Search results for

Melissa Block talks with Gale Merriwether, president of the Lone Star Dutch Oven Society, about a state Senate resolution to make the Dutch oven the "Official State Cooking Implement" of Texas.

The ceremonies surrounding the death of Pope John Paul II, his funeral and the election of his successor Benedict XVI have played out according to a script written centuries ago. But the new pontiff strayed from the script Saturday, speaking to reporters before his inaugural mass tomorrow.

Credit card receipts and other documents reveal lobbyists paid for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's expenses during a trip to Scotland in 2000 that totaled over $120,000, The Washington Post reports. The payments are a clear violation of House ethics rules. Hear Post reporter R. Jeffrey Smith.

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Ron Rapoport tells Scott Simon about a sports weekend that includes the opening round of the NFL draft and the beginning of the NBA playoffs.

Journalist Mirta Ojito arrived in the United States from Cuba as a teenager in 1980, part of an influx of Cuban refugees from the Mariel boatlift. Her new book, Finding Mañana: A Memoir of a Cuban Exodus, explores that time.

In the fifth part of our Vietnam series, Michael Sullivan travels to Quang Ngai province, where the massacre of My Lai occurred in 1968. Now, 30 years after the end of the Vietnam War, it seems old wounds are slow to heal.

Happy Apple, a jazz group that reaches out to younger audiences, was doing it long before The Bad Plus came along. The Minneapolis-based group has a new CD out, called Peace Between Our Companies. Chris Roberts of Minnesota Public Radio reports.

In a weeklong series, NPR's Michael Sullivan takes a look at Vietnam, 30 years after U.S. troops left the country and the end of the Vietnam War. In the first story, he journeys on the north-south Highway 1, on the border with China. The first stop is Lang Son, a town the Chinese once occupied.

Christian faithful gather beneath a major highway overpass in Chicago to see an image of what some call the Virgin Mary on a concrete wall. City officials argued it was simply a water stain on the concrete, but thousands of believers disagreed.

A bill to regulate what are known as "527" groups finds more critics the longer it is debated. The legislation seeks to close a loophole in earlier efforts to curb unlimited political contributions.

The former rebels in southern Sudan are making money. Literally. The Southern People's Liberation Movement is working to introduce a new currency to replace dilapidated and filthy Sudanese Pound notes.

Authorities in Utah and Arizona are taking new steps to try to control a polygamist group dominating twin towns on the Utah-Arizona border. The group is known as the FLDS Church and it controls the schools, police and local government. Last week, the state of Arizona raided the school administrative offices and a Utah judge froze the assets of the group.

Tuesday marks the 50th anniversary of the second U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the case of Brown v. Board of Education, where the justices ruled U.S. public schools must desegregate "with all deliberate speed." Much progress has been made, but 50 years later, many educators and activists point to growing "re-segregation" in school systems. It's a problem nationwide, but especially in southern states. From Birmingham, Ala., Tanya Ott reports.

Critics question California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's praise of the Arizona Minutemen, the volunteer-based group that drew attention earlier this month for patrols on the Mexican border. The Austrian-born governor responds by declaring himself a champion of immigrants.

Deep Throat is possibly the most influential anonymous source of all time. News of his identity comes at a time when the use of anonymous sources is being debated.

MasterCard International reported Friday that 40 million credit card numbers may have been stolen. Merchants bear the brunt of fraudulent transactions. Credit card companies charge the merchants for the stolen services or merchandise and for additional fees.

The San Antonio Spurs are one victory away from the NBA championship. Sunday night in Auburn Hills, Mich., the Spurs beat the Detroit Pistons 96-95 in overtime to take a 3-to-2 lead in the NBA finals. The series now returns to San Antonio for game six on Tuesday.

Independent radio producer Scott Carrier concludes his story about a Utah woman who went searching for direction in life and found it in the most unlikely place: the bottom of the world. The woman recounts some of the strange things that happen on the scientific base where she worked during the six months of darkness that is the Antarctic winter.

When existing home sales numbers come out on Thursday, they are expected to show the housing boom continuing. One way some buyers are snapping up properties is at auction. Auctions have yet to take off in the United States the way they have in some other countries, like Australia.

Day three brings Chideya to Austin, the capital of Texas and home of the University of Texas Longhorns. She talks about picking up local animals as she drives through the city -- and wonders whether this trip is more than she bargained for...

Of the many things thrown into the energy bill being considered in the Senate are billions in tax breaks for energy companies. Critics say the bill is meant to help only the energy industry, not consumers hit by high fuel prices.

The eight-time All-Star, who muscled up beside the likes of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as one of the NBA's top players of the 1970s, died Tuesday. Lanier had worked for the league as a global ambassador.

The California state Assembly considers a resolution that would formally recognize the flag of the former Republic of Vietnam in lieu of the current Vietnamese flag, as nine other states have done. Robert Siegel talks with Van Tran, a Republican assemblyman from the 68th district.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says he'll try to persuade Democrats to allow a confirmation vote on John Bolton as ambassador to the United Nations. But Democrats say they'll continue to filibuster until the White House provides documents regarding Bolton's days at the State Department.

On the second day of her trip across America, Chideya stopped in El Paso, Texas, to talk with Robert Boatwright, an agent with the U.S. Border Patrol. In the typical blazing heat of summer, they talk about securing the U.S.-Mexico border where Mexico meets the state borders of New Mexico and Texas.