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'Vegetables In Underwear' And Other Laugh Out Loud Book Ideas For Kids

This summer, All Things Considered is on the hunt for great reading recommendations. In our third installment — you can find the first here and the second here — children's book author Jon Scieszka shares some kid-friendly selections with NPR's Audie Cornish. Click the audio link above to find out what Scieszka loves about these books: Vegetables in Underwear by Jared Chapman Dory Fantasmagory: Dory Dory Black Sheep (and the Dory Fantasmagory series) by Abby Hanlon The 52-Story Treehouse (and The Treehouse Books series) by Andy Griffiths and illustrated by Terry Denton Funny Girl: Funniest. Stories. Ever. edited by Betsy Bird AUDIE CORNISH, HOST: So how is that summertime reading working for you? Well, it might be a little challenging if you've got kids around. But, hey, you can toss them a book too. And if it's a funny one, they might even enjoy it. Joining us with summer reading recommendations is Jon Scieszka. He's the award-winning kid's author and editor of the "Guys Read" book collections. Welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. JON SCIESZKA: Wow thanks, Audie. I like that intro. CORNISH: Oh, very nice. Well, I really sold it now. SCIESZKA: Yeah, hard. I want to listen. Oh, wait. I'm talking about it. CORNISH: Yeah, no. That's good. So there's something in the premise of that intro, which is that, like, maybe kids don't want to read. Do you still feel that way? SCIESZKA: Yeah, you know what? There's that classic thing of so much competing for their interests. CORNISH: Right. SCIESZKA: But that's why I love funny books. It's all about - just like instead of telling kids like, hey, reading is magic. Reading is wonderful. CORNISH: That doesn't work anymore? SCIESZKA: No, that never worked. In fact, that makes them suspicious - rightly so. CORNISH: Right (laughter). Magic - come on. SCIESZKA: It's like, oh, wait. This is good for me. CORNISH: Yeah, exactly. SCIESZKA: And I don't believe in that. But when you say something like, hey, how about a book like "Vegetables In Underwear," they'll go like what. What did you just say? CORNISH: Which is the actual title of an actual book you are suggesting to us. SCIESZKA: Yeah (laughter). CORNISH: I'm so excited. Tell me. SCIESZKA: The best thing about it is it's just "Vegetables In Underwear." And it's pictures of vegetables in different underwear. CORNISH: How does that even work - like a carrot? SCIESZKA: They're kind of beautifully done by this guy I know Jared Chapman, who's the illustrator. And he just figured out how to put underwear - like little tighty-whities on broccoli... (LAUGHTER) SCIESZKA: ...Which is so good. Or the potato has underwear that doesn't quite fit, which Jared says is kind of autobiographical. But my favorite is on the actual hardcover, the case. The little pea is just running around throwing his underwear over his head. He's not even wearing it. CORNISH: Now, my understanding of babies is that they kind of crack themselves up. But is there like - how soon can we start tickling a baby's funny bone? SCIESZKA: Oh, at birth. CORNISH: Really? It wasn't that funny at the time, Jon Scieszka. SCIESZKA: Oh, yeah. Maybe that's a guy saying that. CORNISH: A little later. SCIESZKA: A little later - good call. Actually, that's an excellent tip. Wait a little bit. But, man, I don't know. I've got a granddaughter who's like 9 months old or so now. And she is out there. She just finds stuff really funny. CORNISH: I want to move on to early readers. You've brought us two titles. One I'm going to have a tough time pronouncing. So I don't know how a little kid is going to do it - "Dory Phantasmagory." SCIESZKA: Yes. CORNISH: And another one called "52-Story Treehouse." SCIESZKA: Yeah. The great thing about both of those is they're both series, which I also love to connect kids to, because once they get started with something they like, you just give them more of the same. CORNISH: So they're bingeing basically - is what you're telling me. SCIESZKA: And I've had kids come back and ask like, do you have another book just like that but not exactly. And "Dory Phantasmagory" is this great little - it's a story of this kindergarten girl with imaginary friends. And she's just the funniest little character. And she's just all crabby - even about learning to read. One of my favorites is she gets a new book. And it's just like a farm animal book. The cows love to eat grass. They're happy. And here she is sounding it out. The cow love-ee (ph) to ee-at (ph) at ga-ga-something (ph), garbage? Hai-pee (ph), what the heck is hai-pee? (Laughter) And it's just like this great representation of what kids do when they're trying to read. It's impossible. But it's really fun. And I've had a bunch of like first graders just take off with that - same with the "Treehouse" book. Little second and third graders come up to me and just say, oh, man, you got to see all the stuff in the treehouse. It's these two guys with the most amazing treehouse in the world. And they just keep adding s

Afghan Kidnappers Kill Another S. Korean Hostage

Police discovered the body of a second South Korean aid worker in central Afghanistan as kidnappers warned they would kill more of the remaining 21 hostages by Wednesday if Taliban prisoners are not freed. South Korea, meanwhile, pleaded with the international community to set aside the normal practice of refusing to negotiate with hostage-takers, and relatives of some of the remaining hostages appealed for U.S. help in freeing their loved ones. South Korea "is well aware of how the international community deals with these kinds of abduction cases," said a statement from the president's office. "But it also believes that it would be worthwhile to use flexibility in the cause of saving the precious lives of those still in captivity and is appealing (to) the international community to do so." The comments came after Afghan officials found the body of Shim Sung-min, 29, a former information technology worker who was volunteering with the South Korean church group on an aid mission to Afghanistan. He was killed Monday after two deadlines given by the Taliban demanding the release of insurgent prisoners passed with no action. Last week, the church group's leader, Pastor Bae Hyung-kyu, was fatally shot. A purported Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said senior Taliban leaders decided to kill Shim because the government had not met Taliban demands to trade prisoners for the Christian volunteers, who were in their 13th day of captivity Tuesday. "The Kabul and Korean governments are lying and cheating. They did not meet their promise of releasing Taliban prisoners," Ahmadi, who claims to speak for the Taliban, said by phone from an undisclosed location. "If the Kabul government does not release the Taliban prisoners, then we will kill after 12 o'clock - we are going to kill the Korean hostages," Ahmadi said. "It might be a man or a woman ... It might be one. It might be two, four. It might be all of them." The Taliban commanders set a new deadline of noon on Wednesday. The Afghan government said it does not support the release of militant prisoners. "We are not going to discuss the details, releasing or not releasing of criminals in exchange for the hostages," said Humayun Hamidzada, spokesman for President Hamid Karzai. "We are doing everything we can to secure their release." Shim's body was found on the side of the road at daybreak Tuesday in the village of Arizo Kalley in Andar District, about 5 miles west of Ghazni city, said Abdul Rahim Deciwal, the chief administrator in the area. From NPR reports and The Associated Press STEVE INSKEEP, Host: It's Morning Edition for NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep. When it came time to kill their second hostage, the Taliban shot the man in the head. They dumped the body in a clover field beside a road in Afghanistan. The victim was one of 23 Christian missionaries kidnapped to force the release of Taliban prisoners. If their demands are not met by a new deadline set for tomorrow, the Taliban threaten to kill more of the remaining hostages.

From One Of Ted's Recommended

From one of Ted's recommended recordings, the late American soprano Arlene Auger (oh-ZHAY) sings two of Joseph Cantaloube's Songs of the Auvergne: "Shepherds' Song" and "Lullaby." Yan Pascal Tortelier conducts the English Chamber Orchestra. (Virgin Classics UV 7243 5 61120 2 5)

Gulf Coast Businesses Struggle To Stay Open As COVID-19 Outbreaks Surge Among Staff

Big Time Diner in Mobile, Ala., stopped serving on July 23. "We had 12 people test positive, so we shut down," says Robert Momberger, owner of the neighborhood restaurant, which specializes in Southern sides and fresh Gulf seafood. He was among the staff who got sick, and he didn't want it to spread further. "Oh, yeah, and unfortunately, I got through COVID, but during the process of COVID, I got pneumonia," he says. "That's what I'm trying to get over now." Many of his young workers are not vaccinated, Momberger says. He had received only the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Now he's encouraging employees to get vaccinated, as the restaurant reopens Thursday with limited hours and new safety protocols, including masking. Momberger says the restaurant was already short staffed because so many workers have left the hospitality industry during the coronavirus pandemic. He says he's paying employees an average of 25% more, on top of skyrocketing food prices. Nearly two weeks out of business is yet another setback. "It is financially tough," Momberger says. "Bills still keep on coming. So it really hurts to shut down, but sometimes that's the best thing to do." Big Time Diner is one on a growing list of businesses on the Gulf Coast that have temporarily shuttered because of outbreaks among staff. A Walmart in the Florida Panhandle, for instance, closed for cleaning, citing high transmission and low vaccination rates. Gulf Coast states are hot spots for transmission of the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus. Vaccination rates remain low, but the pace of vaccination has picked up during this latest surge in cases. In New Orleans, music venues have canceled shows because of infected staff. And now several popular clubs, including world-famous Tipitina's, will require proof of vaccination or a negative test to attend shows. Stan Harris of the Louisiana Restaurant Association says bars and restaurants were just starting to recover from the financial upheaval of the last year and a half when this new wave hit. "They're going through exposures right now, and they're having to limit their operations just because of COVID in this particular surge," Harris says. "We want to have an opportunity to turn back the clock and get this under control." At some hospitals "these are the darkest days of this pandemic" Louisiana is coping with the highest per capita rate of new COVID-19 cases in the United States. And hospitalizations are breaking records daily. "When you come inside our walls it is quite obvious to you that these are the darkest days of this pandemic," says Dr. Catherine O'Neal, chief medical officer at Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center in Baton Rouge. She says hospitals are struggling to manage staff shortages, regular patients and now the flood of people with COVID-19. "We are no longer giving adequate care to patients," she says. "We no longer think we're giving adequate care to anybody." She described patients stranded in the emergency room because no hospital beds are available, or beds sitting empty because hospitals don't have workers to manage all the critical care needs. Federal disaster medical teams have deployed to the state to help. The only way to alleviate the bottleneck, O'Neal says, is getting more people vaccinated and going back to masking. This week, Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards made indoor masking mandatory in Louisiana once again. "This is having an adverse impact on people's lives today," Edwards said. "The least we can do is put a mask on. It is not an onerous burden." Edwards' policy stands in stark contrast to those in other Southern states, where Republican governors have rejected mask mandates and where state laws are intended to prevent schools, colleges and businesses from requiring vaccines. Gov. Tate Reeves of Mississippi has called the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's recent mask guidance "foolish." And in Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis has barred schools from requiring face coverings and denies that the new COVID-19 surge is a dire situation. He accuses the media of stirring up hysteria. "You try to fearmonger," he said during a Miami news conference. "And when they talk about hospitalizations, our hospitals are open for business." At least one South Florida hospital chain is suspending elective surgeries and putting beds in conference rooms and cafeterias as cases surge. Florida is second only to Louisiana in terms of daily per capita COVID-19 spread.

California Scrambles For Another Day To Avoid Rolling Blackouts

Extreme heat across the western U.S. is creating huge challenges for keeping the lights on in California. Experts say it shows states need to be planning for climate change extremes.

Sifting Martian Soil and Dreaming of Future Expeditions

Soil collected last year by the Mars rover Curiosity may contain two percent water, researchers report. Laurie Leshin of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute describes what else the rover is finding in the soil, and what that information might mean for future expeditions to Mars.

A Tweet, A Year In A Labor Camp, And Now An Appeal

This is the tale of a single tweet and its far-reaching consequences in China. In April 2011, retired forestry official Fang Hong posted a scatological tweet, mocking a powerful Chinese politician, Bo Xilai, the Chongqing party secretary. Fang had been critical of Bo in the past. But last year, he was fired up by what he considered the injustice of a court case taken against lawyer Li Zhuang, who'd been defending an alleged gangster during Bo's clampdown against the mafia. In the heat of his outrage, Fang posted his tweet, which also mocked the powerful police chief, Wang Lijun. After that, Fang went out to buy vegetables and didn't think about the tweet. He estimates only around 90 people saw it that day. But despite its limited influence, that night he was summoned to the Fuling public security bureau and asked to delete the tweet, which he did. The next day, more than 20 police officers came to his house to arrest him. Fang believes he was an easy target for Bo Xilai. "I'm from Chongqing, so firstly, it's easy to arrest me," he told NPR over the telephone. "Secondly, he didn't want any dissenting voices, especially officials. If you disagreed with him, he'd sack you. He was totally lawless. He wanted to impose red terror on the city." Without a trial, Fang was sent to a re-education-through-labor center for a year. A Major Scandal But things have changed dramatically in Chongqing in the past year. Bo has fallen from power in China's biggest political scandal in decades. His wife is suspected of murdering a British businessman. And his former police chief could be facing treason charges, according to Hong Kong media reports, after his attempt to seek asylum at a U.S. consulate. And Fang Hong, who completed his time at the labor camp, has now filed a landmark case appealing his punishment, which could also shine a light on Bo's reign. When Fang was inside the camp, he worked for as many as 14 hours a day. Initially he made Christmas tree lights for export to Germany. "A skilled worker at the company welds 4,300 lights a day, but we welded 6,500 lights a day each," he says. "If you didn't finish, you weren't allowed to eat meat, buy cigarettes or sleep at night, and your sentence might be extended. We earned one U.S. dollar, 25 cents a month." Those who did not make their quota were sometimes even beaten, he says, with the pressure rising in the summer when orders had to be filled for export in time for Christmas. Later he made wiring for laptop computers. He describes life inside the labor camp as riddled with corruption. Those with money paid the guards to get out of working. Prisoners say Police Chief Wang Lijun was seen as presiding over a police force that operated with impunity. Prisoners Celebrate Police Chief's Downfall When news spread that Wang had fled to the U.S. consulate in the nearby city of Chengdu, there was jubilation. "I told them Wang was committing treason," says Fang, chuckling at the memory. "Everyone was jumping for joy because Wang was so cruel. Half the people in the camp were there for a year or two for fighting or disrupting social order. No knives or weapons were involved, so they felt it wasn't fair." "They said that he deserved it," Fang says. "He had himself to blame. He was given a taste of his own medicine." Fang's son, 22-year-old Fang Di, who'd tried to help him, was sentenced to 14 months in detention for "abetting drug-taking," a charge Fang says is false. Fang himself was released in April, after a year in labor camp. Despite everything, he doesn't regret posting that tweet. "Even though it made me lose my freedom for a while, it let people around the world see China's human rights situation," he says. Fang says his son has no hard feelings, despite his own sentence. "My son doesn't blame me, and I don't blame him," he says. "Living in Chongqing under the reign of Bo Xilai and Wang Lijun was a time of red terror. Even if they had nothing on you, they could make something up and put you away for it." Filing An Appeal Fang's now lodged an appeal against the Re-education Through Labor Committee that sentenced him, and it has been accepted by the courts. This was a surprise, even to his lawyer. He's arguing there's no evidence that Fang "fabricated facts and disturbed public order," as charged. "This case touches upon the Internet, twitter and the freedom of speech," says his lawyer Pu Zhiqiang, who believes it's a landmark case. "It also takes in criticism of Bo and his anti-mafia campaign. It also touches upon the system of re-education through labor. In the context of China's constitutional government, the significance of this tweet is huge." Pu wants to use this case to end the system of re-education-through-labor. He argues it's a totalitarian tool, with no constitutional basis. But he's pragmatic about his chances. Bo Xilai may have fallen from power, Pu says, but China's leaders and their factions answer to no one. "One big problem is that Chinese politicians have n

