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NPR News Agenda from the Friday Editors' Meeting

Lots of news may happen today. Then again, it may not. There may be some new information about what Iraqi opposition groups were doing in the months and weeks before the Iraq war. In Mexico, presidential election runner-up Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador may move ahead on his fight to be named president. And NASA may or may not send up the shuttle... that will be clear before noon east coast time. As science editor David Malakoff said, predicting NASA's actions in advance is basically like old-fashioned Kremlinology. Accuracy can be a matter of luck. Or as legendary jazz musician Fats Waller said, "One never knows, do one?" Whatever happens, there'll be plenty to listen to. On All Things Considered tonight, independent producer Joe Richman goes back to the turn of the last century with a story about a pygmy named Ota Benga. An American explorer initially brought Benga to the U.S. in 1904. But when Benga returned to Africa, he discovered that his tribe had been wiped out. So he came back to the U.S. and wound up in the last corner cage in the primate house of the Bronx Zoo, on display with an orangutan. Moving to the present, media reporter David Folkenflik has gotten hold of information about an investigation of Kenneth Tomlinson. Tomlinson lost his job as chairman of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for getting involved in programming decisions. There are questions about his activities as head of the Broadcasting Board of Governors, which oversees most U.S. government broadcasts abroad. That will be on All Things Considered. And Day to Day finishes up its series on the yin and yang of poverty and wealth in Connecticut.

Boy in Iron Coffin Identified

Smithsonian scientists conclude that the body in a cast-iron coffin discovered by utility workers in Washington, D.C. two years ago is that of 15-year-old William Taylor White, who died in 1852, most likely from heart disease. He was buried in the Columbia College cemetery. Researchers believe the coffin was inadvertently left behind when the cemetery was later moved. White, from Accomack, Va., was a descendant of Anthony West, one of the Jamestown settlers, researchers say. He was a student in the preparatory school of the college, which later became George Washington University. A DNA test matched the boy with a living relative: a convenience store night clerk living in Lancaster, Penn. STEVE INSKEEP, host: At the height of the housing boom, a rapidly developing part of Washington, D.C. was the scene of a discovery. Utility workers dug up a coffin a couple of years ago, and now they've learned the identity of the person inside. Experts including Kari Bruwelheide opened it. Dr. KARI BRUWELHEIDE (Physical Anthropologist, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution): They are opening the seal of the coffin. They're trying to separate the top lid from the bottom. INSKEEP: We are looking at a coffin that's - it's in the shape of a body. Dr. BRUWELHEIDE: It resembles - if you've ever seen an Egyptian sarcophagus. It kind of resembles that shape. INSKEEP: That was back in 2005. Doug Owsley led a Smithsonian Institution team that was seeking to identify the body. Dr. DOUG OWSLEY (Curator, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution): We've got some sort of sheet-like affair that is nicely folded over the body. And underneath that, you can see a portion of pants. You can see a pocket on the left side. INSKEEP: Today, experts say those were the remains of William T. White. Heart disease likely contributed to his death after a short illness in 1852. He was a prep school student, 15 years old. When the school moved, it's cemetery moved, but the coffin was left behind. The Washington Post reports that genealogical research found the youth's likely identity. Then, a DNA test matched William White with a living relative, a convenient store night clerk living in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.

Romney Seeks to Allay Concerns About His Faith

Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney sought to allay voters' concerns about his Mormon faith Thursday, saying that, if elected, "I will serve no one religion, no one group, no one cause and no one interest." In a speech delivered at the George Bush Presidential Library and Museum in College Station, Texas, Romney hoped to reassure the American public — and, in particular, the white evangelicals who have great influence in the Republican Party — about his membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a religion that many Americans view as a cult. As his wife and four of his five sons looked on from the audience, Romney addressed a fear that many evangelical Christians have voiced: He said his faith would shape his moral values, but he promised that his church would not dictate his policies. "Let me assure you," Romney said, "that no authorities of my church, or of any other church for that matter, will ever exert influence on presidential decisions. Their authority is theirs, within the province of church affairs, and it ends where the affairs of the nation begin." In this, Romney's address closely echoed the sentiment and the language of then-Sen. John F. Kennedy's historic address to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association in 1960. In that speech to skeptical evangelicals, Kennedy said, "I am not the Catholic candidate for president. I am the Democratic Party's candidate for president, who happens also to be a Catholic. I do not speak for my church on public matters — and the church does not speak for me." Seeking to Reassure Evangelicals Romney needs to win over conservative Protestants, like Kennedy did. For Romney, that means bringing around at least some of the 40 percent of white evangelical Protestants who hold an unfavorable view of the Mormon faith. His speech seemed to target that group, especially voters in Iowa. Recently, Romney lost his lead in Iowa, where conservative Christians have increasingly turned toward Mike Huckabee, a former Southern Baptist pastor. Michael Cromartie, an evangelical at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, says Romney achieved his basic goal: to reassure evangelicals that "he will tolerate their religious convictions, and that Salt Lake City will not be dictating policies at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue" if Romney becomes president. To evangelical organizations watching the speech, Cromartie says, Romney "came across as a pious, decent man who shares my social and moral values. I'm not afraid of him." This was not the "moral values" address that many had expected, although Romney did mention perhaps the most appealing aspect of his persona to religious conservatives: His marriage of 38 years, and his loyal, photogenic five sons. (This is also his greatest advantage over his Republican rival Rudolph Giuliani, who is on his third marriage.) But Romney made no mention of hot-button evangelical issues, such as abortion, gay marriage and stem-cell research. Instead, he emphasized shared religious values. The question to ask "a person of faith" running for office, Romney said, is, "Does he share these American values: the equality of human kind, the obligation to serve one another, and a steadfast commitment to liberty? They are not unique to any one denomination. They are the firm ground on which Americans of different faiths meet and stand as a nation, united." Shaun Casey, an expert on religion and politics at Wesley Theological Seminary, called this emphasis a weakness in Romney's address. "This was a generic religious freedom speech, and it could have been given by any number of politicians," Casey says. "But that's not the problem he faces. It's not what he needed to do. I don't think it will comfort the red-meat types in the Republican Party." Avoiding Specifics on Mormon Beliefs Romney was not expected to drill down deeply into his Mormon theology, which most Christians consider to be non-Christian. In fact, evangelicals consider Mormonism to be a cult, because it states that the Book of Mormon is a new revelation from God, complementary to the Bible. If Romney had detailed Mormon beliefs on the role of Jesus Christ, the Trinity and the afterlife, for example, that might have caused more alarm than confidence among Christians, because there are significant differences in how Mormons view those central doctrines. As predicted, Romney offered only the barest exposition of his faith. "I believe that Jesus Christ is the son of God and the savior of mankind," he said. "My church's beliefs about Christ may not all be the same as those of other faiths. Each religion has its own unique doctrines and history. These are not bases for criticism, but rather a test of our tolerance." Forcing him to explain his church's distinctive doctrines, he said, "would enable the very religious test the founders prohibited in the Constitution." "No candidate should become the spokesman for his faith," he said, drawing large applause as he concluded, "f

Captains Uncourageous: Abandoning Ship Long Seen As A Crime

Cowardice comes in many forms, but there's a special sense of shame reserved for captains who abandon ship. South Korean authorities have arrested Capt. Lee Jun-Seok, who was one of the first to flee from the ferry as it sank on Wednesday. "I can't lift my face before the passengers and family members of those missing," Lee told reporters. The incident came two years after Francesco Schettino, the captain of the wrecked cruise ship Costa Concordia, was charged with manslaughter and abandoning ship — charges he denies. The ship ran aground off the Italian coast in 2012, killing 32 people. Has the old idea that captains should not abandon ship itself been abandoned? "I'm kind of flummoxed that a master of a passenger ship anywhere in the world would not understand his obligation extends until that last person is safely off the ship," says Craig Allen, director of the Arctic Law & Policy Institute at the University of Washington. The Victorian notion that a captain should actually go down with the ship has become archaic. But his or her responsibility extends to executing the evacuation plan that all passenger ships are required to have and practice. "It comes from the tradition that the captain has ultimate responsibility and should put the care of others ahead of his own well-being in the discharge of his duties," says David Winkler, program director with the Naval Historical Foundation. Women And Children First In the middle of the 19th century, there were a number of incidents in which ships foundered and captains and their crews were either celebrated for leading the rescue or reviled for saving themselves while passengers drowned. One of the most famous involved the HMS Birkenhead, which wrecked off the coast of South Africa in 1852 while transporting British troops to war. "The captain called the men to attention," says William Fowler, a maritime historian at Northeastern University. "They were to stand at attention on the sinking ship until the women and children — their wives and children — were led off the boats." The moment was immortalized by Rudyard Kipling as the "Birkenhead drill." Reinforced when Capt. Edward Smith went down with the Titanic, the notion that a captain must stay with his ship became part of folklore. "A lot of this is candidly still more lore than law," says Miller Shealy, a maritime law professor at the Charleston School of Law. A Breach Of Duty In the U.S., case law indicates that a ship's master must be the last person to leave and make all reasonable efforts to save everyone and everything on it. "It is not just unseemly for a captain to leave a ship," Shealy says. "In Anglo-American law, you would lose your license and make yourself liable." After Capt. Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger crash-landed a flight in the Hudson River in 2009, he twice walked the plane to make sure no one was left onboard before leaving himself. International standards for sea captains vary. Often, as in the case of Schettino, charges are brought based not on dereliction of maritime duty but for offenses that might pertain on land as well, such as negligence and manslaughter. In 1991, Capt. Yiannis Avranas not only abandoned the Greek cruise ship Oceanos after it suffered an explosion off the coast of South Africa but cut ahead of an elderly passenger to be hoisted aloft by a helicopter. "If the master is simply looking out for himself or herself, you've breached your duty both legally and morally, to your ship, your crew and your passengers," says Allen, the University of Washington law professor. Part Of The Culture In last year's Star Trek Into Darkness, the bad guy taunts Captain Kirk by saying, "No ship should go down without her captain." The image of a captain staying with a sinking vessel has recurred again and again, in literature and real life. It remains so potent because of the almost mythic authority invested in ship captains, Allen suggests. At sea, there's no question about who's in charge, so there's no doubt who is responsible for safety. "His duty as the highest authority available short of God himself was to make sure his crew was safe before he left the ship," says Craig Symonds, a retired Naval Academy historian. The sense that captains are beyond the law — that they are the law, or at least they were, during the age of sail — is why they make such great bad guys. "When they go bad, they're evil," Shealy says. Think of Bligh, or Queeg, or the autocratic captains who drive many of the novels and stories of Herman Melville. In Moby-Dick, Captain Ahab sets off to hunt the whale, leaving the capable Starbuck in charge. When his "death-glorious ship" sinks, Ahab mourns that he's been denied the "pride" of having gone down with her. "Ahab is a great example in the sense that he knows a captain should go down with his ship," says Wyn Kelley, a Melville scholar at MIT. "He deeply regrets not being with his crew."

El Salvador Quake Update

Linda talks with Mike Lanchin, a freelance reporter in El Salvador, about recovery efforts after Saturday's earthquake. Hundreds of people were killed and thousands injured.

Abbas Repeats Accusation That Israel Is Waging 'Campaign Of Ethnic Cleansing'

Israel's government effectively rejects a "two-state solution" to its impasse with Palestinians and instead continues to wage a "campaign of ethnic cleansing" in the territories where his people live, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told delegates to the United Nations this afternoon. Repeating language he used when he addressed the assembly a year ago, Abbas told delegates that the "campaign of ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people" is focused on "the demolition of their homes and prevention of their construction; the revocation of residency rights; the denial of basic services, especially with regard to construction of school; the closure of institutions; and the impoverishment of Jerusalem's community via a siege of walls and checkpoints that are choking the city and preventing millions of Palestinians from freely accessing its mosques, churches, schools, hospitals and markets." "I speak on behalf of an angry people," he said. (2:20 p.m. ET. Israeli leader responds: "Netanyahu Calls For 'Red Line' On Iran; Rejects Palestinian's 'Libelous' Charges") On Statehood; Read More: Abbas also said that "despite our feelings of disappointment and loss of hope, we continue to sincerely extend our hands to the Israeli people to make peace" and that "we are committed to non-violence and reject terrorism in all its forms, particularly state terrorism." As for his people's status, Abbas — as expected — said "we have begun intensive consultations with various regional organizations and member states aimed at having the general assembly adopt a resolution considering the State of Palestine as a non-member state of the United Nations during this session." In addition, though, Palestinians will continue to seek "full-member status," Abbas said. The text of his prepared remarks is posted here. This is day three of the U.N.'s annual opening session, at which a wide variety of world leaders have been addressing the delegates. In the next hour or so, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to deliver his remarks. We'll post highlights from his address. A year ago, in response to Abbas' remarks, Netanyahu said the core of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the "refusal of Palestinians to recognize a Jewish state in any border." Update at 2:20 p.m. ET. The Israeli leader's response is here: Netanyahu Calls For 'Red Line' On Iran; Rejects Palestinian's 'Libelous' Charges.

Is There Any Cure for the Greatest Scourge of Men?

Surely there's a drug to relieve the interminable suffering of the male of the species. This YouTube clip was sent to me by a fearless survivor of the dreaded Man Cold. There, there, little bunny.

Don't Miss: Woodward on Bush

With all the hoopla around Bob Woodward's new book State of Denial, I was looking forward to hearing today's interview on All Things Considered. What is interesting is his response to the claims that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice made today about a meeting with the CIA. In his book, Woodward reports that the CIA felt that Rice blew off their concerns about an attack. His response to what the White House is calling the "myths" of the book is also definitely worth a listen.

Excerpt: 'The Turnaround'

ONE HE CALLED the place Pappas and Sons Coffee Shop. His boys were only eight and six when he opened in 1964, but he was thinking that one of them would take over when he got old. Like any father who wasn't a malaka, he wanted his sons to do better than he had done. He wanted them to go to college. But what the hell, you never knew how things would go. One of them might be cut out for college, the other one might not. Or maybe they'd both go to college and decide to take over the business together. Anyway, he hedged his bet and added them to the sign. It let the customers know what kind of man he was. It said, This is a guy who is devoted to his family. John Pappas is thinking about the future of his boys. The sign was nice: black images against a pearly gray, with "Pappas" twice as big as "and Sons," in big block letters, along with a drawing of a cup of coffee in a saucer, steam rising off its surface. The guy who'd made the sign put a fancy P on the side of the cup, in script, and John liked it so much that he had the real coffee cups for the shop made the same way. Like snappy dressers got their initials sewn on the cuffs of a nice shirt. John Pappas owned no such shirts. He had a couple of blue cotton oxfords for church, but most of his shirts were white button-downs. All were wash- and-wear, to avoid the drycleaning expense. Also, his wife, Calliope, didn't care to iron. Five short-sleeves for spring and summer and five long-sleeves for fall and winter, hanging in rows on the clothesline he had strung in the basement of their split-level. He didn't know why he bothered with the variety. It was always warm in the store, especially standing over the grill, and even in winter he wore his sleeves rolled up above the elbow. White shirt, khaki pants, black oilskin work shoes from Montgomery Ward. An apron over the pants, a pen holder in the breast pocket of the shirt. His uniform. He was handsome in his way, with a prominent nose. He had turned forty-eight in the late spring of 1972. He wore his black hair high up top and swept back on the sides, a little bit over the ears, longish, like the kids. He had been going with the dry look the past few years. His temples had grayed. Like many men who had seen action in World War II, he had not done a sit-up or a push-up since his discharge, twenty-seven years ago. A marine who had come out of the Pacific campaign had nothing in the way of manhood to prove. He smoked, a habit he had picked up courtesy of the Corps, which had added cigarettes to his K rations, and his wind was not very good. But the physical nature of his work kept him in pretty fair shape. His stomach was almost flat. He was especially proud of his chest. He arrived at the store at five a.m., two hours before opening time, which meant he rose each morning at four fifteen. He had to meet the iceman and the food brokers, and he had to make the coffee and do some prep. He could have asked for the deliveries to come later so that he could catch another hour of sleep, but he liked this time of his workday better than any other. Matter of fact, he always woke up wide-eyed and ready, without an alarm clock to prompt him. Stepping softly down the stairs so as not to wake his wife and sons, driving his Electra deuce-and-a-quarter down 16th Street, headlights on, one cigaretted hand dangling out the window, the road clear of traffic. And then the quiet time, just him and the Motorola radio in the store, listening to the smooth-voiced announcers on WWDC, men his age who had the same kind of life experience he had, not those fast-talkers on the rock-and-roll stations or the mavres on WOL or WOOK. Drinking the first of many coffees, always in a go-cup, making small talk with the delivery guys who dribbled in, a kinship there because all of them had grown fond of that time between night and dawn. It was a diner, not a coffee shop, but coffee shop sounded better, "more high-class," Calliope said. Around the family, John just called the store the magazi. It sat on N Street, below Dupont Circle, just in from Connecticut Avenue, at the entrance to an alley. Inside were a dozen stools spaced around a horse shoe- shaped Formica-topped counter, and a couple of four-top booths along the large plate glass window that gave onto a generous view of Connecticut and N. The dominant colors, as in many Greek-owned establishments, were blue and white. The maximum seating was for twenty. There was a short breakfast flurry and a two-hour lunch rush and plenty of dead space, when the four employees, all blacks, talked, horsed around, brooded, and smoked. And his older son, Alex, if he was working. The dreamer. There was no kitchen "in the back." The grill, the sandwich board, the refrigerated dessert case, the ice cream cooler, the soda bar, and the coffee urns, even the dishwasher, everything was behind the counter for the customers to see. Though the space was small and the seating limited, Pappas had cultivated a large carryout

Enough With Baby Talk; Infants Learn From Lemur Screeches, Too

New research suggests that 3-month-old human babies can use lemur calls as teaching aids. The findings hint at a deep biological connection between language and learning. Babies begin learning as soon as they're born. They're listening, too. But researchers still don't know exactly how the development of language and learning are linked: "How do language and concepts come together in the mind of the baby?" asks Sandy Waxman, a psychologist at Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. Waxman has devoted her career to answering that fundamental question. She says the language-learning connection is clear in older children. For example, a 2-year-old hears the word "dinosaur" when she sees many different kinds of dinosaurs. She soon connects the word "dinosaur" to the dinosaur category, and she can more easily identify future dinosaurs when she sees them. But much younger children can't clearly discern words; can language still help them to learn categories? Waxman's previous work suggested it might. In her earlier study, 3-month-old babies were played human speech segments while they stared at a screen displaying dinosaurs. Later they were shown new dinosaurs. By watching their eyes, the scientists could see that infants could recognize other dinosaurs better when they had been taught the category while the human speech was playing in the background. But was it really the speech that got their attention or just the sound that intrigued them? Waxman needed an answer, so this time she and her team tried to teach babies categories while they listened to two different sounds: the shriek of a lemur and human speech run backward. "We reasoned that if the language effect that we'd seen earlier was nothing more than an infant's response to the complexity of the auditory signal, than both of those new sounds should help them form categories at this very early stage," she says. In other words, if the sound was just a way of getting their attention, the babies would learn to categorize equally well while listening to both lemur shrieks and backward speech. But that's not what the researchers found. The backward speech didn't help the babies to learn categories at all. But the lemur shrieks did. The study appears in this week's issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. "This work shows a very fundamental link between language and learning," says Janet Werker, who studies the roots of language acquisition at the University of British Columbia in Canada. Werker says the new study shows that there is something unique about the sounds we and our nearest animal relatives make. Even if little babies can't pick out the words, the sounds say, "Pay attention, you just might learn something!" But not everyone agrees that the new work shows that primate sounds can stimulate a child's linguistic instinct. "This work tells us that sounds that are more like human language are more effective," says Lisa Oakes, a psychologist at the University of California, Davis. "What is more controversial is why they are effective." She says it's still unclear whether the primate sounds are stimulating some deep linguistic circuit in the brain or just getting the babies to look. Whatever the effect, it doesn't last for long. By the time they were 6 months old, the babies had tuned out the lemur cries. Only human speech played forward helped them to learn. Should Shots readers with 3-month-olds leave their babies in the care of a lemur teacher? "It would be a fantastic experiment but I wouldn't endorse it," Waxman says. "I mean you know what lemurs are like. You wouldn't want to leave your baby alone with one of them."

