NPR News

Pages

World Cafe
5:19 pm
Fri July 20, 2012

Grace Potter On World Cafe

Credit Lauren Dukoff
Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.

Originally published on Mon July 23, 2012 3:37 pm

Grace Potter has been captivating audiences with her musical prowess for nearly a decade. Her talents are split between her impressive multi-instrumentalism, her impassioned singing and her energetic stage presence. Potter's band, The Nocturnals, forned after bandmate Matt Burr heard her play folk songs at a student-run venue. Coming out of Vermont with the 2005 debut Nothing But the Water, the band released the album independently before signing with Hollywood Records for a re-release.

Read more
Strange News
5:16 pm
Fri July 20, 2012

Auctioneers Test Verbal Mettle At Contest

Originally published on Fri July 20, 2012 8:40 pm

At the National Auctioneer Championships in Spokane, Wash., we find out just what makes a winning auctioneer.

AIDS: A Turning Point
5:14 pm
Fri July 20, 2012

South Africa Still The Hardest Hit By HIV Infections

Originally published on Fri July 20, 2012 6:56 pm

South Africa has made significant progress in getting people needed AIDS drugs. All over the country, South Africans are finally getting into treatment after two decades of government inaction.

The Aurora Theater Shootings
5:13 pm
Fri July 20, 2012

Aurora, Colo., Police 'Confident' Shooter Acted Alone

Originally published on Fri July 20, 2012 6:56 pm

Carrie Kahn talks to Robert Siegel about the latest on Friday's shooting in Aurora, Colo. At least 12 people were killed and dozens were wounded when a gunman opened fired at a late night showing of the new Batman film.

The Aurora Theater Shootings
5:08 pm
Fri July 20, 2012

Colo. Shooting Suspect Was Withdrawing From School

Originally published on Fri July 20, 2012 6:56 pm

We ask neighbors in Aurora, Colo., what they know about the suspected movie theater shooter, James Holmes.

The Aurora Theater Shootings
5:07 pm
Fri July 20, 2012

Aurora, Colo., Mayor: 'It Is An Absolute Horror'

Originally published on Fri July 20, 2012 6:56 pm

Robert Siegel and Audie Cornish have the latest on the shooting early Friday morning at a movie theater in Aurora, Colo. The gunman opened fire during a midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises.

Television
4:43 pm
Fri July 20, 2012

MSNBC Gets Academic: Meet Host Prof. Harris-Perry

Credit Eliot Kamenitz / The Times-Picayune /Landov
Melissa Harris-Perry, MSNBC's newest host, is a Tulane professor with a Ph.D. in political science from Duke. She hosts the two-hour Melissa Harris-Perry show, which airs on Saturday and Sunday mornings.

Originally published on Fri July 20, 2012 6:56 pm

Cable news channels tend to treat intellectuals gingerly — as fragile curiosities or as targets for ridicule — when they appear at all.

Not MSNBC's Melissa Harris-Perry. This newly anointed cable host commutes 1,300 miles each week for her eponymous program of opinionated conversation, interviews and essays that runs live for two hours each Saturday and Sunday morning.

Read more
The Two-Way
4:31 pm
Fri July 20, 2012

A Litany Of Victims: Dispatch Tapes Reveal Chaos, Bloodshed Of Mass Shooting

Credit Karl Gehring / The Denver Post via AP
Calls to police started coming in at about 12:30 a.m. from a theater in Aurora, Colo., showing "The Dark Knight Rises."

Originally published on Sat July 21, 2012 9:45 am

It's hard to listen to the 16-minutes of audio coming from the Aurora Police dispatch. It begins with the first reports of a shooting at a movie complex.

At about two minutes into the recording, you hear reports that "someone is spraying gas." Then as police begin arriving at the scene, they start asking dispatch to send more officers, to send more ambulances.

"I got people running out of the theater that are shot," one officer says.

Read more
Business
4:22 pm
Fri July 20, 2012

Romney's 1040: Tax Terms An Accountant Would Love

Originally published on Fri July 20, 2012 5:17 pm

For weeks, Democrats have been trying to call voters' attention to the financial dealings of Mitt Romney, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

Supporters of President Obama, the Democratic Party's candidate, have been suggesting that Romney has exploited tax shelters and offshore accounts to build and protect his wealth in ways that average taxpayers would never be able to do.

They are demanding Romney release many years of tax returns.

Read more
Planet Money
4:11 pm
Fri July 20, 2012

Just How Blind Are Blind Trusts, Anyway?

Credit J.D. Pooley / Getty Images

Originally published on Mon July 23, 2012 10:32 am

As Mitt Romney has faced questions about his investments and tax returns, the likely Republican presidential nominee has responded with two words of explanation: blind trust.

Romney keeps most of his wealth in a blind trust designed to prevent him from knowing exactly where his money is and what it's doing. It's a long tradition for presidents and candidates, though anyone can set one up if he wants to.

But it turns out that not all blind trusts are equally blind. Some are cast into complete and utter darkness. Others are more nearsighted.

Read more
Shots - Health Blog
3:30 pm
Fri July 20, 2012

Texas Slow To Review Health Insurance Rate Hikes

Credit L.M. Otero / AP
Texas Gov. Rick Perry has opposed the expansion of Medicaid under the Accountable Care Act, and his administration has yet to review big health insurance rate hikes under the law.

Originally published on Fri July 20, 2012 6:56 pm

Few governors have been as vocal and as unequivocal in their opposition to the federal health care law as Texas Gov. Rick Perry.

Perry, a Republican, has vowed not to expand Medicaid and not to create an insurance exchange. Consumer advocates in Texas say the Perry administration has also been dragging its feet when it comes to insurance rate review.

Read more
The Two-Way
3:16 pm
Fri July 20, 2012

From Our Readers: Colorado Massacre Stir Emotions

Two-Way readers were immediately struck by a sense that the victims of the Aurora, Colo., shooting could have been anyone, as well as shock that something as simple and fun as going to a movie could turn violent without warning:

Read more
Monkey See
2:11 pm
Fri July 20, 2012

Pop Culture Happy Hour: 'Breaking Bad' And A Little Sad

Originally published on Fri July 20, 2012 3:30 pm

  • Listen To Pop Culture Happy Hour

We've been doing PCHH for two years now, and we've never really talked in detail about Breaking Bad. That's kind of weird, but it's partly an artifact of the fact that it took us a while to develop an adequate background, since the only one of us who was a regular watcher from the beginning was Mike Katzif, our producer.

But this week, with me and Glen fully up to speed (along with Mike) and with Stephen and Trey recent experimenters who watched a few early episodes and then jumped ahead to Sunday's season premiere — heresy, I know, but they did it anyway — we dive in.

Read more
Sports
2:05 pm
Fri July 20, 2012

Technology Could Give Athletes An Edge At Olympic Park

Engineers say technologies like spray-on clothing and 3D-printed shoes could help future Olympians break records. The Institution of Mechanical Engineers' Philippa Oldham discusses how technology impacts sporting performance and why engineers should work closely with regulators.

Environment
1:56 pm
Fri July 20, 2012

Its Budget Sunk, Undersea Lab May Have To Surface

Florida's Aquarius Reef Base is the only working undersea lab left today. But now that federal funds have dried up, it may be forced to surface. Oceanographer Sylvia Earle joins Science Friday from inside Aquarius, 60 feet underwater, to talk about sponges, corals and other life she's observed on the reef.

Pages