Asia
3:41 pm
Thu July 12, 2012

Pimp My Rickshaw: India's Drivers Pump Up The Glam

Originally published on Thu July 12, 2012 5:10 pm

Dashboard statues of glow-in-the-dark Hindu gods, hubcaps painted like soccer balls and seat covers adorned with Bollywood stars — all this and more rickshaw bling is all the rage in India.

The motorized three-wheeled buggies are a fixture on India's crowded city streets, scooting in and out of traffic, picking up and dropping off passengers.

In New Delhi alone, there are some 50,000 of these vehicles. And that number is set to double as the city recently lifted a decades-long cap on the number of rickshaws allowed on the road.

Read more
Business
3:35 pm
Thu July 12, 2012

Lobster Glut, Low Prices Leave Boats High And Dry

Credit Robert F Bukaty / AP
A lobster on a boat off Mount Desert, Maine, is measured to see if it is a legal size. There has been a glut of lobster this season, driving down prices.

Originally published on Thu July 12, 2012 5:10 pm

This summer is shaping up to be a record season for lobster landings in Maine. That sounds like good news for a state where lobstering makes up a large part of the economy.

It may be welcome news for consumers and food retailers, but for the state's 5,000 lobstermen, it's a different story.

Hard To Make A Living

On Portland's waterfront, about five lobster boats are tied up at one of the piers. Half a dozen lobstermen stand around discussing the current problem of oversupply.

Read more
Poverty In America: The Struggle To Get Ahead
3:26 pm
Thu July 12, 2012

Turning Trash Into Cash To Help Nation's Poor

Originally published on Thu July 12, 2012 5:10 pm

The bad economy has hurt many nonprofits around the country, even as demands for their services have grown. That's certainly the case in Reading, Pa., which has been labeled the poorest city in America, with a poverty rate of more than 41 percent.

Now, one local nonprofit, Opportunity House, hopes to salvage some of its services by salvaging junk.

Looking For Help

Read more
All Songs Considered Blog
3:24 pm
Thu July 12, 2012

First Watch: Kalle Mattson, 'Water Falls'

Credit Courtesy of the artist

Originally published on Thu July 12, 2012 3:50 pm

Prepare to be amazed...and dizzy.

The music video for Ontario folk-rock singer Kalle Mattson's song 'Water Falls' syncs innovative hypnotic effects with the rhythm of the song and it's lyrics. As the song opens, Mattson sings, "With a quiet nod/Patterns arranged/I saw a lifetime pass you by each day" and the camera slingshots on a journey through the city of San Fransisco.

In an email, the Director Kevin Parry stated:

Read more
Planet Money
3:23 pm
Thu July 12, 2012

Waiting For JPMorgan And The Whale

Credit Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, here seen in June testifying before a congressional committee, will try to explain the bank's trading losses to investors on Friday.

Ever since the peak of the financial crisis, we've been treated to the occasional spectacle that leaves the market and its hangers-on in a tizzy: unveiling the terms of new bailout programs, revealing bank stress-test results, and, not long ago, JPMorgan Chase's chief executive

Read more
Shots - Health Blog
3:03 pm
Thu July 12, 2012

State Legislatures Stay Busy On Abortion Laws

Credit Steve Helber / AP
Virginia Senate Republican Leader Thomas Norment, of James City, (left), and State Sen. Stephen Newman, of Lynchburg, listen to a Feb. debate on a bill requiring an ultrasound before an abortion. The bill was later amended to remove a requirement for transvaginal ultrasound.

2011 was a banner year for state laws restricting abortion. And 2012 looks like runner-up.

That's the central finding of the midyear report from the Guttmacher Institute, the reproductive policy research group that keeps track of such things.

Read more
It's All Politics
2:56 pm
Thu July 12, 2012

Biden Says It, So Obama Doesn't Have To

Credit Pat Sullivan / AP
Vice President Biden addresses the NAACP annual convention Thursday in Houston.

Originally published on Thu July 12, 2012 3:31 pm

President Obama may have disappointed the NAACP by appearing only via brief video message Thursday at the civil rights group's annual gathering — especially after Mitt Romney had personally taken the stage a day earlier.

But sending in Vice President Biden to stir things up, just 24 hours after Romney was booed while delivering a conservative message meant to resonate beyond the walls of the Houston convention center, seemed to work out just fine for Obama.

Read more
A Blog Supreme
2:55 pm
Thu July 12, 2012

Back Home With Canada's Greatest Living Jazz Musician

Originally published on Tue September 18, 2012 4:15 pm

A week ago, Oliver Jones — the greatest living jazz musician in Canada — played his hometown Montreal International Jazz Festival, one of the world's largest. "Oliver Jones Plays Oliver Jones," read the bill. It was the first time, he said in a conversation earlier last week, that the pianist, now 77, would be playing strictly his own tunes for an entire set.

Read more
The Two-Way
2:42 pm
Thu July 12, 2012

Nike Announces They Will Take Paterno's Name Off Child Care Center

Credit Carolyn Kaster / AP
Former Penn State Coach Joe Paterno stands with his players in 2009.

Originally published on Thu July 12, 2012 3:45 pm

The fallout from the independent report on how Penn State handled the sexual abuse allegations by Jerry Sandusky has begun.

Nike has announced that it has removed the name of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno from its child care center in Oregon. Mark Parker, Nike's president and CEO, said he was "deeply saddened" by the results of the investigation.

Read more
It's All Politics
2:25 pm
Thu July 12, 2012

Three Crucial Years Propel Romney's Business Career Back To Center Stage

Credit Scott Gries / AP
Thomas Monaghan (left), founder and chairman of Domino's Pizza, signs an agreement to sell a "significant portion" of his stake in the company to Mitt Romney's Bain Capital, in 1998. Romney, then Bain's CEO, maintains that he left the firm the following year.

Originally published on Thu July 12, 2012 3:00 pm

Three years might not seem like a big deal when looking back over Mitt Romney's two-decade career with Bain Capital.

But a growing number of journalists — and the Obama campaign — think it is.

Read more

Pages