Foreign Policy: Tolerate Dissent, Protect Blasphemy

Lee C. Bollinger is the 19th president of Columbia University and author of Uninhibited, Robust, and Wide-Open: A Free Press for a New Century. Salman Taseer, the late governor of Pakistan's Punjab province, was assassinated on Jan. 4 of this year, killed by his own bodyguard. He would have turned 67 on May 31. Another top Pakistani official, Minorities Minister Shahbaz Bhatti, was shot dead in early March. Both men were outspoken opponents of Pakistan's blasphemy laws, which criminalize a range of offenses against religious symbols and institutions. Despite the stated intent of such laws to protect freedom of religion, their practical consequence is very different, often serving as licenses for governments and individuals to harass rivals, legitimize violence, and settle petty disputes. In February, more than 1,000 people stormed an Indonesian court protesting what they believed was too lenient a sentence for a Christian found guilty of blasphemy. Last summer, a professor in Kerala, India, accused of blasphemy and suspended from teaching for distributing an exam question with an allegedly derogatory reference to the Prophet Mohammed was attacked with an ax on his way home from church. The list goes on and on in countries stretching from Europe to Southeast Asia. More than 70 recent cases of violence resulting from blasphemy laws have been documented by the organization Human Rights First. For years now, laws that criminalize statements impugning religion (commonly referred to as "defamation of religion" or "blasphemy" laws) implicitly have condoned violence against those who depart from a country's dominant sectarian views. These government sanctions have contributed to the preservation of intolerant cultures antithetical to open debate and democracy. It is therefore of great significance to the popular uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa that U.S. efforts within the U.N. Human Rights Council recently have succeeded in putting the council on record as repudiating defamation-of-religion laws. The council, a body heavily influenced by the 57-member Organization of the Islamic Conference and criticized frequently for its reflexive condemnation of Israel and for the human rights records of its own member countries, formally advocated the criminalization of blasphemous speech through defamation provisions as recently as 2008, making the council's reversal of its position through the adoption of a resolution on March 24 all the more striking. At its latest session, which began this week, the council's member countries must continue this course of embracing free speech and becoming more tolerant of dissent. The United States' own experience over the last century teaches that this transition will be essential to the project of building stable democracies. America's historical experience has been that its society's capacity for tolerance grows stronger through exercise. Protections afforded speech and the press are not only a means of safeguarding something of great and unique value (that is, open discussion), but also a means of developing the habit of moderating natural but dangerous individual and societal tendencies. In a case this year involving an anti-gay protest by members of the Westboro Baptist Church at the funeral of Lance Cpl. Matthew A. Snyder, Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito wrote in his dissenting opinion that the protest "brutalize[d]" the dead serviceman's father. Yet by an 8-1 vote uniting justices across the political spectrum, the Supreme Court demonstrated once again how far the insistence on tolerance has evolved in American law and society, placing the Rev. Fred Phelps Sr. alongside Hustler magazine's publishers and the American Nazis as offensive figures warranting free-speech protections. Through this ruling and many others the court has conditioned Americans to shift their focus from seeing the value of speech itself to seeing the need to deal with the problems revealed in reactions to speech. The Supreme Court, in other words, has insisted that the United States will be a country that tolerates extremist speech in service of its democratic ideals. The global public forum is much less mature and, as reflected in the recent action of the Human Rights Council, is only now confronting the serious challenges of embracing tolerance and dissent without banning speech. Unsurprisingly, there is vast disagreement among countries regarding the governing norms for a global forum. Yet with the passage of time it becomes clearer and clearer that countries that fail to safeguard free speech and press freedom are likely to be visited first by dictatorship, and then by popular dissent and threats to the governing regime. As an official of Human Rights Watch has said, "Talibanization is not combated on the battlefield alone; it is also combated by creating greater social space for plurality, progressivism, and tolerance in society." Clearly there are ways to promote respect for contrary vie

Canadian Brass: Tiny Desk Concert

If you said the Canadian Brass represented the "gold standard" among brass quintets, you'd be right on the mark. Aside from performing on 24K gold-plated instruments, the group, led by its avuncular tuba master (and sole original member) Chuck Daellenbach, essentially put the idea of the brass quintet on the map. For more than 40 years, various iterations of the Canadian Brass have played in a staggering range of situations: in concerts from Moscow and Tokyo to Boston and Beijing (the first brass ensemble from the West to perform in China); on Sesame Street, the Tonight Show and movie soundtracks; and in guest appearances with many symphony orchestras. They love social media and maintain accounts not just on Twitter, but also on the Chinese micro-blogging site Weibo (@canadianbrass on both services). Then there are the recordings — more than 100 of them, selling more than two million albums total. Needless to say, with history like that, Canadian Brass knows how to put on a show. Daellenbach and his fresh-faced players, each with red-striped sneakers and matching outfits, strolled into the NPR Music offices, took their places behind Bob Boilen's desk and started blowing as if they'd played this peculiar gig a hundred times. They began with a version of J.S. Bach's intricately woven Little Fugue in G minor, an impressive staple that stretches back to the band's first recording. In those days, precious little was available for brass quintet (two trumpets, horn, trombone and tuba), so the band relied on making arrangements of existing music. Since then, Canadian Brass has transcribed and commissioned more than 200 works, including "Tuba Tiger Rag," Luther Henderson's lighthearted tribute to Dixieland jazz. It's a showpiece for Daellenbach, who twirls his tuba (while playing) and lands on a final note of such subterranean depth that you feel it more than hear it. The players closed with another favorite, Rimsky-Korsakov's dizzying "Flight of the Bumblebee," in an arrangement by Canadian Brass trumpeter Brandon Ridenour. Although the music buzzes past in less than two minutes, players get plenty of opportunities to shine — as in the lightning-fast runs negotiated by trombonist Achilles Liarmakopoulos, the newest member of the group. After four decades, it's great to see Canadian Brass — practically an institution at this point — still sounding fresh, still attracting young virtuosos and, above all, still having fun with the music. Set List: J.S. Bach: Little Fugue In G minor Luther Henderson: Tuba Tiger Rag Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: Flight Of The Bumblebee Personnel: Christopher Coletti, trumpet Brandon Ridenour, trumpet Eric Reed, French horn Achilles Liarmakopoulos, trombone Chuck Daellenbach, tuba Credits: Producer: Tom Huizenga; Editor: Michael Katzif; Videographers: Emily Bogle and Michael Katzif; Audio Engineer: Kevin Wait; photo by Emily Bogle/NPR

Foreign Policy: What Happens To Oil After The Spill?

A recovery effort is currently underway to clean up a massive oil slick caused by the explosion of the oil rig Deep Horizon in the Gulf of Mexico last week. The leaking well is gushing more than 1,000 barrels of oil a day into the gulf and has already created a slick covering about 28,600 square miles. The U.S. Coast Guard and oil giant BP -- which had the rig under contract -- are trying to contain the slick before it reaches the coast of Louisiana. But after the recovery workers remove the oil from the water, what do they do with it? It's largely a matter of speed. As we all learn in science class, oil and water don't mix, and oil will float at the surface. After an oil spill at sea, recovery workers will attempt to contain the slick with booms and remove it with floating skimmers. Given how quickly oil can spread in rough seas, though, this is an extremely difficult process, and only 10 to 15 percent is typically recovered in major maritime spills. Once oil waste is recovered, it is classified by type. The quality of the waste depends largely on how long the oil has been exposed to sediment and debris in the water. If it is recovered quickly, the oil can be separated from the water and reprocessed. Although it probably won't be sold on the open market, this oil can be burned to power oil refineries, power, stations, cement plants, or brick kilns. Oil that's been in the water too long is typically rendered unusable by salt, sediment, and other materials. This includes oil that washes up on shore, which will usually settle into a tar-like substance on the beach. Such oil generally has to be disposed of in landfills, broken down with chemicals, or just incinerated. While the collection of oil after a spill typically gets more attention, the disposal of the oil can be just as critical to mitigating environmental damage. Failure to probably segregate oil waste by type at the spill site can lead to thousands of gallons of reusable oil being wasted. Improper disposal or incineration can spread contamination further. BP has not yet decided on a disposal method for the oil from the Deep Horizon spill, but with more than 35,000 gallons of crude recovered so far, it's a pretty big mess to clean up.

Listener: Job Cuts 401(k)

Yesterday we asked whether any of you are experiencing falling wages. Economist Ian Shepherdson reminded us that true deflation is a combination of falling prices and falling wages. Check the comments on that item, if you haven't lately. What you're telling us is that you're seeing an overall drop in compensation -- but that sometimes, it's a bit disguised. David writes? Read More >> My company is a large (60,000+ employees), well known manufacturer of consumer, government and military electronics. This morning, they announced that in 2009 they will suspend matching employee 401K contributions. I can still contribute to my 401K, but the company wont match any of my contribution. It also canceled bonuses for 2009 (which was expected). Even if you take into account that not all employees get 401k benefits, thats a pay cut for thousands of employees in the US. In addition, the top two officers of the company have voluntarily taken 25% pay cuts. I guess that means deflation is here for me at least... Interesting how they hit the 401k first. I guess they think that people who are not planning to spend the money immediately are less likely to miss it.

A Phone Call Changes Everything In Anne Tyler's 'Clock Dance'

Anne Tyler's latest novel is about a woman in her 60s who marries young, has two children and is widowed young, remarries — and finds her life truly changed, late in the game, by a phone call asking for help, that was probably made in error. (Though that doesn't make it a mistake.) The new book — Tyler's 21st — is called Clock Dance. It has a saguaro cactus on the cover, but Tyler's novels almost always lead to Baltimore, which is where she was when we spoke. Interview Highlights On the creation of Willa, her main character First, I've been thinking about how we decide at certain points in our lives who to be. What kind of grownup we're going to be, for instance, when we're children. And much of the novel is set at different points in her life, when she's 11, when she's 21, when she's 41, before it ends up at 61. And I think each of those moments is a sort of pivot for her in some way or another. On that phone call She's a woman at what she imagines to be the end of the road. Everything is settled, nobody much needs her, she would love to have grandchildren, but that doesn't seem likely to happen — her sons live far away, and it's a cool relationship. So of course she's just very vulnerable to this kind of thing of, the person who calls literally says, "we will be be waiting with our noses pressed to the window for you to get here and help out." How could you resist? On her portrayal of the difficulties of widowhood I remember when my husband died, having the thought that Willa's father talks about, when he was talking about his wife's death. I thought, I don't know how I'm going to get through the rest of my life without him. And then I thought, well, okay, but at least right now, I'm drinking this cup of coffee, and it tastes good, and it's a nice sunny morning, and I'll just get through this ... and I do think that most people who lose a wife or a husband stumble across that approach to it. On her association with Baltimore People don't know this, but in spite of its reputation, Baltimore is a very kind-hearted city. People are genuinely warm to each other, they mean well always. It's not what people imagine. And you learn this after you've been here a long while ... It also has a lot of color and grit, we have to say. Things going on in it — I always wonder if I could set a novel in another city and have it be the same kind of writing, and I'm not sure I could.

ACLU Family Separation Hearing

Lawyers from the ACLU and the federal government appear in a San Diego courtroom Friday to update a federal judge on compliance with the order to reunite families separated at the border.

WATCH: Maya Angelou's Poem For Nelson Mandela

Since Nelson Mandela died on Thursday, there have been tributes big and small: from changing the color of the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building to musical tributes from children. Yesterday, the U.S. State Department unveiled a tribute poem written by Dr. Maya Angelou for Mandela "on behalf of the American people." "Yes, Mandela's day is done," the Pulitzer Prize-winning Angelou said. "Yet we, his inheritors, will open the gates wider for reconciliation." We'll leave you with the video:

The Latest On Mueller's Russia Investigation

Special counsel Bob Mueller bears down on Paul Manafort, as the Trump-Russia investigation escalates. We’re on it. From the NFL to North Korea to the UN to Lebron James, Donald Trump seems to have everybody in lather these days. Hair on fire.  Fired up. But behind all the uproar, there’s a quieter, maybe deeper drama unfolding.  Special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of possible collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign is heating up.  Potential consequences – huge. This hour, On Point:  The latest on the Mueller investigation.  And we’ll look at the uproar in the NFL. —Tom Ashbrook Guests Carol Leonnig, reporter at the Washington Post covering federal agencies with a focus on government accountability. (@CarolLeonnig) Ryan Lizza, Washington correspondent for The New Yorker. (@RyanLizza) Benjamin Wittes, editor-in-chief of Lawfare, and a senior fellow in governance studies at the Brookings Institution. (@benjaminwittes) From Tom’s Reading List The Washington Post: Manafort Offered To Give Russian Billionaire ‘Private Briefings’ On 2016 Campaign — “Investigators believe that the exchanges, which reflect Manafort’s willingness to profit from his prominent role alongside Trump, created a potential opening for Russian interests at the highest level of a U.S. presidential campaign, according to people familiar with the probe. Those people, like others interviewed for this story, spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss matters under investigation.” The New Yorker: A Dizzying Week of Trump-Russia Revelations — “If Mueller or congressional investigators unearth proof that Manafort colluded with the Russians, it will fortify the narrative that the Trump campaign worked with a foreign nation to alter the outcome of an American Presidential election—an unprecedented event in the country’s history. Trump could dismiss the evidence, deny knowledge of the collusion, and dismiss the Mueller investigation as a “witch hunt.” But this week’s disclosures moved the theorizing about Trump and Russia one step closer to becoming a politically devastating blow to Trump’s Presidency.” Lawfare: The Latest Scoops from CNN and the New York Times: A Quick and Dirty Analysis — “The significance of this is that it means that Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation has reached a critical stage—the point at which he may soon start making allegations in public. Those allegations may involve conduct unrelated to L’Affaire Russe—that is, alleged bad behavior by Manafort and maybe others that does not involve the Trump campaign—but which may nonetheless serve to pressure Manafort to cooperate on matters more central. Or they may involve conduct that involves his behavior with respect to the campaign itself. Note that if Manafort cooperates, we may not see anything public for a long time to come. Delay, that is, may be a sign of success. But in the absence of cooperation, the fireworks may be about to begin.”

Brentano Plays Beethoven

The Brentano Quartet opened this season's chamber music series at the University of Georgia. From that concert, we hear the String Quartet No. 6 by Beethoven (1770-1827).

Democrats on the Internet

NPR's Brian Naylor reports that Congressional Democrats are paying more attention to their presence on the Internet. Recently they met with Steve Case, chief of America Online at a retreat at Hot Springs, Virginia in an effort to strengthen their web-sites.

After Austerity, British Economy Declared World's Fastest-Growing

In effect, the U.K. is saying "I told you so" after being declared the the fastest growing economy of any rich country in the world. NPR's Scott Simon talks with economist Simon Johnson.

Midwifery: A Profession Of Passion, For Men Too

There's a growing demand for midwives — and 'mid-men' around the world. Host Michel Martin speaks with midwives from Uganda and Washington DC about the joys and challenges of their jobs.

World Cafe Next: Beaty Heart

This week's World Cafe: Next artist is a trio from South London. Beaty Heart makes rock music that keeps you on your toes: It's quirky, irreverent and complicated, with a tropical vibe that recalls Vampire Weekend. Download two songs by the band at the audio link.

Eating Between The Lines: The Supermarket Shopper's Guide To The Truth Behind Food Labels

Guest: Kimberly Lord Stewart, Award Winning Food Journalist, Editor in Chief of Dining Out Magazine, and a Contributor to Natural Home magazine

Wartime President To Accept Peace Prize

President Barack Obama is in Oslo, Norway, to receive his Nobel Peace Prize medal. He's in the unusual position of accepting the peace prize a week after ordering 30,000 more U.S. troops to the war in Afghanistan.

'The Motley Fool Take'

David and Tom Gardner talk about the sentence for former Enron executive Andrew Fastow, and about how to make money on the Atkins Diet trend. It's <EM>The Motley Fool Take</EM>, our perspective on some of the week's top stories, as well as some other stories that showed up on the <EM>Fool</EM> radar.

Prayers - Part 3, Continued

Robert Siegel explores the question "Does prayer work?" in healing sick people. He's joined by three researchers on the topic. While some researchers claim studies prove that people who pray fare better healthwise than those who don't pray, others say that conclusion isn't backed by real data.

Did The Tax Rebates Work?

I'd almost forgotten, but before President Obama's $787 billion stimulus package, President Bush signed a stimulus package called the Economic Stimulus Act. It contained roughly $95 billion in tax rebates that went out last spring. (This was a huge economic experiment: the package was more than twice as large as the $35 billion in rebates that went out in 2001.) Ever since then economists have been trying to figure out how well it worked. The Congressional Budget Office just posted this analysis. And I'm afraid the answer is that we may never know. As the graph above illustrates, our economy is so large that it's hard to detect whether $95 billion in rebates really spurred people to spend more.

S. Pearl Sharp: Who's Really Winning the War on Terror

Commentator S. Pearl Sharp weighs in on who she believes is winning the war on terrorism.

