U.S.

Breaking Down The Race For The Speaker's Gavel

6:49pm October 04, 2015

The competition for speaker of the House turned competitive on Sunday. Senior editor Ron Elving talks with NPR's Michel Martin about what this could mean for the leadership in Congress.

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Chaffetz Leaps Into Race To Succeed Boehner As Speaker

6:49pm October 04, 2015

Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, announced he will run for speaker of the House, challenging GOP majority leader Kevin McCarthy to become the successor to outgoing Speaker John Boehner.

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Suburban High School Says Farewell To Football

6:49pm October 04, 2015

In St. Louis, a school district has disbanded its football team, citing injuries and waning demand for the sport.

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Doctors Without Borders Director: U.S.-Allied Forces To Blame For Attack

6:49pm October 04, 2015

The international medical aid group Doctors Without Borders is blaming U.S-allied forces for a deadly attack on one of its hospitals in Afghanistan.

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Flotsam In Area Where Cargo Ship Went Missing, Coast Guard Says

2:59pm October 04, 2015

by Scott Neuman

Authorities lost contact with the El Faro, a 790-foot cargo vessel, after it sent an satellite distress message amid hurricane-force winds and waves in the Bahamas.

When he was 59 years old, Greg O'Brien was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease. Five years later, he is speaking publicly about his experience, even as his symptoms worsen.

'How Do You Tell Your Kids That You've Got Alzheimer's?'

2:47pm October 04, 2015

by Rebecca Hersher

Writer Greg O'Brien was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's disease five years ago. He describes what it was like to hear the news — and break it to his family.

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House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, speaks on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. Chaffetz says he wants to mount a challenge for the House speaker's post.

As Chaffetz Jumps In, Race For House Speaker Turns Competitive

2:05pm October 04, 2015

by Scott Neuman

Utah Republican Rep. Jason Chaffetz says he's a better choice for the job than Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy.

"My brain used to be my best friend," says Greg O'Brien, a journalist with early onset Alzheimer's. But he can't trust it anymore, he says. Alzheimer's is, in some ways, changing who he is.

As A Father's Alzheimer's Progresses, Family Learns To Love Him As He Is

1:42pm October 04, 2015

by Rebecca Hersher

As his disease advances, Greg O'Brien finds his personality shifting, too. "I know I can't go back to who I was before," he says. "I've got to learn to live with the new me."

President Obama at an interfaith vigil for the shooting victims at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012.

Listen: President Obama's Increasing Frustration On Guns

9:28am October 04, 2015

by Amita Kelly

As he has responded to mass shootings, Obama has become more forceful on gun politics, especially after the massacre in Newtown, Conn. But he's also frustrated at the failure to pass stricter laws.

A cell at El Reno Federal Correctional Institution in Oklahoma, which President Obama visited in July. The Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act would apply only to federal crimes and federal prisons, which house a shade over 200,000 inmates — a tiny fr

Here's One Thing Washington Agreed On This Week: Sentencing Reform

11:01pm October 03, 2015

by Carrie Johnson

Criminal justice experts and advocates say they're cautiously optimistic about a new bipartisan proposal in the Senate — the Sentencing Reform and Corrections Act.