News

Ross Barrera, Starr County GOP chairman, wants a border wall to stop unauthorized migrants who he says hike up from the Rio Grande on the path behind his fence.

National

In Starr County, Texas, Trump's Border Wall 'Still Highly Unpopular'

12:48pm August 02, 2019

by John Burnett

Some residents are deeply skeptical of the border wall, fearing it will aggravate flooding problems and cut them off culturally from the Rio Grande river that has defined this landscape.

Queue Listen Now

Wanda Sykes surprised herself by coming out publicly as a lesbian at a 2008 LGBTQ rally in Las Vegas. "I didn't even know that I was going to do it," she says. "It wasn't planned at all."

Arts

Wanda Sykes Loves Stand-Up: That's Where 'I Can Be Free,' She Says

11:37am August 02, 2019

by Terry Gross

Before Sykes became a comic, she worked at the National Security Agency, where she had top security clearance. Now she takes on the president in her Emmy-nominated Netflix special Not Normal.

Queue Listen Now

Liberal Democrat candidate Jane Dodds (center) celebrates her election victory with former Energy Secretary Ed Davey and Kirsty Williams, member of the Welsh Assembly, at Royal Welsh showground in Builth Wells, U.K., on Friday.

World News

In U.K., Boris Johnson's Conservatives Lose Seat To Anti-Brexit Parties

11:14am August 02, 2019

by Scott Neuman

The results of the special election leave the ruling prime minister's government with a single-seat majority just as he tries to navigate a difficult departure from the EU.

South Korean protesters gathered in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul on Friday, holding placards that denounce the Japanese government's decision regarding exports to South Korea.

Japan Drops South Korea From Favored Trade List As Long-Simmering Tensions Flare

11:11am August 02, 2019

by Anthony Kuhn

South Korea's finance minister said Seoul, in turn, will take Tokyo off its own list of trusted partners. Experts worry the dispute could undermine U.S. security ties with chief Asian allies.

Kelvin Harrison Jr. (center) plays a former child soldier who lives with his adoptive family in Virginia and winds up in conflict with his high school history teacher (Octavia Spencer, left) and adoptive mother (Naomi Watts).

Arts

A High School Star Isn't What He Seems In The Psychological Drama 'Luce'

10:40am August 02, 2019

by Justin Chang

Kelvin Harrison Jr. plays a popular teenager who was adopted from Eritrea as a kid. But underneath Luce's charming smiles and polished speeches is the trauma of a former child soldier.

LaKevia Dismal (center, left) and Maya Covington (center, right) celebrate their graduation from the Children's Defense Fund Freedom School training program.

Education

A Tennessee Farm Grows A New Generation Of Social Justice Activists

10:31am August 02, 2019

by Debbie Elliott

The Children's Defense Fund is training young people at its Haley Farm in east Tennessee to run summer enrichment programs modeled after civil rights era Freedom Schools.

A construction worker lays down shingles on the roof of a new house in Brandon, Miss., on June 19. Construction jobs rose 4,000 in July — below the 18,000 added in June and the 19,000 added in July 2018.

With Jobs Numbers Like These, It's Hard To See Why The Economy Is Slowing

10:21am August 02, 2019

The U.S. economy is slowing down, but it keeps creating jobs at a healthy pace. Employers added 164,000 jobs last month — as analysts had projected — and the unemployment rate held steady at 3.7%.

Jitesh Singolia, 19, climbs down a manhole to clean sewer pipes using his bare hands.

A Robot Might Take His Job — And That's Good News

9:51am August 02, 2019

Cleaning sewers by hand is a profession in India that has been banned but still persists. Mechanical devices, including robots, are emerging as a possible solution.

South Koreans in Seoul on Wednesday watch a news report about a missile launch.

World News

North Korea Conducts 3rd Missile Test Since Last Week Amid Stalled Talks With U.S.

9:32am August 02, 2019

by Scott Neuman

It wasn't immediately clear what type of weapon was tested early Friday, but South Korea's military noted the missiles traveled at hypersonic speeds and flew about 137 miles.

A Guatemalan teen asylum-seeker (left), who isn't able to hear or speak, signs with his mom in Florida. He was brusquely separated from her and held in a shelter for nearly three months, unable to readily communicate, according to a civil rights complaint

Homeland Security's Civil Rights Unit Lacks Power To Protect Migrant Kids

9:00am August 02, 2019

A former official in the civil rights office says the unit seems afraid to offend U.S. Customs and Border Protection and ICE. Meanwhile, the complaints of abuses of families continue to pile up.