OAS Demands Honduras Restore Ousted President

All week, the streets of Honduras have been alive with demonstrations. Off the main square of the capital Tegucigalpa, protesters carry banners and pictures of their ousted leader. The want Manuel "Mel" Zelaya reinstated. The tall, mustachioed president with the white Stetson was toppled from office last Sunday. Troops snatched him from the presidential palace, and put him on a plane to exile. Those who removed Zelaya, then quickly swore in Roberto Micheletti as president and believed that was that. But the United Nations, the Organization of American States and individual governments from France to Argentina have clamored for Micheletti, the former president of the Congress, to step aside. Something Micheletti has defiantly vowed he won't do. The most vocal opposition to Micheletti came from Zelaya's close ally and benefactor, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who vowed in a speech to overthrow Micheletti. The Obama administration response has been more nuanced — condemning Zelaya's overthrow but calling for negotiations to restore the constitutional order. The United States operates vital regional anti-drug operations from Honduras, and is an important buyer of the country's textiles, coffee and bananas. At the rose-colored presidential palace, a gurgling fountain belies the sometimes frantic efforts of Micheletti's government to consolidate its hold. The newly-appointed president shuttles from one meeting to another, where ministers and other officials are sworn in. New Finance Minister Gabriela Nunez is among them. She insists that Zelaya's ouster was not a coup, and certainly nothing like the frequent overthrows that marked the '70s and '80s in Latin America. She explains that in this case a civilian government took power, as opposed to a military government, and plans elections. Nunez adds Zelaya was an unpopular leader anyway. She charges he had violated the constitution by planning a referendum that would have been a first step toward extending his rule. She says he had to be stopped. American diplomats told NPR that the United States strongly disagrees with that interpretation. So much so, that the ousted president's wife and son are staying in the ambassador's residence in Tegucigalpa. The U.S. says the non-binding referendum would have posed little threat to the constitutional order. And those diplomats say there's little evidence that Zelaya had violated the constitution. The head of the Organization of American States Jose Miguel Insulza is to arrive in Honduras Friday to demand that Zelaya be returned to power. If it doesn't happen by Saturday, the OAS is prepared to suspend Honduras from the organization. That would make the country a pariah state and result in the end of aid programs. Among those protesting for the return of the ousted president was Antonio Valle. He says he had to hit the streets because he wants to see Zelaya back in power. And he says those who ousted him violated the law and belong in jail. Valle acknowledges that it could be a hard-fought battle to get Zelaya back in the presidential palace. RENEE MONTAGNE, Host: NPR's Juan Forero begins his report at a protest in the capital, Tegucigalpa. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) JUAN FORERO: All week, the streets of this hilly country of seven million have been alive with demonstrations. (SOUNDBITE OF CHANTING) FORERO: But the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and individual governments from France to Argentina have clamored for Micheletti, the former president of the congress, to step aside. Something Micheletti has defiantly vowed he won't do. HUGO CHAVEZ: (Spanish spoken) FORERO: At the rose-colored presidential palace, a gurgling fountain belies the sometimes frantic efforts of Micheletti's government to consolidate its hold. The newly-appointed president shuttles from one meeting to another. Ministers and other officials are sworn in. Gabriela Nunez, the new finance minister, is among them. GABRIELA NUNEZ: (Spanish spoken) FORERO: Now Jose Miguel Insulza, who heads the Organization of American States, is to arrive today in Honduras to demand that Zelaya be returned to power. If it doesn't happen by Saturday, the OAS is prepared to suspend Honduras from the organization, which would make the country a pariah state and result in the end of aid programs. MANUEL MEL ZELAYA: (Spanish spoken) FORERO: Speaking in a press conference in Panama, Zelaya said that Insulza is issuing an ultimatum and that he's not there to negotiate. Zelaya said he'd been returned to Honduras this weekend to reclaim what is rightfully his. (SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST) FORERO: Among those protesting for the president was Antonio Valle. ANTONIO VALLE: (Spanish spoken) FORERO: Juan Forero, NPR News, Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

Boy Builds Braille Printer Out Of Lego

What do you get when you put a Lego robotics kit, basic tools and a creative mind together? A Braille printer. Shubham Banerjee, 12, talks to NPR's Scott Simon about his project to help the blind.

Israel Accuses World Vision Employee Of Embezzling Millions For Hamas

Israel has indicted the Gaza director of World Vision, one of the largest charities in the world, accusing him of siphoning off tens of millions of dollars earmarked for the people of Gaza and sending it instead to the Hamas militant group. Mohammed El Halaby was arrested June 15 and charged on Thursday with "providing support to Hamas." World Vision said in a statement that it will investigate the allegations against Halaby. But the Christian charity, which focuses on children, said its operations in Gaza have been audited and that "based on information available to us at this time, we have no reason to believe that the allegations are true." The allegations by Israel's Shin Bet internal security service describe complex, decade-long efforts to use World Vision as a front for Hamas' military wing. The allegations include examples of how Halaby diverted World Vision funds: Money raised to support injured children in Gaza was diverted to the families of Hamas militants who claimed their children were wounded; Money was paid as salaries to Hamas militants who were falsely registered as World Vision employees; Costs for legitimate projects such as greenhouses were inflated, with the extra money going to Hamas; Fake charities that were actually Hamas fronts received World Vision donations; And entire lists of aid beneficiaries were fictitious, so instead of giving money to needy farmers, the money was handed out to Hamas members. Hamas spokesman Hazem Qasim told NPR that the allegations were made by "an enemy entity that has no credibility at all to us," and that "Israel is trying to make fake media wins." Pressed on whether Halaby was a member of Hamas, Qasim declined to comment. Halaby's father Khalil was more explicit, describing his son as secular and "not related to Hamas." He accused a disgruntled former World Vision employee of maligning his son, and said the accusations were an excuse by Israel to "stop the humanitarian assistance for Gaza." Israeli officials dispute that, saying they want aid to reach Gaza — without getting siphoned off by Hamas. But the scandal could complicate reconstruction efforts that are long delayed and badly needed following the 2014 Gaza war. That's because Halaby is accused of working around extensive audits and checks that World Vision imposes on its own programs. As a result, international aid officials and Israeli analysts predict that Israel and international donors will increase pressure on aid groups to improve those checks — which will cost money and manpower, and could strain the organizations' ability to operate. In fact, the impact on World Vision's efforts was swift: Just hours after Israel's announcement, Australia suspended aid to World Vision for the Palestinian Territories. "They're going to have to vet key people. They're going to have a better means of tracking," Gerald Steinberg, the president of NGO Monitor, a pro-Israeli group that scrutinizes aid to Palestinians and will be among those applying pressure on groups to remain clean, told NPR. "Humanitarian aid agencies don't like the idea they're going to have to have cameras all over the place to monitor how their money is being used, how their aid is being used, but that's exactly what they're going to have to do." In total, Israel said more than $7 million per year — 60 percent of World Vision's annual budget for the Gaza Strip — was diverted to Hamas. World Vision has more than a billion dollars in worldwide annual operating revenue. The organization's programs in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza Strip include counseling hundreds of pregnant women on childhood health, providing training for language and math teachers, and leading vocational training for young people.

Promoting Unity among Christians

New Pope Benedict XVI wants to re-unify Christians around the world. Some Protestants and Catholics have already improved relations in this country. Michael Cromartie of the Ethics and Public Policy Center discusses how the culture war has united the two groups.

Fed's Monetary Policy

Commentator Ev Ehrlich says that instability in world markets places strict limits on how much the Federal Reserve can accomplish with monetary policy.

Britain To Announce Sweeping Counterterrorism Legislation

The British government plans to introduce measures it says will help authorities combat terrorism. The proposed legislation includes a ban on insurance companies covering the cost of ransom demands.

Roséwave Returns: 101 Songs To Shade Your Summer Pink

Summer comes in shades of life: nightclubbing with besties, poolside with neighborhood children, backyard grilling, making out at parties, hitting the gym grind, hitting the work grind, quietly sobbing to Stevie Nicks-level heartbreak, living whatever version of your best life fills out the hot and sticky days of your hot and sticky mess of a life. It's a seasonal equalizer, the heat making our clothes a little brighter and easier to breathe in, and perhaps resetting our psyches to do the same. Every summer should have a soundtrack to mark this sweaty, sunscreen-soaked renewal. Last summer, roséwave was that soundtrack. We didn't invent a genre; we just gave the lifestyle a name. We saw pink drinks come out in tones of rose quartz, cotton candy and deep carnation — a spectrum of pink, of flavor, of summer desire all wrapped in bottles and tallboys. Pair that with summery pop music of catholic taste — Top 40 jams sidled alongside featherweight disco, sweaty funk, hooky hip-hop, '80s synth pop and New Wave, glitzy country, power ballads, Balearic beats, jangly rock — and you can imagine spilling some rosé on the dance floor with friends, or watching its sweet and fruity nectar kiss summer lawns as you accidentally tip a glass in bliss. And truly, roséwave took on a life all its own, as self-professed (and newly self-discovered) basics embraced its fluid musical gestures like they embraced rosé made from merlot, grenache, malbec and many varieties of grapes. Guided by this year's patron saints of roséwave (Kacey Musgraves; J Balvin; both SZA and Dua Lipa by way of Calvin Harris' irresistibly sunny production), this summer's playlist encompasses four decades worth of bops (TLC's "No Scrubs," Whitney Houston's "How Will I Know"), bangers (Missy Elliot's "Work It," Maren Morris' "Rich") and jams (The B-52s' "Roam," The Psychedelic Furs' "Love My Way," Natalie Prass' "Short Court Style"). But it also includes plenty of wine-soaked cryfests, from Hundred Waters' "Particle" and The xx's "Angels" to Bon Jovi's "I'll Be There For You" and Stevie Nicks' epic duet with Tom Petty, "Stopping Draggin' My Heart Around." This is just the beginning. Just as rosé comprises a spectrum of pink, roséwave contains multitudes — so this summer, we'll publish a new playlist every week centered on a different theme of the roséwave lifestyle. But for now, let these 101 songs soundtrack your summer of thinking pink.

'Love Story' Author Erich Segal Has Died

"The daughter of Love Story author Erich Segal says her father has died at 72," the Associated Press reports. "Francesca Segal says her father died Sunday at his London homefrom a heart attack and a funeral was held Tuesday." As the AP reminds us: Love Story, a novel about a young couple dealing with love and bereavement, was turned into a film in 1970. The movie was nominated for seven Oscars, including best writer, best picture, best director and best actor and actress. It won only for best music. The Guardian notes that Segal "wrote the bestselling book about love and bereavement, which became a chart-topping film, in 1969 when he was 32 and a classics professor at Harvard. As its most famous line, 'love means never having to say you're sorry', entered popular culture, Segal became a celebrity and regular on TV shows, as well as a commentator on the Olympic games for the ABC network. ... His last major work, in 2001, was a scholarly look at the history of comedy, and of dirty jokes, from the ancient Greeks through to Stanley Kubrick's Dr Strangelove." Segal also was a co-writer of the screenplay for Yellow Submarine, The New York Times' ArtsBeat blog says. As we reported earlier, crime novelist Robert B. Parker (Spenser) has also passed away.

NPR Turns 50: Listeners Share Life Advice

In honor of NPR's 50th birthday, we asked listeners who have reached that milestone for some life advice.

On Inauguration Day, Transfer Of Power Includes Handover Of Twitter Accounts

After President Biden and Vice President Harris were sworn into office Wednesday, they inherited two other important titles: @POTUS and @VP. That's because the transfer of power included the transition of official administration Twitter accounts. Members of the Biden-Harris administration are assuming ownership of a number of institutional accounts, including @WhiteHouse, @FLOTUS for first lady Jill Biden and @PressSec for the incoming White House press secretary Jen Psaki. Twitter also created a new account for the vice president's husband, Doug Emhoff: @SecondGentleman. "People on Twitter will be able to watch the transition of power take place in real-time as accounts for the White House, President, Vice President, First Lady and White House Press Secretary inherit their new institutional usernames," the company said in a statement. The new accounts will not automatically retain followers from the previous administration, Twitter said. Detailing the process, Twitter said it first transferred the previous institutional accounts to the National Archives and Records Administration, where their posts and account histories will remain publicly available. The Trump administration's @POTUS account will be publicly archived as @POTUS45. Trump tweeted mostly from his personal account, @realDonaldTrump, which was banned from the platform following the Jan. 6 storming of the U.S. Capitol. Minutes after being sworn in, Biden posted his first tweet from the @POTUS account, pledging to get to work immediately to address the many challenges facing the country. Biden had previously announced he plans to sign 17 executive actions, spanning topics from immigration to mask-wearing, on his first day in office. Harris also tweeted from the @VP account just minutes after noon: "Ready to serve."

Californians React To Biden's Decision To Name Kamala Harris His Running Mate

Joe Biden has picked Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate. The pick of a running mate from California is unusual, since candidates usually balance their ticket with someone from a swing state.

A Cardboard Canoe Regatta For Girls In Science

You might wonder how cardboard boxes, duct tape and a swimming pool can solve a problem that has stumped researchers for years. That problem is how to get more women working in science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM for short. Some think the answer lies in giving girls hands-on projects that spark their curiosity and prepare them for not only advanced science courses in school, but also a STEM career. That's where the tape, cardboard and pool come in. This cardboard boat regatta was the final challenge in a weeklong intensive STEM summer camp at Rice University's Institute for Biosciences and Bioengineering. The camp is part of the university&#8217;s Girls STEM Initiative. Laura Isensee from Here & Now contributor Houston Public Media explains. Read more via Houston Public Media Learn more about Rice University&#8217;s Girls STEM Initiative [Youtube] Reporter Laura Isensee, reporter for Houston Public Media. She tweets @lauraisensee.

'You Couldn't Help But Be The Student': Remembering Tony Conrad

Tony Conrad's violin was a suture on the soul. Using those droning strings, he conjured bracing and beautiful hues between colors, between notes, between worlds. The experimental musician, composer and filmmaker who was a key component of the '60s Lower Manhattan art scene — and who never really stopped innovating — died Saturday of prostate cancer at the age of 76. Conrad's influence and discography goes wide. Playing alongside La Monte Young, John Cale, Angus MacLise and Marian Zazeela in the Theatre of Eternal Music (a.k.a. The Dream Syndicate), he introduced drone music to Western audiences. In the mid-'60s, Conrad and Cale were recruited to back a short-lived band called The Primitives featuring a young Lou Reed — Conrad left, but the remaining members would start The Velvet Underground. His 1973 album Outside The Dream Syndicate, recorded with the German band Faust, became a benchmark of minimalism, thudding with motorik rhythm and lost in Conrad's kaleidoscopic violin. From the '90s onward, his recorded works grew exponentially, including collaborations with the likes of Charlemagne Palestine, Jim O'Rourke, MV Carbon, Genesis Breyer P-Orridge and David Grubbs, among others. Over the weekend, while many praised Conrad's musical innovation and inspiration, those who knew him intimately, spoke of his natural gift to teach. Since 1976, he had been a faculty member at SUNY-Buffalo, where he taught media studies — writer Brandon Stosuy has a touching essay on his time as a student there that's worth reading. But Conrad was also open beyond his academic duties, freely sharing his knowledge and wisdom. Even in the briefest of moments, Conrad could turn an offhand comment into a meditation. Before a gig at the now-shuttered Brooklyn space New York Paris London West Nile, clarinetist and composer Jeremiah Cymerman told Conrad he could barely play a note on the bass clarinet. Tony's response was, "You only need one note, as long it's the right note." "For somebody of his stature, he had no airs," guitarist Chris Forsyth says of his time taking a workshop with Tony Conrad. Forsyth is one of six musicians and composers with whom I talked about Conrad's role as a teacher — not only a professor, but also a guide onstage and in practice rooms, often with people generations removed. "I think that he genuinely wanted to be around people who were not jaded," says David Grubbs, "and that generally meant younger people." Conrad built a community on which he not only imparted history and insight but that he also supported by constantly attending shows and improvising with its new breed of experimentalists. Grubbs, C. Spencer Yeh, Jennifer Walshe, Chris Forsyth, Mercury Rev's Sean "Grasshopper" Mackowiak and Ben Vida (Bird Show, Town and Country) all share their stories, which showcase Conrad's gently challenging methods. And in his own undefinable way, it also turns out that Tony Conrad was a helluva cut-up. David Grubbs Grubbs met Conrad in 1994, as a member of the band Gastr Del Sol with Jim O'Rourke, and not long after found himself in Chicago, recording Slapping Pythagoras. Afterwards, the two remained colleagues and friends. My first encounter with him was in the studio at Steve Albini's house, there were six guitar players and it was already a little bit like a classroom situation. You know, we were all in a row with our guitars horizontally in front of us — and Tony. The first thing that he said was, "Okay, who has the loudest ground hum from your guitar?" And somebody had a guitar with a single-coil pickup and Tony said, "Okay, turn the amp up to 10, and okay that's a 60-cycle hum, and we're going to use that as the root tone and we're all going to tune on whole-number fraction intervals related to that." So it was already like being in a class, or taking a workshop from Tony the second that you started playing music with him. He was really one of the most Socratic and radically egalitarian people I've ever met, but he was just so f****** brilliant that he couldn't help but be the teacher, or you couldn't help but be the student. And it was always delivered with this incredible humor. Without fail, one of the consistently most hilarious people that you could ever hope to meet. You know, you'd just bust a gut laughing around him. If that's one of his qualities as a teacher, then that's an incredible quality to bring to that kind of pedagogical situation. And also, let's go ahead and say it, he was the most brilliant, the smartest. I have a kid in grade school and people are very concerned like, "Who's the smartest?" As an adult, I never ever think things like, "Who's smarter than whom?" except maybe with reference to Tony, where I'm like, obviously, he was head and shoulders so much smarter than everybody around him. But he never seemed to hold it against people. [Laughs.] Everybody was dumber than he was. C. Spencer Yeh The Brooklyn-based musician would cross paths Conrad while touring through Buffalo, and would

With Fares Constantly In Flux, Price Tags May Be On Their Way Out

It's easy to forget that the price tag was only invented 150 years ago. It's a fairly recent innovation, and the Planet Money podcast explains how it might be on its way out.

