Search results for

NPR's Julie McCarthy reports from Cornwall, England, where the curtain goes up tomorrow on the world's largest greenhouse. The "Eden Project" -- with its tropical rain forest under a giant geodesic dome -- is a huge conservation project for endangered plant species.

Scrutiny of Harriet Miers, President Bush's choice for the Supreme Court, continues, while the president reiterates his support for her. Some Republican senators have expressed doubts about the choice, and a number of conservative commentators have suggested the nomination should withdrawn.

New York Gov. David Paterson named two-term Democratic Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand the next U.S. Senator from New York. Gillibrand is considered relatively conservative, in step with her Upstate New York district's rural constituents.

Sen. Sam Brownback, a social conservative who played a key role in recent Supreme Court nomination battles, doesn't deny being interested in running for president. But the Kansas Republican says it's too early to talk about 2008 yet.

Supreme Court Chief Justice William Rehnquist, 80, is hospitalized for thyroid cancer. Rehnquist underwent a tracheotomy Saturday at a Maryland hospital. The court's conservative leader is expected to return to work next week. Hear NPR's Melissa Block and NPR's Nina Totenberg.

The Islamist Hamas group is gaining ground against the ruling Fatah movement ahead of Palestinian elections Wednesday. Hamas' popularity has grown in part due to the increasingly prominent role of its female candidates, who are reaching out to conservative Palestinian women.

The French presidential election is no longer the simple two-horse race that political pundits had predicted, as a third candidate, Francois Bayrou, has shot up in the polls. Bayrou, who calls himself a centrist, is running just behind the Conservative and Socialist candidates.

"Adventures in Solitude" closes the band's fine new album without conserving hooks: Opening with a few spare verses and memorable interludes, the song soon blooms into a series of rich, warm-blooded choruses, as Neko Case rushes the spotlight and the strings sweep in.

In April 1975, Bich Minh Nguyen and her family fled Saigon and settled in Grand Rapids, Mich. Her memoir, Stealing Buddha's Dinner, captures what it was like to be Vietnamese in the conservative, largely white town — and the role that food played in her assimilation.

In Fair Game, Valerie Plame Wilson tells her side of the White House scandal over the leak of her identity. The former CIA agent's cover was blown by a conservative columnist after her husband criticized the Bush administration's rationale for the Iraq war.

Both candidates delivered speeches at a summit for the conservative group Americans for Prosperity on Friday. While Mitt Romney seemed at times to be a corporate executive at a board meeting, received with warm applause, Herman Cain came on as a kind of conquering hero, greeted by standing ovations.

Once a conservative advocate for the No Child Left Behind Act, Diane Ravitch has had a change in opinion. The former Bush administration education official has written a book spelling out the law's missteps and adverse effects on the U.S. education system.

Milo Yiannopoulos is having a very bad few days. The 32-year-old conservative provocateur resigned from Breitbart, lost a book contract and a high-profile speaking engagement after past remarks resurfaced showing him seemingly praising pedophilia.

A Justice Department report finds that aides to former Attorney General Alberto Gonzales illegally discriminated against job applicants who weren't Republican or conservative loyalists. The report concludes that politics illegally influenced the hiring of career prosecutors and immigration judges.

It's hard to measure the total cost to society of scammers and family members who prey on the elderly. Journalist Nick Leiber reports that a conservative estimate is $37 billion every year. Leiber talks about his reporting for Bloomberg with NPR's Audie Cornish.

Lisa talks with author Adrian House about his new bookFrancis of Assisi: A Revolutionary Life. Francis, who lived from 1182 to 1226, started out as a party-boy. At age 24, he underwent a religious conversion, and began a spiritual journey that continues to inspire millions of people throughout the world.

Edmund Roy reports from New Delhi that investigators have released transcripts of the last conversations between the airport control tower at Indira Gandhi International Airport and pilots of the aircraft that collided yesterday. The transcripts have shifted investigators away from air traffic controllers to looking for possible equipment malfunctions.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden is joined by Randy Cohen, who writes The Ethicist column in The New York Times magazine. A listener is concerned about the ethics of using the bcc or "blind copy" function of e-mail. She asks: is it ever acceptable to keep some of your correspondents in the dark about who's in on the conversation?

Last week, Heidi and I briefly chatted on-air about all things phenology and Season Watch! The conversation ranged from what brought me to KAXE, my whippersnapper days as a Long Lake student, and my excitement about the Season Watch newsletter (already in the second month!). Enjoy!

All summer long, NPR's Melissa Block has been asking musicians, listeners and a novelist about their favorite summer songs and what kind of memories they evoke. During those conversations, Block has been flooded with memories of her own. She and Madeleine Brand pick their own summer songs.