Weekend Edition Sunday premiered on January 18, 1987, and was the last of NPR's major newsmagazines to hit air. Since then, Weekend Edition Sunday has covered newsmakers and artists, scientists and politicans, music makers of all kinds, writers, thinkers, theologians and all manner of news events. Hosted originally by Susan Stamberg, the show has been anchored by Liane Hansen since 1989.
Recent Stories
Murray Fisher had a dream: Take the 600 miles of New York City's coastline and all the water surrounding it, and start a maritime high school that would teach inner-city kids about their watery world. His school, the New York Harbor School, is housed in the heart of Brooklyn. But soon, it will move to Governors Island, a tree-covered jewel 800 yards off the coast of Manhattan.
The politics of Afghanistan are critical to the politics of America this week, as President Obama ponders the future of the U.S. mission there amid uncertainty about that country's elections. In Washington, Congress is poised to take the year-long debate on health care to the floor of the House — and several states will be holding elections for governor, mayor and other offices. Guest host Jacki Lyden talks with NPR's senior Washington editor, Ron Elving.
There will be drama on and off the football field this weekend as the Green Bay Packers face their longtime rival, the Minnesota Vikings. The game will be the first time Vikings quarterback Brett Favre will come back to play at his one-time home, the storied Lambeau Field in Green Bay. Some fans feel betrayed that the former Green Bay legend now wears a Minnesota jersey, and it remains to be seen how he will be welcomed back.
One school nurse in Sacramento, Calif., is at the center of the H1N1 swine flu epidemic, dabbing the noses of sick kids and comforting panicked parents as they push for vaccine, information and support.
Mayors Against Illegal Guns, led by New York's Michael Bloomberg, is losing members after the National Rifle Association mounted a campaign against the group. The NRA and various gun proponents contend that the mayors' efforts represent a slippery slope.
The challenger to Afghan President Hamid Karzai in the upcoming runoff in Afghanistan has announced he will not take part in the race. That leaves next Saturday's election in jeopardy, as well as a vacuum in Afghan leadership that President Obama can ill afford as he decides whether to send more troops to the war-torn country. Guest host Jacki Lyden speaks with NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson about Dr. Abdullah Abdullah's withdrawal.
The secretary arrived in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh just after sunrise Sunday morning and over the next couple of days she'll meet with Arab foreign ministers gathered for a conference. Much of her time will also be spent talking with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in a bid to revive Middle East peace negotiations. Guest host Jacki Lyden speaks to NPR's Jackie Northam about Clinton's trip to the Middle East, and her reaction to the news of Dr. Abdullah Abdullah's withdrawal from Afghanistan's runoff elections.
A bold new Jewish lobbying group called "J Street" held its debut convention in Washington, D.C., this past week, and it's raising eyebrows in the American Jewish community. J Street was founded to secure peace for Israel, but also to provide a counterweight to the more dominant American-Israel Public Affairs Committee. Guest host Jacki Lyden talks to J Street founder Jeremy Ben-Ami about the new organization.
During a holiday that combines Catholic and indigenous South American traditions, family members gather at the graves of relatives to remember and celebrate their dead at the annual "Day of the Dead" celebration at a cemetery in Los Angeles.
Yul Kwon is one of D.C.'s newest faces. To most, he's known for winning the 2006 season of the CBS TV show Survivor. And some might also recognize him as one of People magazine's sexiest men. But what many don't know is that reality TV stardom came after he graduated from Stanford, earned a law degree from Yale and worked as an aide to Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman. Guest host Jacki Lyden speaks with Kwon, whose latest addition to his resume is deputy chief of the Federal Communications Commission's Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau.
Each clue is a sentence with two blanks. Fill in the blanks with two words that complete the phrase. But here's the twist: The words that complete the sentence are homophones of the words in the answer phrase.
His career is filled with highs — radio and television stardom — and lows — scraping by on dog food and obscure gigs in seedy nightclubs. Upon the release of a new book, the great entertainer speaks on all seven decades of his life in show business.
Why do middle-class black and Latino teens often have lower test scores and college attendance rates than their white peers? Some researchers suggest media stereotypes might be to blame; others point to a peer culture of underachievement.
Pearl Fryar's yard in Bishopville, S.C., has made him something of an art-world star. He's trimmed 400 plants and trees into fantastical shapes — diamonds, mushrooms, hearts and even a square. At 69, Fryar mulls his legacy and is looking to pass on his clippers.
Capt. Wayne Magwood, a third-generation shrimper in Charleston, S.C., has run a successful market for the past 40 years. He relies on local restaurants and loyal customers to stay in business, battling intense foreign competition.