Tip Of The Hat To First Female Patent Holder

Two hundred years ago next week, Mary Dixon Kies, became the first American woman to hold a patent. Kies found a way to weave straw with silk, and hoped to use the fabric in the booming hat industry. Her invention did not make her money. Historian Margaret Weaver and Mervin Whipple, who owns a memorial business, tell host Jacki Lyden Kies deserves more recognition. JACKI LYDEN, host: Now, of course, there are the horses, but for my money, the Derby's really about the hats: hats topped by three-foot-high flamingos or prancing ponies or gorgeous confections of lace. You can see a parade of the big-time bonnets through the years on our Web site at npr.org. We have a different sort of color commentator today. Ms. MARGARET WEAVER (Historian): My name is Margaret Weaver, and I'm the municipal historian in Killingly, Connecticut. LYDEN: And 200 years ago, a woman from Killingly made hat and American history. On May 5, 1809, Mary Dixon Kies became the first American woman to hold a patent. Her invention: a technique to weave straw with silk. Ms. WEAVER: It was not uncommon for women at that time to be doing the family weaving. So she probably was very familiar with the process of weaving materials for her own home. LYDEN: And Mary Dixon Kies' father, brother and son were all lawyers. So it made sense that she'd apply for a patent, but it was still a bold thing for a woman to do. Historian Margaret Weaver has only seen a sample of the woven fabric, and it's easy to imagine it fashioned into one of the more elegant Kentucky Derby hats. Ms. WEAVER: When I look at the piece of fabric, I basically don't see the silk at all. It's a deep wheat color, like an oak color. It has not a herringbone-type design, but it would give you more a feel of something of that type of a texture. LYDEN: Mary Dixon Kies was 57 when she received her patent, but her family lost money trying to mass-produce the fabric. And shortly after that… Ms. WEAVER: She entered a very tragic stage of her life because her husband died in 1813. Her son, Harvey(ph), died in 1813. Her daughter, Abigail(ph), died in 1814. And these may also have contributed to some of the economic problems she was having. LYDEN: Had she made money, perhaps Mary Dixon Kies would be more of a household name. The town historian thinks Kies deserves recognition, so Margaret Weaver keeps digging. Ms. WEAVER: We never found an inventory for Mary Dixon Kies when she died in 1837. So it may be that she really had nothing of her own by that time except maybe a few pieces of clothing. LYDEN: Mary was buried in an unmarked grave. It remained that way for more than a century. Mr. MERVIN WHIPPLE (Manager, Everlasting Memorials): My name is Mervin Whipple. LYDEN: Whipple takes care of many of the cemeteries in the Killingly, Connecticut area. He also runs Everlasting Memorials, a monument business. In 1965, he put a marble marker on Mary's grave. Mr. WHIPPLE: It says: In memory of Mary Dixon Kies, 1752-1837. Under that, I cut: She obtained in May, 1809, the first patent ever issued to a woman. LYDEN: A fitting tribute to crown race day.

Feds Reject Barstow Casino Plan

Another big blow was struck late last week against the embattled plan for tribal gambling in the desert city of Barstow, as federal officials rejected the land applications of two out-of-the area tribes. On Friday, the U.S. Department of the Interior rejected requests from both the Los Coyotes Band of Cahuilla and Cupeno Indians and the [...]

The Turmoil In Scotland, Expressed By Its Poets

Scotland has a proud national tradition of poetry. Days after a historic referendum on independence, we look at how poems by Scottish writers can help us better understand this moment.

First No Power, Now No Water In Texas

About half a million power customers are still without electricity in Texas, and now millions of people are being told to boil their water before they use it — if they have water. Many households have no water or low water pressure. Here & Now&#8216;s Lisa Mullins talks about the water infrastructure failures with KERA&#8217;s Bret Jaspers. This article was originally published on WBUR.org.

Navajo Nation Decries Plan To Shrink Utah's Bears Ears

President Trump&#8217;s planned announcement to drastically shrink Bears Ears National Monument is drawing criticism from conservationists and members of five Native American nations located near the site. Here & Now&#8216;s Robin Young speaks with Davis Filfred, a Navajo Nation Council delegate and member of the Bears Ears Inter-Tribal Coalition, about why he and others are pushing back on Trump&#8217;s plans.

World Bank/IMF Meeting

NPR's John Ydstie reports from Washington, where the World Bank and International Monetary Fund are holding their spring meetings this weekend. Global growth tops their agenda, and ministers say prospects for the future are good.

'What Was John McCain Thinking?'

A response to one of my Sarah Palin posts yesterday, about trying to comprehend her decision to quit, led reader "Cleo K" to comment, "WHAT WAS JOHN MCCAIN THINKING??????" I'm presuming the writer was suggesting that McCain made a major mistake in picking the untested Alaska governor as his running mate. Maybe yes, maybe no. What I always found more perplexing is that, according to widespread reports, McCain really wanted Joe Lieberman to be his VP but was talked out of it by his closest advisers. Read More >> Whatever grades you give Palin as a national candidate in 2008 -- was it only last year? -- there is no question that when she was named, just prior to the St. Paul convention, Republicans were jubilant. It was the first time all year that the party rank and file were excited. She electrified the delegates, gave one of the convention's better speeches, and was responsible for the ticket's move in the polls that showed the election up for grabs. Could you imagine what the response would have been had the choice been Lieberman? A supporter of the war in Iraq, yes, but also a supporter of abortion rights? A 100 percent rating from the AFL-CIO? A no vote on Samuel Alito? Al Gore's running mate? The outcry from the delegates would have made the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago (where Mayor Daley's "Gestapo tactics" were assailed by Abe Ribicoff), the 1964 GOP convention in San Francisco (when they booed Nelson Rockefeller for criticizing the John Birch Society), and the 1948 Democratic convention in Philadelphia (when Southerners walked out in response to Hubert Humphrey's pro-civil rights speech) look like love fests. They would have felt betrayed, and they would have been right. It would have undoubtedly resulted in a serious third-party campaign from the right. So it could have been worse. McCain and his people calculated that they needed to shake up the race with a dramatic VP pick (similar to what Walter Mondale was thinking in 1984 in selecting Geraldine Ferraro). What they ultimately forgot is that the race is won or lost by the candidate heading the ticket. GOP Reax. Lots of positive feedback from yesterday's post that quoted the Republican "movers and shakers" on what to make of the Palin decision. One more arrived today, from New Hampshire GOP powerhouse Tom Rath: If it's a precursor to a 2012 run it is unorthodox to say the least. I am inclined to accept her at her word -- that the price she was paying to remain in office was wearing down her family. She has shown a remarkable ability to connect with certain sections of the Party and that does not seem to be directly related to her holding office, so I doubt her being no longer in office will impact on that connection. Her ability to communicate, which is pretty good, will be severely tested without the spotlight that the governorship would give her. Still. we live in a time in which the old ways of doing things don't seem to mean much so who really knows? As Alice observes --"curiouser and curiouser."

Republican Presidential Field In A Nutshell By The Economist Mag

Accompanying a recent story in The Economist headlined "Who Dares Take Him On" with the pronoun referring to President Obama, the magazine had a chart on the Republican 2012 presidential possibilities with wry and pithy assessments of each of their pros and cons. For instance, for Mitt Romney it gives as his pros: "Rich, experienced." His cons: "Wooden, flip-flopper." As for Tim Pawlenty his positives, according to the The Economist graphic is "No baggage." His negative: "No charisma." Since they were describing the Republican field, they didn't provide a nutshell for the president. Based on the article, here's a try - pro: Incumbent, great campaigner; con: Economy.

Nonprofit Groups Forced To Do More With Less

The economic crisis is putting an increased burden on nonprofit organizations, including those that help homeless people. More people are seeking the organizations' services at a time when donations are down and banks and local governments are less willing to help the groups. There's an emergency meeting in Washington, D.C., Monday called "Nonprofit 911." It's for hundreds of charities, businesses and government officials in the capital region. The groups say the recession is making it harder to help people in need. SERVE Inc., a nonprofit group in Manassas, Va., provides emergency housing and food. Like many charities, it is seeing a lot more people at its door these days who are looking for help. Its homeless shelter can't keep up with demand, and those who do get to stay are more desperate. Not long ago, the shelter saw about 15 children a month. In September, there were 58. The children include 2 1/2-year-old Tristan, an impish redhead who has been here with his mother for three weeks now. His mother, Heather Buechling, says she is here because she has nowhere else to go. She says her husband just went to jail, and she wasn't working, "so I didn't have any place to stay." She has been trying to find work, but that's not easy these days, Buechling says. "There's not too much within walking distance. And getting [Tristan] to day care and then getting to a job — it's just ... hard," especially because she doesn't have a car. A recent dinner at the shelter featured fried eggs, bacon, hash browns and salad. The food comes from SERVE's nearby pantry. It, too, is seeing bigger crowds than it used to. Cheri Villa, the group's president and chief executive officer, says the nonprofit is also seeing a whole new kind of client. "They're teachers, they're transportation workers, they're hospitality workers," she says. "They're folks who have found themselves falling between the cracks and not having the means to pick themselves up and move forward." The increase in people needing help comes at a time when donations are down, Villa says. Making matters worse, across the country nonprofits are having a harder time getting help from banks to make ends meet. "Lines of credit are very hard to come by. You know, you have to have collateral. And if you have a piece of property that's attached to the real estate market," it's probably not worth what it used to be, she says. Villa realizes that the same downward spiral is affecting a lot of people. "Talking to the banks ... we've tried a number of times and a number of ways, and it's really hard because they're just really not talking to us right now," she says. Like many nonprofits, SERVE gets money from local government to help provide social services. Those payments are also threatened. "Of course, we're dealing with the economic downturn that's facing our county, our region, our state and our nation. So we're facing what everyone is facing," says Melissa Peacor, assistant county executive in Prince William County, where SERVE is located. She says 5,000 county homes went into foreclosure this year, driving down property values throughout the county. That has also meant a drop in tax revenues — and an $85 million hole in the county budget. Peacor says cuts in payments to nonprofits are inevitable, but not in every case — especially when crucial services are involved. "We're also looking at, can they do it less expensively than we do? And I think you're going to see some examples in this budget where we actually stop providing the service and actually give more money to the nonprofits so they can do it for us," Peacor says. That could be welcome news, but charities are also worried about something else being discussed here and in other cash-strapped communities: Prince William is rethinking the property tax exemption that it gives nonprofits — a tax break that costs the county a lot of potential revenue. This has nonprofits really nervous and is one of the many dark clouds on the horizon that have led to things such as Monday's emergency summit in Washington. Terri Freeman is president of the Community Foundation for the National Capital Region, one of the sponsors of the summit. She says there just isn't enough money to go around. "I think it is inevitable that there will be nonprofit organizations that will go out of business, that will join hands with other nonprofit organizations, that may scale back their offerings and be more specific in what they provide," she says. Freeman says some charitable groups might just have to pool their expenses for things such as accounting and human resources. She says the important thing is that nonprofits, businesses and government leaders talk with each other and try to figure out the best way to get through the crisis together — and to come up with some innovative ideas so those who are suffering the most will be hurt the least. RENEE MONTAGNE, Host: There's an emergency meeting in Washington, D.C., today

One Dose Of H1N1 Vaccine May Be Enough

Four and a half months after the new H1N1 swine flu virus was first found infecting people in California and Mexico, researchers are reporting that they've got a vaccine that works better than anyone expected. Researchers say one shot appears to be strong enough to offer protection within 10 days of the shot.

The Cleveland Youth Orchestra: On The Road In Mozart's Hometown

Nurturing young talent is a long tradition in the classical music world, and many professional orchestras have their own youth orchestras. But it stands to reason that an organization with the kind of international stature the Cleveland Orchestra enjoys would have a top-notch youth ensemble. It does. And it's called, not surprisingly, the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra — COYO for short. The young musicians have just embarked on a European tour. I caught up with the orchestra at rehearsal in the Cleveland Orchestra's beautiful Severance Hall, just before its members left. Kevin Ritenour, an 18-year-old percussionist, has been studying music since the fifth grade. He says it's his third year with COYO. "I enjoy most getting to play in Severance Hall every weekend," he says. "It's truly an honor to be able to play in one of the greatest halls in the world, every weekend, and to be surrounded by such young talent. It's just a humbling experience." Henry and Serena Shepherd, 13-year-old twins who play cello and violin, respectively, are remarkably sophisticated about going to Europe on the ensemble's first international tour in its 26-year history. "I'm looking forward to experiencing new halls," Henry says. "We're really spoiled here with Severance Hall, but I'll be interested to see sort of the European standard of a concert hall, and how our orchestra's going to adapt to that." Serena, like many COYO kids, says she hopes to one day play in a professional orchestra. The coaching she gets from Cleveland Orchestra pros really helps. "It's a really good experience to hear the input of the players," she says. "They've played all the pieces that we've played, so they know the behind-the-scenes information, which is really great to get a sense of, and it really helps when it comes to our concerts." Many COYO alumni, like 18-year-old Chad Hoopes, have gone on to play with big American orchestras. Hoopes is still in high school, studying with former Juilliard Quartet violinist Joel Smirnoff at the Cleveland Institute of Music. But he also has a budding professional career — thanks mainly, he says, to his experience in COYO. Hoopes has performed with the San Diego, San Francisco, Pittsburgh and Houston symphonies. "Being able to be in the youth orchestra sets you up to not only play in the orchestra, but it sets you up as an artist, overall artist, and a musician that knows how to work well with other people, and collaborate, and be able to experiment and give and take," Hoopes says. "Those are some of the lessons I learned and the growth experience that I had when I participated in the youth orchestra." The members of COYO are getting a chance to show Europe what they can do. They finish their tour Wednesday night in the grand Hall of the Mozarteum in Salzburg. ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST: Many professional orchestras nurture young talent with their own youth orchestras. Cleveland has one of the country's most prominent orchestras, and the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra - or COYO - is in the midst of a new experience: its first-ever European tour. Vivian Goodman, of member station WKSU, talked with some of the members recently as they prepared for the trip. JAMES FEDDECK: Three before C. (SOUNDBITE OF ORCHESTRA MUSIC) VIVIAN GOODMAN, BYLINE: They've been at it for two hours. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) FEDDECK: OK. Brahms after the break. GOODMAN: After a 10-minute break, Cleveland Orchestra assistant conductor James Feddeck will rehearse the young players for another two hours. They do this every weekend, nine months out of the year. CHAD HOOPES: You get kind of jittery in your chair after a couple hours. GOODMAN: Despite the fact that violinist Chad Hoopes had been taking lessons since he was 3. HOOPES: To keep focused for more than three or four hours and, when you have those four-and-a-half-hour rehearsals - or however long they are - it can get a little bit - um - crazy. GOODMAN: Hoopes just turned 18. He's still in high school, and still studying with former Juilliard Quartet violinist Joel Smirnoff at the Cleveland Institute of Music. But he also has a professional career. He's performed with the San Diego, San Francisco, Pittsburgh and Houston Symphonies, among others. He attributes all of this to COYO. HOOPES: Being able to be in the youth orchestra sets you up to not only just play in the orchestra, but it sets you up as an artist - overall artist, and a musician that knows how to work well with other people and collaborate; and be able to experiment, and give and take. And those are some of the lessons I learned, and the growth experiences that I had, when I participated in the youth orchestra. GOODMAN: Another benefit is that the young musicians get to play in Severance Hall. (SOUNDBITE OF ORCHESTRA MUSIC) KEVIN RITENOUR: It's truly an honor to be able to play in one of the greatest halls in the world every weekend. GOODMAN: Eighteen-year-old Kevin Ritenour has studied percussion since fifth grade. This is his

Selena's Spark Still Shines

Selena Quintanilla-Pérez would have turned 50 on April 16. Since her death in 1995, just before her 25th birthday, her legacy has spread far beyond her Tejano music roots; Selena's has become an important symbol of womanhood for Latinas everywhere. On this week's show, we're going to try to unpack that a little with some stellar guests: filmmaker Gregory Nava, whose 1997 biopic Selena, starring Jennifer Lopez, has played a key role in the Selena myth building journalist Maria Garcia, who is the creator and host of the podcast Anything For Selena, produced by Futuro productions and NPR member station WBUR Dr. Sonya Aleman, who teaches a class on Selena in her role as Associate Professor in the Mexican American Studies Program at the University of Texas, San Antonio Dr. Deborah Paredez, author of Selenidad: Selena, Latinos and The Performance of Memory, and is also the Director of Undergraduate Studies at The Center for Sturdies of Ethnicity and Race at Columbia University. On a personal note, I remember seeing Selena y Los Dinos perform in Fresno and, even then, she had a very loyal following that was not just attracted to the music but also to her presence, her essence. Selena had an undefinable special spark; it's fascinating to see it still shine all of these years later.