Removal of Ex-Baath Party Members Sought

U.S. officials in Iraq begin the process of identifying former high-level members of the Baath Party, who are to be excluded from government jobs. But U.S. civilian administrator Paul Bremer says that de-Baathification is a "difficult problem" and that the help of ex-Baath Party members may be needed to restore the country's civil administration. Hear NPR's Guy Raz.

French Highway Heist: Armed Thieves Take Millions In Jewels

French police say two armored trucks carrying jewels and other items worth some $9.5 million were seized by more than a dozen armed attackers Wednesday, in a midnight heist that took place on the A6 highway that runs between Paris and Lyon. Authorities were hunting for the thieves Wednesday, focusing on an area around the crime that took place about 140 miles southeast of Paris. The heist was timed to coincide with the trucks' stop at a toll booth, where gunmen overcame the shipment's drivers, who were reportedly unarmed. The drivers were left uninjured. The thieves were armed with Kalashnikov-style rifles and drove away in the two trucks and "powerful cars," news site Lyonne reports. The trucks were later found in a field nearby, where they had been burned. From Paris, NPR's Eleanor Beardsley reports: "The case is reminiscent of heists by a group of jewel thieves from the Balkans known as the Pink Panther gang. "The Pink Panther network has been linked to a series of jewel thefts that international police agency Interpol says have netted more than $350 million since 1999. "France has seen repeated jewelry thefts. Just last month, eight people were convicted in connection with a 2008 heist at a Harry Winston boutique in Paris, when three cross-dressing gunmen stole about $92 million in goods."

Judge Rules Planned Supervised Injection Site Does Not Violate Federal Drug Laws

Updated at 7:30 p.m. ET A judge has ruled that a Philadelphia nonprofit group's plan to open the first site in the U.S. where people can use illegal opioids under medical supervision does not violate federal drug laws, delivering a major setback to Justice Department lawyers who launched a legal challenge to block the facility. U.S. District Judge Gerald McHugh ruled Wednesday that Safehouse's plan to allow people to bring in their own drugs and use them in a medical facility to help combat fatal overdoses does not violate the Controlled Substances Act. "The ultimate goal of Safehouse's proposed operation is to reduce drug use, not facilitate it," McHugh wrote in his opinion, which represents the first legal decision about whether supervised injection sites can be legally permissible under U.S. law. The decision means that the country's first supervised injection site, or what advocates call an "overdose prevention site," can go forward. Justice Department prosecutors had sued to block the site, calling the proposal "in-your-face illegal activity." While local officials from New York to San Francisco praised the decision, the federal government is expected to appeal. "The Department of Justice remains committed to preventing illegal drug injection sites from opening," said Bill McSwain, U.S. Attorney for the eastern district of Pennsylvania. "Today's opinion is merely the first step in a much longer legal process that will play out. This case is obviously far from over." Most studies show that the supervised injection sites can drive down fatal overdoses. These sites are credited with restricting the spread of infectious diseases. And advocates say the facilities help move more people into treatment. The American Medical Association has endorsed launching supervised injection site pilot programs. Ronda Goldfein, who is Safehouse's vice president and secretary, said winning judicial approval is a major feat for advocates of the proposed site, which also has the backing of top city officials and former Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell. "Philadelphia is being devastated. We've lost about three people a day" to opioid overdoses, Goldfein said. "And we say we had to do something better and we couldn't sit back and let that death toll rise. And the court agreed with us." Although federal data show that overdose deaths in 2018 dipped for the first time in years, more than 68,000 people died of overdoses in the U.S. last year, and most of the deaths involved opioids. Public health leaders in localities hardest hit by the opioid crisis have been searching for interventions to save more lives, including sites similar to what Safehouse is planning. Supervised injection sites exist in Canada and Europe, but no such site has gotten legal permission to open in the U.S. Cities like New York, Denver and Seattle have been publicly debating similar proposals, but many were waiting for the outcome of the court battle in Philadelphia. Attorneys general from Washington, D.C., and seven states including Michigan, New Mexico and Oregon, in addition to city leaders in five cities, urged the court before the decision to rule in favor of Safehouse. Legal hurdles are not Safehouse's only obstacles. The facility is planning to launch in the Philadelphia neighborhood of Kensington, which has been ravaged by the opioid crisis, but some neighbors have resisted welcoming an injection site into their community. Community activist Amanda Fury said the court decision will not change the hardened battle lines over this issue there. "I've never been in the business of trying to change people's minds on this," said Fury, who supports the measure but admits that residents are divided. "I don't think that's where we are in this process anymore. I feel like most people have made up their minds, and it's going to take a lot more to make people see things in a different way," she said. In court, meanwhile, prosecutors have contended that the plan violated a provision of the Controlled Substances Act that makes it illegal to own a property where drugs are being used — known as "the crack house statute." But backers of Safehouse argued the law was outdated and not written to prevent the opening of a medical facility aimed at saving lives in the midst of the opioid crisis. "We have consistently said we did not have an illegal purpose. We have a lawful purpose. Our purpose is to save lives," Goldfein said. On Wednesday, in a move that surprised observers, McHugh agreed. He wrote that there "is no support for the view that Congress meant to criminalize projects such as that proposed by Safehouse." McHugh rejected federal prosecutor's view that this was an open-and-shut case of a proposal clearly violating federal drug statutes. Instead, he noted that the purpose of Safehouse is not to provide a place for people to engage in unlawful activity. "Viewed objectively, what Safehouse proposes is far closer to the harm reduction strategies expres

Scientists Raise Concerns about Arthritis Drug Bextra

Scientists say the arthritis drug Bextra may pose increased risk of cardiovascular troubles. Bextra is related to Vioxx, which was pulled off the market in September for the same reason. Now, doctors worry that all related drugs could cause similar problems. Hear NPR's Richard Knox.

IMF's Free-Market Ideology Gets More Nuanced After Being Proven Wrong

In case you missed it, you should check out NPR correspondent Tom Gjelten's report on Thursday's Morning Edition on the International Monetary Fund's ideological turnabout. Once a unabashed proponent of free-market capitalism, even ruling out the need for nation's to regulate the huge flows of outside investor money entering and exiting their countries, the IMF now has a more nuanced view. As Tom reports, the IMF previously argued that globalization required the untrammeled free flow of capital. But a study of recent history shows that the developing nations hurt least when global investors stampeded with their cash into a nation then stampeded out are those countries that regulate such flows. It was just another reminder of how wrong the IMF has been, as has been repeatedly pointed out by Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz over the years. Read More >> Part of the problem is that the IMF tends to follow the interests of the nations with the most power within the organization. Presently, that would be the U.S. and other long-industrialized nations which have 60 percent of the voting rights within the IMF. This has caused many critics to say it's little wonder that the IMF has long demanded fiscal, monetary and regulatory policies in developing nations that favor investors in wealthy countries over the poor in less industrialized places. And while many experts say IMF governance reform would be welcome, they don't sound too optimistic about it actually happening to the degree or with the kind of speed that would make a real difference soon.

Democratic Strategist Weighs In On President Trump's First Year

President Trump is giving his first State of the Union address Tuesday night. Here & Now‘s Robin Young checks in with Democratic strategist Steve Schale (@steveschale) to hear how he views Trump’s first year and what strategy he thinks Democrats should adopt moving forward.

Mister Rogers: An Appreciation

Fred Rogers was one of the most recognizable and reassuring TV personalities ever. NPR's Scott Simon remembers the life and work of Mr. Rogers, who died Thursday at age 74 in his hometown of Pittsburgh.

South Dakota Tries To Avoid Oil Boom's Downside

The oil boom in western North Dakota has sparked a massive migration. Communities that struggled to keep people are now tripling in size as workers from all over seek their fortunes. In South Dakota, officials say there's oil in their state too. But before drillers head toward Mount Rushmore and the Black Hills, North Dakota's experience is being watched closely.

Chopin, The White Stripes, Joanna Newsom, More

All this year, NPR Music is celebrating the 200th birthday of pianist Frederic Chopin with an ongoing series of live performances, interviews and commentaries. (You can find everything at Chopin at 200.) Chopin was just 39 when he died, and in his short time as a composer, he contributed more significant works to the piano than any other composer before or since. On this edition of All Songs Considered, we feature one of his impromptus, performed by pianist Yundi Li. Also on the show: a welcoming song from Joanna Newsom's triple-length album; the stunning arrangements of Owen Pallett, formerly known as Final Fantasy; the open space of Pantha du Prince's minimal electronic music; hard-hitting soul from Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings; and a prime cut from The White Stripes' live concert documentary, recorded across Canada.

At U.N., Obama Challenges World Leaders

President Obama challenged leaders gathered at the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday to join the U.S. in solving the world's problems rather than waiting for America to do it on its own. Obama used his first address to the U.N. General Assembly to calls for a "new era of engagement."President Obama brought a fresh message of cooperation and issued a challenge to the world in his first speech Wednesday to the U.N. General Assembly, urging leaders to step up to their responsibility in solving global problems. "If we are honest with ourselves, we need to admit that we are not living up to that responsibility," Obama said, looking out over a sea of leaders and representatives from most of the U.N.'s 192 member nations. "The people of the world want change," Obama said. "They will not long tolerate those who are on the wrong side of history." Obama called for a "new chapter of international cooperation" in a speech that focused on four key areas: nuclear nonproliferation, the promotion of peace and security, protecting the environment and improving the global economy. He also used blunt language to address the stalled Mideast peace process and aimed criticism at both Iran and North Korea, the core of some of America's thorniest foreign-policy problems. In a speech punctuated by polite applause, Obama stressed the differences between his foreign policy and that of his predecessor, George W. Bush. "I took office at a time when many around the world had come to view America with skepticism and distrust," he said, adding "America has acted unilaterally, without regard for the interests of others." The changes Obama listed included his prohibition on the use of torture and his order to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay. But he also stressed the U.S. determination to combat extremism and a goal "to work with all members of this body to disrupt, dismantle, and defeat al-Qaida and its extremist allies." Obama seemed to be addressing the anticipated defiance of some of the speakers scheduled to follow him to the podium — including Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad — when he said "this body has often become a forum for sowing discord instead of forging common ground." Promoting nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament, Obama noted that the U.S. is pursuing a new agreement with Russia "to substantially reduce our strategic warheads and launchers," and he promised to move forward with ratification of the Test Ban Treaty. Obama focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and called for new peace negotiations "without preconditions. " He said his meeting Tuesday in New York with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas was "constructive but more progress is needed." Obama drew applause when he said "we continue to call on Palestinians to end incitement against Israel, and we continue to emphasize that America does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements." Speaking bluntly, the president said "the United States does Israel no favors when we fail to couple an unwavering commitment to its security with an insistence that Israel respect the legitimate claims and rights of the Palestinians. And nations within this body do the Palestinians no favors when they choose vitriolic attacks over a constructive willingness to recognize Israel's legitimacy, and its right to exist in peace and security." On climate change, Obama said "the days when America dragged its feet on this issue are over." He pledged that the United states would invest in clean energy and cut emissions of greenhouse gases. "Wealthy nations that did so much to damage the environment in the 20th century" have an obligation to lead, Obama said. But he called on "the fast-growing carbon emitters" to do more to reduce their air pollution without inhibiting growth. His remarks appeared to be aimed at countries such as China, which overtook the U.S. this year as the world's biggest emitter of so-called greenhouse gases. Chinese Premier Hu Jintao drew criticism Tuesday for a climate change speech in which he committed only that China would reduce carbon dioxide emissions by "a notable margin." Obama also called on nations to work together to recover from the global recession. He promised that the U.S. will join with other nations at the upcoming Group of 20 nations summit in Pittsburgh to strengthen regulation of financial centers and get the world economy on track for balanced and sustained growth. He promised to do more to tackle world heath problems, from HIV/AIDS to tuberculosis and malaria, and he called on wealthy nations to help poor ones by opening their markets to more trade. In what seemed to be a final reflection on Bush-era policies, the president remarked on nation-building of the kind the U.S. has attempted in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Democracy cannot be imposed on any nation from the outside," he said. "Each society must search for its own

Grandma, What is Deflation?

You knew it. Lower prices are just too good to be true. Our regular financial guru, Alvin Hall and NPR's David Kestenbaum spell out the latest bad thing that could happen to us in a slowing economy. It's deflation, and here it is in a nutshell: falling prices, like we're seeing in stores today, make people wait for even lower prices in the future. So nobody buys anything. Retailers drop prices even lower to encourage shoppers. People continue to wait for even lower prices. Nobody buys anything. So retailers drop prices even lower....and nobody buys anything. Stores then go out of business because - nobody buys anything. People who worked in these stores lose their jobs. And then they join the ranks of people who don't buy anything. Ouch. Our segment today on parenting focuses on grandmothers: I grew up with a grandmother who divided her time between my home and that of a nearby cousin. When she changed houses to stay with each of us children I used to tease her about getting "bed-lag", similar to jet-lag, because it always took her a few days to get comfortable. Many of my friends had some similar kind of arrangement. So I really hadn't thought much of the news that Michelle Obama's mother will accompany the First Family to the White House next year. I've found it interesting to eavesdrop on chatter about whether this is a good thing or a bad thing for the Obamas. I figured it was their thing, and not something that needed attention. Our guests today talk about why it is worth our attention and why kids can benefit. Finally, Pat Lewis' CD crossed my desk earlier this year and I've been listening to it ever since. It caught my eye because I had my first full time radio job in Tucson, Arizona, the city that the Rillito River flows through. Or used to flow through, before the it mostly dried up. The river is now an arroyo, running only during the summer monsoon season, generally between the Fourth of July and Labor Day. There even used to be a group of dirt buggy drivers called the Rillito River Yacht Club; they met regularly to race along the arid river bottom. Pat's CD is part of a larger environmental and artistic effort in Tucson, to broaden awareness of the danger the Rillito and other southwest rivers face. The website - www.rillitoriverproject.org - is chock full of photos, videos and features Pat's music. See you tomorrow,Korva

2018 Tennessee Midterm Election Results

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If It Rolls In Philly, It Better Not Be On The Phone

This fall, Philadelphia's skateboarders, bicyclists and inline skaters will have to either pocket their cell phones or use hands-free devices, making the city the first in the nation to extend the measure to include non-motorists. While that might be a grind for some of the city's wheeled residents, others are cheering the move. Walking along the crowded sidewalks of downtown Philadelphia, you can't miss these daredevils weaving in and out of traffic, maneuvering aggressively through construction zones and dodging pedestrians while talking on hand-held cell phones. In a downtown alley, skateboarders whiz by, twirling and flipping their boards in mid-air. Skater John McCafferty says hand-held or hands-free cell phones really don't make a difference. "So, if I, like, have a Double Gulp from 7-Eleven in my hand, and I'm talking on the Bluetooth, that's OK?" he asks. "All right, that's cool." Several bicyclists seeking relief from the sweltering heat in Philadelphia's LOVE Park gather around a tree, wiping their brows and drinking Gatorade. Among them is resident Shara Dae, who says she talks on her cell phone while skateboarding, biking or driving her car or motorcycle. But Dae says she has the experience to do it safely. "It will just be another annoyance. There's just something else now, and now you're going to dictate to me how I should ride my bike and what I should be doing on my bike," she complains. But driver Margaret Ciampitti calls bicyclists who talk or text on hand-held cell phones roadway hazards. "I'm driving my car, and this kid was on a bicycle — he's texting. He veers off into my car — I give him the horn, he gives me a hand gesture! How dare he do that to me? He's the one texting and not paying attention," she says. "You know, I'm happy that they are doing this ban before someone gets killed." Philadelphia has more than 200 miles of bike lanes, but the designated lanes didn't protect cyclist Michael Stersey from a near-fatal collision with a car. "Somebody was on their cell phone and not paying attention and was driving too fast," he says. "I got blindsided because he tried to pass another car." Despite the bruises, Stersey says he still talks on his cell phone while on his bike. Resident Michael Connors strongly supports the cell-phone ban. "This town has not stepped up to do anything bold in years — decades — and it's about time we did." As of Nov. 1, those caught violating the new law will have to dig deep into their wallets: A first offense will cost $150. Repeat offenders will have to dig even deeper. Windsor Johnston reports for member station WRTI.

Mexico City: Thirsty And Sinking

Mexico City is draining even more water from the ancient lake bed on which the city sits, causing it to sink. Climate change, political inaction and poor infrastructure are intensifying the problem.

