News

National

Eyewitnesses To Texas Explosion Describe The Scene

12:22pm April 18, 2013

David Greene has an eyewitness account of Wednesday night's explosion at a fertilizer plant near Waco, Texas. West resident Julia Zahirniak and her son Anthony, who were across the street at West Intermediate School when the plant exploded, spoke with NPR's John Burnett.

Queue Listen Now

National

Texas Town Staggered By Massive Explosion

12:22pm April 18, 2013

When volunteer firefighters in the city of West, Texas, about 20 miles north of Waco, arrived to battle a fire at a fertilizer plant, they encountered a disaster in the making. Steve Inskeep and David Greene have more details on the explosion that followed Wednesday night.

Queue Listen Now

National

Obama Visits Boston Service As Investigation Continues

12:22pm April 18, 2013

Hundreds of people gathered at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston's South End, about a mile from the bombing site, for an interfaith memorial service Thursday.

Queue Listen Now

National

Search And Rescue Ongoing After Texas Plant Explosion

12:22pm April 18, 2013

A fertilizer plant exploded near Waco, Texas, Wednesday night. Officials report between five and 15 people were killed, and more than 160 wounded.

Queue Listen Now

Protesters demonstrate in front of the U.S. Capitol on April 10.

Immigration Proves A 'Rubik's Cube' For Many Republicans

8:37pm April 17, 2013

by Mara Liasson

They don't want to offend Hispanic voters, but they don't want to turn off the GOP base either, says Ron Bonjean, a former Republican leadership aide. And competing for Hispanic votes is not a top priority for the sizable number of Republican rank and file who still see the bill as amnesty.

Queue Listen Now

A DJ plays for a crowded street at Oakland's Art Murmur celebration in February.

Seeking Oakland's Soul In The 'New Oakland'

8:17pm April 17, 2013

by Shereen Marisol Meraji

Oakland, Calif., was a hub of African-American life on the West Coast. Today, it's one of the most diverse cities in the country. How has that shift affected its culture?

Queue Listen Now

'The Hell Of American Day Care': Expensive And 'Mediocre'

2:49pm April 17, 2013

In a cover story for The New Republic, journalist Jonathan Cohn examines the conundrum of day care in the United States. "On the one hand," he says, "improving the quality of child care ... is going to take more money. On the other hand, it already costs more than many families can pay."

Queue Listen Now

The Pitch For More No. 42s

2:46pm April 17, 2013

by Frank Deford

There's more buzz than usual this year around baseball legend Jackie Robinson, who made his major league debut on April 15, 1947. But commentator Frank Deford says there isn't enough buzz in college athletics to help shape the Robinsons of the future.

Queue Listen Now

Vice President Biden and members of Congress watch as President Obama signs the STOCK Act on April 4, 2012. A year later, Congress moved to undo large portions of the law without fanfare.

How Congress Quietly Overhauled Its Insider-Trading Law

5:46pm April 16, 2013

by Tamara Keith

With no fanfare, Congress moved to undo large parts of the popular law known as the STOCK Act, and President Obama has signed the watered-down measure into law. Insider trading is still illegal, but disclosures of large stock trades by staffers will be harder to get than under the original law.

Queue Listen Now

Boston Globe Columnist: 'A Little Bit Of Freedom Taken Away'

3:00pm April 16, 2013

Sports columnist Dan Shaughnessy talks with Fresh Air's Terry Gross about Monday's events at the Boston Marathon, the place the marathon holds in the life of the city, its importance in the international world of running, and the history of attacks at sporting events.

Queue Listen Now