Civil War Veteran Awarded Medal Of Honor, 150 Years Later

President Obama awarded the Medal of Honor on Thursday to a soldier who stayed at his post under withering fire, 150 years ago. Lt. Alonzo Cushing was just 22, commanding an artillery battery during the final day of the Battle of Gettysburg.

A Basketball Hoop Changed UNC Coach's Life

The next time you see Roy Williams prowling the sidelines in a dapper Alexander Julian suit at University of North Carolina games, you might remember what a dime his mother left on their kitchen table once meant to him. Williams, the winningest active college basketball coach, has written the story of his life with Tim Crothers. Host Scott Simon talks to Williams about his book, <em>Hard Work: A Life On and Off The Court</em>.

Cool Runnings: The One-Man, East Timor Version

East Timor, a small Pacific nation, will be represented at the Winter Olympics for the first time in history next month, when skier Yohan Goutt Goncalves, whose father is French and whose mother is Timorese, competes in the slalom ski race. But before he could be sent to Sochi, Goncalves, 19, first had to take the unusual step of creating his country's national skiing federation, as Agence France-Presse reports. "It's never snowed in East Timor, and there's no word for 'skiing' — they call it 'snow-skating,' " the AFP's Katharyn Gillam reports. Goncalves grew up skiiing in France and began training to be a skier when he was 12. He gained the right to compete for East Timor, which is situated between Australia and the equator, last summer. Some of Goncalves' training and preparations have been centered in Australia, where he could stay with relatives. And as he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp., the country offered another advantage: slalom and giant slalom races that could give him points to put toward an Olympic qualification, outside the tightly competitive environment of Europe. "You have a lot of the European teams going to New Zealand and South America," he said. "There are really good-level athletes here too, but at least not the really really good ones." More recently, the teenager was one of several athletes training in Europe because their countries lack the weather or infrastructure to support their Olympic hopes. With little financial support, they share coaches. "We have two Israeli girls and a Romanian, and we're all skiing together," Goncalves told the AP in November. But the lack of snow and financial support aren't the only reasons East Timor has never before fielded a Winter Olympics team. The nation only became officially independent in 2002, after violence and turmoil followed its move to break away from Portugal in 1975. In recent weeks, Goncalves' Facebook page has hosted a flow of excited announcements, as he closed in on an Olympic berth and got support and attention from sponsors and media outlets. Goncalves also celebrated having the chance to show the island nation's flag in far-flung lands, as he did during a race in Iran's mountains. His fans write notes of support, as well. On a recent post, a man wrote to tell Goncalves, "No matter the outcome, you are the inspiration for the young and old of Timor Leste. You will feel the energy of the country the moment you take off, it will be electrifying." The note concluded with the promise that the spirit of East Timor would be with Goncalves on the slopes of Sochi.

Debate: Will The GOP Die If It Doesn't Seize The Center?

Following the Republican Party's losses in the 2012 elections, there has been a lot of hand-wringing about what the party should do to improve its electoral fortunes. Some argue that the GOP should moderate its positions on social issues, as well as policies that affect income inequality and social mobility, and that it should embrace compromise as a way to attract more voters. But others say that changing its positions risks alienating the core Republican base and diluting the party's conservative message — doing more damage in the end. That hot topic was the subject of the latest Intelligence Squared U.S. debate, which pitted moderate New York Times columnist David Brooks and former U.S. Rep. Mickey Edwards against conservative talk radio host Laura Ingraham and Ralph Reed of the Faith & Freedom Coalition. The motion of the Oxford-style debate was: "The GOP Must Seize the Center or Die." Before the debate, the audience voted 65 percent in favor of the motion and 14 percent against, with 21 percent undecided. After the debate, 65 percent remained in favor of the idea that the GOP should seize the center, but 28 percent were opposed — meaning the side arguing against seizing the center changed more minds and won the debate. Those debating were: FOR THE MOTION David Brooks became an op-ed columnist for The New York Times in September 2003. He has been a senior editor at The Weekly Standard and a contributing editor at Newsweek and The Atlantic Monthly, and he is currently a commentator on the PBS NewsHour. He is the author of Bobos in Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There (2001) and On Paradise Drive: How We Live Now (And Always Have) in the Future Tense (2005), both published by Simon & Schuster. Mickey Edwards, a former Republican representative from Oklahoma, is vice president of the Aspen Institute and the director of its public leadership program. After 16 years in Congress (1977-92) as a member of the House Republican leadership, Edwards spent 16 years teaching at Harvard, Georgetown and Princeton. In addition to serving as the national chairman of the American Conservative Union, he was one of three founding trustees of the Heritage Foundation and the chairman of task forces for the Council on Foreign Relations and the Brookings Institution. A weekly columnist for the Los Angeles Times and the Chicago Tribune, Edwards published his most recent book, Reclaiming Conservatism, in 2008. He is currently a director of the Constitution Project and an adviser to the U.S. Department of State. AGAINST THE MOTION Laura Ingraham is host of talk radio's The Laura Ingraham Show, heard in hundreds of markets from coast to coast. Ingraham is the author of numerous New York Times best-sellers, including Of Thee I Zing, The Obama Diaries, Power to the People and Shut Up & Sing. She is a frequent political and cultural commentator in print and on television, as one of the primary contributors on the Fox News Channel and the permanent substitute host on The O'Reilly Factor. In addition, she is a frequent guest on Today and other shows such as ABC's This Week. Ingraham is a former white-collar defense attorney and Supreme Court law clerk. Ralph Reed is founder and chairman of the Faith & Freedom Coalition. Reed served as a senior adviser to George W. Bush's presidential campaigns in 2000 and 2004 and was chairman of the Southeast region for Bush-Cheney in 2004. As chairman of the Georgia Republican Party, he helped to elect the state's first Republican governor and its third Republican U.S. senator since Reconstruction. Reed is chairman and CEO of Century Strategies, a public relations and public affairs firm. He was executive director of the Christian Coalition from 1989 to 1997. Reed has been named one of the top 10 political newsmakers in the nation by Newsweek, one of the 20 most influential leaders of his generation by Life magazine, and one of the 50 future leaders of America by Time magazine. He is the author and editor of five books, including his latest novel, The Confirmation (2010). Reed serves on the Board of Visitors for the University of Georgia School of Public and International Affairs and on the executive board of the Northeast Georgia Council of the Boy Scouts of America. He is a member of the Advisory Council of SafeHouse, a faith-based organization helping the poor and needy.

Honored Playwright Terrence McNally Dies Of Coronavirus At Age 81

McNally had suffered from lung cancer and pulmonary problems. He won his first Tony Award for <em>Kiss of the Spider Woman</em>. He also won Tonys for <em>Love! Valor! Compassion!</em>, <em>Master Class</em> and <em>Ragtime</em>.

Miller's 'Crucible' Becomes an Opera

Besides the impeachment trial underway on Capitol Hill, another trial involving sex, lies, justice and retribution is unfolding on stage at the Kennedy Center -- <EM>The Crucible</EM>. The opera, based on Arthur Miller's play, is directed by Bruce Beresford (film director of <EM>Breaker Morant</EM> and <EM>Driving Miss Daisy</EM>.

Vernon Jordan's Testimony

NPR's Barbara Bradley reports Vernon Jordan's closed-door deposition yesterday in the Senate impeachment proceedings against President Clinton. House managers say Jordan's testimony supports their argument that Clinton obstructed justice by having Jordan help Monica Lewinsky find a job in return for her cooperation in the Paula Jones civil lawsuit. Meanwhile, the President's defense team says that Jordan's testimony doesn't change the dynamics of the impeachment trial.

Poverty And Not Knowing Your Neighbor Are Connected, Expert Says

It's been 50 years since President Lyndon B. Johnson declared war on poverty. Host Michel Martin speaks with Anne Mosle, of the Aspen Institute, about how much has changed since then and if the battle needs a new plan of attack.

McCain to Campaign Staffers: No Lobbying

Arizona Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign has lost a national finance co-chairman and four other staffers and advisors, as the candidate tries to refurbish his image as a Washington reformer. Tom Loeffler resigned over the weekend, after campaign manager Rick Davis imposed a new policy that required registered lobbyists and registered foreign agents to terminate their registrations if they wanted to remain active in the campaign. Loeffler was one of McCain's top advisors, and raised more than $250,000, according to the campaign. A former congressman, he's now a registered lobbyist and registered foreign agent with his own well-established firm in Washington. His current clients include the Embassy of Saudi Arabia and EADS North America, a subsidiary of the European aircraft manufacturer, which is now defending a new Air Force contract for mid-air refueling tankers. Davis-- himself a one-time lobbyist — issued the "McCain Campaign Conflict Policy" on Thursday. At that point, veteran political consultant Craig Shirley had just been asked to leave the McCain campaign after the publication Politico pointed out that he also worked for an anti-Obama group called Stop Him Now. Shirley had performed paid and unpaid work for the campaign ; working for both groups raised questions because the law forbids coordination between the campaign and independent political groups. As the policy was issued, the campaign cut loose an energy policy advisor, Eric Burgeson; the Miami Herald had noted that he lobbies for several energy corporations. Earlier, a regional campaign manager, Doug Davenport, left McCain, as did the director of the national convention, Doug Goodyear. Both came from the DCI Group, a lobby firm previously employed by the military rulers of Myanmar. Those rulers are now blocking aid to cyclone victims in their country. The new policy states that the campaign won't employ any registered lobbyists or registered foreign agents; unpaid advisors won't do any campaign work on subjects that they lobby on; and no one in the campaign can work with any independent group. That ban covers so-called 527 organizations such as Stop Him Now. It's not clear, however, that the policy will settle the issue. David Donnelly, director of Campaign Money Watch, a group that counted 115 lobbyists either working for McCain or raising money for him, sees a big loophole in the new policy. His prime example: Charlie Black, a long-time top-dollar lobbyist who quit his firm to be McCain's senior advisor. "Black can go back to his firm after this campaign is over," said Donnelly. "He will have an open door at the White House. He will know all the top advisers and he will trade in on those relationships to make a killing." Ken Gross, a Washington lawyer who specializes in campaign finance and ethics, notes that McCain has set himself a tough standard to meet: trying to find untainted professionals in a city where it seems nearly everyone with any expertise also has a client list. "It's really difficult to be purer than the driven snow at the same time that you're tapping people with substantive expertise," Gross says. "The net effect of all this may be more cosmetic than substantive." LIANE HANSEN, host: Now, to the U.S. presidential contests. Republican John McCain's campaign has shed four advisers this month and it has created new internal rules meant to avoid further embarrassing conflicts of interest in the White House bid of a senator who built his reputation on issues of reform and integrity. NPR's Peter Overby reports. PETER OVERBY: Veteran political consultant Craig Shirley had performed paid and unpaid work for the McCain campaign. He was asked to leave late last week when the publication Politico pointed out that he also worked for an anti-Obama group called Stop Him Now. Working for both raised questions because the law forbids coordination between the campaign and independent political groups. The campaign also cut loose an energy policy advisor after the Miami Herald noted that he lobbies for several energy corporations. There have been other awkward moments. A regional campaign manager left and so did the director of the national convention after it was reported that both worked for a lobby firm that had been employed by the military rulers of Myanmar. Those rulers are now blocking aid to cyclone victims in their country. On Thursday, McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis - himself a onetime lobbyist - issued a new policy. Davis said the campaign won't employ any registered lobbyists, or any registered foreign agents. Unpaid advisors won't do any campaign work on subjects that they lobby on, and no one in the campaign can work with any independent group. That ban covers so-called 527 organizations such as Stop Him Now. There are other restrictions too. McCain said he needed to fix the problem. But he's been under criticism for months over just these kinds of questions, and it's not clear that the new polic

Summary Judgment: New Movies

In this week's roundup from the online magazine <em>Slate</em> of what critics are saying about new movie releases, we hear about <em>Death Sentence</em>, <em>Balls of Fury</em> and <em>Halloween</em>.

Stock Markets Drop Amid Escalating Tariff Threats

Updated at 4:31 p.m. ET The U.S. stock market fell sharply Tuesday in response to President Trump's recent threats to add another layer of tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. The Dow Jones industrial average closed down 287 points, or about 1.15 percent, marking its sixth straight daily drop. The broader S&P 500 index lost 11 points, or about 0.4 percent. The threat of a trade war is leaving investors uncertain and is fueling market volatility, said Greg McBride, chief financial analyst at Bankrate.com. "Markets are responding to all of the rhetoric with the trade war," McBride said. "A lot of what we're seeing may be negotiating tactics, but it's just going to be a choppy ride due to this concern." Asian markets also took a hit Tuesday in response to Trump's announcement. China's Shanghai composite index dropped 3.8 percent, Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 2.8 percent and Japan's Nikkei was down 1.7 percent. "The Chinese economy is highly dependent on exports and what you are seeing is this reflected in Chinese equity markets," McBride said. Most European indexes were also down Tuesday.

San Diego Mayor Convicted in Strip Club Case

A federal jury convicts San Diego's acting mayor and another local politician on corruption charges, in a case that's known as "Strippergate." Councilmen Michael Zucchet and Ralph Inzunza were convicted of taking illegal campaign cash from a strip club owner who tried to lift a ban on touching between nude dancers and patrons.