Sen. Rand Paul Says He's Returning $500K In Unused Operating Costs

Making a point about government spending, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky presented taxpayers from his state with a symbolic $500,000 "oversized check." Paul, who is the son of presidential candidate Ron Paul, said his office had saved more than 16 percent of its allotted operating budget last year, so he was giving it back to the Treasury. "I hope this sets an example for the rest of government, at all levels," Paul said in a statement. "We can carry out our duties in a fiscally responsible way. Government can be both smart and efficient. We are proving that and trying to convince the rest of Washington." Paul pointed out that he managed to save that money while "having the most active office for a freshman." The West Kentucky Star reported the $500,000 went toward paying down the nation's debt, "though it was erased by interest in about 15 seconds."

Amid Ignorance And Fear, Anti-Semitism Thrives

Anyone who doubts that anti-Semitism still exists should have a look at my e-mail. Not a week goes by in which our show, or me personally, doesn't receive notes from people who use good grammar, have a detailed knowledge of the news, and who are certain that something — or everything — that irritates or scares them in this world traces back to Jews. Interestingly — or maybe I should just say, appallingly — many of these people take pains to profess that they are not bigots, but distinctly perceptive observers; and if the rest of us don't see the truth as plainly as they do, it's because we're Jews, or in the pay of Jews, or don't realize how everything is run by Jews. But I think you can learn something from almost anyone. These e-mailers and letter writers have demonstrated something to me: Bigotry is a virus. It doesn't stay in a bottle. It spreads in an atmosphere of ignorance and fear. I bet that if I saved some of the anti-Semitic e-mail messages I receive to check their names — and many writers unapologetically sign their names — against future e-mails saying something vile about gays or blacks, I'd find more than a few matches. My wife and I were supposed to be at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on the night of the shooting to see Janet Langhart Cohen's play, Anne and Emmett, which imagines a conversation between Anne Frank and Emmett Till. We cherish our association with the museum. No institution in America is more vigorous about not only making the memory of the Holocaust meaningful, but extending the moral reach of memory to call on people to help stop modern genocides in Rwanda, Bosnia, Darfur and elsewhere around the world. I know the news business a little, and I understand why so many reportorial resources must be focused on the life and crimes of the man who has been charged with the killing at the museum. But in the few seconds I have, I'd prefer to talk about a good man: the guard who gave his life. Stephen Tyrone Johns was 39, and the father of an 11-year-old son. He had a sunny personality, in the memory of his friends, loved funny movies and to make people laugh. His son will grow up knowing that his father was, to use a word that is so misused to describe athletes or movie stars, a hero. Stephen Tyrone Johns gave his life to save others. In doing so, he reminded us why it is so vital for the place he was protecting to exist, and for people from all over the world to be able to see it safely. And the life of Stephen Johns reminds us that each man or woman on this earth can find a way to make the world better. He did. SCOTT SIMON, host: Anyone who doubts that anti-Semitism still exists should have a look at my email. Not a week goes by in which our show, or me personally, doesn't receive notes from people who use good grammar, have a detailed knowledge of the news, and who are certain that something or everything that irritates or scares them in this world traces back to Jews. Now, interestingly - maybe I should just say appallingly - many of these people take pains to profess that they are not bigots, just distinctly perceptive observers. And if the rest of us don't see the truth as plainly as they do, it's because we're Jews or in the pay of Jews or don't realize how everything is run by Jews. But I think you can learn something from almost everyone. These emailers and letter writers have demonstrated something to me: bigotry is a virus. It doesn't stay in a bottle; it spreads in an atmosphere of ignorance and fear. I bet that if I saved some of the anti-Semitic email messages I received to check their names - and many writers unapologetically sign their names - against future emails saying something vile about gays or blacks, I'd find more than a few matches. My wife and I were supposed to be at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum on the night of the shooting to see Janet Langhart Cohen's play, "Anne and Emmett," which imagines a conversation between Anne Frank and Emmett Till. We cherish our association with that museum. No institution in America is more vigorous about not only making the memory of the Holocaust meaningful but extending the moral reach of memory to call on people to help stop modern genocides in Rwanda, Bosnia, Darfur, and elsewhere around the world. I know the news business a little and I understand why so many reportorial resources must be focused on the life and crimes of the man who's been charged with the killing at the museum. But in the few seconds I have, I'd prefer to talk about a good man: the guard who gave his life. Stephen Tyrone Johns was 39 and the father of an 11-year-old son. He had a sunny personality in the memory of his friends, loved funny movies and to make people laugh. His son will grow up knowing that his father was - to use a word that's so misused to describe athletes or movie stars - a hero. Stephen Tyrone Johns gave his life to save others. In doing so, he reminded us why it's so vital for the place he was protecting to exist

Pumpkin Prices at Premium

If you've already bought a Halloween pumpkin this year, chances are you paid a little more than usual as a range of weather conditions wreaked havoc on this year's harvest. Some of the biggest pumpkin-producing states were hit by a summer that was both too dry and too wet. While it didn't spark a crisis, exactly, parts of the nation are experiencing a pumpkin shortage. That doesn't mean there are too few pumpkins available — just that prices are up a few cents per pound. The pumpkin industry yields $100 million a year, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Drought caused pumpkin production to drop by two-thirds in West Virginia, Kentucky and Ohio. Then, too much rain brought trouble to pumpkin patches in other areas, including Illinois, the nation's largest pumpkin producer. "We had 24 inches of rain for two weeks at the end of August," said Carrie Goebbert, owner of Goebbert's pumpkin farm in South Barrington, Illinois. "So all of our pumpkins were set, and a lot of them (because of the warm night and warm days) were fully mature and ended up rotting in the fields. They were basically floating." She had to import pumpkins from Kentucky, New Mexico and Texas to meet demand; and raise prices from 35 cents to 39 cents a pound. Still, her profits will be down substantially, Goebbert said. "I know certainly in the surrounding farms — within 60 miles of our farm in every direction — had the same problem," Goebbert said RENEE MONTAGNE, Host: NPR's Anthony Brooks reports. ANTHONY BROOKS: Carrie Goebbert owns Goebbert's Pumpkin Farm in South Barrington, Illinois. CARRIE GOEBBERT: We had 24 inches of rain in two weeks - the end of August. So all of our pumpkins were set and a lot of them were - because of the warm nights and the warm days - were fully mature and ended up rotting in the fields. They were basically floating. But I know, certainly with the surrounding farms, within 60 miles of our farm in every direction had the same problem. Put it that way. BROOKS: Anthony Brooks, NPR News.

The Finish To The 'Unfinished?'

The finish to the "Unfinished?" From one of Ted Libbey's recommended discs, Sir Charles Mackerras conducts the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in the Entr'acte Music No.1 from Rosamunde. Musicologists speculate it might have been conceived as the finale to the Symphony No. 8. (Virgin Classics 0777 7592732 0)

The Goals of Physics / Science Gifts

<br />Guests:<br /><br /> <STRONG>David Pines</STRONG><br /> * Co-Director, Institute for Complex Adaptive Matter<br /> * Research Professor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Chapaign Physics Department<br /> * Scientist, Los Alamos National Laboratory's Neutron Science Center Division<br /> * Los Alamos, New Mexico<br /><br /> <STRONG>Leon Lederman</STRONG><br /> * 1988 Nobel Laureate, Physics<br /> * Pritzker Professor of Science, Illinois Institute of Technology<br /> * Resident Scholar at the Illinois Math and Science Academy <br /> * Director Emeritus, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory <br /> * Batavia, Illinois<br /><br /> <STRONG>Chris Quigg</STRONG><br /> * Senior Scientist, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory<br /> * Batavia, Illinois<br /><br /> <STRONG>David Pogue</STRONG><br /> * <EM>State of the Art</EM> Columnist<br /> * <EM>The New York Times</EM><br /> * New York, New York<br /><br /> Can all of the questions of physics be solved by understanding quarks, leptons, and other tiny particles? Will a 'theory of everything' really solve everything? Or are there somethings that that kind of physics won't be able to explain? In this hour, we'll take a look at different approaches to physics. Plus, we'll hear about the latest in science gifts, gadgets, and toys for the holidays.

As Opioid Deaths Surge, Biden Team Moves To Make Buprenorphine Treatment Mainstream

The Biden administration says new federal guidelines released Tuesday will allow far more medical practitioners to prescribe buprenorphine, a drug proven to reduce opioid relapses and overdose deaths. The change lowers regulatory hurdles that critics believe sharply limit use of the life-saving medication at a time when drug deaths are surging. "We have made this much easier for physicians but also for other medical practitioners," said Dr. Rachel Levine, assistant secretary of health, speaking with NPR. The new rules eliminate a training requirement and allow a wider range of health workers to offer buprenorphine treatment, including nurse practitioners, physician assistants and certified nurse midwives. "There's a lack of physicians in a lot of rural areas around the country," said Tom Coderre, acting head of the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration. "By expanding [buprenorphine guidelines to include] these additional practitioners, we're more likely to be able to expand access to treatment into those rural areas," he added. This move comes at a dire moment in the nation's opioid epidemic. Experts say the spread of illicit fentanyl combined with disruptions from the COVID-19 pandemic triggered a devastating rise in fatal overdoses. According to the latest estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 90,000 Americans died during the 12-month period ending in September 2020. Deaths linked to fentanyl rose 55%. The Biden administration has acknowledged growing pressure to respond to the crisis and signaled it hoped to make buprenorphine more widely available. The drug works by reducing opioid cravings and withdrawal symptoms, which helps people avoid relapses. "We're definitely looking at what's within the authority of the federal government to reduce those barriers," said Regina LaBelle, head of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, speaking with reporters earlier his month. "We know it's urgent." The Biden administration drew criticism earlier this year after it canceled a plan to ease buprenorphine rules, unveiled by the Trump White House in January. These new guidelines now go further by allowing more practitioners to prescribe the medication. Health care workers will still need additional training and federal waivers if they plan to treat more than 30 patients with the medication. Dr. Patrice Harris, head of the American Medical Association's opioid task force, said that restriction could pose a problem for emergency department doctors who are seeing large numbers of patients with opioid use disorder. But Harris described the new guidelines as a "step in the right direction" that will cause more family doctors to include addiction treatment in their practice. Dr. Yngvild Olsen with the American Society of Addiction Medicine also praised the change. She said her organization will still urge Congress to pass legislation erasing remaining barriers to buprenorphine prescribing. "Having a separate category of training focused on this single medication has inadvertently fostered stigma toward people with addiction," she said. Doctors aren't immune to that stigma. Studies show many physicians are reluctant to treat patients with addiction even as better medical treatments like buprenorphine become available. Keith Humphreys, who studies addiction at Stanford University, said one test of these new buprenorphine guidelines is whether physicians begin to view opioid use disorder as a chronic illness, treatable with proper medication. "That would be a big change," Humphreys said. "It does though require the health care system to respond ... to say, OK, they've opened the door for us, let's walk through it."

'Morning Edition' Returns: Jurors Free to Cut Loose

A judge refused a man's request to overturn his conviction on the grounds that one of the jurors on his case admitted he'd been drinking. In his decision, the judge cited a Supreme Court ruling that drinking -- along with smoking marijuana and sleeping -- is not an "outside influence."

Next Up For The Economy: Small-Business Tax Cuts?

This is an unsettled time in the American economy. Last week, the stock market rose, but so did the unemployment rate. The nation lost jobs overall, but the number of private-sector jobs was up. One thing everyone can agree on, though: The recovery has slowed. And this week, President Obama will unveil a new economic package including tax cuts for small businesses. The price tag: as high as $300 billion. Mark Zandi, chief economist for Moody Analytics, says the plan will have an impact. "I think it will be small, but I think it's worth doing," he tells NPR's Guy Raz. "Anything that can get more credit out to hard-pressed small businesses I think would be helpful." According to Zandi, small businesses accounted for two-thirds of net job creation in the last economic expansion, and he sees tax incentives for businesses as a good way to help them grow. These cuts would be part of what Zandi considers a much-needed expansion of the original stimulus act. He is one of several economists who worry that the original stimulus that passed in 2009 was not large enough to effectively battle the recession. "I do think that the magnitude of the recession was much greater than anyone had thought," he says. "We dug a deeper hole than we were thinking back when the Recovery Act was put together." The rise in the unemployment rate announced last week came as no surprise, he says. In fact, he wouldn't be surprised to see the jobless rate reach 10 percent by the end of the year. "While we're creating jobs, we're not creating jobs fast enough to forestall increases in unemployment," he says. "We need 125, 150,000 per month just for a stable rate of unemployment." But Zandi is hopeful and says U.S. manufacturers can grow by expanding the goods they produce to appeal to emerging economies in places like China and Brazil. GUY RAZ, host: We're back with ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Guy Raz. You might be forgiven for being confused about the mixed messages coming out on the economy. Last week, the stock market rose, but so did the unemployment rate. The nation lost jobs overall, but the number of private sector jobs was up. Now here's a thing most economists agree on: The recovery has slowed. And later this week, President Obama will try to address the problem with a package of tax cuts, mainly for small businesses. The price tag could be as high as $300 billion. Either way, says Mark Zandi, the chief economist for Moody's Analytics, the economy needs some sort of push. Mr. MARK ZANDI (Chief Economist, Moody's Analytics): It will have an impact. I think it will be small, but I think it's worth doing. And anything that can get more credit out to hard-pressed small businesses, I think, would be helpful. Small businesses are key to the job machine. They employ half of all workers in the United States. And in the last economic expansion, they accounted for two-thirds of net job creation. So more credit to small business would be helpful. But at the end of the day, this is small and won't have a significant impact, at least not in the near term. RAZ: I mean, some economists have argued that the original stimulus package was not large enough, and that's why we are facing the economic environment we face today. Is this, in a sense, sort of stimulus-lite? Mr. ZANDI: Yes. I do think that the magnitude of the recession was much greater than anyone had thought. We dug a deeper hole for ourselves than we were thinking back when the Recovery Act was put together in early 2009. And I think it would've been prudent if it were larger and more expansive. And in some sense, we are expanding on that stimulus, that Recovery Act through these different things that we've put in place since then and talking about right now. RAZ: I'm curious what you make of the unemployment situation. I mean, it seems to be getting worse rather than better, and all the projections seem to suggest that it will continue to get worse. Mr. ZANDI: Yes. The unemployment rate rose to 9.6 percent in August. While we're creating jobs, we're not creating jobs fast enough to forestall increases on unemployment because, as you know, people enter into the workforce every month. So we need 125, 150,000 per month just for a stable rate of unemployment. So in all likelihood, unemployment will rise through the end of the year. If you told me that by year's end, the unemployment rate was back at 10 percent, I would not be surprised. RAZ: Mark, so much of our economy is dependent on consumer spending. And I wonder whether you think what we're going through now and what we've been going through for the past two years will begin to sort of alter that dependency on consumer spending in the coming years. Mr. ZANDI: Yes, that's already happening. You know, I think it is fair to say that for the past quarter-century, the U.S. consumer has powered our economy's growth, in fact, arguably, entire global economy's growth. And this period that we're going through marks an i

Week In Politics: Drones, Brennan's Confirmation Hearing

Audie Cornish talks to regular political commentators E.J. Dionne of <em>The Washington Post</em> and Brookings Institution, and David Brooks of <em>The New York Times</em>. They discuss the U.S. drone program, John Brennan's confirmation hearing, and President Obama's upcoming State of the Union address.

'Morning Edition' Returns: Naked Olympics Tale Exposed

Historian Lamros Lambracos says that, contrary to conventional wisdom, the first Greek Olympians did not run naked. They wore little skirts -- until one runner lost his, prompting other runners to shed theirs in hopes of getting a winning edge.

Who Owns This Issue? National Security

President Bush's new series of television ads, called "Steady Leadership in Times of Change," shows the importance of the war in Iraq and national security in his re-election campaign. Democrat John Kerry says his own war record, and administration mistakes, give him the edge. Join NPR's Neal Conan and guests for a discussion in an ongoing series during the 2004 presidential campaign. Guests: David Sanger, New York Times White House Correspondent Pat Towell, visiting fellow at the Center for Strategic and Military Assessments and Congressional Quarterly reporter for more than 25 years William Galston, professor at the School of Public Affairs at the University of Maryland and director of the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy. Galston also served as a deputy assistant to President Clinton. William Kristol, editor for The Weekly Standard

Conference Is First U.S.-Iran Contact Since 2004

Saturday's meeting between Iraq, its neighbors and the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council produced the first public contact between officials of the U.S. and Iran since 2004.

Graham Chapman and 'The Life of Brian'

Monty Python's <EM>Life of Brian</EM> -- a biblical satire -- is being re-released in theatres, 25 years after its first release. We feature archive interviews with four of the players from Monty Python's Flying Circus, starting with Graham Chapman. He was the straight man in the Monty Python troupe, who would come in and break up the skits. A physician by training, he was a writer and activist for gay rights. He died in 1989. (Rebroadcast from July 2, 1987.)

Coming To Terms: Money &

Coming to Terms: Money & the Muses. In this edition, commentator Miles Hoffman and Martin discuss the financial issues that every musician, whether successful of struggling, has to face.

'Chandni Chowk': Across Asia, Lightheartedly

A humble vegetable chopper slices an archvillain down to size in Chandni Chowk to China, a pan-Asian action farce. Utterly derivative but highly entertaining, the movie is in large part a Hindi-language homage to Hong Kong's Stephen Chow, the director-star of Shaolin Soccer and Kung Fu Hustle. And in a few ways, Chandni Chowk is unprecedented: It's Bollywood's first kung fu comedy, and it's getting the widest American release ever for an Indian movie, opening in more than 50 U.S. cities. Otherwise, however, Chandni Chowk is standard Bollywood fare, stuffed with plot, characters and musical numbers. Director Nikhil Advani hops from genre to genre, encompassing slapstick, action, parody, melodrama, romance, song-and-dance and self-help platitudes. The movie shares one other quality with the typical Bollywood flick: It doesn't know when to stop. Running nearly three hours, Chandni Chowk may exhaust viewers who are unfamiliar with mainstream Indian cinema's more-more-more aesthetic. The action begins in feudal times, as a lone hero battles to the death atop the Great Wall of China. (Chandni Chowk is hardly subtle in its use of locations.) Centuries later, some Chinese peasants become convinced that their champion has been reincarnated and will protect them against the oppressive Hojo (Gordon Liu). Cut to Chandni Chowk, a teeming low-rent section of Delhi, where bumptious Sidhu (Akshay Kumar) carves potatoes in an open-air food stall. He is that reborn hero, or so two Chinese visitors inform him. And so Sidhu enthusiastically travels to Shanghai, unaware why he's been summoned: Thanks to the language barrier — and a conniving friend — the naive chopper has no idea that he's supposed to kill Hojo, a martial-arts expert with an army of murderous goons. Among Hojo's troops is Meow Meow, a slinky Indo-Chinese beauty. She is, unknowingly, the twin of Sakhi, the Indian spokesmodel for a Chinese-made device that turns klutzes into chorines. (Cue a satirical dance number.) The sisters, both played by Deepika Padukone, are eminently stereotypical. Sakhi is earthy and manipulative, a cross between hip-thrusting old-time temptress and spoiled economic-boom brat; Meow Meow is mysterious and somewhat sinister, a latter-day dragon lady in bangs, black leather and poisoned lipstick. The twins will change, of course, as will Sidhu; after a few setbacks, the Indian visitor expands his expertise from curry to kung fu. If his training sequences recall Uma Thurman's in Kill Bill, that's no coincidence; Chandni Chowk's final dance number includes a frisky tribute to Quentin Tarantino's revenge opus. The movie also bows to Jackie Chan's "drunken master," Zhang Yimou's Curse of the Golden Flower and the James Bond franchise. (Hojo has an Odd Job hat, while Sakhi acquires nifty gadgets from her own personal Q.) But Chandni Chowk's principal model is Stephen Chow's comedic style, which combines chop-sockey and CGI to yield genre burlesques with the snap, crash and pop of a Road Runner cartoon. Curiously for a Bollywood movie, Chandni Chowk can boast only a lackluster Indo-pop score, and its dance numbers seem abbreviated and perfunctory. That's just as well, though. Even fans who enjoy every aspect of this hit-or-miss romp will probably not wish it were a minute longer.

