News

They don't call him Mr. Toilet for nothing! On a cold and windy November day, Jack Sim visited NPR and gladly struck a pose on his favorite appliance. Note: This toilet was not hooked up.

Mr. Toilet And Mr. Condom Think Jokes Will Save The World

8:47pm April 20, 2015

by Marc Silver

Potty humor! A condom in a key chain with the slogan: "Weapon of mass protection." The goal is to use laughter to change attitudes. And there's even a study to prove that it works.

National

'Post And Courier' Of Charleston, S.C., Wins Pulitzer For Public Service

8:34pm April 20, 2015

by Krishnadev Calamur

The newspaper's series examined why South Carolina is among the deadliest states for women in the United States. Anthony Doerr won the prize for fiction for All the Light We Cannot See.

President Lyndon B. Johnson signs the ESEA in 1965 with Kate Deadrich Loney, his first schoolteacher.

Senators Try To Revise No Child Left Behind — A Few Years Behind

7:57pm April 20, 2015

by Eric Westervelt

Tuesday, senators begin working out the details of a bipartisan update to the No Child Left Behind education law. The proposed revision would give states more control over school accountability.

Queue Listen Now

World News

Frustrations Fuel Violence Against Immigrants In South Africa

7:14pm April 20, 2015

Mobs with machetes attacked immigrants in Durban, South Africa, Thursday, hoping to drive out foreigners looking for work. NPR's Linda Wertheimer speaks with the BBC's Milton Nkosi about the attacks.

Queue Listen Now

Nicola Sturgeon, Scotland's first minister and leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), delivers a speech in Glasgow, Scotland, on March 28. After its loss at the polls last year on the issue of Scottish independence, the party has quadrupled its memb

World News

From Losers To Possible Kingmakers, A Scottish Party Comes Back Strong

7:11pm April 20, 2015

by Ari Shapiro

No party is expected to win a majority in the upcoming U.K. elections. That means the Scottish National Party, after losing a vote on independence last year, could determine the country's next leader.

Queue Listen Now

Setting The Record Straight On The Phrase 'Gateway Drug'

7:08pm April 20, 2015

Denise Kandel coined the term, often associated with marijuana, in a research paper 40 years ago. But her work suggested nicotine, not pot, was most likely to lead to the use of harder drugs.

Queue Listen Now

U.S. Navy Sends Aircraft Carrier To Coast Of Yemen

6:46pm April 20, 2015

by Eyder Peralta

The move comes as fighting has intensified in Yemen between government forces and Houthi rebels allied with Iran. The U.N. has imposed an arms embargo on the Houthis.

Geologists Dave Tucker (left) and Pete Stelling at the Mount Baker hot springs in Washington's Cascade Mountains. The springs are within the large tract of federal land that could soon be open for geothermal development.

In Northwest, A Push To Protect Forest As Geothermal Projects Near

6:23pm April 20, 2015

by Ashley Ahearn

The Forest Service is set to open more than 80,000 acres for clean, renewable geothermal power in Washington state. But environmentalists are worried about damage to streams and old-growth forests.

Queue Listen Now

Jayne Rowse (left) and April DeBoer with their four children, Jacob (from left), Rylee, Nolan and Ryanne at a news conference in March.

National

Meet The 'Accidental Activists' Of The Supreme Court's Same-Sex-Marriage Case

6:23pm April 20, 2015

by Nina Totenberg

The legal battle over same-sex marriage hits the Supreme Court next week. It's an extraordinarily high-stakes clash, but the men and women at the center of it see themselves as incredibly ordinary.

Queue Listen Now

National

BuzzFeed Deleted Stories After Complaints From Advertisers

5:35pm April 20, 2015

by Krishnadev Calamur

In a memo to staff, editor in chief Ben Smith acknowledged that the site had deleted more than 1,000 posts — three of them after complaints from advertisers. Gawker first reported on the deletions.

Queue Listen Now