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Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!
10:35 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

Panel Round Two

Originally published on Sat May 18, 2013 10:09 am

More questions for the panel: Fowl Play, Oozy Couture, Up a Tree Without a Paddle.

Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!
10:35 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

Who's Bill This Time

Originally published on Sat May 18, 2013 10:09 am

Bill Kurtis reads three quotes from the week's news: Tax Aversion, Maxwell Stupid, A Wetirement.

Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me!
10:35 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

Prediction

Originally published on Sat May 18, 2013 10:09 am

Our panelists predict what failed-spy Ryan Fogle will do next.

The Two-Way
5:43 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

Injuries Reported In 'Major' Train Derailment In Connecticut

Originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 6:57 pm

Two Metro-North Railroad trains have collided on a stretch of track near Fairfield, Conn., causing a "major derailment" and "preliminary reports of injuries," according to the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

[Update at 8:55 p.m. ET: The Associated Press quotes Connecticut officials as saying about 50 people have been hurt, four of them seriously.]

According to The Hartford Courant:

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It's All Politics
5:31 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

Why the IRS Scandal Is Built To Last

Credit Charles Dharapak / AP
Ousted IRS chief Steve Miller (right) and J. Russell George, a Treasury inspector general, take the oath before testifying on before the House Ways and Means Committee on Friday.

Originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 6:41 pm

Of all the controversies swirling around the Obama White House, the Internal Revenue Service scandal seems likeliest to have the longest shelf life.

While the Benghazi affair has long been in the news, it's never really taken off as an issue beyond the Republican base.

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The Two-Way
4:16 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

Need A Tattoo Translated? Forget The British Foreign Office

Credit Saeed Khan / AFP/Getty Images
A man gets a tattoo in Bangkok. The British Foreign Office says its citizens abroad have some odd requests.

Originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 4:54 pm

The British Foreign Office is happy to assist its citizens, but officials want to make clear that there are some requests they won't fulfill.

Such as supplying Olympic tickets or doing a background check on that Swedish woman you met online.

Those are just a few of the "often good natured" but distracting requests that the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) says it received over the past year, according to a press release issued Thursday.

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Code Switch
3:58 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

'Venus And Serena': An Extraordinary Story, Told On Film

Originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 4:52 pm

It's Cinderella plus Jackie Robinson times two. When Venus and Serena Williams burst onto the lily-white world of tennis, they changed the game and made history: They were sisters. From a poor neighborhood. Who brought unprecedented power to the game. And both reached No. 1.

Their journey is the subject of a new documentary called Venus and Serena, showing in select theaters around the country.

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The Two-Way
3:21 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

America's Cup Death Raises Concerns Over High-Tech Race Boats

Credit Noah Berger / AP
The Artemis Racing AC72 catamaran lies capsized after a training sail in San Francisco Bay on May 9.

Originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 3:35 pm

America's Cup, the oldest and most prestigious sailing competition, has hit some choppy water.

The death last week of British sailor and gold medal Olympian Andrew "Bart" Simpson when the boat he was crewing capsized and broke up during a practice run off San Francisco, has prompted tough questions about safety.

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Movie Interviews
3:18 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

Quinto Turns Inward To Find Spock's Soul

Originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 4:52 pm

Shots - Health News
3:07 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

Experts Agree: 'Psychiatry's Bible' Is No Bible

Credit iStockphoto.com
The new version of the psychiatric "bible" is more of a dictionary, psychiatrists say.

Originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 5:06 pm

When the American Psychiatric Association releases its new Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders -- DSM-5 -- this weekend, lots of journalists and commentators will refer to it as "psychiatry's bible."

That's a term that makes the manual's authors and other mental experts cringe.

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Around the Nation
3:03 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

Michigan LGBT Youth Center Does Outreach With A Dance 'Hook'

Credit Mercedes Mejia / Michigan Radio
The Ruth Ellis Center helps about 5,000 young people each year.

Originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 4:52 pm

Around the Nation
3:02 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

Boston Bombings Prompt Fresh Look At Unsolved Murders

Credit YouTube
Gerry Leone was the district attorney for Middlesex County in Massachusetts when three people were murdered in a house in the Boston suburb of Waltham. He told reporters that police suspected the assailants and the victims knew each other.

Originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 4:52 pm

An unsolved triple murder in the Boston suburbs is getting a closer look in the wake of the marathon bombings. One of the victims may have been a friend of bombing suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev. That's prompting authorities to revisit the 2011 case.

The murders took place in Waltham, Mass. On Sept. 12, 2011, police responded to a house in the leafy suburb a few miles west of Boston.

