Now Playing

Podcasts & RSS Feeds

All ContentRSS
View all podcasts & RSS feeds

NPR News

Pages

Television
1:11 pm
Wed July 11, 2012

Finally, TV's 'Dolt' Dads Get To Evolve

Credit Peter "Hopper" Stone / ABC
In Modern Family, writes Hanna Rosin, dad Phil Dunphy, played by Ty Burrell, is "the center of joy and fun in his household."
Share
E-mail
Comments
By editor

Originally published on Wed July 11, 2012 2:02 pm

"Starting from the birth of sitcoms, fathers are pretty much universally morons," writes Hanna Rosin in a piece for Slate.com. The latest crop of sitcoms, though, showcases dads who are a stark contrast to the bumbling Stu Erwin, on The Trouble With Father, or Fred Flintstone, or even Homer Simpson, she adds.

Read more
Politics
1:11 pm
Wed July 11, 2012

Political Junkie Roundup: Money And The NAACP

Share
E-mail
Comments
By editor

Originally published on Wed July 11, 2012 1:34 pm

Transcript

NEAL CONAN, HOST:

This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm Neal Conan in Washington. The president pivots to taxes, Romney says he's just ducking the jobs number, and Palin pleads for partisan passion. It's Wednesday and time for a...

SARAH PALIN: Hair on fire...

CONAN: Edition of the political junkie.

PRESIDENT RONALD REAGAN: There you go again.

VICE PRESIDENT WALTER MONDALE: When I hear your new ideas, I'm reminded of that ad: Where's the beef?

SENATOR BARRY GOLDWATER: Extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice.

Read more
Around the Nation
1:11 pm
Wed July 11, 2012

What Happens When A City Declares Bankruptcy

Share
E-mail
Comments
By editor

Originally published on Wed July 11, 2012 1:36 pm

Transcript

NEAL CONAN, HOST:

San Bernardino is expected to become the third California city in the past month to file for bankruptcy. That follows Stockton and Mammoth Lakes. Even after layoffs and cuts to public employees' pay and pensions, officials in San Bernardino said the government could not cover upcoming bills. So what happens now to city services like police and fire protection, garbage collection, road repairs? Who gets paid, and who doesn't? If you have questions about municipal bankruptcy, give us a call, 800-989-8255.

Read more
The Two-Way
12:52 pm
Wed July 11, 2012

That's 'Gnathia Marleyi' To You: Scientist Names New Species After Bob Marley

Credit Ann Marie Coile / Arkansas State University
Male gnathiids.
Share
E-mail
Comments
By editor

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

We're not quite sure what to make of it. Is it an honor? Is it an insult?

Read more
Europe
12:51 pm
Wed July 11, 2012

In France, The (Abandoned) Dog Days Of Summer

Next imagePrevious image
Credit Joel Saget / AFP/Getty Images
Dogs wait to be adopted at the Animals Without Home shelter south of Paris in Montgeron, France, in August 2010. France is among the European countries with the highest number of abandoned pets during the summer months, when people take long vacations.
Credit Joel Saget / AFP/Getty Images
A volunteer takes an abandoned dog for a walk at the Animals Without Home shelter in 2010.
Credit Eleanor Beardsley / NPR
Claire Brissard runs an SPCA shelter outside Paris. She says too many French equate a pet with a stuffed animal — to be thrown away when they get tired of it.
Share
E-mail
Comments
By

Originally published on Wed July 11, 2012 4:33 pm

For Europeans, it's not uncommon to take a whole month of vacation in the summer. But the season can be a deadly time for the many pets left behind — permanently.

The abandonment of domestic animals by vacationers is a scourge in many countries across Europe. And in France, this summer isn't likely to be different despite campaigns by animal-rights groups against the practice.

Read more
It's All Politics
12:44 pm
Wed July 11, 2012

Romney Absorbs Boos, Tells NAACP That Democrats Have Failed Blacks

Credit Pat Sullivan / AP
Mitt Romney speaks at the NAACP annual convention Wednesday in Houston.
Share
E-mail
Comments
By

Originally published on Wed July 11, 2012 2:02 pm

Read more
Movie Interviews
11:47 am
Wed July 11, 2012

'Margaret:' Inside The 'Fall' Of A Teenager

Next imagePrevious image
Credit Fox Searchlight Pictures
In Margaret, Lisa (Anna Paquin) distracts a bus driver, which leads to an accident in which a pedestrian is run over and dies.
Credit courtesy of the filmmaker
Kenneth Lonergan received many writing awards and nominations for his 2000 movie You Can Count On Me.
Share
E-mail
Comments
By editor

Originally published on Wed July 11, 2012 12:32 pm

Kenneth Lonergan's critically acclaimed film Margaret was completed in 2006, but because of several lawsuits, it wasn't released until last year.

Called "nothing short of a masterwork" by The New Yorker, the film stars Anna Paquin as Lisa, a Manhattan teenager who tries to make sense of a bus accident she may have caused — one that resulted in a woman's death. Lonergan tells Terry Gross that he wrote the film because he was interested in how teenagers transition into an adult world.

Read more
Book Reviews
11:40 am
Wed July 11, 2012

'A Door In The Ocean' Leads To Dark Depths

Next imagePrevious image
Credit /
Credit Stacy Young /
As a competitive swimmer, David McGlynn won the 500-yard freestyle at the 2001 United States Masters National Championships. He is also the author of the story collection The End of the Straight and Narrow.
Share
E-mail
Comments
By

Originally published on Mon July 16, 2012 1:23 pm

Many of the key scenes in David McGlynn's striking new memoir, A Door in the Ocean, take place at the beach or in swimming pools. McGlynn was a surfer and competitive swimmer in his school days and still squeezes into his Speedos for races like the annual 5K "Gatorman" off the coast of La Jolla, Calif. Ocean swimming, in particular, transports McGlynn to another realm, and he does a terrific job of dramatizing the allure of solitary swims in open water. Midway through his book, he writes:

Read more
The Two-Way
11:39 am
Wed July 11, 2012

Kim Dotcom, Megaupload Founder, Offers To Extradite Himself

Credit Michael Bradley / AFP/Getty Images
Megaupload boss Kim Dotcom, left, leaves court after he was granted bail in the in Auckland, New Zealand.
Share
E-mail
Comments
By Eyder Peralta

Originally published on Wed July 11, 2012 12:31 pm

Kim Dotcom, the founder of Megaupload, now says he's ready to fly himself to the United States to face charges and forgo what could be a lengthy extradition process.

As you might expect, Dotcom made the offer of self-extradition on Twitter, saying:

"Hey DOJ, we will go to the US. No need for extradition. We want bail, funds unfrozen for lawyers & living expenses."

Read more
The Two-Way
11:37 am
Wed July 11, 2012

Heir To Billions May Have Lived With Wife's Body For Days In Britain

Credit Alan Davidson / AP
Eva Rausing, right, and her husband Hans Kristian Rausing in 1996.
Share
E-mail
Comments
By

"Detectives are investigating whether one of the heirs to the Tetra Pak drinks carton fortune lived with his wife's body for up to a week after her death in their Belgravia mansion in London," The Guardian reports.

Read more

Pages