National

National

A Furry Feline Welcome From A Cat Cafe

12:05pm February 08, 2014

Plans are underway to open KitTea, a gourmet tea house in San Francisco, where patrons mingle with "resident" cats. The felines will come from rescue shelters and be up for adoption. NPR's Scott Simon talks to Courtney Hatt, the co-founder of KitTea, about starting a cat cafe.

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Sochi An Olympic Spectacle Even Without The Games

12:05pm February 08, 2014

What a week in Sochi, Russia! NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Olympics correspondent Tamara Keith about the ill-fated opening ceremony, stray dogs and bad hotel rooms, as well as who won the first gold medal.

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Obama Tries Going It Alone — And Moves Onto Murky Legal Ground

9:04pm February 07, 2014

by Carrie Johnson

President Obama's strategy of governing by executive order is designed to deal with a recalcitrant Congress. But Republican lawmakers are signaling that they'll challenge the White House there too by demanding the legal analysis to support the president's actions.

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Chris Wasil, a forest area supervisor for Palm Beach County, demonstrates how satellite maps depict the location and movement of fire equipment.

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Technology Tracks Crews Through The Fog Of Wildfire

9:04pm February 07, 2014

by Greg Allen

Communication breakdowns can be fatal for firefighters, but are all too easy when crews are shrouded in smoke and a blaze is moving fast. Florida, with its millions of acres of forest and grassland, has rolled out a new system that can pinpoint crews without relying on voice communication.

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Susan Crawford says that in cities like Seoul and Stockholm, high-speed, high-capacity networks are taken for granted. "It really is astonishing what's going on in America," she says. "We're falling way behind in the pack of developed nations when it come

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Author: When It Comes To High-Speed Internet, U.S. 'Falling Way Behind'

12:41pm February 07, 2014

The U.S. needs to start treating the Internet like electricity or railroads, law professor and author Susan Crawford says. "We can't create a level playing field for all Americans or indeed compete on the world stage without having some form of government involvement," she says.

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National

The Avalanche And The Alaskan City Finding Its Way Out

7:55pm February 06, 2014

The only road into Valdez, Alaska, was reopened on Wednesday after an avalanche closed the city off from all highway traffic for nearly two weeks. Melissa Block speaks with Valdez City Manager John Hozey, who helped coordinate clean-up efforts for the city's more than 4,000 residents.

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President Obama tours a Costco location in Lanham, Md., on Jan. 29, before speaking about raising the federal minimum wage.

As Deficit Anxiety Fades, Debt Rears Its Ugly Head

7:55pm February 06, 2014

by Mara Liasson

Cutting the national debt and deficit used to be the most divisive political debate in Washington. These days, not so much. Both parties have agreed to move on and focus on issues they largely agree on: income inequality and social mobility. But there's not much they can do without a sustainable budget.

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Michael Dunn (right), who faces first-degree murder charges in the death of 17-year-old Jordan Davis, stands with his attorney Cory Strolla (left) at Duval County Courthouse in Jacksonville, Fla., on Thursday.

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Another Florida Case Puts 'Stand Your Ground' Back In Court

7:55pm February 06, 2014

by Greg Allen

In a courtroom in Jacksonville, Fla., on Thursday, prosecutors and the defense laid out different versions of how 47-year-old Michael Dunn, who is white, came to shoot and kill Jordan Davis, a black 17-year-old.

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Hagel Concerned By Ethical Lapses In Armed Forces

7:59am February 06, 2014

by Tom Bowman

Scandals seem to be popping up almost weekly in the military: Air Force missile officers cheating on exams. Army officers getting kickbacks. Navy instructors sharing test results. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has ordered some reviews of the nuclear force, and asked for an update on ethics teaching at military schools.

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Volunteers with the Dan River Basin Association, graduate students from Duke University and staff with the environmental group Appalachian Voices collect water samples on the Dan River after a massive coal ash spill.

More Than 80,000 Tons Of Coal Ash Flow Into N.C. River

10:23pm February 05, 2014

by Jeff Tiberii

A broken stormwater pipe in North Carolina has sent the waste into the Dan River, which flows through Virginia and out into the Atlantic. Officials say the drinking water is safe, but environmental questions linger.

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