National

National

"Music Man" Finds A Home For His Vinyl

4:40pm June 15, 2013

Last year Weekend Edition Saturday Host Scott Simon talked with Music Man Murray in Los Angeles and his struggle to find a home for his huge vinyl album collection. Now Scott has an update, with a happy ending.

Queue Listen Now

Will The Court's Gene Ruling Stifle Bio Innovation?

4:40pm June 15, 2013

Weekend Edition Saturday Host Scott Simon talks with bioethicist Arthur Caplan of New York University about Thursday's Supreme Court ruling that isolated human genes may not be patented — and the implications for that ruling.

Queue Listen Now

National

Rain, Cooler Weather Slow Colorado Fire

4:40pm June 15, 2013

by Kirk Siegler

Nevertheless, the fire that started on Tuesday is being called the most destructive fire in Colorado's history.

Queue Listen Now

National

Flocking To The Fudge Capital

4:40pm June 15, 2013

June 16th isn't just Father's Day; it's also National Fudge Day. The first batch of fudge was concocted in Baltimore in the 1880s. By the turn of the century, fudge-making arrived on Mackinac Island in northern Michigan, which today has a legitimate claim as the modern day fudge capital.

Queue Listen Now

Sebastien de la Cruz gave an encore performance of

11-Year-Old Keeps Singing In Face Of Hate

7:59pm June 14, 2013

by Hansi Lo Wang

Sebastien de la Cruz sang the national anthem at a second game of the NBA Finals after his first performance spurred a flurry of racist tweets.

Queue Listen Now

"A Gift for the Grangers" was a recruitment poster for the National Grange printed in 1873. Grange membership around this period was estimated by some to be as high as 2 million. Today it's less than 200,000.

National

New Blood Sparks Identity Crisis For Fraternal Group Of Farmers

6:12pm June 14, 2013

by Jeff Brady

A fraternal agriculture organization known as the Grange must bring in younger members to survive. But the new generation's interest in environmental issues and food politics is clashing with the Grange's support of industrial farms.

Queue Listen Now

Harlem funeral directors Tamara Bullock and Patricia Hamilton are going to spend their next savings-club payout on a sky-diving trip (unless Bullock can get out of it).

When People Make Their Own Banks

6:12pm June 14, 2013

by Marianne McCune

An ex-con lends money to people in need; a group of friends creates a savings club. Even without banks, people often figure out how to get the money they need, when they need it.

Queue Listen Now

National

Pentagon Hopes Brain Tissue Research Will Help Prevent Injuries

6:12pm June 14, 2013

More than 260,000 cases of traumatic brain injury have been reported by American service members sent to Iraq and Afghanistan. Now the Department of Defense has created a tissue bank where the brains of deceased service members will be studied, in an effort to treat and prevent brain injury from combat. Melissa Block speaks with the director of the brain tissue repository, Dr. Daniel Perl.

Queue Listen Now

Housing Market Watchers Edgy As Mortgage Rates Keep Climbing

6:12pm June 14, 2013

by Yuki Noguchi

The Federal Reserve's economic stimulus has helped keep mortgage rates at record lows in the years since the Great Recession. But rates are ticking upward, leaving some investors worried that the nascent housing recovery will suffer if the Fed unravels its policies too quickly.

Queue Listen Now

Unpaid No More: Interns Win Major Court Battle

7:36pm June 13, 2013

by Tovia Smith

A federal ruling against a major movie studio's use of unpaid interns could have a wide impact on uncompensated labor, including internships for college credit. Workers' advocates say many interns are preventing workers who can't afford to work free from entering the labor force.

Queue Listen Now