Report Reveals Widespread Sexual Abuse By Over 300 Priests In Pennsylvania

Updated at 4:33 p.m. ET A long-awaited grand jury investigation into clergy sexual abuse in Pennsylvania was released Tuesday in an interim redacted form. The report detailed decades of alleged misconduct and cover-ups in six of the state's eight Roman Catholic dioceses. The roughly 900-page report, not including exhibits, is thought to be the most comprehensive of its kind and paints a horrid portrait of activity that occurred in the dioceses of Scranton, Allentown, Harrisburg, Greensburg, Erie and Pittsburgh, implicating 300 "predator priests" statewide who committed "criminal and/or morally reprehensible conduct." One priest in the Diocese of Harrisburg abused five sisters in a single family. Another, in the Diocese of Greensburg, impregnated a 17-year-old girl, married her, then divorced her months later. A priest in the Diocese of Erie admitted to assaulting at least a dozen boys, yet was later thanked by the bishop for "all that you have done for God's people." The grand jury said it reviewed a half-million pages of internal church documents and "secret archives" that were readily available to bishops. It found credible allegations by more than 1,000 victims, but it added, "We believe that the real number ... is in the thousands." The findings revealed a pattern of abuse that occurred in hundreds of parishes in 54 of Pennsylvania's 67 counties going back at least 80 years. It detailed how fellow clergy members conducted shoddy investigations into sexual abuse allegations and how bishops often sided with abusive priests. "The pattern was abuse, deny and cover up," said state Attorney General Josh Shapiro at a press conference in Harrisburg on Tuesday. He described a "systematic cover-up" and a "failure of law enforcement." The at-times-scathing report described a pattern of abuse that has never been seen "on this scale." "Despite some institutional reform, individual leaders of the church have largely escaped public accountability. Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing; they hid it all. For decades. Monsignors, auxiliary bishops, bishops, archbishops, cardinals have mostly been protected; many, including some named in this report, have been promoted. Until that changes, we think it is too early to close the book on the Catholic Church sex scandal." The report counted 41 "predator priests" in the Diocese of Erie, 37 in Allentown, 20 in Greensburg, 45 in Harrisburg, 99 in Pittsburgh, and 59 in Scranton. Abuse in the Philadelphia and Altoona-Johnstown dioceses have been covered in previous reports. The report noted that the state was not immune from the global sex abuse scandal in the church, saying, "For many of us, those earlier stories happened someplace else, someplace away. Now we know the truth: it happened everywhere." The interim report was released just before the 2 p.m. deadline the state Supreme Court gave its appointed special master to sort out disputes regarding the redactions. A majority of the activity described within the scathing investigation falls outside of Pennsylvania's statute of limitations for sexual crimes, and those clergy members both named and currently blacked out of the report are not expected to face criminal charges. But the grand jury issued presentments against a priest in the Greensburg Diocese and a priest in the Erie Diocese, who it said had sexually assaulted children within the past decade. In the wake of Shapiro's press conference, several of the diocese released statements. "Sadly, abuse still is part of the society in which we live. We acknowledge our past failures, and we are determined to do what is necessary to protect the innocent, now and in the future," wrote Allentown Diocese Bishop Alfred A. Schlert. Named prominently in the report is Cardinal Donald Wuerl, the archbishop of Washington, D.C., who served as the bishop of Pittsburgh from 1988 through 2006. The grand jury found that Wuerl allegedly shuffled around abusive priests and failed to inform church officials in other states of priests who were moved there after facing sexual abuse allegations in the Pittsburgh Diocese. In a letter to priests late Monday, Wuerl said he acted to protect children after learning about allegations of sexual abuse. "It moved me not simply to address these acts, but to be fully engaged, to meet with survivors and their families, and to do what I could to bring them comfort and try to begin a process for healing," Wuerl wrote, saying he imposed a "zero tolerance" policy for clergy sex abuse. When Wuerl came to Pittsburgh, he replaced then-Bishop Anthony Bevilacqua, who went on to become Archbishop of Philadelphia, where another grand jury said he had protected abusive priests. Bevilacqua died in 2012. What's next? In this interim report, the grand jury made a list of recommendations, including eliminating the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse. It also called for a "civil window" law, w

The Madly Uneven 'Downton Abbey' Turns Its Eye From Money To Sex

[This piece assumes you've seen the first four seasons of Downton Abbey. As to the fifth, it avoids specific spoilers, but does talk about themes and threads enough that you might be 20 percent less surprised by a couple of developments. It's the best balance I could strike.] Let us get this out of the way right off: Particularly after its first two seasons, Downton Abbey has been enormously uneven. It's satisfying in some moments, dull in others, and always prone to falling so in love with a particular story beat that it cannot move past it. The season premiering in the U.S. on PBS on Sunday (and yes, lots of people still watch it on plain old television, and suggestions to the contrary say more about the limited social circle of the speaker than they do about technology) isn't free of the repetition problem. We still find Edith in a state of angst, we still find Bates and Anna suffering nobly in the shadow of suspicion about something they didn't do, and perhaps more interestingly, we find the widowed Mary Crawley echoing her first-season self more than ever: The selfish and insensitive edge that her relationship with Matthew smoothed down seems to have returned. At the same time, there is a theme to the season, and it's more than "rich people and poor people under one roof" (though that's still present) and more than "change, change, change!" (though that's still present, too). Specifically, this is a season heavily interested in the choices — particularly the love lives and sex lives — of women of all ages and classes. We have already seen the single Edith burdened by guilt because she became pregnant, to the point where she wound up in a scheme to place her daughter for adoption, but only halfway, neither able to live with the adoption nor able to acknowledge the child. But now, we will see the flip side, as another single woman considers whether sex before marriage is an integral part of determining compatibility — and how to avoid pregnancy as a consequence. We will see how partially evolved attitudes allow some men to want sex, have sex, and then look down on the women they have it with for having it with them. And we will continue to see, as we did last season, that while sexual violence has little to do with sexual feelings, a social failure to separate the two makes for victims of violence who bear their considerable burdens alone. We will see that love and sex — and emotions — do not end as going concerns at 40, at 50, or at 60. We will see women with grandchildren and even great-grandchildren deciding what to do about partners and friends. We will see women trying to figure out how to navigate a world of increased independence sort of, in which they may make choices about striking out on their own at the risk of being treated as if they're doing something impossibly silly. The show has always featured plenty of sex — after all, the first season revolved largely around a corker of a potential scandal involving a guy dying in a bed where he wasn't supposed to be. But this is much more interesting: sex as a part of life, used to contribute to conflicts and choices, rather than sex as an oh-my-goodness thing to be concealed. What always makes Downton so frustrating is that the show creates so many brilliant, shimmering moments of both high drama and deep feeling — it really does — while at the same time being glacially paced with regard to some stories and skittering and inattentive with others. At a macro level, it can be so very middling, while at a micro level, the performances are so spot-on and many of the relationships so sturdily built that individual scenes are as good as anything on television. Truth be told, Downton is much stronger with everything else than it is with romances, particularly since the departure of Dan Stevens as Matthew. Bates and Anna have long been trapped in a revolving door of misery that makes it honestly hard for them to do anything but grimace at each other, and the two suitors Mary began juggling last season felt more like cat toys than real prospects. Its best romance is barely one at all — the end of the fourth season found Mr. Carson and Mrs. Hughes lightly holding hands on the beach. But, for instance, the loving exasperation that exists between Mrs. Patmore and Daisy is sweet and moving, as is the friendship between Tom and Mary, built largely on the unexpected single parenthood they have in common. Rob James-Collier has found nuance in Thomas Barrow, Evil Underbutler, who began as an almost pure villain and has emerged as a lonely person in pain who distracts himself with schemes. And the way Mary and Edith bring out each other's worst qualities is sad and aggravating, but feels specific and earned. I haven't yet seen the Christmas special that caps the season, but I've seen the rest of it, and I did enjoy it quite a bit more than some recent chunks of the show. Maggie Smith blessedly has more to do than drop one-liners (though she does that too, of course),

Other Candidates on the Calif. Ballot

NPR's Madeleine Brand speaks with some of the lesser-known candidates in the California recall election.

In Seattle, 'Rainiest Day Of The Year' Defends Its Title

It's Rain Day in Seattle — or at least that's what the city should consider calling November 19. As KOMO-TV reports, Nov. 19 "is statistically the most likely day to have rain in Seattle," with wet weather hitting the city on 89 out of the past 120 years, including today's deluge. No other day reportedly comes close to matching that number in Seattle, a city famous for its frequent rainfall. By noon today, the rainfall had already set a new record for daily accumulation on Nov. 19, easily surpassing the 50-year-old record of 1.23 inches measured at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Monday's drenching was accompanied by mudslides and wind gusts that blew well past 100 mph in elevated areas, where snow has also been falling. The day was particularly harrowing for one highway patrol officer. Here's how KOMO-TV describes it: "The trooper had stopped for a mudslide on US 101 at milepost 30, said Trooper Russ Winger, a spokesman for the Washington State Patrol. As the trooper was outside the car looking at the first slide, another tree toppled down onto the trooper's patrol car, setting it afire. Another car then crashed into the patrol car." As NPR member station KPLU reports, Seattle officials are relying on "big Jetvac trucks" to suck leaves and debris out of storm drains and cut down the chances of flooding. Forecasters say the wet weather is likely to continue through Thursday, as a string of storms rolls in from the Pacific Ocean. While it is soaking streets and disrupting daily life, Monday's rainfall must clear a high bar if it is to set a new record for the Seattle area. Back on Oct. 20, 2003, more than 5 inches of rain fell at the Sea-Tac airport. Update at 11:58 p.m. ET: An early version of this post suggested Seattle's famed weather brings high levels of annual rainfall. While the city has many rainy days, its annual volume of rain trails many other U.S. cities. Thank you to the alert readers who pointed that out.

Iraq Wary Of Violence As U.S. Combat Mission Ends

Iraq is on high alert for further insurgent attacks after Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki warned that the government had information about more planned violence. Al-Qaida has claimed responsibility for a series of well-coordinated attacks recently.

The Decade In Music: OutKast's 'So Fresh, So Clean' (2001)

[Every weekday from Nov. 9 to Nov. 20, Song of the Day is surveying the past decade, one year (and one song) at a time, with an emphasis on America's most popular music. These picks don't exactly qualify as musical discoveries, but they do have something to say about the 10 years we're about to leave behind. Song of the Day will return to new music on Monday, Nov. 23. --ed.] As the music industry began to break into niches in the early '00s, it's remarkable that a group as artistically ambitious as OutKast could blow up the way it did. But Stankonia was one of those game-changing records that made everyone perk up and pay attention. Released in October 2000, Stankonia peaked in 2001, thanks to huge singles — "Ms. Jackson," "B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)" — that bridged the gap between art and commerce. Sure, OutKast was on MTV, on the radio and at dorm-room parties, but Stankonia was also voted the year's best album in the Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics' poll. It helps that the record — and especially tracks like "So Fresh, So Clean," with its inspired collages of rap, electronica, psychedelic rock and funked-up soul — sounded like nothing else at the time. Stankonia is full of contradictory elements: Its appeal is immediate, but it's constantly revealing new layers of instrumental depth. The music fuses programmed beats and synthesizers with organic live instruments, making it feel both alien and familiar. The songs can be serious, but they're just as often whimsical and funny. Even the duo's well-honed personae showcase OutKast's duality: The quick-tongued Big Boi is more aggressive, navigating speedily through complicated rhymes about women, parties and street cred, while Andre 3000, his falsetto-singing counterpart, is more likely to focus on bigger issues such as materialism and gun violence. Dre is the idealist, the lover; Big Boi the individualist with swagger. What makes Stankonia stand out — even when compared to OutKast's fantastic 2003 follow-up, Speakerboxxx/The Love Below, which plays more like a pair of solo records — is the way the two sides get tangled. In "So Fresh, So Clean," Dre and Big Boi intermingle not only their points of view in each verse, but also attempt to unpack the differences between commercial gangsta rap and more socially conscious hip-hop. Revisiting the record now, it's easy to understand why OutKast was embraced by so many at a time when people were increasingly going their own way. It fuses a world of differences into a united sound that appeals to everyone, yet still feels ahead of its time. Listen to yesterday's Song of the Day, and subscribe to the Song of the Day newsletter.

Redrawn 6th District In Md. May Benefit Democrats

In Maryland, Republican incumbent Rep. Roscoe Bartlett faces a tough re-election in a redrawn district that now favors Democrats. Challenger John Delaney has outraised and outspent him.

Global Reality Challenges IMF's Free Market Gospel

After six decades of zealously promoting free market economic policies, the International Monetary Fund has traded its dogmatism for pragmatism. For years, governments that dared to challenge the IMF model found themselves out of favor in Washington and other Western capitals. But the financial crisis that swept the planet in 2008 prompted a new debate over free market policies and IMF ideology. Now, in a notable turnaround, the IMF has acknowledged that in some instances, developing countries might benefit from controlling how much foreign capital enters their economies — and how it's used. The issue goes to the heart of the capitalist system. Free market advocates have long insisted that capital should be allowed to move around the world unimpeded by government regulation, responding to the same supply and demand forces that drive global trade in manufactured goods. Investors who see opportunities in the labor-rich but capital-poor countries of the developing world, free marketeers argue, should be free to move into those economies whenever they sense a profit to be made — and free to withdraw their money as soon as they lose interest. They say it's a sure way to economic growth. That proposition is now being questioned, however, by the very IMF economists who once championed it. Turns out there is such a thing as too much capital flowing into an economy. Challenge To Orthodoxy The new IMF view is summarized in an official paper published last month, "Capital Inflows: The Role of Controls." After examining the experience of governments that have regulated capital flows, the IMF authors concluded that such policies helped reduce "financial fragility." Specifically, the IMF now acknowledges that some countries are better prepared than others to handle an influx of foreign capital. Nations with no reason to fear overvaluing their currencies should probably refrain from capital inflow controls, the IMF says. On the other hand, countries worried about inflation or exchange rates should consider controls, the IMF says. It also advises countries to assess the type of capital coming into their countries, differentiating between risky short-term foreign currency debt and foreign direct investment, which is relatively safer. Behind the new position is a remarkable story of how critics of gung-ho global capitalism finally succeeded in challenging IMF orthodoxy, in part because the financial crisis of 2008 prompted reconsideration of conventional economic theories. Roots In The Asian Financial Crisis The story begins with the financial tremors that swept through East Asian economies in 1997 and 1998. In previous years, foreign capital was flooding Asian financial markets. Investors sensed that the emerging economies of the region were ripe for takeoff, rich in labor and natural resources, and only needed an infusion of capital to jump-start growth. Lacking the information they often have about incipient industries, however, investors acted impulsively. The problem starts "when a couple of guys in New York or London, who have far more capital than they know what to do with, simply dump it into a country," economics essayist John Ralston Saul explains. Other investors then take a cue and mindlessly follow their example — "herd behavior" in action. As a result, foreign investors in 1996 poured about $65 billion into just four Asian countries: Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea. It was far more than those countries needed, and the result was disastrous. "When you've got too much money and nothing to do with it, you start doing really foolish things," says Saul, author of The Collapse of Globalism. That includes buying and selling local companies for no particular purpose, Saul says. "You start saying, 'Let's put all those companies together.' And then you say, 'Let's take all those companies apart.' " Such frenzied investment and speculation drive the local stock prices of those companies, in U.S. dollar terms, sky high. The dollar price of almost all local goods and services rises steeply, because so many dollars have flooded the local currency markets. Businessmen, homeowners and governments are tempted to borrow even more dollars, because they are cheap. The local currency is soon overvalued; signs of trouble appear. The Panic Begins Herd behavior kicks in again. But this time, the herd panics. When investors see other investors pulling large amounts of money out of a particular country, they begin to wonder if there are underlying factors or other issues that they don't understand, says Eswar Prasad, a former IMF economist now teaching at Cornell University. That uncertainty — and the potential for huge losses — leads them to pull out their money. This is exactly what happened in Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia and South Korea. Capital inflows first came to a screeching halt, then went in reverse. Jagdish Bhagwati, an economist at Columbia University, recalls that investors began leaving those m

Homemade Computer Sets Records In The Trillions

Shigeru Kondo is 56 and has already twice set the record for the most digits of pi calculated. His most recent record, 10 trillion digits, took a year to complete on his home-built supercomputer. Host Audie Cornish found out more about the computer, which caused a little family strife because it had to share electricity.

Political Dirty Tricks

Say you really wanted to win an election, no holds barred (and no second thoughts about ethics), how would you do it? Allen Raymond worked as a GOP consultant and spent three months in jail for dirty political tricks in New Hampshire in the 2002 election (he now says what he did was wrong, and says he hopes to empty the political bag of dirty tricks). Some of the ideas he mentions in his new book, How to Rig an Election: Confessions of a Republican Operative: Jam your opponents' phone lines on election day (the stunt he did jail time for). Call thousands of voters in the middle of the Super Bowl claiming to represent your opponent. Drum up a phony press release on your opponent's letterhead full of lies and half-truths. And that's just to warm up.As the race for President really starts to get interesting, we'll talk with Raymond today about his story, and some of the underhanded tactics we might see between now and November.

Leno Would Welcome A Return To Late Night

Jay Leno made the switch to prime time in September. His show has not been doing very well in the ratings lately. In a published interview, Leno said if NBC offered him <em>The Tonight Show</em> again, he would take it. Leno's low ratings come at a time when General Electric is said to be selling a stake in NBC Universal to cable company Comcast.

Driver Who Ran Through Crowd Of Bike Riders Arrested

The driver of the car that plowed through a large crowd of people riding bikes during a Critical Mass event in Brazil last week is now under arrest, and may face charges of attempted homicide. As we reported, the event, which several people captured on video, has caused anger and outrage. There were no deaths reported, but several cyclists are reported to be in the hospital recovering from their injuries. According to the AP: A police statement says Ricardo Jose Neis was arrested in th ecity of Porto Alegre after a judge ordered his preventive detention. Prosecutors say they are considering charges ofattempted homicide. Under Brazilian law, suspects are not charged until police finish their investigation, which could take up to 30 days. Neis, 47, was driving with his son last Friday, when they encountered a group of more than 100 cyclists riding in the streets of Porto Alegre. Their car then sped up and ran through the crowd — a result, Neis has said, of feeling threatened by the cyclists, who he claims were yelling and striking his car. Details From Brazil Brazilian authorities now say that 40 riders were injured in the incident. After Neis and his son abandoned their car in a neighborhood, police located and identified the vehicle Saturday. According to reports out of Brazil, it seems that police arrested Neis in a hospital — and his psychiatrist has recommended that he be kept under care while in police custody. That's the story from Brazilian news agency Zero Hora — which, since it ran through a translating program, may be a bit uneven, so apologies in advance if that's misleading. But those basic details are reported in two separate pages on their web site.

'Dunkirk' Is A Harrowing War Movie, Muddled By A Convoluted Timeline

A new film dramatizes the '40 Allied retreat from the beaches of France as the Nazis close in. Despite strong action sequences, <em>Dunkirk</em> relies too much on fragmented storytelling and obvious plotting.

