Search results for

The former U.S. poet laureate Stanley Kunitz has died. He was 100. The Pulitzer Prize-winner was known for his expressive verse, social commitment and generosity to young writers. His career spanned three-quarters of a century.

When he was President Bush's top budget advisor, Mitch Daniels had a reputation as a tax-cutter. But since becoming Indiana's governor, he has proposed a tax increase to help solve the state's budget troubles.

Radio producer Marika Partridge sent us this audio postcard. It's comprised of audio tapes recorded in Afghanistan in 1969. The tapes were made when Marika's mom and dad took her and her brother on a one-year journey from India to Europe by car. We hear her family's impressions of the country more than 30 years ago, which at the time seemed to be a place of promise - where modern mixed with ancient, and a place filled with bright friendly people with an admirable spirit of independence.

Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird is in the news again. The city of Chicago has chosen the 1960 classic for The Chicago reading initiative "One Book, One Chicago." The same day Chicago announced the selection, Muskogee High School in Oklahoma removed the book from its required reading list for freshmen. Guest host Melissa Block talks with Mary Dempsey, commissioner for the Chicago Public Library, and Muriel Saunders, a member of the Muskogee School Board in Oklahoma, about the decisions made by both cities. We also hear excerpts from the audio version of the book as narrated by Sally Darling and produced by Recorded Books.

The self-driving vehicle was caught on video speeding away from police during a traffic stop. It was stopped again down the road. The company says the robocab was looking for a safe place to stop.

Monica Mayer's father made sure his daughters took their work seriously. Worried the girls were slacking off in middle school, he arranged his own version of a "boot camp." The result not only cured them of their bad habits -- it gave Mayer and her sisters a story they vividly recall.

In 1943, the government promised to build a highway through the Great Smoky Mountains National Park -- in part to provide access to some old cemeteries there. But the highway was never finished, and there's disagreement about whether it should be now.

Cultural historian Christopher Frayling's new book Once Upon A Time in Italy: The Westerns of Sergio Leone is a large-format, beautifully illustrated book that chronicles the history of the spaghetti western through researched text and interviews with Clint Eastwood, Martin Scorsese and Eli Wallach.

Amid new economic challenges, some Italian wine makers turn away from the mass global wine market to develop wines that appeal to specialty markets. The emphasis is on skill and individuality -- and a return to grapes that had fallen out of favor.

NPR's Puzzlemaster Will Shortz quizzes one of our listeners, and has a challenge for everyone at home. (This week's winner is Dr. Ron Eisenberg from Tiburon, Ca. He listens to Weekend Edition on member station KQED in San Francisco.)