There's a stark difference between how the national press covered the events of 1963 in Birmingham and how Birmingham's papers covered their own city. Audie Cornish talks with Alabama journalist Hank Klibanoff, co-author of The Race Beat, about the disparity.
The legislation is one of the most far-reaching abortion bills in decades and follows the May murder convictions of Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell. The bill, which would ban nearly all abortions starting 20 weeks after fertilization, is unlikely to ever become law.
Roughly half of U.S. states have passed laws making home-schooled students eligible to play for their local school teams. But in Indiana, an attempt to find a middle ground hasn't calmed the debate.
The city of London boasts centuries of architectural history. But a building boom is threatening the city's traditionally low-rise aesthetic and the views of some of that history. Critics — including UNESCO — are very worried about London's changing skyline.
This week Audie Cornish travels to Birmingham, Ala., to revisit some of the stories that shaped that city and the nation in the summer of 1963. Today she talks with Hank Klibanoff, co-author of The Race Beat about how the newspapers covered the civil rights struggle fifty years ago.
Smartphone apps can help count calories or detect a heart attack. People are embracing them to manage many aspects of their health. But medical apps are largely unregulated now, so there's no easy way to be sure which ones are trustworthy and which ones aren't.
In the past decade, Mexico's tech industry has flourished, growing three times faster than the global average. Most of that growth has been fueled by demand from the United States. But as Mexico's startups strive to make it in foreign markets, they say they need more engineers and ways to finance their growth.
The White House says the mission in Afghanistan marked an important milestone on Tuesday: The hand-off of lead security responsibility from U.S. troops to Afghan forces. It's a key step as Americans prepare to withdraw nearly all combat troops by the end of 2014. Separately, the Obama administration announced the opening of talks with the Taliban about a political settlement to the war.
Melissa Block talks to Adam Davidson about growing income inequality at every level of our economy. Davidson has been pouring over data recently released from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Melissa Block talks to Republican Congressman Mac Thornberry, who serves on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. He talks about the testimony by leaders of the National Security Agency, the Department of Justice and the FBI on Tuesday morning. He's been supportive of the NSA surveillance program, saying it's not only legal, but vital to security.
Senate Republicans are trying to make the immigration bill tougher on those who are already here illegally.
Robert Siegel and Melissa Block read emails from listeners about Mozart's violin and the price of potatoes.
NPR news poet and UC Berkeley professor, Tess Taylor, has a spring round up of poetry books that are all debut collections.
On Tuesday, the Pentagon released plans for opening most military jobs to women. The armed services have until 2016 to open the positions, which have been closed to women for decades. The military services can keep some specialties closed to women, but must give a good reason for such exceptions.
The Russian parliament is expected to give final approval this week to a bill that would make it illegal to expose children to information about homosexuality. Russian law experts say the courts would likely rule against the legislation because it violates the Russian constitution's ban on discrimination. Even so, authorities could use it to harass specific organizations or visitors from abroad such as Madonna who spoke in favor of gay rights during a concert in St. Petersburg last year. And the legislation could curry favor among conservatives whom Putin has been courting since returning to the presidency.
The White House says the mission in Afghanistan marked an important milestone on Tuesday: The hand-off of lead security responsibility from U.S. troops to Afghan forces. It's a key step as Americans prepare to withdraw nearly all combat troops by the end of 2014. Separately, the Obama administration announced the opening of talks with the Taliban about a political settlement to the war.
Follow WBUR