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Environment
5:18 am
Sat May 18, 2013

Not Your Grandpa's RV: This Roving Lab Tracks Air Pollution

If you're driving down the road someday and you come across a camper with a 50-foot periscope sticking up into the sky, you just might have crossed paths with Ira Leifer. His quirky vehicle is on a serious mission. It's sniffing the air for methane, a gas that contributes to global warming.

Leifer is an atmospheric scientist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. But you'll more often find him off campus, in a garage, next to a string of auto body shops near the airport.

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Law
5:17 am
Sat May 18, 2013

Turning Up The Heat On Civil Rights-Era Cold Cases

Six years ago, the FBI took on a challenge: To review what it called cold case killings from the civil rights era. The investigation into 112 cases from the 1950s and 1960s is winding down, and civil rights activists are weighing the FBI's efforts.

The review comes with word this week of the death of a man who'd been named, by a newspaper investigation, as a possible suspect in one notorious case.

The Case

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Media
5:13 am
Sat May 18, 2013

Media Covers Itself In Privacy Debacles

Host Scott Simon talks to NPR's David Folkenflik about the Justice Department's seizure of phone records of Associated Press reporters and editors, and Bloomberg's secret monitoring of its sources' and customers' activities.

Parallels
5:13 am
Sat May 18, 2013

Afghan Mineral Treasures Stay Buried, Hostages To Uncertainty

For years, reports have suggested that Afghanistan is sitting on massive deposits of copper, gold, iron and rare earth minerals valued up to $3 trillion. This provides hope for a future economy that would not have to rely so heavily on foreign donations.

But with an uncertain political, regulatory and security environment, international investors are hesitant. And it could be many years before Afghanistan begins extracting its mineral wealth.

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It's All Politics
5:13 am
Sat May 18, 2013

Immigration Bill Chugs Along, But Some See Deal-Breakers

Credit Michael Reynolds / EPA/Landov
The Senate Judiciary Committee meets to work on immigration legislation on May 9.

It's been a long slog already for the bipartisan immigration overhaul proposed by the Senate's Gang of Eight.

The legislation has been the target of more than 300 amendments during days of debate and votes by the Senate Judiciary Committee. But while the bill has largely held its own so far, its prospects for getting through Congress remain uncertain.

In Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy's view, the immigration overhaul is "moving very well."

"It's moving a lot faster than people said it would," says Leahy, a Vermont Democrat.

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Politics
5:13 am
Sat May 18, 2013

What A Week: White House Rattled By Controversy

NPR's Ari Shapiro joins host Scott Simon to talk about the Obama administration's week. The president was buffeted by revelations that the IRS had targeted Tea Party groups seeking tax-exempt status and that the Justice Department had subpoenaed reporter phone records. On top of that, Republicans continue to allege that the White House engaged in a cover-up of talking points about the attack in Benghazi, Libya.

Sports
5:13 am
Sat May 18, 2013

Sports: Playoffs, Hard Hits, Soccer Kicks

Host Scott Simon talks to ESPN's Howard Bryant about the NBA playoffs, Washington Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper's collision with a wall, and David Beckham's retirement from soccer.

U.S.
5:13 am
Sat May 18, 2013

When Alcohol Takes The Wheel: What's Your Limit?

This week, the National Transportation Safety Board recommended lowering the legal limit of blood alcohol content for drivers to .05 or even lower. Currently, it's illegal to drive in all states with a BAC of .08 or higher. Host Scott Simon speaks with Dr. Anthony Liguori of Wake Forest School of Medicine about alcohol's impact on driving ability.

Music Interviews
2:03 am
Sat May 18, 2013

Audra McDonald, A Broadway Star Gone Roaming, Comes Home

Credit Autumn de Wilde / Courtesy of the artist
Audra McDonald's new album, Go Back Home, marks a return to her roots in musical theater.

Originally published on Sat May 18, 2013 5:19 am

In the seven years since her last album, Audra McDonald has kept busy. She spent several years in Hollywood, filming the television series Private Practice. She's gotten divorced and remarried, absorbed the shock of losing her father in a plane crash and watched her daughter, Zoe, grow up from a kindergartener to a middle-schooler.