Low-Wage America: Joanna Veres

NPR's Noah Adams relates the story of Joanna Veres, 19, and her 3-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Janallie. She came to this country from the Dominican Republic when she became pregnant, moving in with relatives in Florida and later in New Jersey, then to Maine. She moved to Portland to live with a sister, finished high school, and after several months on Welfare has found a job as a reservation clerk with a national hotel chain. In the meantime, even though she loves having a child, she regrets not being able to go out dancing, and says her 49-year-old mother in Florida is having the sort of life that Joanna once dreamed of.

Mississippi John Hurt

Noah Adams talks with Peter Case, musician and producer of the new CD <em>Avalon Blues: A Tribute to the music of Mississippi John Hurt</em>. Case has assembled an impressive group of musicians who each play a Hurt song. They include Chris Smither, Lucinda Williams, Beck, Ben Harper, Bill Morrissey, and Gillian Welch. Case explains how he first heard the music of Mississippi John Hurt as a kid in Buffalo, and that his blues playing was powerful and opened doors for him into understanding American music. Some of the songs on this CD have a very modern feel; others harken back to the classic blues sound of Hurt, in terms of vocals and guitar playing. The CD is on Vanguard Records.

Next Step for Investment Banks: Outside Analysts

Ten of the country's largest investment banks agreed this week to pay about $1.4 billion in fines to settle charges that their stock research was tainted by conflicts of interest. Their next move will be to hire independent analysts to perform the research function. NPR's Scott Horsley reports.

Will Swine Flu Follow Campers To School?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention established priorities this week for who should get vaccinated for swine flu this fall, but the new H1N1 strain hasn't waited for the official start of flu season. The flu has had a major impact this summer on one venerable institution: camp. Jessica Sass, 9, had a great time at Camp Alonim in Southern California this summer, but she had fewer bunkmates to share in the fun. Six of them — half the cabin — got sent home. They developed fevers and went to the infirmary. Their parents were notified to come and get them. "We saw these two big luggage things on both sides of the door," Jessica says. "And we all started bursting in tears and stuff. It was sad." She says the remaining six campers sat on the floor, hoping no one else would get sick and that their friends would return soon. They did come back, but out of 410 children at Camp Alonim's first session, 160 were sent home, suspected of having swine flu. This was despite the camp's best efforts to screen them when they arrived, say Jessica's parents, Deborah and Larry Sass. "They actually took all of the kids' temperatures and anyone over 99.5 was sent home for seven days regardless of the reason for their fever," Deborah Sass says. Cases Around The Nation Swine flu has been an issue for summer camps across the nation. At least 33 overnight camps in Maine have had outbreaks. The Muscular Dystrophy Association, which runs 80 camps around the country, decided to cancel all sessions in July and August after a few campers in Utah, Minnesota and Pennsylvania came down with the disease. Dr. Valerie Cwik, the medical director of the MDA, says that decision disappointed 2,500 would-be campers and the volunteers who work with them. "Our campers talk about camp as being the best week of the year, but we had to put the health and safety of the campers and the volunteer community first," she says. People with muscular dystrophy and similar disorders are especially at risk, Cwik says. "Children with muscular dystrophy and related diseases often have weakness of their respiratory muscles and are prone to the flu and complications from the flu," she says. "You know, what we were learning about the swine flu was that this virus particularly targets lungs, which can lead to pneumonia, which can be catastrophic for children with weakened respiratory systems." Worries Ahead Of School Year The camp outbreaks serve as a warning of what schools may face in the fall. Kimberly Uyeda, director of student medical services at the Los Angeles Unified School District, says the district is beginning to take precautions now. "We've prepared letters to go out to parents and to staff," Uyeda says. "We're collaborating with county public health to display posters that talk about hand-washing and covering your cough and cough etiquette. That's out of the ordinary for us, but it's in line with what's being recommended." School district warehouses are also chock-full of waterless hand sanitizer. It isn't just students who are at risk, Uyeda says. The district is figuring out what to do if teachers and other staffers come down with swine flu. Hopefully, it won't come to that, but no one knows whether the swine flu will be devastating this fall or just an extension of the usual flu season. MADELEINE BRAND, host: As we reported earlier this week, the Centers for Disease Control has established priorities for who should get vaccinated for swine flu. The vaccinations would happen in the fall, but the new H1N1 strain hasn't waited for the official start of flu season. As NPR's Ina Jaffe reports, swine flu right now is having a big impact on one venerable institution: summer camp. INA JAFFE: Nine-year-old Jessica Sass had a great time at Camp Alonim in Southern California this summer, but she had fewer bunkmates to share in the fun. Ms. JESSICA SASS: Yeah, six of them got sent home. JAFFE: That's half the cabin. They developed fevers, went to the infirmary, parents were notified to come and get them. Ms. SASS: And then we saw these two big luggage things on both sides of the door, and we all started bursting in tears and stuff. It was sad. So then there was six left. JAFFE: And so what did the six of you do right then? Ms. SASS: We were in a circle. We sat down on the floor and did a silent moment, and we thought about, like, everything. We were just hoping that nobody else would get sick - and they would come back soon. JAFFE: They did come back, but out of 410 kids at Camp Alonim's first session, 160 were sent home, suspected of having swine flu. This was despite the camp's best efforts to screen them when they arrived, say Jessica's parents, Deborah and Larry Sass. Ms. DEBORAH SASS: They actually took all of the kids' temperatures and anyone over 99.5 was sent home for seven days, like, regardless of the reason for their fever. Mr. LARRY SASS: And, actually, where they held this was at different part of camp, so the parents or the chil

Amid Escalating Tension, Ukraine Bans Russian Men From Crossing Its Borders

Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko on Friday barred Russian men of military age from entering the country, saying the order was needed to prevent an infiltration in what appeared to be an allusion to Moscow's 2014 takeover of Crimea from Ukraine. Poroshenko's decree comes days after he assumed martial law powers in Ukraine following a maritime skirmish in the Kerch Strait that joins the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov through Crimea. That encounter saw Russian warships fire on and seize three Ukrainian navy vessels, wounding several of their crew. "Today, the entry of foreigners is limited — primarily citizens of the Russian Federation — non-admission of citizens of the Russian Federation aged from 16 to 60, male," Petro Tsygyka, the Ukrainian head of the border service, said in a televised meeting Friday. Poroshenko tweeted on Friday that the restriction was enacted to prevent the infiltration of "private armies." In 2014, Russian soldiers in unmarked uniforms infiltrated Crimea, taking control of Ukrainian ships and military bases on the peninsula as Moscow insisted its forces were not involved. The Kremlin has also backed an ongoing separatist insurgency in eastern Ukraine. On Monday, Poroshenko declared martial law in response to the latest naval incident, citing fears that Russia was planning further military action. It is set to continue until Dec. 26 in 10 regions bordering Russia. At the time, The Associated Press noted, "Martial law will include a partial mobilization and strengthening of the country's air defense. The measures before parliament also included vaguely worded steps such as 'strengthening' anti-terrorism measures and 'information security." As NPR's Lucian Kim has reported, "Domestic opponents of the unpopular president accused him of planning to use martial law as a way to suspend an election scheduled for March 31. Poroshenko only got Ukraine's boisterous parliament to approve the measure once he had watered down his proposal by reducing martial law — which entered into force Wednesday — to 30 days from 60, limiting it to border regions and promising not to postpone the election." A 2003 treaty between the two countries says the Kerch Strait and Sea of Azov are shared territorial waters. Russia has attempted to exert greater control over the area since annexing Crimea — including opening a bridge linking Russia to the Ukrainian peninsula earlier this year. "Ukraine's navy estimates it lost at least 80 percent of its assets and capabilities after the annexation of Crimea, as its most important bases were located on the peninsula," Kim reports. "Russia's seizure of the two gunboats on the weekend is a further blow." U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley called Russia's seizure of the vessels an "outrageous violation of sovereign Ukrainian territory." On Thursday, President Trump cancelled a scheduled meeting with President Vladimir Putin at G-20, citing the intensifying Russian aggression toward Ukraine.

In Private Letter, Red Cross Tried To End Government Inquiry

The American Red Cross, which has often boasted of its transparency, attempted last year to halt a congressional inquiry into its disaster relief work, according to a private letter Red Cross CEO Gail McGovern wrote to Rep. Bennie Thompson. In the letter, McGovern asked Thompson, a Democrat from Mississippi and the ranking member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, to "end the inquiry" he requested into the charity and how it coordinates with the federal government. The Government Accountability Office was already four months into its investigation when McGovern went to see Thompson and followed up with the letter, which was obtained by NPR and ProPublica. "As I mentioned at the end of our discussion, I would like to respectfully request that you consider meeting face to face rather than requesting information via letter and end the GAO inquiry that is currently underway," McGovern wrote on June 30, 2014, a week after they met. That was the first of two occasions in which she noted that she did not want to correspond with the congressman in writing. "I feel it was productive for us to speak in person about the issues you've been raising and hope that we can continue future conversations in the same manner," she wrote. She then gave Rep. Thompson her personal cellphone number. Despite McGovern's request, the GAO inquiry continued as planned. Thompson called the Red Cross' letter "unfortunate." "Over time, the public has come to accept the American Red Cross as a key player in the nation's system for disaster relief," Thompson said in an email. "It is unfortunate that in light of numerous allegations of mismanagement, the American Red Cross would shun accountability, transparency, and simple oversight." The Red Cross did not respond to detailed questions that NPR and ProPublica sent by email. In a statement, the charity said it was working cooperatively with the GAO and "would continue to answer all of their questions." "We asked if we could answer the questions face to face rather than through a GAO study, which takes precious staff time and resources and months to complete," the statement says. "Even though that did not happen, we continue our work with the GAO." In her letter to Thompson, McGovern similarly said that the reason she would prefer to discuss any issues in person was because of limited resources. "Responding to the questions and participating in interviews (particularly because of the broadness of the questions)," she wrote, "is using a great deal of staff resources while we are preparing for hurricane season and simultaneously responding to tornadoes, storms, wildfires and floods across multiple states." It's unclear what kind of resources the Red Cross needed to answer the GAO's questions, but the charity employs at least six full-time government and congressional relations staffers at its headquarters in Washington, D.C., and also retains an outside lobbying firm. Craig Holman, an advocate with the government watchdog group Public Citizen says he has never seen an instance in which the subject of a GAO inquiry asked for the inquiry to be called off. "This is both a unique and particularly brazen lobby campaign by Gail McGovern to bring an end to an independent GAO investigation," he says. McGovern has often sought to portray the Red Cross as a model of transparency. In January 2011, a year after the Haiti earthquake, McGovern told a packed luncheon at the National Press Club that "with this outpouring of support, comes a responsibility for accountability and for transparency." "We made a commitment that we want to lead the effort in transparency," she said, "and for the most part, we share anything we have." A spokesman for the GAO says researchers were unaware of the Red Cross' request to end the investigation and that the completed report is expected to be released next month. Do you have a tip to share? Email NPR correspondent Laura Sullivan.

Report Slams Sen. Stevens' Prosecutors

In a "blistering" 500-page report released this morning a special prosecutor concludes that Justice Department lawyers "intentionally withheld" information that could have bolstered then-Sen. Ted Stevens' defense during the Alaska Republican's 2008 trial on corruption charges, NPR's Carrie Johnson tells us. She adds that Special Prosecutor Henry Schuelke says the case against Stevens was infected by the failure to turn over evidence that could have helped him damage the credibility of the government's key witness. Stevens, as Carrie has previously reported for us: "Was convicted of making false statements and related charges after a five-week trial in 2008. While Stevens was appealing the decision, U.S. Attorney Gen. Eric Holder took the extraordinary step of abandoning the case a year later, after evidence surfaced that the Justice Department team withheld documents from Stevens' defense that would have helped the former lawmaker poke holes in the account of the key witness against him." Among the critical information that prosecutors didn't share with Stevens' attorneys: -- Witness Rocky Williams was willing to testify that he "had the same understanding and belief as Senator Stevens and his wife" that the senator had indeed paid for renovation work done on one of his homes. -- Witness Bill Allen, who allegedly had given "benefits and others things of value" to Stevens connected to the renovation work, provided "significant exculpatory information" about Stevens to prosecutors. In a statement today, the law firm that represented Stevens (Williams & Connolly LLP) says the report shows that "corrupt prosecutors obtained an illegal verdict against Sen. Stevens on October 27, 2008. As a result, a sitting senator lost certain re-election and the balance of power shifted in theUnited States Senate." The special prosecutor says, however, that "although the evidence establishes that this misconduct was intentional, the evidence is insufficient to establish beyond a reasonable doubt" that prosecutors violated federal law, "which requires the intentional violation of a clear and unambiguous [judge's] order." Stevens and four others died in the August 2010 crash of a small plane while they were on a fishing trip in Alaska. He was 86. As Carrie tells our Newscast Desk, the government's actions during the Stevens case have "led to calls for new laws and federal rules to govern prosecutors' conduct." Update at 10:35 a.m. ET. Justice Department Says "One Failure Is One Too Many": Laura Sweeney, a Justice Department spokeswoman has emailed this statement to reporters: "The department has cooperated fully with Mr. Schuelke's inquiry into the prosecution of former Sen. Ted Stevens and provided information throughout the process. The department is in the process of making an independent assessment of the conduct and, to the extent it is appropriate and in accordance with the privacy laws, we will endeavor to make our findings public when that review is final. "When concerns were raised about the handling of this case following the 2008 conviction of Sen. Stevens, the department conducted an internal review that culminated in the attorney general ordering a dismissal of this case. Since that dismissal in April 2009, the department has instituted a sweeping training curriculum for all federal prosecutors, and made annual discovery training mandatory. We have taken unprecedented steps to ensure prosecutors, agents and paralegals have the necessary training and resources to properly fulfill their discovery and ethics obligations. "We know that justice is served only when all parties adhere to the rules and case law that govern our criminal justice system. While the department meets its discovery obligations in nearly all cases, even one failure is one too many and we will continue to work with our prosecutors to ensure they have all the support and resources they need to do their jobs. But it would be an injustice of a different kind for the thousands of men and women who spend their lives fighting to uphold the law and keep our communities safe to be tainted by the misguided notion that instances of intentional prosecutorial misconduct are anything but rare occurrences."

Thursday, February 21st, 2019

Update: Since this podcast published, Jussie Smollett has been taken into custody on charges of disorderly conduct for allegedly filing a false police report about being attacked on the street. A 24-year-old woman who fled America to join ISIS now wants to return, but the Trump administration says she has no right to return. Also, a Coast Guard lieutenant is charged with planning a massive domestic terrorist attack against Democrats and media personalities. And the latest in the Jussie Smollett case, who has now gone from victim to suspect.

