Search results for

It was 204 years ago this week that America's first president announced to the nation he would not seek a third term in office. George Washington had entered office a war hero but had become discouraged by newspaper attacks on his character. Host Jacki Lyden speaks with Washington biographer Willard Sterne Randall about how Washington's departure paved the way for a two-party system and for a tradition of attacks on character.

NPR'S Howard Berkes explores Australia's passion for swimming. In the first day of Olympic swimming competition, five world records fell. Australian talent Ian Thorpe thundered through the water with victories in single and relay events, stirring hopes that the Australians can replace America as the sport's dominant team.

NPR's Brian Naylor reports on the move by Republicans in the House to authorize the building of a monument to former president Ronald Reagan on the National Mall in Washington. It has already passed the House Resources Committee and is on the way to a full floor vote before Congress adjourns next month. Democrats say the move is less about honoring Reagan than it is about injecting him into the current presidential campaign. The move, if it passes, would circumvent a law that says no one can be honored with a memorial in the nation's capital until 25 years after the person's death.

Sportswriter Stefan Fatsis tells Linda Wertheimer why NBC, holder of U.S. broadcast rights to the Sydney Olympics, intends to provide only tape delayed coverage. The 15-hour time difference between Sydney and the eastern U.S. and the fact that the network's exclusivity agreement ends after the first broadcast of an event are the main factors. The result is that records set overnight will not be seen in the U.S. till prime time the next day.

Veteran broadcaster Robert Trout recalls when the tide of the Battle of Britain turned. The aerial bombardment of London by Germany during World War Two -- known as the Blitz -- was thought to be a prelude to Nazi invasion. After the war, it was learned that on this date Adolf Hitler decided to abandon plans to take over England. Trout narrates a story about anchoring CBS Radio Network News during this period. We hear his colleague in London, Edward R. Murrow reporting on the air raids, Trout's own broadcasts, and the voice of Winston Churchill after the war. Trout tells how the addition of an evening newscast in radio prime time angered advertisers.

NPR's Mandalit Del Barco reports on the public transit strike in Los Angeles. The shut down of bus and rail service has turned the city's already difficult commutes into a real mess.

David Brower of member station KRWG in Las Cruces, NM reports on efforts made to find markets for small trees. Many agree that these trees must be cleared from forests to prevent destructive wildfires, but without a market for the small timber, logging companies can't afford to cut them.

NPR's Howard Berkes reports from Sydney, Australia that the United States women's softball team lost the first time since the 1998 world championships, ending a 112-game winning streak.

NPR's Julie Rovner reports on Congressional efforts to reduce the cost of prescription drugs. An amendment to the annual spending bill for the Department of Agriculture would allow pharmacists and wholesalers to import U.S.-approved drugs from Canada and Mexico, where costs for those drugs are lower. But the drug industry says this could allow unsafe or contaminated drugs into the market.

NPR's Michael Sullivan reports on the growing business of sex slaves in Nepal. Each year approximately twenty-thousand young girls are sold into slavery in brothels of New Delhi, Bombay and other Indian cities. One woman has established an organization to put an end to the slave trade in spite of threats from traffickers.