The Westminster Dog Show Is This Weekend. Meet The Newcomers And Revisit Past Winners

The 145th annual Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is this weekend, and there's a lot to yap about. For the first time, because of the pandemic, the show has moved 28 miles from inside Madison Square Garden in Manhattan to the outdoors, on the grounds of the 67-acre Lyndhurst Estate in Tarrytown, N.Y. Spectators and vendors will not be allowed at the event in compliance with the state's COVID-19 regulations. You'll be able to watch or stream it on Fox. But don't worry, the show isn't in the doghouse for good: the competition has already planned a return to its regular location in New York City in 2022. This year's show will feature 2,500 dogs from all 50 states and Puerto Rico, as well as 10 additional countries. Two-hundred nine breeds and varieties will compete, including four newly eligible breeds: the Barbet, the Biewer terrier, the Belgian Laekenois and the Dogo Argentino. All will be able to compete and make history in the Best in Show competition, held on Sunday. Here, we'll catch you up with past winners and meet the newest competing breeds. So what are we waiting for? Let's meet some dogs. These new breeds are eligible this year Now recognized by the American Kennel Club, four breeds are eligible to compete at the Westminster Dog Show. Competing for their first chance in history to appear on the green carpet are: The Barbet: A French water dog, the American Kennel Club describes the Barbet as "a Muppet come to life." It's medium-sized and completely covered in a dense, long, curly coat. The breed will be classified with the Sporting Group. Six barbets will compete this weekend. The Biewer terrier: Pronounced like "beaver," the Biewer terrier is a long-haired, tri-colored toy breed that will join the Toy Group. These dogs are small but full of energy, and 10 will compete this weekend. The Belgian Laekenois: This dog is the rarest of the four native Belgian breeds (which also include the Malinois, shepherd, and Tervuren) and will join the Herding Group. The Laekenois is protective and has a rough red, brown or gray coat. Six will compete this weekend. The Dogo Argentino: A pack-hunting dog, the Dogo Argentino has a short, entirely white coat. Intelligent and powerful, 14 Dogo Argentinos will compete as part of the Working Group. These are the recent Best In Show winners As we prepare for the next top dog to wear Westminster laurels, let's check in with past winners over the last five years: 2020: Siba Siba, a standard poodle, became the first of her breed in almost three decades and the fifth standard poodle ever to win Westminster's Best in Show last year. The competition was heated as Siba edged out Daniel, a fan-favorite golden retriever who fans hoped to see become the first of his breed to win the prize. 2019: King With royalty already in his name, wire fox terrier King received the crowning honor of Best in Show two years ago. He had been selected from an original field of 2,800 as the dogs worked their way over the three-day show to the final competition. 2018: Flynn Flynn, a bichon frise, shocked viewers when he was named the 142nd Westminster Dog Show's Best in Show. The white ball of fluff had previously won the best in breed for non-sporting dogs before winning the purple ribbon. 2017: Rumor German shepherd Rumor (named for the Adele hit song "Rumor Has It") was named Westminster's 2017 champion. The second of her breed to win the top prize, Rumor had actually come close to retiring a year before, when she had narrowly lost the show. 2016: CJ CJ, a 3-year-old German shorthaired pointer, won Westminster's 140th show. Owner Valerie Nunes-Atkinson said she'd known CJ had "that something extra" since he was a puppy. CJ won against more than 2,700 entries in the 2016 show. In a show unlike any other this 145th year, may the best pup win. But of course, we all know that the best dog of all is your dog. Josie Fischels is an intern on NPR's News Desk.

'High Five' Readers Invited To Participate In Secret Tournament

NPR's Rachel Martin talks to best-selling, children's book author Adam Rubin about his latest: <em>High Five</em>. It tells the story of a secret high-five tournament that's been held in the animal kingdom.

Report: Mine Safety Agency 'Could Have Prevented' Deadly Disaster

An independent review of the federal Mine Safety and Health Administration's (MSHA) enforcement at the Upper Big Branch (UBB) coal mine in West Virginia says the agency failed to spot "a number of enforcement deficiencies" at the mine which were major factors in the April 2010 explosion that took 29 lives. The report from an independent panel assembled by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health contains this stunning conclusion: "...if MSHA had engaged in timely enforcement of the Mine Act...it would have lessened the chances of — and possibly could have prevented — the UBB explosion." Neither MSHA nor the Labor Department responded to NPR's request for comment. The agencies received the report yesterday and it has yet to be publicly released. Ken Ward of The Charleston Gazette obtained the document and posted it on his Coal Tattoo blog today. NPR obtained the document from one of the NIOSH panelists. The NIOSH panel's review is the most critical assessment yet of MSHA's enforcement failures at the mine. It is also critical of MSHA's own Internal Review, which was released March 6. NIOSH investigators did not disagree with MSHA's conclusion that Massey Energy, the owner of the mine at the time, "caused the explosion." But the review panel says MSHA's Internal Review "understates the role that MSHA's enforcement could have had in preventing the explosion." The NIOSH team absolves MSHA of any ability to prevent the methane ignition that triggered the deadly blast. But it says agency inspectors and supervisors failed to notice and resolve two other serious sets of conditions underground that helped turn a relatively minor methane ignition into a massive explosion. Read More First, MSHA inspectors failed to complete required enforcement actions during four inspections before the blast. If they had done that for at least one of the four inspections, the report concludes, "it is unlikely that a roof fall would have occurred and that airflow would have been reduced" in the mine. "With the proper quantity of air, there would not have been an accumulation of methane, thereby eliminating the fuel sources for the gas explosion," the report says. Second, MSHA inspectors failed to spot and address dangerous accumulations of explosive coal dust. They could have required Massey to render the coal dust inert or they could have idled the mine, according to the NIOSH investigators. "In short, even if there had been a gas explosion," the report adds, "it would have lacked sufficient fuel to trigger a massive dust explosion." MSHA's Internal Review and an earlier Accident Investigation Report blamed Massey Energy for concealing serious safety violations from federal inspectors. But the NIOSH team writes, "...the mine operator did not, and could not, conceal readily observable violative conditions..." The panel also says MSHA's internal review investigators were too narrowly focused when interviewing MSHA staff, leading to a "lost opportunity to pursue a line of questioning to uncover the root cause(s) of a particular enforcement action or inaction." And in a direct rebuke of the agency's response to five other recent mine disasters, the panel notes "a remarkable overlap in the array of enforcement lapses identified." There was "a very similar constellation of shortcomings" despite five MSHA internal reviews recommending corrective action for the agency. The five disasters include the methane explosions at the Jim Walter Resources mine in Alabama in 2001, the explosions at the Sago mine in West Virginia and Darby mine in Kentucky in 2006, the fire at Massey's Aracoma mine in West Virginia also in 2006, and two mine collapses in Utah in 2007 at the Crandall Canyon mine. In all, 70 coal miners perished in those tragedies and the Upper Big Branch explosion. Update at 6:37 p.m. Statement From MSHA: The Labor Department has finally made the NIOSH review public and issued a statement from Joe Main, Assistant Secretary of Labor for Mine Safety and Health. Main does not address any of the MSHA failures outlined in the review. And, remarkably, he repeats MSHA's assertion about Massey Energy deception, even though the NIOSH panel discredits that argument. "MSHA began making changes in April 2010," Main says, referring to a series of more rigorous inspections and enforcement actions targeting troublesome mines. "MSHA is committed to rooting out and addressing critical issues within the agency head-on, and agrees more needs to be done to ensure full and effective enforcement of the Mine Act," Main continues. But, as he has in the past, he again shifts total responsibility for the Upper Big Branch disaster to Massey Energy. "Congress gave mine operators responsibility for running safe mines," Main writes. "Recent testimony confirmed that mine management routinely used illegal tactics to conceal violations from inspectors." But, as the NIOSH panel clearly notes, "...the mine operator did not, and could not, conceal readi

Letters: Melody Gardot, Antarctica

Susan Stamberg reads e-mails from listeners. Among the topics: Scott Simon's interview with jazz singer Melody Gardot, who has suffered from short-term memory loss and sensitivity to light and sound since she was hit by a car; and Danny Zwerdling's report from the South Pole.

Journalists On Trial In Myanmar

A high-profile case involving the arrest of three Myanmar journalists has sent a chilling effect through the country's media. Rachel Martin talks with Yangon-based journalist Poppy McPherson.

A 'Fresh Air' concert with NICK LOWE

A 'Fresh Air' concert with NICK LOWE. His newest recording is "The Impossible Bird" (Upstart Records). 1994 revives Lowe's solo career. Lowe in the early 1970s played London's pub rock scene in the band Brinsley Schwarz. After the band broke up in 1975, he produced five albums for Elvis Costello. Lowe worked with Dave Edmundsin and the group Rockpile. In 1992 he was one quarter of the band "Little Village" with John Hiatt and Ry Cooder.

Civil Rights Agency Faces Uncertain Future

With budget problems and regional shutdowns, some say the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights is dying a slow death. What will it take for the agency to regain its national vigor? Ed Gordon discusses the issue with the commission's current chairman, Gerald Reynolds, and with former chair Mary Frances Berry.

Bolivia Must Decide On New Leader After President Flees To Mexico For Asylum

After weeks of its worst unrest in decades, Bolivia's embattled president fled the country for asylum in Mexico. All designated successors also quit and Congress now must decide on the next leader.

An Alaska Company Losing The Obesity Game Calls In Health Coaches

Every morning, Shannon Orley parks as far away as possible from her office in Anchorage, Alaska. And on the sprawling Providence Alaska Medical Center campus that is really far away. "Right around 1,000 steps each way. Definitely worth it," Orley says. Two years ago, Orley was obese. And she faced a dilemma. She had just taken a job helping coordinate Providence's employee wellness program. But her own wellness was far off track. She drank the equivalent of six sodas a day, loved fast food and didn't exercise much. So she decided to take advantage of one of the hospital's new benefits – health coaching. Health coaches are a new kind of health professional, and it's their job to help people make those easy-to-say, hard-to-do behavioral changes that promote good health — getting enough exercise, eating a balanced diet, and managing stress. Continue Reading At first, the lifestyle changes Orley made were very small. "We started out where my goal was to take the stairs instead of the elevator once a day. Not even more than that but just really manageable," she said. Soon Orley was drinking more water and less soda. She began walking regularly and attending Pilates classes. She kicked her fast food habit. She lost 50 pounds. Last year, 300 of Providence's 2,800 employees in Anchorage tried health coaching. Orley's coach, Kelly Heithold, says her clients have finally made the decision to change. "When they actually make that step and make an appointment with me, they're ready," Heithold said. "And they say, 'Help me. I know what I need to do, I just don't know how to get there.'" Health coaches are still rare in the medical profession. But they are becoming more popular as chronic and often preventable diseases like Type 2 diabetes consume more and more health care dollars. Tammy Green heads up Providence's extensive employee wellness program. She thinks coaches are an important piece of the health care puzzle that's been missing. "Everybody wants to be healthy," Green says. "We just have not been able to help them achieve those goals with our traditional approach." In three years of health coaching, Providence has seen a small but steady decrease in the number of obese employees – from 36 percent in 2009 to 32 percent in 2011. Green says blood pressure and cholesterol levels are lower, and fewer employees are smoking. "Something's happening and you can pretty much assure yourself that if we hadn't been doing anything, we certainly wouldn't be seeing those trends," Green says. Margaret Moore agrees that health coaches are a good investment. Moore founded Wellcoaches Corporation in 2000, a Massachusetts-based company that has trained most of the country's 6,000 health coaches. "There's a reasonable army now of health professionals that have become coaches in this last ten years," Moore said. She expects the profession to grow steadily. Especially now that Medicare has started paying for up to 20 obesity counseling sessions a year. But Moore acknowledges there's debate in the medical field over whether health coaching should be a separate profession or just a new skill set for existing providers. She thinks there's room for both. Back at Providence, Shannon Orley has reached an intersection on her walk to work. And like a former smoker trying to resist a nicotine urge, she has an important choice to make: the elevator or the stairs. "You know every time I go to reach for the elevator button there's a little voice in the back of my head asking me, 'Really, is this going to make you feel better? Is this part of your goal? Is this where you're headed?" she said. With her coach's help, healthful choices have started to feel better and better. This story is part of a reporting partnership that includes APRN, NPR and Kaiser Health News.

Cheney Chooses Spotlight Over Keeping Quiet

When former president George W. Bush retreated to his new home in Dallas, he left behind a bitter debate over his administration's anti-terrorism policies, and a very public pledge to stay out of it. President Obama, Bush said, "deserves my silence." His historically powerful No. 2 made no such promise. But as former Vice President Dick Cheney, 68, has emerged as the most prominent public defender of harsh Bush-era detention and interrogation practices for suspected terrorists — and critic of Obama's national security choices — he has faced his own fierce detractors. Some find his outspokenness, including his assertion that Obama's decision to ban torture undermines national security, inappropriate for a former vice president. Others want to see him, instead of holding forth like an elder statesman on cable news, held accountable for his role in endorsing the CIA's harsh interrogation tactics and secret prisons. And there are those, including many Republicans desperate to rebuild their party, who — like the current president — simply want him and his Bush-era legacy to go away. "There is an element in the Republican Party that is going to lap this up, but another group that wishes Cheney would follow the example of the Founding Fathers and be long dead," says vice presidential historian Steve Tally. Long dead, Tally says, as in "shut up already." Not that Cheney cares, or ever has. A 'True Believer' In his mind, longtime Cheney watchers say, the man is speaking out and hitting back not to burnish, or restore, his legacy, but because he is convinced that the tough Bush policies he shaped were the right ones and remain so. "In many ways, unpopularity ratifies for him that he's the guy operating from steady principle and a hard-headed idea of what the national interest is," says Barton Gellman, whose Cheney biography The Angler was based on a Pulitzer Prize-winning series he and Jo Becker co-wrote for The Washington Post. "He is a true believer," Gellman says. "The public and politicians in his mind are feckless, changeable, emotional and just not well-informed." Says John Nichols, author of The Rise and Rise of Richard B. Cheney: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Most Powerful Vice President in American History: "As a biographer, I have known him in good and bad terms, and nothing has changed." "He's exactly now what he has always been: a permanent political figure," says Nichols, Washington correspondent for the liberal magazine The Nation. "He's a party loyalist who just keeps going," Nichols says. "And people need to understand that." The irony, Nichols says, is that Cheney's party loyalty and his public campaign could be doing Republicans damage. Silence Is Not An Option In a recent interview with Stephen F. Hayes of conservative publication The Weekly Standard, Cheney said silence was simply not an option in the wake of criticism of controversial policies he shaped. "I have strong feelings about what happened and what we did or didn't do and what's happening now, and I don't have any reason not to forthrightly express those views" he told Hayes, author of Cheney: The Untold Story of America's Most Powerful and Controversial Vice President. "I feel it's important to do so, especially when President Obama is wrong on important issues facing the nation," Cheney said. Jake Bernstein, co-author of a Cheney biography, is among those who have expressed some surprise at the former vice president's outspokenness — including his recent demand that Obama declassify two CIA documents that Cheney says will prove his assertion that harsh interrogation tactics work. "Cheney's watch words were always secrecy and discretion," Bernstein says, practiced from the very start of his Washington career at age 34 as President Ford's White House chief of staff — the youngest in history to hold that position. "He was always the last person in the room when decisions were made, and you never saw his fingerprints," says Bernstein, a journalist who, with Lou Dubose, wrote Vice: Dick Cheney and the Hijacking of the American Presidency. Bernstein theorized that the former vice president wants not only to defend decisions he made, but also to lay the groundwork for a defense of Bush administration officials involved in devising the previous administration's anti-terrorism policies. "He was very upset at what happened to Scooter Libby," Bernstein says, "and doesn't want that to happen again." Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's chief of staff, was convicted in 2007 of perjury, making false statements and obstructing justice during the investigation into the leak of the identity of covert CIA officer Valerie Plame. Libby's 30-month prison sentence was commuted by Bush, who, however, rebuffed Cheney's request that Libby be pardoned. Cheney said recently that Bush's decision left Libby "hanging in the wind." And for Cheney, Bernstein says, loyalty is paramount. An Influential Vice President But what of the argument that as a former vice p

Bush Faces Dilemma Over Steel Tariffs

This week the World Trade Organization ruled against the United States on the issue of steel import tariffs, calling the tariffs imposed by the Bush administration illegal. The White House has a chance to head off promised international retaliation, but only if it lowers the tariffs enough to satisfy the world body -- and that could lead to political costs at home. NPR's Michele Norris talks with NPR's Don Gonyea.