Video From Syria Alerts Activist To His Father's Death

The numbers coming out of Syria these days are staggering: hundreds of thousands of refugees, tens of thousands dead. The struggle, and the death, is being captured regularly on social media. The documentation not only serves as a bulletin for foreigners, but also as an alert for those with family members who become victims. When Syrians first started protesting in March of last year, Fadi Zeidan was there. He and his friends thought the Syrian uprising would be fast, like the ones in Tunisia and Egypt. Then Zeidan was detained and beaten three times between April and September 2011. He managed to get released and keep up his activist work. He shot, assembled and uploaded videos of protests. Later, he also produced videos of battles fought by men who've taken up arms to fight against government forces. Zeidan eventually left Syria. These days, he still disseminates videos from the inside. "All the time we receive the videos from all the town and cities, and we work on it to send it — send the video to the channels and news agencies," he says. Every day, Zeidan sits and watches dozens of gruesome videos. One that came across his desk a few weeks ago is a crude one-minute clip. A shaky camera shows the dead bodies of a dozen or so men, on a black-and-white tile floor. A piece of paper with a number is attached to each body's chest. Other men mill around, peering at the faces of the dead. One man wails in agony. Zeidan played the video a few times. But he didn't look too closely. As always, he sent the link around. A few hours later, the phone rang. "At 5 o'clock, my mother called me [from Syria]," he says. "She asked me first, 'Are you alone?' I said 'no.' 'Are you with your friend?' I said, 'Yes, I'm with my friend.' " "Good," she said, "I'm sending you a link by Facebook. You must watch it." It was the same video Zeidan had seen earlier in the day. But this time he looked closer. He focused on the faces of the dead men. Zeidan realized one of the dead men was his father. He had a bullet hole in his head. "All the time we work on this media — on these videos. But when I see my father in this video, I'm freeze," he says. Zeidan's mother told him two days before that his father had been detained by security forces. His body was later tossed in the street. Activists found him, shot the video, buried him and the other dead men, and sent word to Zeidan's family. This is how the Syrian war is playing out right now — especially in and around the capital, Damascus. If a town or neighborhood is seen as supporting the anti-government movement, or, worse, housing anti-government rebels, it becomes a target. Residents in Zeidan's area say his father is one of hundreds of people who've been executed in recent months. Zeidan says the whole thing is still unreal. He says his family has decided to put off their mourning until their work is done. "Now, I'm not afraid if I die. I'm not afraid. Because all of us is the same. All the people need freedom, and all the people work to take it," he says. So for now, Zeidan will keep sending out videos, sometimes going back to Syria to shoot the videos. His father, Moheddin Zeidan, will remain another number. A 55-year-old man, a lawyer, killed in September 2012. STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: This next sentence is a little hard to believe, but it's believed to be true. In recent weeks, the conflict in Syria has been more violent than the worst days of the war in Iraq. The numbers can be mind numbing. Hundreds of thousands of refugees, tens of thousands dead. Periodically, NPR's Kelly McEvers stops to tell us about some of the individuals behind those numbers. Here's your latest story. KELLY MCEVERS, BYLINE: When Syrians first started protesting in March of last year, Fadi Zeidan was there. He and his friends thought the Syrian uprising would be fast, like the ones in Tunisia and Egypt. Then, Fadi was detained and beaten three times. He managed to get released and keep up his activist work. He shot, assembled and uploaded videos of protests and, later, videos of battles fought by men who'd taken up arms to fight against government forces. Fadi eventually left Syria. These days, he still disseminates videos from the inside. FADI ZEIDAN: All the time we receive the videos from all the town and city and we work on it to send the video to the channels and the news agency. MCEVERS: Every day, Fadi sits and watches dozens of gruesome videos. Like this one that came across his desk a few weeks ago. (SOUNDBITE OF CRYING) MCEVERS: It's a crude minute. A shaky camera shows the dead bodies of a dozen or so men on a black-and-white tile floor. A piece of paper with a number is attached to each body's chest. Other men mill around, peering at the faces of the dead, curious perhaps, trying to find a friend. One man wails in agony. Fadi played the video a few times. But he didn't look too closely. Then, as always, he sent the link around. A few hours later, the phone rang. ZEIDAN: At 5 o'clock, my mother cal

Together Since 1952, A Couple Separated When Coronavirus Hits Gets A Happy Reunion

It started with a low grade fever in late March. By then, the novel coronavirus was infecting large parts of the country including Henderson, Nevada where my parents, Larry and Anne Sandell, live in an assisted living apartment community. The residents had been quarantined in their apartments for two weeks and their temperatures were checked by the staff twice each day. On March 27, my 84-year-old mother had a low grade fever. The nurse decided not to take any chances. An ambulance was summoned to take her the ER around 10 p.m. At the hospital, she was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection and sent home the next morning to my father with antibiotics. And that, we all thought, was that. But my mother's condition continued to deteriorate. She was confused, no longer eating or drinking and falling asleep mid-conversation at their dining room table. It was clear my 85-year-old father was struggling to care for her in quarantine. He looked haggard. When my mom's COVID-19 test came back positive from the hospital four days later on April 1, everyone was surprised. An ambulance was again summoned and she was whisked away to St. Rose Siena Hospital, my father not allowed to accompany her. I told my husband, "My dad's got the virus too, he's been right next to her for days with no mask." Sure enough, the next day his temperature was 102 and he was sent by ambulance to St. Rose San Martin Hospital — a different hospital than my mother. The precautions put in place by their facility and the careful attention paid by Steve Hall, the nurse there, may have saved their lives. Their apartment was now empty and the other residents shaken. How in the world did my parents get it when they'd been quarantined for weeks? That remains a mystery. My father grew sicker, his fever spiking to 104, and he was put on oxygen for COVID pneumonia. My mother was suffering cognitive decline. She could not remember her own birthday or what she was supposed to do when she heard the telephone ring. My parents have been together since 1952 when they were 16 and 17-year-old college freshmen. The novel coronavirus separated them from each other and from the rest of the family for four weeks - the longest they had been apart with the exception of my dad's tour in Vietnam as an Army judge. Slowly but surely they began to improve. After two weeks, my mother was transferred to an inpatient rehabilitation hospital. Over the next 14 days, my mother began to come back to us. Her cognition improved dramatically. Dad was a different story. Caring for my mother unprotected for days had drenched him in the virus. After more than three weeks in the hospital he was finally released on April 25. My parents couldn't go back to their apartment in the assisted living community; it was quarantined and my father was still positive for the virus. So my younger brother, Bruce Sandell, and I rented them a furnished house. On April 29 my mother was discharged from rehab and my parents were reunited after four weeks apart, but the closest they could get to each other was across the room, their faces covered by masks. They could not have their first kiss or sleep in the same room until May 8. Bruce, who is able to work remotely, stayed at the house with them for most of the next five weeks, along with professional caretakers and therapists. For the past month they've been consistently improving. My mother is now completely well; my dad is much better but, like many people post-COVID-19, still tires easily. Last Friday, they moved back to their apartment, welcomed warmly by other residents and staff. It's been a long two months. As an ICU doctor with 30 years of experience, I believe the moral to the story is this: In a world of pandemic virus, speed is of the essence. Because of the daily temperature testing and assessment, my parents were sent to the hospital as soon as they developed a fever. I believe that may have saved their lives. Don't hesitate to seek testing or tell your doctor if you or loved ones have symptoms and believe you could be infected. Your lives might depend on it.

In Trying Times, A Mental Health Professional Advocates For Self-Care

Blogger and mental health professional Jasmine Banks describes what it means to practice self-care in trying times.

Bobby Watson in Concert

NPR and WBGO's "Toast of the Nation" features a never-aired show from alto saxophonist Bobby Watson's Kansas City Jump Band at Jazz at Lincoln Center in New York. Also on the bill: a tribute to pianist Jay "Hootie" McShann (1916-2006), the last of the great Kansas City players.

New Insurrection Report, Ransom Recovery, Controversial Alzheimer's Drug

Two Senate committees released new findings related to the January 6th Capitol attack. The FBI recovered millions of the ransom Colonial Pipeline paid to suspected Russian hackers. The FDA has approved a pricey and controversial Alzheimer's drug.

Boxing Fans File Lawsuits After Pacquiao-Mayweather Fight

More than 30 lawsuits have been filed by boxing fans, bettors and sports bars around the country, alleging that the so-called "fight of the century," between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao was a fraud. They're suing for their money back and, in some cases, damages.

Family, Friends Recall SEAL Killed in Rescue Mission

Navy SEAL Erik Kristensen was one of the 16 U.S. servicemen who died late last month in a helicopter crash in eastern Afghanistan. Kristensen was leading a rescue mission on what would turn out to be the deadliest day in SEAL history.

Fundraising Trouble in Georgia

Laura from Marietta, Georgia writes: I know you've been asking listeners to send in examples of the economic downturn they encounter in their own lives. Here's one from mine. I'm a PTA mom at an elementary school, Sope Creek Elementary, with one of the best PTA's in the country. I'm forwarding our latest PTA e-mail, which informs us that we have failed to meet all of our fundraising goals so far this year and have even had to cancel a spring fundraising event because the company we do it with (which frames our children's artwork) has gone out of business. In addition to this bad news, we've just been told by the superintendent of schools that Cobb County (our school district) will have to increase class sizes next year as a result of a budget shortfall. Read More >> PTA FUNDRAISING NEWS As you know, our PTA fundraisers are critical to our ability to provide programs that enhance and enrich our children's learning experience at Sope Creek. From visiting authors to worm composting and Chief Sawgrass to the Winter Talent Show, the PTA provides programs that help to make Sope Creek a unique public school. Unfortunately, the current economic times have not bypassed us this year. Our fall fundraisers have fallen short of their goal and our spring Art Show fundraiser scheduled in March has been cancelled due to the company going bankrupt.

Pop Culture Happy Hour: Our Oscars Preview

We talk about movies often on Pop Culture Happy Hour, which means we've already devoted shows to most of the best picture Oscar nominees (see the bottom of this post). The Oscars will be handed out Sunday night, so this week we asked Bob Mondello to join us as we bat cleanup (that's a thing, right?) and focus on those best picture contenders we haven't yet discussed: Fences, Manchester by the Sea, Lion and Hacksaw Ridge. Along the way, we check in on the state of the buzz shaping up around La La Land, Moonlight, Hidden Figures, Arrival and Hell or High Water. We then move on to talk about some of the down-ballot races that look interesting: acting, animated feature, documentary feature, original song and more. We also name the films and performances that we would have nominated, were we a 6,687-member body of artisanal-kale-chomping Hollyweird phonies and hangers-on. Which we are avowedly not. Reminder: We'll be live-blogging the Oscars on Sunday night, starting with the red carpet at 6:00pm ET. Find us at oscars.npr.org. We conclude, as we do every week, with What's Making Us Happy: Stephen's excited about a new animated series on the Cartoon Network, based on a film series he loves very much; I shout-out a wholly different new animated series on the Cartoon Network; Bob loves a new play that's touring the country, and Linda wishes to direct your kind attention to a new series on the streaming service SeeSo that involves three brothers known for making goofs and japes on a hilarious and popular podcast. Find us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter: the show, Linda, Stephen, me, Bob, producer Jessica, and producer emeritus and pal for life Mike. Oh and SAVE THE DATE, ye Midwesterners! Pop Culture Happy Hour LIVE (feat. Sam Sanders) is happening on WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12th at Chicago's Harris Theater! Tickets don't go on sale until March 8th, but watch our feeds for more info, all you toddlin', broad-shouldered, hog-butchers-for-the-world, you! Here's a few links to past Pop Culture Happy Hour episodes that feature full discussions about the other Oscar nominees: Arrival Hell or High Water Hidden Figures La La Land Moonlight Feature Documentaries and Iran's The Salesman

Read This Guidance On 'Lie,' 'Liar' And Other Forms Of That L-word

The next time a politician, press secretary or — yes — president says something that is false, unproven or has no basis in fact, the question will come up: Do we call it a lie and do we call that person a liar? Our policy remains the same as it's been since we put it in writing during the 2016 presidential campaign. We are not using the L-word. You can read more about the reasoning here. Mike Oreskes did say on Morning Edition that no word is "banned" and that NPR has "decided not to use the word lie in most situations." Those aren't loopholes that give correspondents or editors the freedom to decide on their own that the word can be used. Someone from this group (and they all may weigh in) must give the OK: Mike, Edith Chapin, Chris Turpin, Gerry Holmes and Mark Memmott.

Cambodian Garment Workers Face Poor Prospects

The impoverished Southeast Asian nation of Cambodia is another victim of the global economic slowdown. Two-thirds of Cambodia's export earnings come from the garment industry, which employs about 360,000 people — almost all of them women. Most earn less than $100 a month. But in a country as poor as Cambodia, every little bit helps. Now, even that little bit is under threat. Even makers of such seemingly recession-proof garments as underwear are feeling the pinch. Take, for instance, Whitex Garments in Phnom Penh. Six months ago, the factory had more than 500 workers in the packing department alone, manager David Teo says. Now, there are fewer than 300. Whitex Garments supplies underwear for Wal-Mart, Kmart and Disney, among others. Teo says more than 90 percent of his production goes to the U.S. But orders in the last few months, he says, are down 30 percent. Six months ago, the factory packed more than 100,000 pieces a day. "Now, we hardly pack 60,000, 70,000 a day," he says. As for the future, Teo says that he doesn't know what will happen next month — and everyone is worried. It's repetitive, mind-numbing work. And it doesn't pay much, either. Workers here bring home between $70 and $100 a month — with overtime. Nobody pretends to like the job, but many are grateful for it. Pou Chan Thon, 28, has been working at the Whitex factory for three years and says she is worried about losing her job. Her parents are farmers, and she sends them about $30 a month. Without that money, she says, they literally couldn't survive. A few miles away, Sin Sary, 23, irons and folds track suits at Global Apparels. There are more than 3,000 workers at this factory, which manufactures sports clothes for Adidas and Puma. I'm worried, the young woman says, because there are rumors going around that the factory will be closed or suspend production for a time. She says she doesn't know what she or her family will do if she's laid off. But she better start thinking fast. Management hasn't told the workers yet, but about 800 are to be furloughed for the next two months, maybe longer. And these two factories aren't isolated examples. Van Sou Ieng, chairman of the Cambodian Garment Manufacturers Association, says factories are losing orders from a host of U.S. companies — among them, Gap, Levi's, Wal-Mart and Nike. "Everywhere, actually," he says. He says about 90 factories have already closed or curtailed production in the past few months, and he predicts another 30 will close by the end of March. But union leader Chea Mony is skeptical. He says unscrupulous manufacturers are using the crisis as an excuse to close factories and move them elsewhere — without compensating workers. Van Sou Ieng admits a handful of manufacturers have done just that — but only a handful, he says. Meanwhile, economist Kang Chan Dararot worries about what will happen next. The Cambodian economy, he says, simply can't absorb those now being laid off from the country's two biggest industries. "Poor families [are] very deeply involved in these two sectors — construction and garment industry. And now, so many people have been laid off. There [are] very grave prospects for ... 2009," he says. It's a future that may involve risky choices for laid-off workers desperate for cash. Some out-of-work garment workers are already finding their way into karaoke parlors and go-go bars. On a recent night, two young women working at a go-go bar in Phnom Penh say they were laid off last month. They haven't told their parents — and don't plan to, either. They are hoping to make enough working at the bar to continue sending money back home. Many in Cambodia believe there will be more women in the same situation if garment orders are reduced further. Some worry the entire industry may be at risk if buyers — and manufacturers — decide to go elsewhere, like Bangladesh, where prices and wages are lower and labor standards weaker.

Meet The Olinguito, The Newest Member Of The Raccoon Family

Scientists have just solved a case of mistaken identity. It involves a creature that looks like a cross between a house cat and a teddy bear, and it lives high up in the cloud forests of the Andes. For over 100 years, scientists thought this animal was a well-known member of the raccoon family. Specifically, they thought it was a critter called the "olingo." But one scientist recently took another look and realized he had an entirely new species on his hands. That scientist is Kristofer Helgen, a curator at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. He stumbled upon the animal while visiting The Field Museum in Chicago and sifting through dead specimens of the olingo. "I pulled out a drawer. It was not anything I'd ever seen before. This was not any member of the raccoon family that anyone was familiar with," he says. He started comparing the bodies and skulls of this animal with the olingos it was stored with. At a storage room in the Smithsonian, Helgen shows off a lineup of dead specimens: On the left are two raccoons and on the right, two smaller animals — lighter brown in color, with tails lacking the characteristic raccoon bands. Their fur is softer, longer, thicker, because as Helgen discovered, this new cousin lives up high in the Andes Mountains in Colombia and Ecuador. In fact, in every aspect he looked at, it looked unmistakably like a novel species — right down to the teeth. "Look at those molars there, those big chunky teeth in the mouth," he says, as he pulls out a skull from a cardboard box. Helgen has named the new species "olinguito," which means "little olingo," because of its striking resemblance to the animal it was long confused with. All of the museum specimens of the olinguito that Helgen looked at came from the cloud forests in Ecuador and Colombia. So, he and his colleagues went looking for the animal in Ecuador. "The very first evening, the very first night that we were there, there in the trees, maybe about 10 meters up, was the first olinguito that we were able to see," says Helgen. He says the animal is shy and rarely comes down from trees. He and his team have published their findings in the journal Zoo Keys. Esteban Payan, of the nonprofit organization Panthera, says he is thrilled at this discovery. He is an expert on mammals in the Andes and is based in Bogota. Payan says he spent his childhood summers on a farmhouse right in the middle of the olinguito's habitat and had no clue about the animal's existence. "I'm surprised," he says. "I'm flabbergasted to have that species right there, under our nose and no one knows that!" Payan says he now plans to set up video cameras around his farm house in the hopes of catching a glimpse of this shy, elusive animal. AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: And now a case of mistaken identity. It involves a creature that looks like a cross between a house cat and a teddy bear. It lives high in the cloud forests of the Andes. For more than a hundred years, scientists thought it was a cousin of the raccoon called the Olingo. But recently, they took another look and realized it was really an entirely new species. They're now calling it the Olinguito or Little Olingo. NPR's Rhitu Chatterjee explains how its true identity to came to light. RHITU CHATTERJEE, BYLINE: Kristofer Helgen is a curator of mammals at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History in Washington, D.C. He discovered this new cousin of the raccoon while sifting through dead specimens. KRISTOFER HELGEN: I pulled out a drawer. It was not anything I'd ever seen before. This was not any member of the raccoon family that anyone was familiar with. CHATTERJEE: He started comparing the bodies and skulls of this animal with those of the animal it was stored with. He takes me to a storage room in the Smithsonian, where he's lined up a range of dead specimens. HELGEN: Come in close. I want to introduce you to the members of the raccoon family here. CHATTERJEE: On the left are two very dead, flattened raccoons. On the far right are two much smaller animals, lighter in color than the raccoons. Their tails are lacking the characteristic raccoon bands and their fur is softer, longer, thicker because, as Helgen later discovered, this new cousin lives up high in the Andes Mountains in Colombia and Ecuador. In fact, every aspect he looked at, this looked like a novel species right down to the teeth. (SOUNDBITE OF RATTLING) CHATTERJEE: He pulls a skull out of a box. HELGEN: Look at those molars there, those big chunky teeth in the mouth. CHATTERJEE: Helgen has named the new species Olinguito, which means Little Olingo. That's because of the striking resemblance to another member of the raccoon family, the Olingo. He eventually went looking for the Olinguito in the cloud forests of Ecuador, because that's where the museum specimens came from, and found that its alive and well, although shy and elusive. Helgen and his team have introduced Olinguito to the world in a new study published in the journal Zoo Keys. Rhit

Remember, Remember, the Fifth of November

This weekend, celebrate treason, British-style. Nov. 5 is Bonfire Night, a tradition that dates back more than 400 years on the British Isles. The holiday commemorates Guy Fawkes, Britain's most infamous traitor, who tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament with 36 barrels of gunpowder. Fawkes was caught, tortured and killed before he could kill England's king. The people of Britain celebrated by burning an effigy in the streets. Every year on November 5, towns across Britain celebrate Fawkes' failure with fireworks and Bonfire Nights. American Anglophiles can attend regional bashes in Baltimore, Los Angeles, New York, and Minneapolis. Or you can throw your own jolly good Fawkesian party. Rent the 2005 movie V for Vendetta, the Wachowski brothers' updated version of Fawkes' follies starring Hugo Weaving and Natalie Portman. Throw a couple of bangers and mash (translation: sausage and potatoes) in the oven. If you have a grill, put foil-wrapped potatoes on the coals for about an hour, after which they'll be ready to eat. Finish up the evening with your favorite ale and a few toffees. That's bloody brilliant. Melody Joy Kramer, is spending a year at NPR as part of the Joan B. Kroc Fellowship program. Her favorite British things include Mary Poppins, Eric Idle and Virginia Woolf.

