Search results for

The U.S. Department of Education has asked an administrative judge to block the state from slashing federal aid money sent to the Broward and Alachua school districts over their mask mandates.

NPR's Andy Bowers reports on the potential California gubernatorial candidacy of actor Arnold Schwarzenegger. With the state's power crisis ebbing away at Gov. Gray Davis' (D) popularity, many Republicans feel The Terminator is the man who can rescue their party. After all, they note, Ronald Reagan, George Murphy, Sonny Bono and Clint Eastwood parlayed entertainment careers to political office in California.

Robert Siegel talks to NPR's Steve Inskeep about today's vote in the Senate on the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance reform bill.

Noah Adams talks to EPA Administrator Christie Whitman about two recent Bush administration decisions: to rescind arsenic standards put into place in the final days of the Clinton administration, and to reverse a position on carbon dioxide regulations. Whitman says that both decisions were based on balancing needs -- in the arsenic case, health and affordable water; in the carbon dioxide case, energy demands and greenhouse gas limitations.

In Uganda, President Yuwere Museveni has won re-election by a wide margin. There were some irregularities, but international observers say the overall voting was "correctly conducted." Museveni's opponent vowed to contest the results and said his followers might start a campaign of civil disobedience. Uganda is essentially a one party state. This election occurred within the so-called "no party revolutionary movement," but analysts say Uganda will have to move toward a multi-party system.

Linda Wertheimer talks with Eileen Claussen, president of the Pew Center on Climate Global Change, about President Bush's reversal on tightening carbon dioxide emissions from power plants to prevent global warming. The president sent a letter yesterday to four Republican senators stating that he had decided not to seek reductions in carbon dioxide emissions. This is a reversal of a previous campaign pledge. The decision is a blow to environmentalists and a win for coal and oil industries. Claussen's organizations membership includes 33 major companies.

Fighting has flared up again in the Balkans, in a demilitarized zone between Kosovo and Macedonia. NATO troops in the area are attempting to suppress that violence between ethnic Albanians and Macedonia security forces. But even as the region heats up, the Bush administration is moving to trim the ranks of Americans now on a peacekeeping mission in neighboring Bosnia. President Bush has said he wants the European Union to shoulder more of the burden in the region. NPR's Tom Gjelten reports.

Michael Montgomery of American Radio Works reports that since NATO-led peacekeepers moved into Kosovo nearly two years ago, hundreds of Serbs and other minorities have been killed. Many others have disappeared and are feared dead. The majority ethnic Albanians are reluctant to give information about missing Serbs. They harbor anger over the killings and destruction wrought by Serbian forces during the Kosovo war, and they fear reprisals by other Kosovars. International officials say the disappearances seem to be part of a campaign to discourage displaced Serbs from returning to Kosovo, and to drive out those who remain out in the province.

Noah Adams and Linda Wertheimer read from listeners letters. This week subjects include our series on the Oil Century, the Paper Clip Project in Tennessee and the destruction of Buddha statues in Afghanistan. (Please send comments to Letters, ATC, 635 Massachusetts Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 2001; or by E-mail to atc@npr.org.)

NPR's Kathy Schalch reports on the last days of the U.S.-Canadian softwood lumber agreement. The agreement expires at the end of the month, to the relief of many who argued it subsidized Canadian lumber and hurt American businesses and consumers. Environmentalists hated it as well. But a new agreement regulating lumber trade is likely to create as much controversy as the old agreement.

NPR's Guy Raz reports from Macedonia on the spreading conflict between ethnic Albanians and government forces.

Host Melissa Block talks with Houston singer/songwriter Eric Taylor, whose country-folk songs have been called "little movies." He's got a new album out, Scuffletown, and he says he enjoys writing songs like stories -- as long as he doesn't give too much away to the listener.

NPR's Michael Sullivan reports on a bribery scandal that is tearing at India's government. The president of the main governing party has resigned, and the scandal has put in jeopardy the administration's coalition government.

NPR's Brian Naylor reports on a new program instituted in Maryland by which the state pays farmers to stop growing tobacco. Some farmers are switching to other crops, while others have no intention of changing.

Brenda Tremblay of member station WXXI reports that many people in the city of Rochester, New York, are reading the same book. People in supermarkets and malls wear pins that say they're reading, A Lesson Before Dying by Ernest Gaines. Its the story of a young black man wrongly sentenced to death. Rochester's mayor says its allowing residents to talk about race relations in a way they'd usually avoid.

Commentator John Ridley is a self-proclaimed 'tactionist.' He's on a mission to touch interesting people and things, and gather fascinating stories in the process. Next on his 'touch-list:' a nuclear warhead. Unfortunately, the officials at Los Alamos are unimpressed by his unique hobby.

Commentator Judy Muller says she winces when she hears words such as 'efforting,' and she wonders how so many nouns are being turned into verbs.

NPR's Jason Beaubien reports that a plaque was erected in the New Hampshire State House to honor the Abraham Lincoln Brigade. The 12-member group fought in the Spanish civil war to support the Loyalist government. But some say the plaque is memorializing Communists and Communist sympathizers.

Banning Eyre reviews the new CD Oh What a World by Irish singer-songwriter Paul Brady. Brady used to be known as one of the greatest voices in traditional Irish music, but now his reputation as a pop songwriter is quickly growing. He's written songs for Bonnie Raitt, Tina Turner, Carlos Santana and many others, a fact that causes a little anguish for die-hard fans of traditional Irish music. Paul Brady's CD is Oh What a World on Compass Records, catalog number 7-4304-2. Compass Records can be contacted at info@compassrecords.com.

NPR's Don Gonyea reports on the White House meeting today between President Bush and Japan's Prime Minister Yoshio Mori. Both countries are experiencing economic slowdowns, but the two leaders, in a joint statement, pledged to work together and expressed optimism about the future.

With fighting continuing for a sixth day around the town of Tetovo in Macedonia, we examine how and why this fighting began. Linda Wertheimer talks with Steven Burg, professor of politics at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., about the relations between Macedonia's government and the country's large ethnic Albanian minority, and about the rebels' demands.

President Bush's effort to channel more social service money to faith-based organizations has run into problems with some religious leaders. Several high profile spokesmen have said the president's initiative, while welcome, would pose too many risks of government interference in the work of religious charities. But today, a group of African-American ministers came to Washington to proclaim their willingness to work with White House and federal agencies under the program. NPR's Brian Naylor reports.

NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr notes some of the foreign concerns on President Bush's mind as he tries to deal with the economy.

NPR's diplomatic correspondent Vicky O'Hara reports on Ariel Sharon's first day of talks in Washington as Israel's prime minister. Sharon is meeting with the secretaries of state and defense, and the national security adviser. He is due to meet President Bush tomorrow.

Noah Adams talks with NPR's Nina Totenberg about the Bush administration's reported decision not to submit judicial nominations to the American Bar Association for screening. The president of the ABA, Martha Barnett, met with White House Counsel Al Gonzalez and Attorney General John Ashcroft today. She says she was not told the ABA would be losing its traditional role. Barnett says Gonzalez and Ashcroft said the administration is still considering what to do.