All Things Considered

Monday through Friday on News and Talk and News and Classical 3:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

On May 3, 1971, at 5 p.m., All Things Considered debuted on 90 public radio stations.

In the 40 years since, almost everything about the program has changed, from the hosts, producers, editors and reporters to the length of the program, the equipment used and even the audience.

However there is one thing that remains the same: each show consists of the biggest stories of the day, thoughtful commentaries, insightful features on the quirky and the mainstream in arts and life, music and entertainment, all brought alive through sound.

All Things Considered is the most listened-to, afternoon drive-time, news radio program in the country. Every weekday the two-hour show is hosted by Robert Siegel, Michele Norris and Melissa Block. In 1977, ATC expanded to seven days a week with a one-hour show on Saturdays and Sundays, currently hosted by Guy Raz.

During each broadcast, stories and reports come to listeners from NPR reporters and correspondents based throughout the United States and the world. The hosts interview newsmakers and contribute their own reporting. Rounding out the mix are the disparate voices of a variety of commentators, including Sports Commentator Stefen Fastis, Poet Andrei Codrescu and Political Columnists David Brooks and E.J. Dionne,

All Things Considered has earned many of journalism's highest honors, including the George Foster Peabody Award, the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award and the Overseas Press Club Award.

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Panel Charts Path To New Home For Nuclear Waste

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Credit Jeff T. Green / Getty Images

Without a centralized national repository for nuclear waste, the radioactive material is currently being kept at various sites across the country. Above, large concrete canisters, each holding 14 55-gallon drums of waste, are loaded on a truck in Richland, Wash., in June 2005 where they were later shipped to a facility in New Mexico.

Credit Isaac Breekken / AP

An underground train emerges from the entrance to the planned Yucca Mountain Nuclear Waste Repository in this April 13, 2006, file photo. The government has since abandoned the site as a location for the long-term storage of nuclear waste.

By Christopher Joyce

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A panel of experts today set forth a plan for getting rid of thousands of tons of highly radioactive nuclear waste.

Most of it is spent fuel from nuclear power reactors. It was supposed to go to a repository in Nevada called Yucca Mountain, but the government has abandoned that plan.

3:08 pm

Thu January 26, 2012

Gingrich Fights Against The Lobbyist Label

Credit Joe Raedle / Getty Images

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich speaks Thursday during a Lakeside Inn Tea Party rally in Mount Dora, Fla.

By Peter Overby

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In the race for the Republican presidential nomination, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich continues to fend off accusations that he should wear the scarlet "L" — for "lobbyist." This week, he released two of his consulting contracts and said they didn't call for any lobbying.

Like many other former lawmakers, Gingrich was advocating for paying clients, while not officially registering as a lobbyist.

The two contracts disclosed this week came from Gingrich's work for Freddie Mac, the mortgage giant. Between 1999 and 2007, Freddie Mac paid his firm $1.6 million.

3:04 pm

Thu January 26, 2012

'Birmingham': A Teen Take On The Civil Rights Era

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Credit

Credit University of Michigan-Flint / Yearling

Christopher Paul Curtis spent years working in automobile plants in Flint, Mich., but dreamed of becoming a writer.

By editor

Originally published on Fri January 27, 2012 11:40 am

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Welcome to the fourth installment of NPR's Backseat Book Club, where we select a book for young readers — and invite them to read along with us and share their thoughts and questions with the author.

Our selection for January — The Watsons Go to Birmingham – 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis — describes the civil rights era from the perspective of a young (and extremely mischievous) boy and his family.

2:44 pm

Thu January 26, 2012

Republican Debates Become Must-See TV

By Don Gonyea

This election cycle, one factor stands above all others in driving the dynamics of the race for the Republican presidential nomination: televised debates.

It's All Politics

2:29 pm

Thu January 26, 2012

Candidates Campaign On An Economic Silver Bullet: Worker Retraining

Credit Julie Jacobson / AP

President Barack Obama waves after speaking at a UPS facility in Las Vegas on Thursday. Nevada is one stop on the president's latest road trip focusing on the economy.

By Ari Shapiro

There are not many things that Barack Obama, Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney agree on, but when it comes to job training there is common ground.

"It is time to turn our unemployment system into a reemployment system that puts people to work," President Obama said during his State of the Union address Tuesday.

Earlier in the week, Newt Gingrich offered a similar solution for helping those facing long-term unemployment.

1:33 pm

Thu January 26, 2012

In Broadway's 'Wit,' A Documentary Of Our Demise

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Credit Manhattan Theatre Club

In a revival of Wit on Broadway, Cynthia Nixon plays Vivan Bearing, a brilliant John Donne scholar forced to consider her own mortality when she's diagnosed with ovarian cancer.

Credit Manhattan Theatre Club

Vivian shares a moment of connection with her nurse Susie (Carra Patterson).

By Jeff Lunden

In her dressing room at the Friedman Theatre, Sex and the City star Cynthia Nixon has a nightly ritual: She rubs Nivea cream all over her scalp to soothe the razor burns.

Being completely bald is just one of the many demands of the character she plays in Wit -- a brilliant college professor named Vivian Bearing, who's battling ovarian cancer.

1:00 pm

Thu January 26, 2012

Letters: In-Sourcing; John Hawkes

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Melissa Block and Robert Siegel read emails from listeners.

It's All Politics

3:04 pm

Wed January 25, 2012

Taking His Economic Message On The Road, Obama Touts Factory Jobs In Iowa

Credit Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images

President Obama tours Conveyor Engineering and Manufacturing in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Wednesday.

By Scott Horsley

A day after delivering his State of the Union address to Congress, President Obama took his message on the road. Obama hoped that stops at manufacturing sites in Iowa and Arizona would drive home his point that the government should do more to encourage factory jobs.

The three-day trip also includes stops in Colorado, Nevada and Michigan. Those are all states likely to be important in the November election.

Obama kicked off his road trip at Conveyor Engineering and Manufacturing, a factory in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

1:00 pm

Wed January 25, 2012

Fed Keeps Short-Term Interest Rates Low

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Federal Reserve officials said they expect short-term interest rates to stay close to zero "at least through late 2014." The Fed has been trying to give more explicit guidance on what it expects in the future as part of a broader move to greater transparency.

NPR Story

1:00 pm

Wed January 25, 2012

Gingrich Campaign Pulls Anti-Romney Ad

By editor

Two Republican presidential candidates — former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney — appeared Wednesday at a forum sponsored by Univision and the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Also Wednesday, prominent Latino politicians, including Florida's Republican Sen. Marco Rubio, called on Gingrich to take down a new radio ad that calls Romney "anti-immigrant." The Gingrich campaign complied and pulled the ad. Melissa Block talks with NPR's Greg Allen in Miami.

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3:33 pm

Thu January 26, 2012