Around the Nation

Politics & Government

America's Richest Political Activists Pour Money Into SuperPACs

7:34am February 24, 2014

by Peter Overby

Hedge fund billionaires Thomas Steyer and Paul Singer are among those deploying their money to promote their issue agendas. Selected congressional candidates will receive political contributions.

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Billionaire Steyer Puts Money Toward Climate, Energy Issues

7:34am February 24, 2014

Liberal activist Tom Steyer pledged to spend $100 million in the 2014 election cycle to promote his favored cause of fighting climate change. David Greene talks to Steyer about his political plans.

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Warehouse Worker Fired Over Stuck Vending Machine Snack

7:34am February 24, 2014

Robert McKevitt tried the usual way to dislodge the snack. When that didn't work, The Des Moines Register reports he hopped on a forklift and dropped the machine six times.

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National

With Expanded Definition, Rape Is Reported More Often

7:00pm February 23, 2014

Two years after the Justice Department rewrote the official definition of rape, reports of rape have increased in most cities. Under the old definition, however, the number of rapes between 2012 and 2013 were down.

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Watch Out: Rolling Ball Gathers More Snow

12:11pm February 23, 2014

Two math majors at Reed College in Portland. Ore., created a wintery masterpiece: A snowball weighing about 800 lbs. The students built it on the quad, but decide to roll it down a walk. Then the snowball took off down a hill and smashed into a dorm wall so hard it crushed it.

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National

Long-Running Gang-Intervention Program Squeezed By Budget

11:49am February 23, 2014

Father Greg Boyle, the founder of Homeboy Industries in Los Angeles, talks with NPR's Arun Rath about his organization's mission and financial struggles. The nonprofit, which is going into its 26th year, is the largest gang-intervention program in the country.

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West Virginians Still Stocking Up On Water, Fearing Pollution

11:49am February 23, 2014

by Brian Naylor

Life is still anything but normal for some 300,000 people around Charleston, W.V. It's been more than a month since a leak from chemical storage tanks polluted the water supply. And many are still relying on bottled water to drink. Others have gone to lengths to avoid using the water at all. (This story originally aired on All Things Considered on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2014.)

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Where Are The Heroes To Save Pittsburgh's African-American Center?

7:18pm February 22, 2014

by Larkin Page-Jacobs

The August Wilson Center opened in 2009 as a hub for African-American culture. Now it's up for sale, unable to pay its bills, and some wonder why the Center has been allowed to fail.

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National

New Law Stubs Toe On A Tough Unknown: Who Owns The Guns?

7:53pm February 21, 2014

by Jeff Cohen

Tens of thousands may have failed to comply with a Connecticut law that requires gun owners to register their weapons. As WNPR's Jeff Cohen reports, the state faces a few problems enforcing the law.

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Girl Scouts Frown On Outsourcing Cookie Sales

9:29am February 21, 2014

Sometimes the job of selling cookies is outsourced to parents, and a recent opinion article in The Washington Post criticized that practice. It says parents should sell with their kids not for them.

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