Missing Passenger Jet Could Have Gone Off Radar

Search teams have yet to locate the Malaysia Airlines jetliner. Renee Montagne talks to aviation security consultant Chris Yates about why modern technology can't do more to help locate the aircraft.

New Negro League Baseball Hall of Fame

NPR's Tony Cox talks with baseball legend "Buck" O'Neill about a new Negro League Hall of Fame and the future of African Americans in the sport.

In Baltimore: Traffic Banned; Only Emergency Vehicles May Be On Streets

Here's how serious things are in Baltimore as today's blizzard bears down on the city: Baltimore Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake has ordered Phase III of the city's snow plan, which means that only emergency vehicles -- police and fire officials, ambulances, snow plows and Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. workers -- are allowed on the road. (Baltimore Sun) For much more on winter's latest blast, click here.

Friday Comedy: Bruce Bruce

Comic Bruce Bruce joins NPR's Tavis Smiley for this week's dose of Friday Comedy.

Bill MacKay's Solo Guitar Fades Quickly, Beautifully On 'Twilight'

Bill MacKay's become a stealth fixture on the Chicago music scene over the last decade and change. The guitarist deftly glides through folk, experimental rock and jazz in his band Darts & Arrows and has worked with everyone from Fred Lonberg-Holm and members of Bitchin' Bajas to a blossoming creative partnership with with Ryley Walker — they released an album of guitar duets in 2015. Esker is the newest solo effort from MacKay, a rich and easygoing reminder that the American guitar tradition is a vast and detailed one. Both Chicago-style and desert-swept blues, western swing, Americana and a little bit of ambient Appalachia are woven throughout its tracks. Here's "Twilight," a modal tune in the bluesy Takoma Records style that's in and out in two minutes, a satisfying sunset to end the day. Esker comes out May 5 on Drag City.

What Chinese Scientist's Nobel Win Says About Science In China

This week Dr. Tu Youyou became the first Chinese Nobel laureate in natural science, and she is also the first Nobel laureate who received all of her scientific training in China. During the Cultural Revolution, Dr. Tu lead a secret military program that succeeded in finding a way to treat drug-resistant malaria using traditional Chinese medicine, instead of Western medicine. Yet when she won her Nobel this week, she was not part of China&#8217;s prestigious academy of sciences. Denis Simon, an expert on science in China, discusses this with Here & Now&#8217;s Jeremy Hobson. Guest Denis Simon, an expert on science in China, and executive vice chancellor of Duke Kunshan University in Kunshan.

Smith Westerns On World Cafe

The wonderful half-garage, half-glam band Smith Westerns recently released its third album, Soft Will. In this installment of World Cafe, the group's members tell us that a lot of the record was written as a reaction to returning home to Chicago after touring for five years during their late teens and twenties. And, of course, they perform some of their songs live in the studio.

Landslides in Guatemala

In Guatemala, the Mayan Indian village of Punabaj virtually disappeared last week under a massive mudslide, triggered by Hurricane Stan's rains. Rescuers have given up looking for bodies in the thick sludge that covers houses, after digging for days with hand shovels. Guest: Frank Jack Daniel, Reuters reporter NEAL CONAN, host: This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan in Washington. Earlier today, the remnants of Hurricane Vince showered the coast of Spain and, yes, it's rare for tropical storms to hit the European mainland. Vince was the 11th hurricane of the year, the 20th named storm, making this season the second busiest on record, and there's still six weeks to go. Earlier this year, before Katrina, Rita, Stan or Vince, The Miami Herald launched an investigation into every hurricane that's struck land since Andrew leveled parts of south Florida 13 years ago. The investigation found that essential equipment at the National Hurricane Center was often broken or unavailable, making predictions of both the track and the intensity of hurricanes less accurate than they might have been. In a few minutes we'll talk with The Herald reporter who wrote the special series and with one NOAA employee who feels that broken buoys and outdated computers are not the only problems that face hurricane forecasters. First, though, we turn our attention to the aftermath of Hurricane Stand, which hit Central American last Tuesday. In Guatemala the storm triggered mudslides. The Mayan Indian village of Panabaj virtually disappeared. Entire families lie entombed, and after days of often heroic efforts, rescuers have been forced to give up the search for bodies in the thick sludge that covers houses. Reuters reporter Frank Jack Daniel joins us now from Santiago, Guatemala. Thanks very much for being with us today. Mr. FRANK JACK DANIEL (Reuters): Hi there. CONAN: Let's start with what's happening today. I understand they've either called off or are about to call off the search for bodies? Mr. DANIEL: Local rescue workers from Guatemala have said that effectively they've given up the search. They're not at the site today. They're not working. Yesterday they were working with dogs, with a group of Spanish firefighters fruitlessly looking for survivors. That search has now been called off. CONAN: Do we know how many people have died as a result of all these mudslides? Mr. DANIEL: Exact numbers are hard to come by because Panabaj was a very new and very poor and very fast-growing village on the outside of a little lakeside town called Santiago Atitlan, and nobody has accurate figures of how many people were living here. Firefighters put the figure as high as 1,400 disappeared and presumed dead, and the local mayor puts the figure--well, puts the figure in a similar region. CONAN: Who are the victims of this? I understand that this area is inhabited largely by Seteuheel Indians(ph). Mr. DANIEL: That's correct. This particular village and--which belongs to Santiago Atitlan--used to be in pre-Hispanic times a wealthy kingdom that dominated Lake Atitlan, a beautiful volcano-ringed crater lake, and a large stretch of terrain down towards the coast. The people here are almost entirely Seteuheel Indians. Many of them don't speak Spanish, just their local Seteuheel language. The area is pretty independent, pretty isolated. It's had a lot of conflict with local governments over the years, and today for the first time, aid arrived--well, a visit from the president (unintelligible) amazed that he was on his way to the site right now, but that took six days to get here. CONAN: As you mentioned, the--there's been a long time for supplies to arrive and trouble with the government--there's a bitter history in this region, the legacy of Guatemala's civil war. Do people suspect that that may have played a factor? Mr. DANIEL: Yes. The mayor--I mean, in the days before the president or any minister or even the local governor of the local state department had made a visit, Mayor Diego Esquina made mention that a lot of people felt that this was a reflection of their indigenous status, a reflection, perhaps, of the complicated history. They felt abandoned. There was a massacre in this town in 1990 where Guatemalan soldiers killed 13 locals. After that, in the midst of a civil war, the town organized successfully to run the army out of the town. Since then, relations are very strained and the mayor says to this day he doesn't really want to see soldiers in uniform even bringing aid to the town. CONAN: You mentioned complaints about slow delivery of emergency aid. Earlier

The Pros And Cons Of Presidential Term Limits

President Barack Obama said he thought he could have been elected to a third term. But of course, he couldn&#8217;t even seek one, because that&#8217;s prohibited by the 22nd Amendment. It was passed by Congress and approved by the requisite number of states after Democrat Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected to four terms as president. Here & Now&#8216;s Jeremy Hobson speaks with Allan Lichtman (@AllanLichtman), distinguished professor of history at American University, about the pros and cons of presidential term limits.

Fresh Air Weekend: Rapper-Turned-Director Boots Riley; The Flint, Mich., Water Crisis

Fresh Air Weekend highlights some of the best interviews and reviews from past weeks, and new program elements specially paced for weekends. Our weekend show emphasizes interviews with writers, filmmakers, actors and musicians, and often includes excerpts from live in-studio concerts. This week: Boots Riley Mines His Experiences As A Telemarketer In 'Sorry To Bother You': The social satire takes aim at corporations that underpay and exploit workers. This is Riley's first film — he has a long career as a rapper — and his band, The Coup, plays on the film's soundtrack. Amy Adams Gives An Unforgettable Performance In HBO's 'Sharp Objects': A new miniseries adapted from Gillian Flynn's novel stars Adams as a newspaper reporter who returns to her small hometown to investigate the disappearance of one girl and the murder of another. Pediatrician Who Exposed Flint Water Crisis Shares Her 'Story Of Resistance': After warning of elevated lead levels in her patients in Flint, Mich., Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha faced a backlash: "The state said that I was an unfortunate researcher, that I was causing near-hysteria." You can listen to the original interviews here: Boots Riley Mines His Experiences As A Telemarketer In 'Sorry To Bother You' Amy Adams Gives An Unforgettable Performance In HBO's 'Sharp Objects' Pediatrician Who Exposed Flint Water Crisis Shares Her 'Story Of Resistance'

Scouring For New Music With 'Alt.Latino'

<em>Alt.Latino</em> host Felix Contreras recently returned from the Latin American Music Conference in New York and presents some musical gems he discovered there.

Family And Friends Pay Tribute To 'Mockingbird' Author Harper Lee

In a tribute to the late Harper Lee, we hear several poignant passages read from her novel, "To Kill a Mockingbird."

Slate's Chatterbox: Don't Obsess About the South

<EM>Slate</EM> senior writer Timothy Noah explains his theory that Democratic presidential candidates don't need to be obsessed with winning the South in the upcoming election.

McDonald's Allows Name Changes In Australia

In Australia, McDonald's is nicknamed Macca. Executives of the burger chain are allowing some McDonald's restaurants there to change their signs to read "Macca's." But the change is only temporary, in honor of Australia Day later this month.

Judge Clears Cosby's Sexual Assault Case To Go To Trial

A Pennsylvania judge has ruled that the sexual assault case against Bill Cosby may proceed. The judge rejected a claim that a former district attorney had given Cosby immunity a decade ago.

Education Department Wades Into Rutgers Case Involving Critics Of Israel

The Education Department has adopted a definition of anti-Semitism that will allow it to go after anti-Israel student groups. <em>The Wall Street Journal</em>'s Michelle Hackman talks with Lulu Garcia-Navarro.

Week In Politics: DHS Funding, ISIS, Same-Sex Marriage In Alabama

Rachel Martin reviews the week in politics with our regular commentators, E.J. Dionne of <em>The Washington Post</em> and Brookings Institution and David Brooks of <em>The New York Times</em>. They discuss the Department of Homeland Security funding debate, the authorization of force against the Islamic State and same-sex marriage in Alabama.

TV vs. Radio – It's Like Comparing Apples to Pineapples

NPR bookers often want to compare our radio audience to the audience of TV programs produced by our news competitors. To meet this need, we use publicly available and secondary source data to create competitive media reports. Let's just say it's not easy, nor is it the most-parallel comparison. First, the methodologies are different. Although, both mediums use a combination of self reported diaries and digital tracking devices, they set different parameters on the kinds of people they measure. TV measures people 2 years of age and older, whereas radio traditionally measures people age 12 and older. Although recently radio began measuring people age 6 and older in the top 50 markets. This allows for TV to report more viewers than radio right off the bat. Read More Second, the metrics used are different. TV traditionally measures audience as an "average minute audience." In other words, it doesn't matter if you're looking at the audience of an episode or a day part; you're looking at the average number of people who are watching at any given time. It's an average of all the minutes within the episode or day part. Thus, it's difficult to tell if these viewers are different persons or if it's the same person tuning in and out throughout a program. Radio traditionally uses average quarter hour (AQH) or weekly metrics to estimate audience ratings. Radio's closest metric to TV's average minute audience is AQH, which is the average number of persons listening to a station for at least five minutes during a 15-minute period. Since AQH does not tell us the total of unique listeners, we use the cume metric, which measures unique listeners in a given week, to answer this question. Given all this, what's a researcher to do? We end up trying to compare the audience from many different lenses (audience by episode, average minute audience, and weekly audience) and are very explicit that this is not an apples-to-apples comparison. It's more like an apples-to-pineapples comparison and it's the best we can do until there is a universal metric that compares audiences across platforms. Meredith Heard is the Research Analyst for Corporate Sponsorship and Development in NPR's Audience Insight & Research group.

Did Publicizing The Terror Alert In Yemen Help?

The partial reopening of the U.S. Embassy in Yemen, which was the focus of a recent terror alert, suggests that the immediate threat of a terrorist attack has passed. Officials cannot be certain whether the alert disrupted planning for a possible attack, whether the threat was a bluff or whether the intelligence that led to the alert was flawed. The issuance of warnings is a specialty within the intelligence community, but the recent episode underscores how much uncertainty surrounds the field.

Which Genes Make You Taller? A Whole Bunch Of Them, It Turns Out

When scientists first read out the human genome 15 years ago, there were high hopes that we'd soon understand how traits like height are inherited. It hasn't been easy. A huge effort to find height-related genes so far only explains a fraction of this trait. Now scientists say they've made some more headway. And the effort is not just useful for understanding how genes determine height, but how they're involved in driving many other human traits. At first, these problems didn't seem to be so complicated. The 19th-century monk Gregor Mendel discovered that traits in his garden peas, like smoothness and color, could be passed predictably from one generation to the next. But Joel Hirschhorn, a geneticist at Boston Children's Hospital and the Broad Institute, says it became evident that most stories of inheritance were not so simple. Height turns out to be a prime example. "People's height didn't behave like Mendel's peas," Hirschhorn says. "It wasn't like they you had two tall people and they'd either have a tall [child] or a short [child]. Often the child was partway between the parents." Scientists explained this 100 years ago, when they realized that height was influenced by many genes, and each makes a small contribution. So when the human genome was sequenced, scientists like Hirschhorn thought they could plumb that data to track all the height genes, and finally understand how height — and in fact most other human traits — are shaped by our genes. That effort started slowly. But now, Hirschhorn says. "for height there are about 700 variants known to affect height, each of them usually with a pretty small effect on height, usually like a millimeter or less." That massive global effort has involved studying the genes of more than 700,000 volunteer subjects. Even so, the traits they've found only explain about a quarter of the inherited height factors. And, frustratingly, for most of those variants scientists have no idea what they actually do. Mostly the variants crop up in mysterious bits of DNA between genes on our chromosomes. That makes it hard to figure out their roles. So Hirschhorn and his army of colleagues, who reported on the effort Wednesday in the journal Nature, tried a new tack. Their study focused only on variants that are directly in the genes themselves. By knowing that the genes do, they can understand better how variants might influence height. For example, one is in a gene that influences hormones that regulate growth. The variants within genes are uncommon, but some have a remarkably large influence on height. "We found some that, if you carry them, you might actually be an inch taller or an inch shorter, as opposed to just a millimeter difference that we found with the previous variants," Hirschhorn says. Scientists are still very far from identifying all the genes involved with stature, but these new findings do help them better understand the natural biochemistry that influences height. So far most of our understanding of height has come from scientists who study children who have abnormal growth patterns, according to Constantine Stratakis, a pediatrician and scientific director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. "There are rare experiments of nature that have told us these genes are involved in the regulation of growth," he says. In fact, he discovered one of those rare genes, linked to a trait called gigantism. "It leads to babies that double or triple their length in the first year of life," he says. These natural experiments have been most useful for treating height disorders, but Stratakis hopes that eventually the genome-search methods will provide leads for future treatments. The bigger lesson here is figuring out how the biology of a complex trait like height really works. Rare variants can sometimes make a big difference, "but most of the time it's all about systems that interact that define how an organism behaves, or grows, or has a disease, develops a trait and so on," Stratakis says. "And although it's humbling to see the complexity, at this point it's not unexpected." Hirschhorn and his colleagues are expanding their already massive study of 700,000 subjects. That approach has drawn skepticism from some scientists, who think it's a waste of effort. David Goldstein, a professor of genetics at Columbia University, says an expanded effort could ultimately implicate every gene in existence, and that hardly helps scientists narrow down the biological factors that contribute to height. It's likely scientists will never be able to figure out what these hundreds of common variants do to influence height, Goldstein says. Instead, a much better strategy is what Hirschhorn used in this latest study: looking for rare variants that pack a big punch. Hirschhorn is undeterred. "We probably won't get all of the way to explaining 100 percent of the genetic factors, but in some sense that's not really our goal," Hirschhorn says. "Our goal is to use the ge

A Comeback for Toys"R"Us

Toys"R"Us, the nation's largest seller of toys behind Wal-Mart, has increasingly seen competitors encroaching on its core toy business. For its latest quarter, the company reported losses of $7 million. But as NPR's Jack Speer reports, under new leadership the company is fighting back, taking a page from the playbook of its competitors and expanding beyond just selling toys. Toys"R"Us traces its roots back to the 1940s, when retailer Charles Lazarus began selling toys and baby furniture out of his father's bicycle shop in Washington, D.C. Since then it's evolved into a substantial player in the $20 billion-a-year toy business. But as Wal-Mart and other competitors have grown, Toys"R"Us has seen its share of the toy market shrink. Jim Silver is the publisher of Toy Wishes, an industry trade publication. He says the fact that toy sales are seasonal has also prompted the company to expand beyond its core business with some new stores called Geoffrey, named after the company's giraffe mascot. "Toys"R"Us needs to do something besides toys," Silver says, pointing to the apparel, birthday parties, footwear and hair salon that Geoffrey stores offer. The company must do something to bring people in during the first nine months of the year, he says. "To me the Geoffrey stores are the future of Toys"R"Us." For Toys"R"Us, getting traffic through the company's stores throughout the year, and not just during the Christmas season, is a major goal and what the company hopes Geoffrey will do. Joel Anderson, vice president for new ventures at Toys"R"Us, says since the first Geoffrey store opened in Fond du Lac, Wisc., the company has opened three others, also mostly in rural areas, where they can see how the stores do before expanding the concept further. Compared to the company's other stores, the Geoffrey stores are different. They feature not just toys, but also clothing and other items from the companies Kids"R"Us and Babies"R"Us line. There's a learning center with educational toys, and an area called "Studio G" for kids activities. And at the store in Fond du Lac, they also do birthday parties and offer a video game section for older children. But Toys"R"Us also faces an uphill battle. The company has cut nearly 1,000 jobs this year. Over the past several years, it has embarked on an ambitious remodeling of all of its 680 U.S. toy stores. Now it's retooling some of those stores again, making them Geoffrey stores. By widening its selection of products and services Toys"R"Us hopes it will be able to bring more people into its stores more frequently. The company plans to open 15 more stores in four more cities, including San Antonio and Austin. The company says in a toy market that is rapidly fragmenting, it has little choice but to look beyond just being a seller of toys.

