NPR

L.A.'s Mid-Wilshire neighborhood could be election bellwether

2013-05-19 19:21:00

It's a small swath of Los Angeles, near the city's heart, that hasn't received much attention from the mayoral candidates. But a Times analysis shows that a 2.8-square-mile, Mid-Wilshire neighborhood has had an unmatched record of picking mayors in both...

Ka-ching: Rick Perry's plan for Texa$ universities

2013-05-13 12:09:00

There are three things Rick Perry would like to do to the great public universities of Texas, but he can only remember two of them. That’s a joke. You may remember that during a 2012 presidential debate, he started to list three departments of...

CNN's 'Reliable Sources' host Howard Kurtz is grilled on own show

2013-05-05 09:37:00

Instead of probing how other media outlets are doing their jobs, CNN media critic Howard Kurtz spent a big chunk of his Sunday morning show "Reliable Sources" being questioned about his own work. Kurtz took heat last week for a piece he wrote for the...

With NPR's 'Wait Wait,' eggheads at the multiplex

2013-05-03 16:56:00

NEW YORK -- At about 8 p.m. Thursday night, as moviegoers around the country were lining up to see “Iron Man 3,”an assuredly smaller group was gathering at 600 North American theaters for the live-cinema simulcast of the popular NPR game...

Celebrate Thomas Pynchon's birthday with Pynchon in Public Day

2013-05-08 06:30:00

Happy birthday to Thomas Pynchon! The reclusive author� of "Gravity's Rainbow," "The Crying of Lot 49," "Mason & Dixon" and more turns 76 today. Unlike the attention-seekers that clog our cultural aqueduct, Pynchon isn't likely to show up on CNN or NPR....

Peter Sagal's 'Constitution USA' hits the road with humor

2013-05-07 07:00:00

NEW YORK — If someone told you of a barnstorming TV host who interviewed people around the country about a given subject, you'd say it sounds like a lot of the road-trip reality series that have proliferated on cable TV. But what if that host...

A poem for a planet: Send your haiku to Mars

2013-05-02 16:25:00

The MAVEN spacecraft is leaving for Mars in November. Along with scientific gear and advanced communication technologies, it will be bringing along some poetry. It could be yours. NASA launched -- or, rather, opened -- the poetry contest on Wednesday....

In wake of hack, Twitter reportedly testing two-step verification

2013-04-24 12:56:00

Twitter is working on a two-step verification security method that could make it more difficult for hackers to take over users' accounts, according to a report. Wired said Wednesday that the San Francisco-based social network is internally testing the...

'Pain & Gain' is all brawn, no brains, reviews say

2013-04-26 11:15:00

Leave it to Michael Bay to spend $26 million making a low-budget comedy. If that sounds like a robust price tag for "Pain & Gain," his new true-crime-inspired tale about three Miami gym rats who kidnap and extort a wealthy sandwich shop owner, consider...

Doctors describe 'death with dignity' program for cancer patients

2013-04-11 06:00:00

A majority of Americans support the idea of allowing terminally ill patients to end their lives with the help of their doctors. For instance, 55% of people questioned for the NPR-Truven Health Analytics Health Poll last� year said they were in favor of...

KCRW gets 'Le Show' off the road as part of new strategy

2013-04-23 05:00:00

Harry Shearer is wondering what went wrong. His Sunday morning satire program, "Le Show," is syndicated to about 100 public radio stations nationwide and is also available on shortwave radio, NPR Worldwide and as a podcast on iTunes. Yet the station...

Adam Johnson wins the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for 2013

2013-04-15 12:28:00

The Pulitzer Prize in fiction, announced Monday, has been awarded to Adam Johnson for his book set in North Korea, "The Orphan Master's Son." The committee described the book as "an exquisitely crafted novel that carries the reader on an adventuresome...

Scott Simon, host of "Weekend Edition Saturday," at NPR headquarters in Washington.

2013-05-17 16:56:19

National Public Radio host Michele Norris, left, speaks at the Baltimore Book Festival in Mount Vernon. WYPR radio host Nathan Sterner is on right.

2013-05-06 15:19:55

Peter Sagal, host of NPR's "Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me," travels cross-country on a customized Harley-Davidson to find out what the Constitution means in the 21st century.

2013-05-06 15:08:00