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Efforts are under way to establish a tsunami early-warning system in the Indian Ocean, one year after the devastating tsunami. Financial and technological help have been flowing into the project from around the world.

Commentator Susan Orlean visits a craft store near Boston to talk to crafters about why they do what they do. She encounters the store's craft guru, whose job it is to teach crafting, and to counsel those crafters who are stuck.

On average, single-family house prices have risen 50 percent nationwide over the past five years. That's meant record profits for homebuilders, even as some economists warn that price increases are not sustainable.

Transit union leaders vote Thursday to end a three-day strike after state mediators worked out a deal to bring them back to the bargaining table. Union members will work without a new contract, and subway and bus services will resume as early as Thursday night.

More and more corrections officials are using electronic bracelets to keep track of prisoners. Slate senior editor Andy Bowers explains why these devices are so easy to remove, and how prisoners can "disappear" from under the watchful eyes of prison guards.

Hurricane Katrina ruined an estimated two-thirds of Louisiana's oyster harvest. Losses over the next few years could approach $1 billion. Mike Voisin, CEO of Motivatit Seafoods in Houma, La., says Rita may further disrupt output.

Gov. Sonny Perdue of Georgia has asked public schools in his state to close Monday and Tuesday to conserve fuel. Some parents aren't happy.

Writer David Rakoff has a new collection of essays, Now, Don't Get Too Comfortable: The Indignities of Coach Class, the Torments of Low Thread Count, the Never-ending Quest for Artisanal Olive Oil, and Other First World Problems. Rakoff is a regular contributor to public radio's This American Life.

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales says Congress gave President Bush broad powers to conduct war after the 2001 terror attacks. Gonzales tied that congressional resolution to the president's warrant-free authorization of wiretaps of U.S. citizens by the National Security Agency over the past three years.

New York City's transit strike enters its second day, leaving millions of New Yorkers without transportation. People of all walks of life and businesses big and small are feeling the effects.

The White Goddess is the last film made by Ismail Merchant and James Ivory before Merchant's death. Set in Shanghai on the eve of World War II, the film stars Ralph Fiennes as a blind, former diplomat and Natasha Richardson as a White Russian refugee.

In comments during a visit to Iraq Friday, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has says there will be a reduction of U.S. troops in Iraq. The reduction affects two Army brigades that had been scheduled to be deployed in Iraq in the coming weeks -- one from Germany, the other from Ft. Riley, Kansas.

Miriam Real, a volunteer with the Congress of Racial Equality (C.O.R.E.), was jailed in Louisiana during a voter registration drive in September 1963. Wisconsin Public Radio's Brian Bull offers a sound portrait of Real's story, in her own words.

Payday loans, pawn shops, and check-cashing services offer low-income earners easy money at high interest rates. Madeleine Brand speaks with Howard Karger, author of Shortchanged: Life and Debt in the Fringe Economy, a study of predatory lending and its practitioners and patrons.

In November 1957, an unprecedented lineup of jazz artists performed at New York City's famed Carnegie Hall, including Thelonious Monk and John Coltrane. The recordings from that night were once lost, but were rediscovered earlier this year.

Now that John Roberts has been confirmed as chief justice of the Supreme Court, attention turns to President Bush's next nominee for the court. It's a choice that's likely to ignite a fierce battle between Republicans and Democrats. Host Melissa Block talks with NPR's Nina Totenberg about Thursday's events and what lies ahead.

As a stadium anthem, it's not exactly "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." Susan Orlean visits Boston's Fenway Park to unlock the secret connection between the Red Sox, their loyal fans and singer Neil Diamond's 1969 hit.

Actor James Dean died in a car crash on a rural road in central California 50 years ago this Friday. He was just 24, and even though he had only acted in three movies he was considered a superstar. His death may have served to add to his legend.

Nearly two weeks after Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast, there is no clear idea of the death toll. An emergency official said Saturday that earlier fears of as many as 10,000 deaths will likely prove wrong. But the process of collecting, identifying and counting bodies is a slow one.

We measure greatness in baseball by the numbers: home runs, strikeouts, stolen bases. But how about ability to carry a tune? A new CD showcases Major League Baseball players singing. Some also play drums, banjo or guitar.

After fatal March shootings at Minnesota's Red Lake High School, most students did not return to class for the rest of the school year. As a new term begins, school officials address security concerns.

Saturday, August 6, marks the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Voting Rights Act. In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed the measure into law, guaranteeing the right of all Americans to vote regardless of creed or color. But some provisions of the legislation may be in jeopardy when the Act comes up for renewal in two years. Ed Gordon talks with the Rev. Jesse Jackson of the Rainbow-PUSH Coalition and Barbara Arnwine, executive director of The Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.

Roots-rock legends Son Volt are back with their first release in seven years. Okemah and the Melody of Riot features some of the finest songs of frontman Jay Farrar's career, bringing to mind some of the greatest recorded moments of Neil Young & Crazy Horse.

Visionary designers and technology experts put their heads together at the recent annual SIGGRAPH convention to showcase cutting-edge fashions that are part fanciful, part practical, part science fiction.

New Orleans is an iconic American city, from the French Quarter to Lake Pontchartrain. It has seen war, fire and flood, and it has always been rebuilt.