Morning Edition

Weekdays on News and Talk and News and Classical 5:00 a.m to 9:00 a.m

Renee Montagne, Steve Inskeep and Janice Baker

Every weekday for over three decades, NPR's Morning Edition has taken listeners around the country and the world with two hours of multi-faceted stories and commentaries that inform, challenge and occasionally amuse. Morning Edition is the most listened-to news radio program in the country.

A bi-coastal, 24-hour news operation, Morning Edition is hosted by NPR's Steve Inskeep in Washington, D.C., and Renee Montagne at NPR West in Culver City, CA. Even as hosts, Inskeep and Montagne often get out from behind the anchor desk and travel across the world to report on the news first hand.

Heard regularly on Morning Edition are some of the most familiar voices including news analyst Cokie Roberts and sport commentator Frank Deford as well as the special series StoryCorps, which travels the country recording America's oral history.

Produced and distributed by NPR in Washington, D.C., Morning Edition draws on reporting from correspondents based around the world, and producers and reporters in locations in the United States. This reporting is supplemented by NPR Member station reporters across the country as well as independent producers and reporters throughout the public radio system.

Since its debut on November 5, 1979, Morning Edition has garnered broadcasting's highest honors, including the George Foster Peabody Award and the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Award.

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The Strange Story Of The Man Behind 'Strange Fruit'

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Credit Courtesy of Robert and Michael Meeropol

Abel Meeropol watches as his sons, Robert and Michael, play with a train set.

Credit Keystone / Getty Images

Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are taken to prison after being found guilty of nuclear espionage. They were subsequently executed.

Credit Courtesy of Robert and Michael Meeropol

Anne Meeropol plays a song on guitar for her sons, Robert and Michael.

By Elizabeth Blair

Originally published on Thu September 6, 2012 12:37 pm

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One of Billie Holiday's most iconic songs is "Strange Fruit," a haunting protest against the inhumanity of racism. Many people know that the man who wrote the song was inspired by a photograph of a lynching. But they might not realize that he's also tied to another watershed moment in America's history.

12:23 am

Wed September 5, 2012

Web-Based Subscription Businesses Surf A New Wave

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Customers of Dollar Shave Club say that the company's sense of humor — as seen in an absurdist video of CEO Michael Dubin in his warehouse — has helped win them over.

By editor

Originally published on Wed September 5, 2012 4:43 pm

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12:22 am

Wed September 5, 2012

A Syrian Village Is Oasis Of Calm Amid Conflict

Credit Deborah Amos / NPR

Dr. Mahmoud Hasson, a specialist in internal medicine, runs a new hospital in the Syrian village of Kfar Ghan, a protected area along the border with Turkey. The Turkish government warned that any Syrian military aircraft near the border would be a target.

By Deborah Amos

Originally published on Wed September 5, 2012 4:58 am

Driving into Kfar Ghan, you notice the difference right away: The shops are open, there are kids on the street, there's even a row of open-air vegetable stalls and a crowd of shoppers.

There is a full spread of watermelon, eggplants, peppers and tomatoes. All the farmers from the area have brought their produce to the market in this Syrian village, about a mile from the Turkish border.

11:47 pm

Tue September 4, 2012

Payroll Tax Holiday May Not Survive Year's End

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The Social Security tax rate is scheduled to revert to 6.2 percent next year, up from the temporary reduction — to 4.2 percent on an employee's first $110,000 in wages — which has been in effect since January 2011.

By Tamara Keith

Originally published on Wed September 5, 2012 1:46 am

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An occasional series, Fiscal Cliff Notes breaks down the looming "fiscal cliff" of expiring tax cuts and deep automatic spending cuts set to hit around the first of year.

If you work, you've probably been getting this tax break: Since January 2011, the government has knocked 2 percentage points off the payroll tax.

For someone making $50,000 a year, the payroll tax holiday works out to about $20 a week.

"We definitely notice it," says Steve Warner of Winter Haven, Fla., while on vacation with his family recently in the nation's capital.

11:38 pm

Tue September 4, 2012

Educated Russians Often Lured To Leave

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Credit Kirill Kudryavtsev / AFP/Getty Images

Russia is suffering from an exodus of educated, talented citizens, including scientists. Here, scientists rally in Moscow to demand the government increase funding for science last October.

Credit Johannes Simon / Getty Images for Hubert Burda Media

Billionaire Yuri Milner recently awarded $3 million prizes for innovations in physics. Three of the nine winners, like Milner himself, were born in Russia but now live and work elsewhere.

By Corey Flintoff

Originally published on Fri September 14, 2012 8:43 am

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Russia has been facing troubling demographics ever since the Soviet breakup two decades ago. The population has contracted by several million people over this period. The birth rate is low. Life expectancy for men is still less than 65 years.

And there is also a sense that many educated, talented people are leaving the country.

To take one example, the world of science lit up in July, when a billionaire Internet investor named Yuri Milner announced nine prizes for some of the world's most innovative thinkers in physics.

11:24 pm

Tue September 4, 2012

Southern Pride And The Southeastern Conference

Credit Butch Dill / AP

Texas A&M Coach Kevin Sumlin speaks to reporters at the Southeastern Conference NCAA college football media day.

By Frank Deford

Originally published on Wed September 5, 2012 1:46 am

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Well, the Southeastern Conference season has begun. I have it on good authority that other college football teams around the country will also be playing games this fall.

I don't know when exactly the SEC took over America. I know this is hard to believe, but the epicenter of college football used to be in the Midwest. I'm so old, I can remember when Notre Dame actually mattered, and the real tough players were supposed to come from Western Pennsylvania and Ohio.

9:38 am

Tue September 4, 2012

Automakers Report Strong August Sales

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

NPR's business news starts with auto sales on a fast track.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

4:33 am

Tue September 4, 2012

Secret Service Blunders Make News

By editor

Originally published on Tue September 4, 2012 9:38 am

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

4:24 am

Tue September 4, 2012

How Do You Flip A 1-Ton Hamburger Patty?

By editor

Originally published on Tue September 4, 2012 9:38 am

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

3:52 am

Tue September 4, 2012

CarolinaFest Greets DNC Delegates To Charlotte

By Debbie Elliott

Originally published on Tue September 4, 2012 9:38 am

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Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

You may have heard some street noise behind some of Mara's interviews there. That was the sound of CarolinaFest. Charlotte gave Democrats a taste of the South there yesterday.

People outside gave NPR's Debbie Elliott a taste of what they're thinking.

DEBBIE ELLIOTT, BYLINE: What better way to kick off a political convention than a Labor Day street festival?

(SOUNDBITE OF A MARCHING BAND)

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12:24 am

Wed September 5, 2012