News

A security fence surrounds the inmate housing on New York's Rikers Island correctional facility in New York.

National

New York City Officials Reach Deal On Shuttering Rikers Island

2:32pm February 15, 2018

by Tanya Ballard Brown

Now, Mayor Bill de Blasio can move forward with a 10-year plan to close the jail complex and create a borough-based prison system. State officials may seek to close it sooner.

National

Trump Uses MS-13 To 'Sell Draconian Overhauls Of Border Issues,' Journalist Says

2:25pm February 15, 2018

by Terry Gross

New Yorker writer Jonathan Blitzer says President Trump uses the notorious gang to paint a portrait of rampant criminality among immigrants — and to frame the broader immigration debate.

Queue Listen Now

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar faced questions Wednesday from the House Ways and Means Committee about Idaho's move.

Idaho Insurer Moves Ahead With Health Plans That Flout Federal Rules

2:07pm February 15, 2018

by Julie Appleby

Blue Cross of Idaho unveiled new health plans that break with federal requirements in several ways, including setting premiums based on applicants' health. What will the administration do?

Abortion-rights activists stand in protest on Dec. 13, 2017, in the Ohio Senate chamber in Columbus, after passage of a bill banning abortions in cases of a Down syndrome diagnosis. On Thursday, the ACLU filed suit on behalf of providers in a bid to halt

National

ACLU Sues To Halt 'Unconstitutional' Down Syndrome Abortion Law In Ohio

2:01pm February 15, 2018

by Amy Held

The suit, filed on behalf of several abortion providers, is a bid to block a controversial law that punishes providers when there is any "reason to believe that an unborn child has Down syndrome."

Staff at Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute sluice juvenile white seabass into a cage at Santa Catalina Island, in Southern California, where they grow before being released into the ocean. Thirty-five years ago, the state launched the program to bolster w

$40 Million Later, A Pioneering Plan To Boost Wild Fish Stocks Shows Little Success

1:46pm February 15, 2018

by Clare Leschin-Hoar

A California program begun 35 years ago to boost waning white seabass populations became a model for other states. Now the first scientific review finds the program had a stunningly low success rate.

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, arrives at the Capitol in Washington, in a photo from September.

White House Issues Veto Threat To Bipartisan Immigration Plan

1:14pm February 15, 2018

by Kelsey Snell

Senators have made little progress toward an immigration bill that can pass ahead of the chamber's self-imposed Friday deadline.

Queue Listen Now

When Dustin Gordon arrived at the University of Iowa, he found himself taking lecture classes with more people in them than his entire hometown of Sharpsburg, Iowa, population 89.

Education

Who's Missing From America's Colleges? Rural High School Graduates

1:08pm February 15, 2018

Fewer than 1 in 5 rural adults aged 25 and older have college degrees.

ICE has detained more than 100 people in the Los Angeles area in ongoing raids. Cities have pledged to not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.

National

ICE Detains More Than 100 In Los Angeles-Area Immigration Raids

12:27pm February 15, 2018

by James Doubek

The federal immigration enforcement agency said "uncooperative jurisdictions," like Los Angeles, were "putting officers, the general public and the aliens at risk."

Mei Lum holds a pair of iconic Fu Dogs in a discontinued turquoise glaze from Jingdezhen, China. Mei put grad school plans on hold to take over her family's business.

National

In One Of Chinatown's Oldest Landmarks, A New Generation Readies For Lunar New Year

12:19pm February 15, 2018

by Kat Chow

Mei Lum put off grad school to take over a porcelain shop in New York City that's been in her family for five generations. But Lum wonders, how can she lay new roots without eroding what's there?

A Happy Meal and McFlurry are arranged for a photograph at a McDonald's Corp. fast food restaurant in Phoenix, Ariz. The company says in the next four years, 50 percent or more of its kids meals will meet new nutrition criteria, with 600 or fewer calories

McDonald's Commits To More Balanced Happy Meals By 2022

12:09pm February 15, 2018

by Allison Aubrey

The company says in the next four years, 50 percent or more of its kids meals will meet new nutrition criteria, with 600 or fewer calories per meal and caps on calories from sugar and saturated fat.