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The Two-Way
1:59 am
Sat May 18, 2013

French President Signs Same-Sex Marriage Into Law

France is officially the 14th country to legalize gay marriage. Saturday, President Francois Hollande signed a bill that Parliament had passed in April, which gives same-sex couples the right to marry and adopt.

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It's All Politics
7:31 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

Why the IRS Scandal Is Built To Last

Credit Charles Dharapak / AP
Ousted IRS chief Steve Miller (right) and J. Russell George, a Treasury inspector general, take the oath before testifying on before the House Ways and Means Committee on Friday.

Originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 8:41 pm

Of all the controversies swirling around the Obama White House, the Internal Revenue Service scandal seems likeliest to have the longest shelf life.

While the Benghazi affair has long been in the news, it's never really taken off as an issue beyond the Republican base.

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The Two-Way
7:25 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

Injuries Reported In 'Major' Train Derailment In Connecticut

Originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 8:57 pm

Two Metro-North Railroad trains have collided on a stretch of track near Fairfield, Conn., causing a "major derailment" and "preliminary reports of injuries," according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

[Update at 8:55 p.m. ET: The Associated Press quotes Connecticut officials as saying about 50 people have been hurt, four of them seriously.]

According to The Hartford Courant:

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The Two-Way
6:54 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

Need A Tattoo Translated? Forget The British Foreign Office

Credit Saeed Khan / AFP/Getty Images
A man gets a tattoo in Bangkok. The British Foreign Office says its citizens abroad have some odd requests.

The British Foreign Office is happy to assist its citizens, but officials want to make clear that there are some requests they won't fulfill.

Such as supplying Olympic tickets or doing a background check on that Swedish woman you met online.

Those are just a few of the "often good natured" but distracting requests that the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) says it received over the past year, according to a press release issued Thursday.

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Shots - Health News
5:39 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

Experts Agree: 'Psychiatry's Bible' Is No Bible

Credit iStockphoto.com
The new version of the psychiatric "bible" is more of a dictionary, psychiatrists say.

Originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 7:06 pm

When the American Psychiatric Association releases its new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders -- DSM-5 -- this weekend, lots of journalists and commentators will refer to it as "psychiatry's bible."

That's a term that makes the manual's authors and other mental experts cringe.

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Code Switch
5:36 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

'Venus and Serena': An Extraordinary Story, Told On Film

Originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 6:52 pm

It's Cinderella plus Jackie Robinson times two. When Venus and Serena Williams burst onto the lily-white world of tennis, they changed the game and made history: They were sisters. From a poor neighborhood. Who brought unprecedented power to the game. And both reached No. 1.

Their journey is the subject of a new documentary called Venus and Serena, showing in select theaters around the country.

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The Two-Way
5:35 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

America's Cup Death Raises Concerns Over High-Tech Race Boats

Credit Noah Berger / AP
The Artemis Racing AC72 catamaran lies capsized after a training sail in San Francisco Bay on May 9.

America's Cup, the oldest and most prestigious sailing competition, has hit some choppy water.

The death last week of British sailor and gold medal Olympian Andrew "Bart" Simpson when the boat he was crewing capsized and broke up during a practice run off San Francisco, has prompted tough questions about safety.

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Around the Nation
5:29 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

Michigan LGBT Youth Center Does Outreach With A Dance 'Hook'

Credit Mercedes Mejia / Michigan Radio
The Ruth Ellis Center helps about 5,000 young people each year.

Originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 6:52 pm

It's All Politics
5:29 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

Obama U: What Graduation Speeches Say About The President

Originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 6:52 pm

Around the Nation
5:29 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

Boston Bombings Prompt Fresh Look At Unsolved Murders

Credit YouTube
Gerry Leone was the district attorney for Middlesex County in Massachusetts when three people were murdered in a house in the Boston suburb of Waltham. He told reporters that police suspected the assailants and the victims knew each other.

Originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 6:52 pm

An unsolved triple murder in the Boston suburbs is getting a closer look in the wake of the marathon bombings. One of the victims may have been a friend of bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev. That's prompting authorities to revisit the 2011 case.

The murders took place in Waltham, Mass. On Sept. 12, 2011, police responded to a house in the leafy suburb a few miles west of Boston.

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Movie Interviews
4:49 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

Quinto Turns Inward To Find Spock's Soul

Originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 6:52 pm

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