The Department of the Interior announced that it is canceling scheduled lease sales of land in the Arctic Ocean. It also won't extend existing leases held by Shell and Statoil.
Federal prosecutors say Wayne Simmons claimed to be retired from a long CIA career and parlayed his bogus credentials into work as an intelligence adviser to senior U.S. military personnel overseas.
Musician Patti Smith received a surprising gift Thursday. While at a reading of her new memoir, a fan stood up, holding a bag of items stolen from Smith over 30 years ago.
The University of Vermont banned the sale of bottled water on its campus in 2013 to cut down on single-use bottles in the waste stream. But the number of plastic, single-use bottles being shipped to campus went up, and students ended up using more single-use bottles and drinking less healthy beverages out of them. Now the university is trying to figure out how to balance sustainability and nutrition in on-campus beverage sales.
Renowned astronomer Geoffrey Marcy resigned this week after accusations that he sexually harassed students became public. Researchers are asking why so little is done to stop harassment in science.
A federal judge's ruling allows Maryland to phase out plates featuring the rebel battle flag. The state's move is a reaction to the murders in a black church in South Carolina.
NPR's Audie Cornish speaks with our regular political commentators E.J. Dionne of The Washington Post and Brookings Institution and David Brooks of The New York Times. They discuss President Obama's decision to delay the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Afghanistan and break down the first Democratic presidential debate.
NPR's Kelly McEvers talks with Jeremy Scahill about his article in The Intercept, which reveals secret leaked documents regarding America's "targeted killings" using drones.
President Obama urged calm amid the recent Israeli-Palestinian violence at a press conference with the South Korean president. He said the U.S. and Russia are at strategic odds on Syria and declined to wade far into the 2016 presidential race.