Placido Domingo Conducts 'Don Giovanni'

As the legend goes, he was the quintessential rake — a womanizing scoundrel with a list of amorous conquests so long that his right-hand man needs an entire aria just to outline it. His name is Don Juan or, in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's operatic version of the story, Don Giovanni. Mozart's title character has a suave exterior, but it's immediately apparent that he's basically not a very nice guy — to say the least. As the opera begins, he has just assaulted a young woman and afterward kills her father. Still, despite the opera's violent opening moments, Mozart didn't designate Don Giovanni as a tragedy, or even simply as a drama. Instead, he called it a "dramma giocoso" — a "playful drama." In fact, the notorious Don is more complex than just an unprincipled, single-minded ladies man with a taste for violence; when it comes to Giovanni, an instant poll of uncommitted audience members might just yield higher positives than negatives. The opera also has a strong comic element, driven by Giovanni's devious schemes and high jinks, but Lorenzo da Ponte's libretto, and Mozart's matchless music, ensure that the dire consequences of those schemes are as evident as their humor. The result is a unique and often disturbing ambiguity that's at the core of Mozart's masterpiece. The Don's personality is so beguiling that it's easy to root for him even as his dark side becomes more and more obvious. Yet, when he eventually receives a personal invitation to hell, and his enemies rejoice, it's hard to blame them. Don Giovanni is routinely listed among the finest operas ever composed. Some have even called it the greatest of them all. That's a pretty bold statement, but however you rank it, Mozart's opera is a brilliant combination of stark human tragedy and touching comedy, set to music of limitless genius. On World of Opera host Lisa Simeone presents a production of Don Giovanni by the Washington National Opera, conducted by Placido Domingo, from the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. The stars are two men who have also created a sensation, in the same roles, at New York's Metropolitan Opera: Erwin Schrott as Don Giovanni and Ildar Abdrazakov as Leporello. See the previous edition of World of Opera or the full archive

Stunning 'Little Bird' Mashes Up Myth, Family, Technology And Religion

Among all the weird quirks in the world of comics publishing, one of the weirdest is the practice of crediting writers first on book covers and title pages. Why would you give top billing to wordsmiths in a medium that's defined by graphics? Not that writers aren't essential — of course they are. Usually, though, even the most innovative and evocative comics story stands or falls with its artwork. On the other hand, lots of artists who set out to create graphic novels fail to realize they need the help of a skilled storyteller. The resulting books are lovely but inert: plenty of rich symbols and powerful set pieces, but little in the way of character development or narrative momentum. These comics also tend to be confusing, full of concepts and plot developments the creator either hasn't thought through or fails to explain clearly. That's a problem in Little Bird: The Fight for Elder's Hope — which is odd, because it does have a storyteller. It was written by award-winning filmmaker Darcy Van Poelgeest, who wrote, directed and produced the short films The Orchard and Corvus and produced 2016's The Lockpicker. Poelgeest's experience in film has given him a strong feel for the way images can carry a story. Strangely enough, though, he actually relies too much on visuals, falling short in the same ways artists sometimes do when it comes to characterization, dialogue and plot. Fortunately, he's got fantastic artwork to pull him through. The virtuosic Ian Bertram, who draws like a reincarnated Moebius, crafts a stunning array of mythically evocative characters, way-out gizmos, visceral action sequences and intricate, arty compositions for this book. Little Bird winds up being a fantastic example of the artist's role in a comic's success. That's kind of a shame, because Van Poelgeest's ideas are striking and beg to be developed in more detail. Little Bird tells of a future world dominated by religious fascism and warped by genetic modification. Nervily, Van Poelgeest has made the ruling organization the Catholic Church, not some fictionalized simulacrum. In this world, the Church has used genetic modification to distort humans in all sorts of grotesque ways, the profoundest being the implantation of a resurrection gene. One carrier of this gene is Little Bird, a member of a guerilla resistance movement in the Canadian hinterlands. When her mother is kidnapped by the Church, Little Bird sets out to find her. Periodically, she's thrown into a sort of collective unconscious or spirit realm, which offers clues into her own past. Meanwhile, a Catholic official known only as Father is hunting Little Bird with the help of genetically modified super-soldiers, AI-equipped drones and other high-tech terrors. There are a lot of intriguing ideas here: organic imperatives and human ambition, the links between personal and societal trauma, the power of authentic myths vs. the lie of official ideology. The different characters' stories fit together artfully. But Poelgeest writes characters as types, not as people, and invokes the idea of evil without probing its motivations. It's Bertram whose complex and challenging images demand that the reader contemplate the book's themes: the aboriginally inflected character designs of Little Bird and her mother, the contrasting depictions of city and wilderness, the obscene sight of genetic modifications gone wrong. Bertram's work is remarkable, but it's only fully realized thanks to the exceptional artistic team of colorist Matt Hollingsworth, letterer Aditya Bidikar and designer Ben Didier. Hollingsworth creates color associations to underscore the book's nature/technology split, using deep grays and reds in woodsy scenes and sugary, acidic pastels and neons in tech-riddled environments. This implants the book's key theme at a reflexive, visual level: As you turn the page from a prison sequence to one set in the wilderness, your eyeballs relax. Bidikar, too, creates a sense of the weight of overlapping narratives by varying the ways the story is told — with rough-edged main text, the floating scraps of Little Bird's inner monologue or the fat, blurting impacts of sound effects. Little Bird is a feat of teamwork, just like a lot of comics are. Van Poelgeest says as much at the end of the book, noting that he didn't consider the script to be an "anchor" for the other collaborators. It clearly didn't weigh Bertram down. It's too bad he and Poelgeest couldn't somehow share top billing for a creation that couldn't exist without both of them. Etelka Lehoczky has written about books for The Atlantic, The Los Angeles Review of Books and The New York Times. She tweets at @EtelkaL.

Reforming Unlimited Liability Awards in Miss.

NPR's David Molpus reports that Mississippi has become a battlefield of lawsuits against business - a scene that has trial lawyers flocking to the state, while frustrated lawmakers wrestle over reforming liability laws prone to big jury awards. But critics say the proposed reforms swing too far in the other direction by letting big businesses escape with impunity. Meanwhile, leery businesses keeping their distance from Mississippi deprive the state of big investments and thousands of jobs. The debate has even managed to divide Mississippi's congress.

Anti-Government Sentiment Fuels NRA Push

Anti-Washington anger is in the air, and the National Rifle Association hopes to tap into it. At the NRA's annual meeting in Charlotte, N.C., over the weekend, NRA members made clear that it is President Obama who is driving a recent demand for guns. "He's been a very good gun salesman. People have been going out and buying guns and ammunition -- people who've never even owned one before -- because they figure under his administration, there's going to be the confiscation problem or problem buying guns," says NRA member Budd Schroeder. In the months following the 2008 election, the number of people getting background checks in order to buy a gun hit an all-time high. Ammunition for a popular semi-automatic pistol has been all but impossible to find in stores for more than a year. And yet the gun bans and ammunition taxes have not materialized. All the while, the president has continued to say he is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment, and even signed a law allowing people to carry guns in national parks. But NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre believes there's trouble ahead. "I tell firearms owners and Second Amendment supporters to stay ready. The fact is his administration is stacked full of people that have spent a lifetime attacking the Second Amendment, and I believe there are storm clouds on the horizon, and 'stay ready' is the word," LaPierre says. In a hotel ballroom away from the bustle of the gun and gear exhibits, about a hundred NRA members have gathered for a workshop on political organizing. A lot of NRA members say this election will be their first foray into political activism. John Nahas says he's never done more than vote. Then the health care overhaul bill passed. Though it had nothing to do with gun rights, he saw it as proof that Congress was willing to trample on his individual rights. "I was even more enraged by the way it was done, and knowing that the will of the people was not -- as far as I'm concerned -- was not taken into consideration," Nahas says. He says he's inspired by the Tea Party movement, too, which strikes a chord with many NRA members because of its emphasis on personal freedoms and protecting the Constitution. And gun owner Eric Schroeder says it doesn't matter that Congress and the Obama administration haven't directly attacked the Second Amendment recently: Their handling of health care and the economy is enough. "Absolutely, I like to think of it as what they've done is they've opened up a big can of worms. And there's gonna be no way they can close it because they've already gone over the 51 percent tipping point with most people's opinion," Schroeder says. "They don't like what's happening, and now they're getting active to say, 'We'd like to see this stop.' " The NRA does have a powerful voice. It's got more than 4 million members it hopes to mobilize at primaries Tuesday and in November. Julie Rose reports for member station WFAE MELISSA BLOCK, host: From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Melissa Block. ROBERT SIEGEL, host: And I'm Robert Siegel. Several states hold primary elections today and public anger over everything from health care to the economy has put incumbents in a tough spot. While the Obama administration has made no move to curtail gun rights, the National Rifle Association is hoping to tap into the anti-Washington sentiment to build support for its cause. From member station WFAE in Charlotte, Julie Rose reports. JULIE ROSE: It's a very good time to be in Mike Egan's line of work. Mr. MIKE EGAN (Salesman, Hornady Manufacturing Company): Our business has been up double digits every single month. ROSE: Egan is a salesman for a big bullet and ammunition manufacturer called Hornady, which also makes this popular gizmo for making your own ammo. It was on display at last weekend's NRA Convention in Charlotte. Egan might want to think about sending a thank you note to the White House because NRA members like Budd Schroeder think President Obama is driving demand for guns. Mr. BUDD SCHROEDER (Member, National Rifle Association): He's been a very good gun salesman. People have been going out and buying guns and ammunition people who've never even owned one before because they figure under his administration, there's going to be the confiscation problem or problem buying guns. ROSE: In the months following the 2008 election, the number of people getting background checks in order to buy a gun hit an all-time high. Ammunition for a popular semi-automatic pistol has been all but impossible to find in stores for more than a year. And yet, the gun bans and ammunition taxes have not materialized. All the while, the president has continued to say he's a strong supporter of the Second Amendment and even signed a law allowing people to carry guns in national parks. But NRA Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre believes there's trouble ahead. Mr. WAYNE LAPIERRE (Executive Vice President, NRA): I tell firearms owners an

Despite Cease-Fire, Skirmishes Carry On Along Ukraine's Front Line

Fighting in eastern Ukraine between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russia separatists has died down after a cease-fire agreement last month, but there are stretches of the front line where shooting has never really stopped. Near the village of Pisky, for instance, you can hear the dull thud of incoming mortar rounds, coming in sporadic waves. Pisky is on the Ukrainian government side of the front line, but it's not far from the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk. The shelling is more than a mile from a militia camp set up in what used to be a small hotel and cafe. The fighters aren't paying much attention to the distant sound. Most of them are more focused on target practice with their Kalashnikovs. These troops rotate back and forth to the front, and right now, they're on a break. Their commander, who goes by the nickname "Mongol," says the separatists and the Russians have never observed the cease-fire. "They haven't stopped shelling," he says. "They didn't pull back their heavy artillery, their tanks, their mortars — nothing. We moved all our stuff back 50 kilometers (30 miles), but they didn't." A Tenuous Truce The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe says both sides have blocked some access for observers, so it's not fully possible to confirm that all heavy weapons have been pulled back, or that weapons aren't returned to the front when monitors aren't around. Mongol charges that the separatists and their Russian allies have recently fired cluster munitions, shells filled with bomblets that often scatter and become a hazard to civilians. Human Rights Watch says there's evidence that both sides have used cluster munitions. Mongol sits with his men in an unfinished log building that serves as his headquarters. On the wall behind him is the red-and-black banner of the Right Sector, the far-right political group that formed its own armed force to fight in eastern Ukraine. The Russian media often accuses the Right Sector of being neo-Nazi and fascist, charges that Mongol shrugs off. "Patriots, we're just patriots. They say we eat kids, and all that, but it's just lies, and any sane person understands that," he says. Mongol says the reason he joined the Right Sector militia is because it was the unit that was always closest to the front. The fighters say they've been taking casualties nearly every day since the cease-fire officially began about a month ago. The Fighting Goes On The wounded come first to a makeshift medical station that is run by a cheerful woman who goes by the nickname "Mama." "We get guys from the front line here, with concussions or shrapnel or gunshot wounds," she says. "We stabilize them and send them on to a hospital." The "station" is actually an old ambulance, donated to the region years ago by the fire department in Fairfax, Va. And Mama is a 47-year-old grandmother who worked as an anesthesiologist at a maternity hospital before the war. She says she came to Pisky to be close to her son and husband, after they joined the Right Sector as medics. "Our whole family's here," she says. Mama knows the risks. Not long ago, she says, she saw her son drive up and deliver a wounded man. The tires on his car had been shot out, and he was driving on the rims. She watched as he got into another car and drove right back to the front. Some of the medical treatment at the front is given by two Ukrainian Orthodox priests, striking figures in long black cassocks, with camouflage jackets and helmets. "It would be hard to be here without faith," says Father Olexandr Golovchenko. "If you just look with physical eyes and put God away, there's no hope. If l look with God's eyes, there's hope everywhere, and even when guys are dying, no one dies in vain." More than 6,000 people have been killed in a year of fighting in eastern Ukraine, and the shooting goes on. MELISSA BLOCK, HOST: We begin this hour with the reality in Ukraine as the country asks the EU to keep up economic pressure on Russia. Russia has been supporting separatists in eastern Ukraine with troops and weapons. European leaders are meeting in Brussels right now and aren't expected to announce any new sanctions against Moscow. That's because a cease-fire agreement is widely seen as taking hold, and the fighting has, in fact, died down. But NPR's Corey Flintoff recently visited a stretch of the frontline where the shooting has never stopped. (SOUNDBITE OF MORTAR FIRE) COREY FLINTOFF, BYLINE: That's the sound of the cease-fire near the village of Piskiy - incoming mortar rounds in sporadic waves. Pisky is a village on the Ukrainian government's side of the frontline, but it's not far from the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk. We're at a militia camp a little over a mile from the shelling, and the fighters here aren't paying much attention to the distant sound. Most of them are more focused on target practice with their Kalashnikovs. (SOUNDBITE OF GUNSHOTS) FLINTOFF: These troops rotate back and forth to the front, and right n

Bridge Building in the Bay and Beyond

As the new eastern span of the bay bridge takes shape, Forum talks with experts about the art and science of bridge building.

Later This Hour We Note The

Later this hour we note the silver anniversary of one of chamber music's most daring groups -- the Kronos Quartet. Here are a couple of tracks from their 1995 recording of works by Philip Glass -- the fourth and sixth movements from String Quartet No. 3 (used in the soundtrack from Paul Schrader's film "Mishima.") (Nonesuch 9 79356-2)

In Italy, Protesters Push For Rights For Same-Sex Couples

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Italy on Saturday to demonstrate in support of a bill that would allow same-sex couples to enter into civil unions. The predominantly Catholic country is the last western European nation that doesn't offer same-sex couples any legal rights. As NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports for our Newscast unit, many activists are determined to change that. Sylvia says the square outside the pantheon in Rome was packed on Saturday: "LGBT activists were joined by environmentalists, trade unions, students and ordinary citizens. "They chanted, 'Wake up Italy, it's time to be civilized.' "The civil unions bill goes to Parliament next week after years of obstruction by Catholic politicians. And Prime Minister Matteo Renzi says its passage can no longer be delayed. "Last year, the European Court of Human Rights found Italy in violation of the human rights convention that guarantees respect for private and family life." Not everyone supports the bill. Sylvia notes that opponents claim it's "a Trojan horse toward same-sex marriage," and object to a provision that would allow a person in a same-sex relationship to adopt his or her partner's children.

Palestinian PM Nominee Urges Israel to Halt Crackdown

Ahmed Qureia, nominated to be the next Palestinian prime minister, calls on Israel to stop attacks on militants and lift travel restrictions on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Qureia, who has tentatively accepted the nomination, insists he cannot operate under what he calls the "Israeli dictate." Hear Robert Malley of the International Crisis Group.

Unsafe Lead Levels Detected In Drinking Water In Newark, N.J.

Residents of Newark are receiving bottled water after elevated lead levels were detected in their drinking water. But there's confusion over who should get the bottled water.

Vote Set on California Water-Transfer Deal

California lawmakers will vote on legislation that would clear the way for a large-scale transfer of water from farmers to city dwellers. Designed to help reduce the state's dependence on Colorado River water, also used by six other states, the proposed agreement follows years of negotiation among four big water agencies in Southern California. Hear NPR's Scott Horsley.

From A Concert He Gave

From a concert he gave last month at Columbia University's Miller Theatre, Russell Sherman performs the Piano Sonata No. 27 in E minor, Op. 90 by Beethoven. (Miller Theatre)