Excerpt: In God We Trust

We Meet Flick, the Friendly Bartender I felt like a spy. It was the first time I had ever ridden a cab in my own hometown. When I had left it I was definitely not a cab rider. Now taking cabs was as natural as breathing or putting on shoes. I could see the cab driver giving me the eye in his rear-view mirror. He was wearing the standard Midwestern work uniform of lumberjacket, corduroy cap, and a red face. &quot;You from out of town?&quot; He caught me off guard. I had forgotten that out of New York people quite often spoke to other people. &quot;Uh . . . what?&quot; &quot;You from out of town?&quot; &quot;Ah . . . yeah, I guess so.&quot; Making one of my famous instantaneous decisions, I opted for being from out of town. &quot;Yeah, well, I could tell. Where ya from?&quot; &quot;New York. Now, that is.&quot; He mopped his windshield with a greasy rag. The cab's heater was making the windows cloud up. Outside I could dimly see the grimy streets lined with dirty, hard ice and crusted drifts covered with that old familiar layer of blast-furnace dust; ahead of us a long line of dirt-encrusted cars carrying loads of steelworkers, refinery slaves, and railroad men to wherever they spent most of their lives. He went on: &quot;Yep. New York. Me and my wife went there once. For two weeks. We saw the Fair. I sure don't see how anyone can stand to live there.&quot; We continued to rattle through the smoky gray Winter air. I watched a giant gas works drift by our port side. On the starboard a vast, undulating sea of junkyards rolled to the horizon. &quot;It's okay to visit.&quot; I guess he threw that in so as not to hurt my feelings. &quot;Oh, you get used to it.&quot; He blew his nose loudly into a red bandanna and laughed juicily. &quot;Yeah, I guess a guy can get used to anything. If he's gotta.&quot; A crossing gate banged down in front of us, its flashers angrily blinking off and on. A warning bell clanged deafeningly as a giant Diesel locomotive swept across our bow, towing a short string of smelly tankers. Four brakemen clung to their sides, yelling to one another as they roared past. &quot;What was that?&quot; I shouted. &quot;I SAID A GUY CAN GET USED TO ANYTHING.&quot; He bellowed back. The gate went up. We were off again. I fished into my briefcase, at last finding the onionskin on which I had written, for my own use, a thumbnail description of the town I was now riding through, my own despised hometown. As we roared and squeaked on, I read over what I had written: Hohman, Indiana, is located in the extreme Northwestern corner of the state, where the state line ends abruptly in the icy, detergent-filled waters of that queen of the Great Lakes, Lake Michigan. It clings precariously to the underbody of Chicago like a barnacle clings to the rotting hulk of a tramp steamer. From time to time echoes of the Outside World arrive in Hohman, but they are muted and bear little relevance to the daily life of its inhabitants. Theirs is a world of belching furnaces, roaring Bessemer Converters, fragrant Petroleum distillation plants, and freight yards. Mostly, their Social life is found in Bowling halls or Union halls or beer halls, not to mention dance halls and pool parlors. Theirs is a sandy, rolling country, cooled, nay, frozen to rigidity in the Winter by howling gales that got their start near the Arctic Circle, picked up force over the frozen wastes of Lake Michigan, and petered out in downtown Hohman, after freezing ears, cracking blocks, and stunting the Summer hopes in many a breast. In Summer the process is reversed, and the land lies still and sear under the blazing Midwestern sun. This is where the first faint beginnings of the Great Plains can be found. A gnarled cactus plant, rolling tumbleweeds; an occasional Snowy Owl. The residents of Hohman are hardly aware of this, although their truculent pride in being Hoosiers is seen everywhere. Under the soil of most backyards, covered with a thin, drifting coat of blast-furnace dust and refinery waste, made fragrant by the soaked-in aroma of numerous soap factories, lie in buried darkness the arrowheads, stone axes, and broken pots of the departed Indian. Where the tribes danced in Indian summer now grow Used Car lots and vast, swampy junkyards. Not far from downtown Hohman lie the onion sets and cantaloupe vines of the Dutch immigrant farmers, and then the endless, mile-after-mile monotony of the Indiana cornfields. To the West the sand dunes ring Lake Michigan almost to the border of Michigan itself. To the North--the Lake. And to the West and North--Chicago. It is a place people never really come to, but mostly want to leave. And leave they do, to go to the fabled East or to the unbelievable California coast. They rarely talk about where they have come from. There isn't much to say. At night in Hohman the rabbits still hop through the backyard gardens. The trains thunder through the dark on their way to somewhere else. The sky is always lit by the eternal f

Weight-Loss Drugs Face High Hurdles At FDA

Tammy Wade knew she had to try something else to lose weight when she stepped on the scale and saw the number: 203 pounds. Wade, 50, of McCalla, Ala., is only 5 feet 3 inches tall. She had tried everything. Nothing worked. "I had problems with my feet and ankles, and they were saying I was borderline diabetic," Wade says. "I'm like, well, I gotta do something, you know. So, I needed, really did need to lose the weight." So Wade volunteered to help test Qnexa, an experimental drug pending before the Food and Drug Administration. She quickly noticed a big difference. "I didn't feel ravenous, and I didn't want to snack all day long," she says. Continue Reading Over the next year, Qnexa helped Wade slowly drop about 40 pounds, and keep it off for another year. "It makes you feel so much better," Wade says. "Your back don't hurt, your feet don't hurt." But the FDA rejected Qnexa in 2010 because of concerns about side effects, especially possible heart problems and birth defects. Qnexa's rejection came amid a flurry of failed attempts by drug companies to win approvals of new weight-loss drugs. The setbacks put a spotlight on how the FDA handles these drugs. Even though obesity is at epidemic levels, the FDA hasn't approved any new weight-loss medicines since 1999. "We have two-thirds of all Americans who are overweight or obese, and the costs are nearing $150 billion a year," says Christine Ferguson, a health policy professor at George Washington University. "The sheer magnitude of the problem really requires us to address it more aggressively and thoughtfully than we have." Ferguson has been helping to organize a series of meetings involving public health experts, anti-obesity advocates, government officials and others to try to figure out what the FDA should do. "We actually have this huge gap," says Joe Nadglowski of the Obesity Action Coalition, who has been participating in the meetings. "We go from Weight Watchers to bariatric surgery. And the fact that there isn't ... medical treatments for obesity, including pharmaceuticals, really is a challenge, considering how big the problem is in this country." Part of what's going on is that the FDA has gotten a lot more cautious about approving new drugs in general after some serious drug-safety problems, such as heart problems linked to the painkiller Vioxx. The FDA has been especially tough on weight-loss drugs because of previous problems with those drugs, such as the diet drug cocktail fen-phen. "There's been a long history with obesity drugs that we've had to take off the market. You recall the fen-phen episode where a significant number of people got heart-valve defects," says Janet Woodcock, a top FDA official. Woodcock argues that the agency has to be extra-careful with weight-loss drugs, because chances are it won't just be obese people taking them. "When you're talking about a drug where it could go into literally tens of millions of Americans, there has to be attention to safety," Woodcock says. What might look like a rare problem now could turn into another public health disaster, she says. But some say the agency's aversion to accepting any risks is outdated. They say the FDA wrongly still tends to view weight-loss drugs as diet pills — something frivolous and used primarily for cosmetic purposes. "We are not talking about medications to help someone lose five pounds to fit into their prom dress or wedding dress. We're talking about medications to help those who are struggling with the health impact of obesity," Nadglowski says. So Nadglowski and others are pushing the FDA to take into consideration whether the risks of new drugs may be outweighed by their benefits beyond weight loss, such as reducing the risk for heart disease, diabetes and other complications of obesity. Woodcock says officials realize they may have to think about things differently. As the FDA works through this, many are watching how the agency handles Qnexa. An FDA advisory panel is scheduled to review Qnexa again on Feb. 22. Barbara Troupin of Vivus, the company that is developing Qnexa, says the drug appears to do a lot more than just help people lose weight. "We see decreases in blood pressure. We see decreased rates of progression to diabetes. We see improvements in sleep apnea. We see improvements in quality of life. Pretty much all of our data shows significant benefits," she says. Vivus hopes the FDA will agree that those benefits will outweigh some of the risks, including the concerns about birth defects. The company is submitting new data it says show that the risk is lower than had been feared. Vivus also has a plan to minimize the chances that pregnant women will take it. Some see Qnexa as a test of the FDA trying to recalibrate how it weighs risks and benefits for weight-loss drugs. For her part, Wade just wants to be able to start taking it again. She's gained back half of the weight she lost. "I need to lose 20 more pounds again," she says. "And I need the help." RE

Callin' Oates: The Hotline You Don't Need (But Might Call Anyway)

Is it pure whimsy that makes something like "Callin' Oates" appealing? If you pick up your phone and call 719-26-OATES — at least as of this writing — you'll get a computerized woman's voice telling you what numbers to press to hear one of four Hall & Oates songs. The question, of course, is ... why? In the age of Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, why would you pick up your phone to listen to a tinny rendition of "Private Eyes," like you're on hold with customer service? It's hard to imagine why this would be an appealing way to listen to anything, unless you were trapped at the bottom of a well. And you had access to a phone. And despite being trapped at the bottom of a well, your biggest priority was listening to "Private Eyes." Let's agree that valuing this hotline for its sheer utility requires a fairly elaborate scenario to be devised. So obviously, it's not the music. It's the idea. It's the idea that if you pick up your phone and dial a number, a robot lady plays Hall & Oates music on command. People like making things happen and the weirder, the better. It's a Jack-In-The-Box for adults (and semi-adults). You press the button and something happens that you don't need to happen at all. A recent Wired article about a game called Cow Clicker might be instructive: the makers of that game managed to make a success out of what was originally meant to be a satire of social media trifles — it involved clicking on a cow for the pure sake of clicking on a cow. As the hotline's developer told the Atlantic Wire, Callin' Oates started as a demonstration project for his communications job at Twilio, a company that ... basically makes applications that do things like this, although presumably, it can make ones that are somewhat more utilitarian. The guy created it, he got it retweeted by a New York Times tech columnist, and there you go. Presumably, Callin' Oates doesn't have an extraordinarily long shelf life (though it does have its own Twitter account), since there's only so much time you can spend on the phone listening to "Rich Girl." ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: Finally, this hour, there are help lines... (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOU MAKE MY DREAMS") SIEGEL: ...and then there are help lines. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOU MAKE MY DREAMS") SIEGEL: The one we're going to share with you now is only for calling in case of a musical emergency. LYNN NEARY, HOST: To reach it, you dial 719-26-O-A-T-E-S. That's Oates, as in the musical duo Hall & Oates, who achieved their greatest fame in the late '70s and early '80s for their infections tunes. (SOUNDBITE OF DIALING) UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Welcome to Callin' Oates, your emergency Hall & Oates help line. SIEGEL: That's right. Callin' Oates, the telephonic remedy to all your pop rock needs. UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: To hear "One on One," please press one. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "ONE ON ONE") NEARY: Michael Selvidge and Reid Butler are the brains behind Callin' Oates. Selvidge works at Twilio, a cloud communications start-up base in San Francisco. He says every company employee must create an app as a rite of passage. He built his to honor Hall & Oates. MICHAEL SELVIDGE: I said what kind of Hall & Oates app could I make? And then I thought of the pun, and the rest took care of itself. SIEGEL: So for an emergency dose of the duo's greatest hits, just call and then take your pick. UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: To hear "Rich Girl," please press two. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "RICH GIRL") SIEGEL: In a mood for "Maneater?" UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Please press three. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MANEATER") NEARY: Or maybe you set your sight on "Private Eyes." That's number four. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "PRIVATE EYES") NEARY: Selvidge says in just the past 24 hours, this app has received more than 120,000 calls. SELVIDGE: And that's one of the great lessons that's been gratifying to me, is how much people love Hall & Oates. SIEGEL: And now, they're just a phone call away. (SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOU MAKE MY DREAMS")

Review: Gregg Allman, 'Southern Blood'

Note: NPR's First Listen audio comes down after the album is released. However, you can still listen with the Spotify or Apple Music playlist at the bottom of the page. Southern Blood is the kind of farewell every rock 'n' lifer hopes to make. But when the fateful hour arrives, few are blessed with both the time and the touch to pull it off. David Bowie was one of the few who did. Prince surely could have, if the end hadn't come so unexpectedly. Gregg Allman made it his final priority, hunkering down in the mother church of Southern music, Muscle Shoals' FAME Studios, in the final months of his life to cut an album capable of capping a half-century recording career. Allman had been living more or less on borrowed time ever since his 2010 liver transplant. By the time he started making Southern Blood in 2016, his liver cancer had returned, though he kept that information private. Knowing his time was growing short, he set to work with producer Don Was on the album in earnest. On May 27, 2017, the southern rock legend was gone. FAME Studios, besides being the birthplace of some of the greatest soul and rock recordings of the '60s and '70s, has a special place in Allman's history. In the '60s, Gregg's brother Duane was a session guitarist there for soul legends like Wilson Pickett, Clarence Carter, and Arthur Conley. Gregg and Duane recorded there as members of the band Hour Glass. And the Allman Brothers Band's very first jams took place within those Muscle Shoals walls. So Gregg choosing FAME to make his last stand is the quintessential full-circle move. And it's all the more significant that he dips into the studio's deep history for one of the album's many cover songs. "Out of Left Field" was a 1967 Percy Sledge single written by FAME heavyweights Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham. On Southern Blood, Allman seems to use it as a vehicle to express his continued gratitude and surprise for the love that came his way during his lifetime. On the album's only self-penned song, the bittersweet ballad "My Only True Friend," Allman declares his fealty to the road at the expense of personal relationships. But when he sings, "I hope you're haunted by the music of my soul when I'm gone," it's clear that he's talking to everyone he's about to leave behind forever. Most of Southern Blood's cover tunes bear a similarly elegiac tone. On Tim Buckley's wistful '60s folk nugget "Once I Was," Allman looks back at the many lives he's lived within a single lifetime and comes away from the reverie with the question, "Do you ever think of me?" When Bob Dylan sang "Going Going Gone" on Planet Waves, his 1974 collaboration with The Band, he was narrating his shift from one life situation to another. But in Allman's hands, "I'm closing the book on pages and text / And I don't really care what happens next" feels anything but transitional. The Grateful Dead's hymn-like "Black Muddy River" uses timelessly poetic imagery to depict the solitary voyage everyone has to make when eternity comes calling. It's the most overtly spiritual song on the album, and Allman's reputation as a lifelong roué makes it all the more poignant. It's probably not coincidental that the track is followed by an unapologetic acknowledgement of that infamy on Willie Dixon's hedonist anthem "I Love The Life I Live," tapping into Allman's vaunted blues background. Taken at face value, the New Orleans voodoo imagery on the foreboding, Dr. John-like "Blind Bats and Swamp Rats" might seem inconsistent with Southern Blood's theme. But it's actually another nod to the Allman Brothers Band legacy. The song hails from Johnny Jenkins' 1970 album Ton-Ton Macoute!, on which the Georgia bluesman was backed by everyone in the Allman Brothers Band but Gregg. Allman ends the album with Jackson Browne's ode to a fallen friend, "Song for Adam," an overt evocation of his late brother Duane, who died from a motorcycle crash in 1971 as the Allman Brothers Band was approaching the peak of its popularity. Duane was Gregg's hero, and it's impossible to overstate the impact his passing had on his little brother. And in the final verse of this closing cut, Allman reportedly became too overcome with emotion to sing the lyrics: "When I stood myself behind, I never felt so strong / Still it seems he stopped singing in the middle of his song." Don Was never asked Allman to complete that verse. Perhaps fate intervened. Or perhaps the veteran producer heard something in that final silence that words could never say. Southern Blood is out September 8 on Rounder Records.

Joan Baez Sings For 'Tomorrow'

As a signature voice of 1960s folk, Joan Baez is a name synonymous with numerous political causes, many of which she still champions today. Her distinct soprano vibrato and impressive three-octave range have been used to address numerous social issues in at least eight languages, 31 full-length albums and all manner of genres. Day After Tomorrow, her first album in five years, features Baez's take on songs written by composers as diverse as Steve Earle, Elvis Costello, Tom Waits and Patty Griffin. In a session with host David Dye, Baez discusses what it was like to work with Steve Earle on the production of the album, her early Quaker influences, and her experience meeting Martin Luther King Jr. This segment originally ran Nov. 27, 2008.

Farber Appreciation — Setting The Record Straight

In last week's remembrance, John Powers incorrectly described the political leanings of the late critic Manny Farber. Farber's widow, Patricia Patterson, wrote in to set the record straight.

N.Y. Police Officer Who Pepper-Sprayed Occupy Protesters Is Disciplined

An incident that happened in the early days of the Occupy Wall Street protests — a New York City police officer's pepper-spraying of some women on Sept. 24, which was caught on videotape and spread around the Web — has led to disciplinary action against the NYPD commander responsible, according to New York news outlets. The New York Times says that "Deputy Inspector Anthony Bologna ... has been given a so-called command discipline, according to a law enforcement official." The charge "could cost him 10 vacation days, the police said Tuesday." NY1.com reports that: "President Roy Richter of the NYPD Captains Endowment Association said in a statement on Tuesday, 'Deputy Inspector Bologna is disappointed at the results of the Department investigation. His actions prevented further injury and escalation of tumultuous conduct. To date, this conduct has not been portrayed in its true context.' "Ron Kuby, the lawyer for [one of the women] who was sprayed, said the punishment did not go far enough. " 'He needs a lot of vacation. He needs to go to a place very quiet, far away, for a very long time,' Kuby said." According to the Times, the NYPD's "patrol guide, its policy manual, says pepper spray should be used primarily to control a suspect who is resisting arrest, or for protection; it does allow for its use in 'disorder control,' but only by officers with special training. The Internal Affairs Bureau reviewed the episode and found that Inspector Bologna 'used pepper spray outside departmental guidelines,' said Paul J. Browne, the Police Department's chief spokesman." If you haven't seen it, here's the video that drew so much attention.

