National

National

Hot Coffee Thwarts Robbery Attempt

3:18pm March 12, 2013

In West Haven, Connecticut, a man ordered coffee at a drive-thru Dunkin Donuts. He then announced a robbery and tried to climb through the window. Police say the clerk threw hot coffee in his face.

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National

Death Cafes Breathe Life Into Conversations About Dying

1:20pm March 12, 2013

by Deena Prichep

Jon Underwood, a British Web designer and self-named "death entrepreneur," helps people talk about the taboo topic over tea and cake. "When we acknowledge that we're going to die, it falls back on ourselves to ask the question, 'Well, in this limited time that I've got, what's important for me to do?' " Underwood says.

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Noah Zandan shows off his Zeo sleep-tracking headband. His other self-tracking devices are on his wrists. Noah and his father, Peter, are both part of the growing "Quantified Self" movement.

Self-Tracking Apps To Help You 'Quantify' Yourself

11:11am March 12, 2013

by Elise Hu

Technology is making it easier than ever to track everything from your sleep cycles to the food you eat — and even your amino acid levels.

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Owens Lake — which dried up after losing its water source, the Owens River, to Los Angeles — is known to be a source of air pollution. The city of L.A. is in court over obligations to control dust pollution at the lake.

National

Owens Valley Salty As Los Angeles Water Battle Flows Into Court

6:30pm March 11, 2013

by Kirk Siegler

Almost 100 years ago, a water-supply diversion from Owens River helped quench Los Angeles' thirst some 200 miles away. L.A. thrived, but it drained the Owens Lake and created a salt flat that now pollutes the air. A century later, the finger-pointing continues, and this week, the city's water department is back in court over its cleanup plan.

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Standing in front of the Constitution, President Obama delivers an address on national security and terrorism in 2009 at the National Archives in Washington.

Obama Team Stops Saying 'Global War On Terror' But Doesn't Stop Waging It

5:36pm March 11, 2013

by Ari Shapiro

When President Obama took office, he changed the rhetoric from the Bush years. But he never abandoned the idea of global war — a concept with profound legal implications.

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Kirk Bloodsworth was the first person in the U.S. to be exonerated by DNA evidence after receiving the death sentence. Convicted in 1985 of the rape and murder of a young girl, he was released in 1993.

National

Once On Death Row, He Now Fights To Defeat The Death Penalty

7:35pm March 10, 2013

by Margot Adler

Kirk Bloodsworth was the first person in the U.S. to be exonerated by DNA evidence after receiving the death sentence. Convicted in Maryland, Bloodsworth is now one of the strongest advocates of abolishing the death penalty in the state.

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A hallway at Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia. The prison, opened in 1829 and closed in 1970, pioneered the use of solitary confinement.

National

Solitary Confinement: Punishment Or Cruelty?

5:01pm March 10, 2013

by NPR Staff

An estimated 80,000 American prisoners spend 23 hours a day in closed isolation units for 10, 20 or even more than 30 years. Now, amid growing evidence that it causes mental breakdown, the Federal Bureau of Prisons has decided to review its policies on solitary confinement.

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Luke and Mark Radlinski reunite at the airport after Mark's deployment in 2007.

National

Returning From Duty, Finding Families' Embrace

12:29pm March 09, 2013

by NPR Staff

For Navy Lt. Mark Radlinski, coming home from Iraq was both the best and worst day. But his brother had no mixed emotions — it was all positive. When Felicia Banks deployed with the Army, her children were not as aware of what was going on. They knew they were thrilled to have her back, though.

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Amid Unemployment Numbers, Faces Of Those Who've Lost Hope

8:18am March 09, 2013

Host Scott Simon talks with people who have spent months trying to find work about how they are making ends meet.

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National

Found At Sea, Civil War Sailors Buried In Arlington

8:18am March 09, 2013

Friday, two Civil War sailors were laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. Host Scott Simon talks with Anna Holloway, curator of the USS Monitor Center in Newport, Va., about the two sailors whose bodies were discovered in the turret of a wrecked ship in 2002.

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