Search results for

Jacki speaks with Postmaster General Marvin Runyon about the Postal Services financial state these days. The Service is facing stiff competition from e-mail and faxes.

NPR's legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg reports on oral arguments before the Supreme Court today in a case testing the confidentiality of a clinical social worker's notes. The case involves counseling given a police officer after she fatally shot a suspect. Congress has left it to courts to use reason and experience in determining whether conversations between psychotherapists and their patients are protected from disclosure in federal court.

Jacki talks with Ben Frizzell, spokesman for the Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management. Officials there say over 150-thousand acres of land have been burned because of brush fires. Most of Oklahoma and Texas are experiencing a severe drought. That and high winds and low humidity are creating dangerous fire conditions.

NPR's Jon Greenberg reports Republicans say new notes released by the White House are a sign it tried to control damage regarding Whitewater. The notes, written by former White House aide Mark Gearan in early 1994, describe a meeting where administration officials wanted to contact Beverly Bassett Schaeffer, a key witness in the Whitewater affair. Republicans say that suggests an effort to influence Schaeffer's testimony. The Senate Whitewater committee also delved into who handled the billing records found recently at the White House.

The transplantation of a baboon's bone marrow into an AIDS patient apparently has not succeeded in bolstering the man's devastated immune system. Researchers have been unable to find any evidence that the baboon's bone marrow took root and began functioning inside Jeffrey Getty, the patient received the highly controversial, highly experimental procedure in San Francisco. Critics had been concerned that the transplant, and others like it, could transmit new diseases from animals to humans. But Getty's doctors say they've found no evidence of that either. Getty's prognosis remains uncertain. David Wright reports from member station KQED.

NPR's Michael Skoler visits Kikwit, Zaire almost a year after the ebola (ee-BOH-lah) epidemic broke out there. The virus appeared in May last year and is usually fatal. The epidemic was stopped but left 244 people dead. Scientists from the U-S Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are testing samples of tens of thousands of insects and animals taken from the forest where the virus originated but still have not found the source. Hospital workers in Kikwit are still reluctant to treat patients, and while many people have overcome their fear of the disease, there remain superstitions and misinformation among the population.

Robert speaks with reporter Tina Daunt, who covered the trial of rap music star Snoop Doggy Dogg for the Los Angeles Times. His acquittal on murder charges and mistrial on manslaughter charges have raised questions whether prosecutors can win a conviction against a celebrity defendant.

Ten years ago this week, a bloodless revolt toppled the authoritarian government of Ferdinand Marcos. Jon Miller offers a retrospective on the fall of the dictator, and reports on the continuing challenge of making democracy work in the Philippines.

NPR's Brooke Gladstone reports on how dramatically the

Jacki talks to Shane Paul O'Daugherty, a former member of the IRA who was convicted and sent to prison for bombing offenses and served 15 years of a multiple life sentence. O'Daugherty during his time in prison became committed to peace and opposed to the methods employed by the IRA. He now works with young people doing video and film projects and tries to make them understand that violence is not an appropriate response to the political situation in Northern Ireland. O'Daugherty has written a book about his experiences, 'The Volunteer', which is published by HarperCollins.

Linda Wertheimer speaks with NPR'S Don Gonyea about the assisted suicide trial of retired pathologist Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Today the judge issued new instructions to the jury, which legal experts say could make it easier to convict Dr. Kevorkian.

Noah travels to the tiny town of Marshall, on Tomales Bay in northern California, to learn about the Hog Island Oyster Company. John Finger and his colleagues lease ten acres of waterland in the bay and grow oysters, mostly for the restaurant trade in San Francisco, to the south, where the Hog Island brand is well-known. Hog Island plants oyster spat in mesh bags that are washed by the tides, and after two years it's harvest time. Every day the workers ride out to check their crops, only their riding in a wooden dory, instead of a pick-up truck. IN STEREO.

Linda talks with Michael Betzold, a reporter on strike from the Detroit Free Press, about Dr. Jack Kevorkian. Betzold says Kevorkian wishes that society will one day accept assisted suicide for those who are emotionally ill as well as for the terminally sick. Betzold also talks about Kevorkian's desire to control death. Betzold has written about Kevorkian since 1991 and wrote a book about him called, "Appointment with Dr. Death."

Robert talks to NPR's Joe Palca about a suspected outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in the western African nation of Gabon. The World Health Organization says 19 people have become ill, including 10 who have died, since early February in a remote village in northern Gabon. Preliminary tests on blood samples support a diagnosis of Ebola, the WHO says, though additional tests will be needed for confirmation.

President Clinton is enjoying the luxury of a primary season in which he can campaign as much or as little as he chooses without fear of losing because he is unopposed for the Democratic nomination. NPR'S Mara Liasson reports that the lack of opponents gives him several advantages over his Republican rivals, who have to defeat one another for the GOP nomination. .

Noah Adams talks with the scientists who programmed the "Deep Blue" IBM computer for its ongoing chess match against world champion Gary Kasparov (kas-PAR-ov). After four games, Kasparov and Deep Blue have each won one match and tied twice. They are playing their penultimate game today.

Noah talks to NPR's Melissa Block about former Congressman Jack Kemp's endorsement today of publisher Steve Forbes' presidential campaign. Kemp has been a major promoter of the idea of a flat tax, which is central to Forbes' campaign and his policies for economic growth. But coming on the day after Sen. Bob Dole's big primary wins in eight states, it was unclear what impact the Kemp endorsement would have.

Alan Cheuse reviews the novel The Woman Who Walked On Water by Lily Tuck. It's the story of a middle-aged woman in search of spiritual enlightenment in India. Published by Riverhead.

Linda speaks with Ferrel Guillory (GHILL-oh-ree), a former Southern political reporter with the Raleigh, North Carolina News and Observer, and John Jacobs, political editor of the Sacremento Bee, about the significance of the Super Tuesday primaries in the south next week. With so many primaries being moved up, these analysts say Super Tuesday and the California primary at the end of March have lost their importance.(IN

Linda talks to political consultant James Carville about his new book, "We're Right, They're Wrong," in which he offers responses to what he considers misinformation by the political right wing, ranging from issues on welfare to taking away power from the federal government and returning it to the states.