina is an Indiana University Media School student, and an aspiring investigative journalist who has already interned at WTVJ in Miami, where she was named an Emma Bowen Foundation Fellow, and at WTIU, Bloomington. She's previously served as the interim editor-in-chief of The Reporter, which is the campus paper for Miami Dade College. And today she's brought us the story of Legend Solar, a solar panel company out west that has left customers feeling like they are part of a Ponzi...

This is a monologue that takes us to the American southwest, where hope and despair can mingle. But hope can overcome. Today's story is from Searchlight New Mexico, which is telling us about a small non-profit that is out to break a cycle in a challenging, demanding, part of the world. Read the original here. Find them on Twitter at @SearchlightNM. And check out some of the graduation pictures. It's a feel-good kind of scroll. Follow the show on Twitter, @BestStoryShow, too. And when...

If you want to remember the moment a bit better, you might need to put the camera down and the phone back in your pocket. That's the suggestion from a recent study, which Vox has picked up on: What smartphone photography is doing to our memories. Ken Booth, co-founder of one of the web's best photo archives, shorpy.com and an old-school newsman, tells us about this story, and the importance of staying in the moment, rather than in a viewfinder or a touchscreen. You can see more of Booth's...

On this historic anniversary we're going back in time to discuss a column written 50 years ago, upon the news of the assasination of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was shot in Memphis, but this piece by Mike Royko was published in Chicago the next day. It has become something of a famous column, and, as Indianapolis Star writer Zac Osterman tells us today, it still works, it still resonates, and it is still viable. At the beginning of the show you'll hear from Robert Kennedy, who was...

"The Troubles" in the United Kingdom are a thing of the past. But the Good Friday Agreement, a 1998 signed understanding that impacted the relationships and institutions between Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom, is right now in a precarious position because of Brexit. Indiana Daily Student news editor Dominick Jean tells us this land border situation and the many cultural and commercial aspects of the arrangment were largely overlooked when it came time to...

Maybe you noticed that the NCAA women's basketball tournament came down to a last-second shot this weekend. Maybe you noticed the WNIT wrapped up with two scrappy teams who made great late-season runs. Maybe you noticed those highly entertaining storylines and the games that went with them. Likely as not, these and plenty of other compelling women's sporting events have escaped your notice. Outside of the Olympics, Indiana University's Dr. Lauren Smith tells us, that's a sadly common...

You've probably heard about Mike Hughes, the guy who supposedly put himself in a rocket of his own creation and launched himself into the sky. But you haven't heard the whole story. You might know he believes the earth is flat. But you haven't heard what else he doesn't believe in. Our man Justin Thurman returns for another Fun Friday to share more of what "Mad" Mike Hughes doesn't believe in, and his future plans. Also, we average a culturally, or at least topically, relevant name drop...

We might now be very close to looking at a shift in transportation, says journalism professor and deep innovation thinker Robert Quigley. And, he says, it is coming on us fast. Some people might think about buggy whip makers, though perhaps the better analogy is one pointed out in The Atlantic's story, perhaps the coming autonomous car fleets will be more like Craigslist and classified ads. Alphabet is about to pick up a lot of self-driving Jaguars and you might be riding in one as soon as...

Uber has been in the news with the unfortunate story out of Arizona about the death of the first pedestrian by an autonomous car. You can read some of those stories here: Self-Driving Uber Car Kills Pedestrian in Arizona, Where Robots Roam Self-driving cars under scrutiny after pedestrian death Arizona Governor Helped Make State 'Wild West' For Driverless Cars But, as USA Today Network - Wisconsin reporter Jonathan Anderson tells us, that's not the only story where Uber figures in as...

It's Friday fun and this is one tasty episode. One potentially tasty, disturbing episode. One possibly disturbing, disgusting episode. This is probably an acquired taste. Mental aversions and all of that. And we mean that literally. The show is fine; Justin Thurman always brings us a great story to talk about. The story ... well the story you're going to have to chew on for a while. Check out more episodes. You can also subscribe on Google Play or Stitcher or TuneIn. Be sure to follow us...

Shop local! Buy local! Eat local! It's local enough. But local means a lot of things, and as Spencer Elliott of the USA Today Network tells us, there are no real rules about what it means. We do know one thing it means, though, and that's money. The stories Elliott is telling us about: 'Buy local' food programs deceive consumers and are rarely enforced, a USA TODAY Network investigation finds What you're really getting when you 'Pick Tennessee' products You can hear Spencer's other...

Shop local! Buy local! Eat local! It’s local enough. But local means a lot of things, and as Spencer Elliott of the USA Today Network tells us, there are no real rules about what it means. We do know one thing it means, though, and that’s money. The stories Elliott is telling us about: ‘Buy local’ food programs deceive consumers and are rarely enforced, a USA TODAY Network investigation finds What you’re really getting when you ‘Pick Tennessee’ products You can hear Spencer’s o [...]

Professor Joe Coleman returns to the program to talk about the future of work, robots and bricks. If this topic is interesting to, you should absolutely check out his book, "Unfinished Work: The Struggle to Build an Aging American Workforce" which is a great work and touches on some of these same types of issues in impressive detail. It is a thoughtful episode, and we only reference the John Henry story twice. Joe has been on the podcast before, talking about an increasing trend toward...

Professor Joe Coleman returns to the program to talk about the future of work, robots and bricks. If this topic is interesting to, you should absolutely check out his book, “Unfinished Work: The Struggle to Build an Aging American Workforce” which is a great work and touches on some of these same types of issues in impressive detail. It is a thoughtful episode, and we only reference the John Henry story twice. Joe has been on the podcast before, talking about an increasing trend toward...

We're leafing no stone unturned on this story. It's part of our annual -- or is that perennial? -- pledge to you. It's an attention to detail that we take pride in, using your thyme wisely, peering deep into a thorny theft problem in South Carolina and our enthusiam for keeping you up to speed on important stories can't be ... herbed. USA Today Network's Justin Thurman returns to the show to give us the details, root and stem, about a cholorphylled caper in the Palmetto State. You can read...

We’re leafing no stone unturned on this story. It’s part of our annual — or is that perennial? — pledge to you. It’s an attention to detail that we take pride in, using your thyme wisely, peering deep into a thorny theft problem in South Carolina and our enthusiam for keeping you up to speed on important stories can’t be … herbed. USA Today Network’s Justin Thurman returns to the show to give us the details, root and stem, about a cholorphylled caper in the Palmetto State. You can read...

... The conversation here is G-rated. The photos ... mind the kids before you click on through ... We found an online trend that is anything but shy, so to speak. Don Crow, who is the founder of the marketing agency Verge Pipe Media, shares a story about letting it all hang out. Here are some more-or-less NSFW links to the stories we were talking about, on Buzzfeed. It's becoming a global phenomenon. The Sun has written about it, as has the Australian media and our friends in India, as...

… The conversation here is G-rated. The photos … mind the kids before you click on through … We found an online trend that is anything but shy, so to speak. Don Crow, who is the founder of the marketing agency Verge Pipe Media, shares a story about letting it all hang out. Here are some more-or-less NSFW links to the stories we were talking about, on Buzzfeed. It’s becoming a global phenomenon. The Sun has written about it, as has

This is a story 130 years in the making. It involves Germans, Australia, science and luck. Dr. Lauren Smith returns to the program to tell us about what is now thought to be the oldest known message in a bottle. Some of the other stories she has shared with us include Olympians donating their brains to CTE research and the Michigan State angle of the Larry Nassar scandal. You can also see some of Lauren's writing on the 110 Percent Blog. Follow the show on Twitter, too, @BestStoryShow. And...