U.S.

Community Policing Doesn't Sit Well With Everyone, Former Prosecutor Says

6:23pm May 18, 2015

NPR's Robert Siegel interviews Eugene O'Donnell, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, a former NYPD officer and prosecutor, who says not everyone agrees on how police should work.

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Tents are pitched illegally on a sidewalk in Seattle in January. The number of people sleeping outside in the city shot up by 20 percent in just the past year.

National

Amid Seattle's Affluence, Homelessness Also Flourishes

4:41pm May 18, 2015

by John Ryan

In Seattle — one of the nation's wealthiest cities — homelessness has surged over the past decade. More people are now homeless in Seattle than anywhere except New York City, Los Angeles or Las Vegas.

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A federal court has dissolved an order that forced Google-owned YouTube to take down the controversial "Innocence of Muslims" video. The ruling rejects copyright claims from Cindy Lee Garcia, an actress in the video.

Google Wins Copyright And Speech Case Over 'Innocence Of Muslims' Video

3:58pm May 18, 2015

by Bill Chappell

A federal appeals court has reversed an order that forced Google-owned YouTube to take down a trailer for a controversial anti-Muslim video last year.

Supreme Court Calls Maryland Income Tax Law 'A Tariff'

3:40pm May 18, 2015

by Bill Chappell

The court says Maryland unconstitutionally raised the cost of doing business in more than one state, by letting local governments tax money that was earned — and taxed — in other states.

To study the draft Trans-Pacific Partnership language, senators have to go to the basement of the Capitol and enter a secured, soundproof room and surrender their mobile devices.

A Trade Deal Read In Secret By Only A Few (Or Maybe None)

2:16pm May 18, 2015

by Ailsa Chang

To study the draft Trans-Pacific Partnership text, senators have to go to the basement of the Capitol and enter a secured, soundproof room and surrender their cellphones.

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Peter Mawson, director of animal health and research at the Perth Zoo in Australia, shows off a Western Swamp Tortoise in the zoo's breeding area (where visitors are not allowed). Like numbats, these tortoises are critically endangered and Mawson and his

How To Feed A Numbat: Zoo Cookery Aids Endangered Species

2:01pm May 18, 2015

by Sujata Gupta

Zoo nutritionists these days have to do more than try to keep displayed animals happy and healthy. Sometimes the goal is to bring endangered wildlife back from the brink.

House Approves USA Freedom Act, Extending And Revising The Patriot Act

1:49pm May 18, 2015

by Bill Chappell

The USA Freedom Act would extend many parts of the surveillance legislation while also barring the NSA's massive collection of Americans' phone data. The measure's fate in the Senate is uncertain.

A helicopter flies over a section of Baltimore affected by riots. Richard Rothstein writes that recent unrest in Baltimore is the legacy of a century of federal, state and local policies designed to "quarantine Baltimore's black population in isolated slu

National

Historian Says Don't 'Sanitize' How Our Government Created Ghettos

1:25pm May 18, 2015

Richard Rothstein, who studies residential segregation in America, concludes: "Federal, state and local governments purposely created racial boundaries in these cities."

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Jars of Terressentia bourbon wait for final production. Terressentia uses a process to artificially "age" its bourbon in a few hours, forgoing traditional aging, which takes years.

South Carolina Distiller Promises To Make Kentucky Liquor Quicker

1:04pm May 18, 2015

by Cass Herrington

A company called Terressentia that uses a chemical process to age bourbon not in years — but in hours — is unsettling an industry that is long-soaked in history and tradition.

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Sam Swiller and his dog, Sully, in their home in Washington, D.C.

Deaf Jam: Experiencing Music Through A Cochlear Implant

12:16pm May 18, 2015

by Jon Hamilton

After swapping hearing aids for a cochlear implant, Sam Swiller's taste in music shifted dramatically, from grunge rock to folk. Now scientists are trying to improve how implants relay music.

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