Microplastics Have Invaded The Deep Ocean — And The Food Chain

The largest habitat for life on Earth is the deep ocean. It's home to everything from jellyfish to giant bluefin tuna. But the deep ocean is being invaded by tiny pieces of plastic — plastic that people thought was mostly floating at the surface, and in amounts they never imagined. Very few people have looked for microplastic concentrations at mid- to deep-ocean depths. But there's a place along the California coast where it's relatively easy: The edge of the continent takes a steep dive into the deep ocean at Monterey Bay. Whales and white sharks swim these depths just a few miles offshore. The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute perches on the shoreline. At an MBARI dock, you can see one of their most sophisticated tools for doing that: a multimillion-dollar machine called Ventana sitting on the deck of the research vessel Rachel Carson. "It's a massive underwater robot," explains Kyle Van Houtan, chief scientist with the Monterey Bay Aquarium, which collaborates with MBARI. "Robotic arms, a lot of sensors, machinery, lights, video cameras." The team they created has been sending Ventana up to 3,000 feet deep into the Bay in search of plastic. "The deep ocean is the largest ecosystem on the planet," says Van Houtan, "and we don't know anything about the plastic in the deep ocean." Scientists do know about plastic floating on the surface, and have tried to measure how much there is. The Great Pacific garbage patch is just one of many giant eddies in the oceans where enormous amounts of plastic waste collects. But beneath the surface? Not much. So Ventana made several dives to collect water samples at different depths. Technicians filtered the water, looking for microplastic, the tiny fragments and fibers you can barely see. "What we found was actually pretty surprising," Van Houtan says. "We found that most of the plastic is below the surface." More, he says, than in the giant floating patches. And also to their surprise, they found that submerged microplastics are widely distributed, from the surface to thousands of feet deep. Moreover, the farther from shore they sampled, the more microplastics they found. That suggests it's not just washing off the California coast. It's coming from all over. "We think the California current is actually carrying some of the microplastic debris from the north Pacific Ocean," he says — kind of like trash washing down off a landfill that's actually in the ocean. And that trash gets eaten. Marine biologist Anela Choy is an assistant professor at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in San Diego and was lead scientist on the study. She says the deep ocean is like a giant feeding trough. "It's filled with animals," she says, "and they're not only moving up and down in the water column every day, forming the biggest migration on the planet, but they're also feasting upon one another." For example, the deep ocean is filled with sea creatures like larvaceans that filter tiny organisms out of the water. They're the size of tadpoles, but they're called "giant larvaceans" because they build a yard-wide bubble of mucus around themselves — "snot houses," Choy calls them. The mucus captures floating plankton. But it also captures plastic. "We found small plastic pieces in every single larvacean that we examined from different depths across the water column," Choy says. Another filter feeder, the red crab, also contained plastic pieces — every one they caught. Choy also has looked beyond Monterey Bay and higher up the food chain. In earlier research she did in the Pacific, she collected creatures called lancetfish — several feet long, with huge mouths and lots of saber-sharp teeth. They're called the "dragons of the deep." "We've looked now at over 2,000 lancetfish," says Choy, "and we've found that about one in every three lancetfish has some kind of plastic in its stomach. It's really shocking, because this fish actually doesn't come to the surface as far as we know." That suggests that plastic has spread through the water column. Bruce Robison, a senior scientist with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, says he was shocked at how much plastic they found. "The fact that plastics are so pervasive, that they are so widespread, is a staggering discovery, and we'd be foolish to ignore that," he says. "Anything that humans introduce to that habitat is passing through these animals and being incorporated into the food web" — a web that leads up to marine animals people eat. The Monterey Bay findings appear Thursday in the journal Nature Scientific Reports and only represent a local sample. But Robison says 70 years of manufacturing plastic may have created a global ocean problem. "We humans are constantly coming up with marvelous ideas that eventually turn around and bite us on the butt," he says with a dry laugh. And scientists are just beginning to diagnose the extent of that wound.

Tony Hale Of 'Veep' & 'Arrested Development'

Hale played Buster on 'Arrested Development' and is Gary Walsh on the HBO series, 'Veep.' "There's a reason why I do anxious characters," he says. "It comes from a lot of personal anxiety." Also, Fresh Air commentator Mat Johnson reads his essay about the vanishing middle class.

Flushable Wipes Wiping Out Sewer Systems

Over the past few years sales for pre-moistened, flushable wipes have skyrocketed and so has the budget of local water companies trying to clear the drains of the cleansing cloths. It turns out that these wipes aren&#8217;t all that flushable &#8212; because they don&#8217;t break down in the drains. Craig Rance of Thames Water &#8212; the private utility company responsible for managing the public water supply in Greater London &#8212; tells Here & Now&#8217;s Robin Young that when the wipes mix with cooking oils that are poured down the drain they create what are known in the industry as &#8220;fatbergs&#8221; &#8212; that cause massive damage to the Victorian sewer system. &#8220;The baby wipes and the so-called flushable wipes &#8212; that we say are never flushable &#8212; help bind [the fats] together, like bricks and mortar,&#8221; Rance said. &#8220;And eventually what you end up with is a large mass of fat that is rock hard. It goes hard like chalk. And once its in there its hard to get it out.&#8221; Rance say a massive 15-ton fatberg in the London suburb of Kingston required Thames Water to close down and dig up the roads for six months. Rance says the company spends £ 1 million every month to deal with fatbergs. &#8220;We are working to get a flushability standard that will go worldwide &#8212; to make sure that anything that has &#8216;flushable&#8217; on it &#8212; actually meets the breaking down standards, so that it won&#8217;t clog and wrap around the sewer machinery  and break it,&#8221; Rance said. We treat the toilet like a magic portal. &ndash; Craig Rance He says this is not just a London problem and reminds people only two things should go down the toilet: &#8220;Only toilet paper and human waste,&#8221; Rance said. &#8220;We treat the toilet like a magic portal.&#8221; Rance says flushable wipes have become popular as cleaning products, makeup removers and for personal hygiene &#8212; replacing toilet paper. They even have had a celebrity endorsement from will.i.am of the Black-Eyed Peas, who said he preferred them over toilet paper. &#8220;The problem was he was in London at the time, so we sent a message to him to ask him to please stop, because it was blocking up our sewers,&#8221; Rance said. The Guardian: Fatberg ahead! How London was saved from a 15-tonne ball of grease Guest Craig Rance, campaign communications executive for Thames Water.

The Changing Numbers On Urban Slums

The number of people living in the world's urban slums is rising -- but the number of city dwellers who don't live in slums is rising even faster. Check out this graphic from the Economist. It shows how, in many developing countries, the percentage of urban dwellers who live in slums fell significantly between 1990 and 2007. Worldwide, the percentage of the percentage of the world's urban population fell from 40% to 33% during that time. In the past decade, 200 million people have moved out of slum conditions, the the UN said in a report released last week. During the same time, though, the total number of people living in slums rose to more than 800 million.

Federal Agents Bust Marijuana School 'Oaksterdam'

Federal agents busted Oaksterdam University, one of California's most prominent medical marijuana institutions. The raid of the school in downtown Oakland and other dispensaries yesterday brings into sharp focus the disconnect between state and federal policies on medical marijuana.

Is There A Healthy Way To Think About Depression?

Part 5 of the TED Radio Hour episode Headspace. About Andrew Solomon's TED Talk Writer and psychologist Andrew Solomon explains how the more he talked about his depression, the more others wanted to tell their own stories. About Andrew Solomon Andrew Solomon writes about politics, culture, and psychology. His most recent book, Far From the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity, tells stories of parents who have children coping with deafness, Down syndrome, schizophrenia and many other challenges — and who find deep meaning in their new roles. Solomon's previous book, The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, won the 2001 National Book Award for nonfiction. Drawing from his own battle with depression, Solomon examines the illness in personal, cultural and scientific terms.

IMF Warns Of Steepest Recession Since The Great Depression

The coronavirus pandemic is likely to trigger the worst recession since the Great Depression — dwarfing the fallout from the financial crisis a dozen years ago, the International Monetary Fund warned Tuesday. It predicts the global economy will shrink 3% this year, before rebounding in 2021. The expected contraction in the U.S. will be almost twice as sharp, the IMF said, with the gross domestic product falling by 5.9% in 2020. The IMF predicts a partial recovery in the U.S. next year, with the economy growing by 4.7%. "The COVID-19 pandemic is inflicting high and rising human costs worldwide," IMF forecasters wrote in their global outlook, titled The Great Lockdown. "Protecting lives and allowing health care systems to cope have required isolation, lockdowns, and widespread closures to slow the spread of the virus. The health crisis is therefore having a severe impact on economic activity," the IMF added. Economists conceded that their forecast is clouded by "extreme uncertainty," with much depending on the path of the pandemic as well as global efforts to contain it. The outlook was presented at the start of what would ordinarily be a week of in-person meetings in Washington. This year, the IMF is conducting its global get-together online, in deference to the pandemic. As public officials in the U.S. begin to debate steps toward reopening shuttered parts of the economy, the IMF urged caution. "Necessary measures to reduce contagion and protect lives will take a short-term toll on economic activity but should also be seen as an important investment in long-term human and economic health," authors of the outlook wrote. Forecasters said while a sharp recession is "unavoidable," policymakers can take steps to cushion the pain. In the U.S., Congress has authorized relief payments to both businesses and individuals while the Federal Reserve has promised to provide a financial lifeline with trillions of dollars in emergency lending. The IMF stressed the importance of international cooperation to confront the pandemic, including worldwide efforts to develop both treatments and a vaccine. "Until such medical interventions become available, no country is safe from the pandemic (including a recurrence after the initial wave subsides) as long as transmission occurs elsewhere," the IMF said in its outlook.

Secret Facilities For Migrant Children

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Reveal reporter Aura Bogado about her investigation of two office buildings in Phoenix, Ariz., where migrant children were being held in secret.

A conversation with our jazz critic, KEVIN WHITEHEAD

<A HREF="http://whyy.org/cgi-bin/bookdisplay.cgi?1499"><IMG SRC="http://whyy.org/logos/BOOK.GIF" border=0 ALIGN=RIGHT></A>A conversation with our jazz critic, KEVIN WHITEHEAD. Kevin's just published a new book, called "New Dutch Swing." (Billboard Books) It's "an in-depth examination of Amsterdam's vital and distinctive jazz scene." Kevin brings along some recordings of his favorite players.KEVIN WHITEHEAD interview continues.12:58:30 NEXT SHOW PROMO (:29) PROMO COPY On the next Fresh Air .... two of life's great pleasures ... food and jazz. Terry Gross talks with food critic RUTH REICHL ("RYE-shall"). Her new book is called "Tender at the Bone: Growing up at the Table," and it's her memoir of a lifelong passion for food. REICHL is the restaurant critic for the New York Times. Later, Terry has a conversation with Fresh Air jazz critic, KEVIN WHITEHEAD. Kevin's just published a new book, called "New Dutch Swing," about Amsterdam's "vital and distinctive jazz scene." That's all coming up on the next Fresh Air.

Fuentes Criticized Power Before It Was Fashionable

Mexican author Carlos Fuentes died Tuesday at age 83. He was a prolific novelist whose work was read by everyone from the Mexican elite to the working class, making him one of the country's most influential social critics. Host Michel Martin speaks with <em>OC Weekly</em> columnist Gustavo Arellano about Fuentes' influence, both in Mexico and abroad.

Civilian Casualties Up 23 Percent In Afghanistan

The United Nations has released its civilian casualties report for Afghanistan, and the numbers aren&#8217;t good. The country saw a 23 percent increase in the first half of the year. Meanwhile, a ceremony in Helmand, Afghanistan, today marks the closing of the last Marine Regiment. Guest Sean Carberry, Kabul correspondent for NPR. He tweets @frankentele. ROBIN YOUNG, HOST: From NPR and WBUR Boston, I'm Robin Young. JEREMY HOBSON, HOST: I'm Jeremy Hobson. It's HERE AND NOW. Today, we learned that the number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan increased 23 percent in the first six months of this year. That's according to a report from the United Nations. And it's alarming, because just last year, it looked like the number was starting to decline. NPR's Kabul correspondent Sean Carberry joins us now. And Sean, 23 percent, why are things getting so much worse in Afghanistan? SEAN CARBERRY, BYLINE: Well, one thing that they point out in particular in this report is the fact that Afghan security forces are now largely in the lead for operations, and the Taliban and other militants are attacking them at much higher rates. They're challenging them. They're trying to test the forces. And in the course of this fighting, civilians are getting caught up in that in higher numbers. So that's one of the areas where there's been a big growth in civilian casualties. Still, IEDs, improvised explosive devices, are the number one threat. It's very concerning, and the one thing that they point out is actually civilian casualties tend to be higher in the second half of the year. So they're going to be watching closely to see what happens the rest of this year. HOBSON: But you're saying that this is related to the fact that the U.S. is starting to pass more responsibility over to Afghan forces. CARBERRY: That's definitely one of the factors that they identify, is the fact that there is more fighting going on with Afghan forces. And one of the issues with Afghan forces, they have some training in tactics to try to minimize civilian casualties, but they still don't have nearly the awareness and skill set that Western militaries do in terms of precision of fire, making sure they're targeting properly. So, again, there is concern that some of this will continue as the Afghans are conducting more operations, at least in the short run. HOBSON: Well, give us a sense of what that handover of responsibility is like. You're in Helmand right now. CARBERRY: Yes, yes. And one thing that actually happened this morning, the reason that I came down here, is the Marine Regimental Combat Team Seven, based here at Camp Leatherneck in Helmand, had their closing ceremony. And they say that this was essentially symbolizing the end of their combat operations and combat advising of Afghan forces where Marines would be out on patrols, would be in firefights with Afghan forces, side by side with them and training them. Now they are doing higher-level operational training and advising, working on logistics, planning, intelligence, those larger support functions that the Afghans need much more help with over the long term, and that's the one area where they expect to have, you know, longer-term engagement to make sure that the Afghan forces who, you know, demonstrated they can fight. They can go out. They can conduct operations. But the ability to sustain themselves, to make sure that they have food and fuel and things like that, that's where it's going to be a longer-term challenge for them to be able to maintain and turn into a modern force. HOBSON: And in the midst of all of this, where do U.S.-Afghan relations stand right now? CARBERRY: Things have been - charitably to say - cold for the last month or so, ever since the failed attempt to open the Taliban office in Doha, where peace talks were supposed to begin. President Karzai has been releasing harsh rhetoric against the U.S., making accusations the U.S. is collaborating with Pakistan to divide Afghanistan, things of that nature. But most of the people I'm talking to around Afghanistan seem to feel that the Karzai government is being very aggressive, pushing for a lot of concessions from the U.S., many concessions that simply aren't possible in terms of equipment or security guarantees if Pakistan were to attack, for example. And so, you know, there is a lot of concern at the moment that the relationship has soured, and that could affect the long-term agreement between the countries. HOBSON: And the term of President Karzai - who has been the face of Afghanistan since 2001, really - is about to end in April. How are Afghans feeling about the future? CARBERRY: Most people think at this point, the elections will go forward. There will be a transition of power, really the first peaceful transition of power in modern Afghan history, for that matter. So people are cautiously optimistic that the elections will go forward. It is believed that Karzai will put forward a candidate who will be a very frie

Starbucks Order Gives Ohio Mug Maker A Jolt

For decades, when you slid into a booth at a diner or a local coffee shop, the waitress probably arrived with a standard-issue, off-white mug. More than likely that mug came from the Ohio River town of East Liverpool, which calls itself "The Pottery Capital of the Nation." A lot of that city's pottery business is long gone. Now, one of the few remaining pottery factories in the battered town is pinning its survival on a major corporation. To step inside American Mug and Stein in East Liverpool is to step into another era. About 20 employees dressed in dust-covered aprons are here in a hot, dark plant under bare overhead light bulbs and swirling metal fans. They're pouring clay into heavy molds, smoothing the mugs' edges and dipping them in glaze. There's no automated assembly line or high-tech machinery here. Owner Clyde McClellan is firing up one of the company's 30-year-old kilns. "It's a dinosaur. It's beyond an antique," he says and laughs. Just Weeks From Shutting Down McClellan's ceramics company is one of the last in East Liverpool, located in Appalachia. He has been in the pottery business for 40 years and took over this company three years ago when it was just weeks from shutting down. "I've been so close to going out of business so many times, my accountant ... he just doesn't know where to send the bill sometimes," McClellan says jokingly. McClellan just completed his biggest order ever — 20,000 mugs for Starbucks. The sturdy, beige mugs are metal-stamped with the coffee giant's Indivisible brand on the front. They'll sell for $10 each. Ulrich Honighausen owns Hausenware, the company that supplies the mugs, tumblers and other items that Starbucks sells. Generally, Honighausen sends his manufacturing work overseas. But he wanted to design a product that could be made in America. "When these small towns and these small factories are supported by a large customer that believes in it, we can make it happen, we can bring it back," he says. At McClellan's pottery factory, it takes one week to make each mug from start to finish, and the company was able to complete the huge Starbucks order in about six weeks. An overseas factory could produce twice as many in the same time. But McClellan says Starbucks was patient. "They've come out, they spent time in my factory, they've listened. And that has made me really proud to do a good job for them," he says. Doubling His Workforce McClellan doubled his workforce for the job and so far has been able to keep them all employed — churning out a few thousand mugs a month in a continuing contract with Starbucks. "It's life-changing for me," he says. "It's life-changing for the employees. I have employees here who have been unemployed for six months, a year, a year and a half." Smoothing the edges of the mugs after they come out of the molds, Marcie Delauder says with hardly any jobs in town, she's relieved to have this one. Having the order from a big company like Starbucks, she says, makes "a big difference." This partnership is one of several Starbucks initiatives launched in the past year, including creating a small-business loan fund through the sale of wristbands in its stores. Building Customer Loyalty It's an increasingly popular concept, says David Hessekiel, president of the Cause Marketing Forum. "People will be more loyal customers if they are aware of good works by a company if price and quality are roughly equal," he says. Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz says the contract with American Mug and Stein is only the beginning. "There are hundreds of East Liverpools around the country today," he says. "These towns have been left for dead. And even though it's more expensive to manufacture this mug in the U.S. than it would be in China or Korea or Mexico, this is what we need to do." But McClellan says towns like his can't live only in the past. That's why he and a couple of partners just bought a shuttered pottery factory across town to outfit it with the newest equipment. Meanwhile, the original factory will continue to make mugs the old-fashioned way — by hand. DAVID GREENE, HOST: It's been the same for decades - if you drop by a diner or a coffee shop anywhere in the United States and order a cup of coffee, there's a good chance your cup of Joe will come in a standard-issue, off-white mug. And chances are that mug came from the Ohio River town of East Liverpool, which calls itself, proudly, the Pottery Capital of the Nation. Most of the city's pottery factories shut down long ago, but one factory that's hanging on just got an important new customer. From member station WKSU, Amanda Rabinowitz reports. AMANDA RABINOWITZ, BYLINE: To step inside American Mug and Stein in East Liverpool, is to step into another era. (SOUNDBITE OF POURING CLAY) RABINOWITZ: About 20 employees dressed in dust-covered aprons are here in a hot, dark plant under bare, overhead light bulbs and swirling metal fans. They're pouring clay into heavy molds, smoothing the mug's edges, and di