Story of the Day

The Microsoft founder and philanthropist is putting his money and time where his passion is: eradicating polio. Gates talks with NPR's Robert Siegel about why it makes sense to spend an estimated $5.5 billion to wipe out the disease once and for all.

The number of honeybees has now dwindled to the point where there may not be enough to pollinate some major U.S. crops, including almonds, blueberries and apples. And this year brought farmers closer than ever to a true pollination crisis.

The museum, already hard-hit by the economic crash, didn't meet projected fundraising and attendance numbers, and now must make up a $5 million budget deficit. The shortfall forced it to sell some items in its renowned collection.

A white off-duty constable shot and killed a paraplegic black man in Fayette, Miss., in 1965. Despite new witnesses who have memories of what happened that day, there's still not enough evidence to say whether Jasper Burchfield's claim of self-defense is true.

Fewer than three weeks after they were severely injured in the Boston Marathon bombings, Celeste Corcoran and her 18-year-old daughter, Sydney, are entering a new phase of recovery and rehabilitation. Part of their healing is emotional, not physical.

People generally don't associate trees with New York City, and if they do, they tend to think only of Central and Prospect parks. But the city is filled with old, beloved trees, some dating back more than 200 years, many of them located in the unsung outer boroughs.

Journalist Jason Probst says he doesn't recognize his own state. He wrote a faux obituary lamenting Kansas' lost battle with extremism. But Republican Gov. Sam Brownback sees a bright future. He wants to eliminate state income taxes, hoping to build a model for other red states.

A U.S. transplant of a Brazilian sect drinks huasca tea and then finds spiritual exploration in the visions it induces. The Supreme Court has granted the group full rights as a church to sip all the tea it wants, but some neighbors in Santa Fe, N.M., are trying to block construction of a house of worship.

Jack Richmond was a young father when his leg was crushed in a work accident. Though in denial at first that it would need to be amputated, he quickly realized he could share his experience to help other amputees, as he tells his daughter, Reagan, on a visit to StoryCorps.

In Washington's Ward 7, where only 33 percent of students graduate from high school, a program called Life Pieces to Masterpieces is sending nearly 100 percent of its graduates to college or post-secondary education.