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It's All Politics
2:56 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

Obama U: What Graduation Speeches Say About The President

Originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 4:52 pm

Sports
2:20 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

New Pro Women's Soccer League Learns From Past Mistakes

Originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 4:52 pm

The Portland Thorns women's soccer team drew 17,000 screaming fans to its recent home opener. That's a huge number and one that dwarfed turnout for the other seven teams in the new National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). The NWSL is the latest attempt to bring sustainable women's pro soccer to the U.S. Soccer federations in the U.S., Mexico and Canada help fund it. NPR's Tom Goldman examines how the Thorns and the NWSL have done so far.

Politics
2:20 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

Outgoing Acting IRS Director Grilled By House Lawmakers

Originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 4:52 pm

The House Ways and Means Committee became the first oversight panel in Congress to weigh in on the IRS tax-exempt group controversy on Friday morning.

Middle East
2:20 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

U.S. Doctor: 'We Truly Are Failing The Syrian People'

Originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 4:52 pm

Stephen Cornish of Doctors Without Borders was recently in Syria. He talks to Audie Cornish about how medical personnel are managing to reach patients in the war-torn nation where he says there is a lack of respect for doctors on both sides of the conflict.

World
2:20 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

U.N. Tries To Get Syria Peace Talks Back On Track

Originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 4:52 pm

U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday, saying it is important not to "lose momentum" in the effort to convene a peace conference on Syria. Ban was only the latest in a string of foreign dignitaries who have come to Russia, seeking Putin's blessing for such a conference, expected to be held in early June. There's a lot at stake. Russia has been a long-time supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and continues to supply weapons to his regime. U.S.

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Latin America
2:20 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

Architect Of Argentina's 'Dirty War' Dies In Prison

Originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 4:52 pm

Jorge Rafael Videla was a former senior commander in the Argentine Army who was the de facto president of Argentina from 1976 to 1981. He came to power in a coup d'etat that deposed Isabel Martinez de Peron.

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The Salt
1:47 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

'Picture Cook': Drawings Are The Key Ingredients In These Recipes

Back in 2009, Katie Shelly was craving an eggplant Parmesan. Small problem: She'd never made it before. But she remembered that a college roommate used to make it, so she called her up and asked for the recipe.

The friend told her she needed to start with three bowls — one for breadcrumbs, one for egg and one for flour, salt and pepper. "In that moment, it was totally natural for me to just draw the three bowls instead of writing all that out in words," says Shelly, whose day job is as a visual designer.

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It's All Politics
1:36 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

A Field Guide To Democratic Responses To Scandals

Credit Charles Dharapak / AP
President Obama checks to see if it's still raining as a Marine holds an umbrella for him during a joint news conference with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the White House on Thursday.

Originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 2:49 pm

President Obama's first term was free from the kind of scandal that consumes every ounce of political oxygen in Washington. Now, in light of a trio of controversies, his supporters find themselves in the uncomfortable and unaccustomed position of having to defend some hard-to-defend events.

Democrats have offered up a range of responses. They view the issues — Benghazi, the IRS and the Justice Department snooping on The Associated Press — as separate issues that shouldn't be lumped together.

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The Two-Way
1:35 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

Illinois Lawmakers Send Medical Marijuana Bill To Governor

Credit David McNew / Getty Images
A sign outside a medical marijuana evaluation clinic in Los Angeles.

The Illinois Senate has approved a measure to legalize the use of marijuana for medical purposes, sending the bill to the governor for his signature.

The bill would be the strictest in the nation. According to The Chicago Tribune:

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U.S.
1:11 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

After Deadly Chemical Plant Disasters, There's Little Action

Originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 4:52 pm

You might think that everything would have changed for the chemicals industry on April 16, 1947. That was the day of the Texas City Disaster, the worst industrial accident in U.S. history. A ship loaded with ammonium nitrate — the same chemical that appears to have caused the disaster last month in West, Texas — exploded. The ship sparked a chain reaction of blasts at chemical facilities onshore, creating what a newsreel at the time called "a holocaust that baffles description."

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Piano Jazz With Jon Weber
1:00 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

Rudresh Mahanthappa On Piano Jazz

Credit Jimmy Katz / Courtesy of the artist
Rudresh Mahanthappa.

Originally published on Sat May 18, 2013 9:17 am

Rudresh Mahanthappa creates an explosive blend of South Indian classical music and progressive jazz. A Guggenheim Fellow who's been named the Jazz Journalists Association's "Alto Saxophonist of the Year" for four years running, Mahanthappa makes innovative music that reflects his experience as a second-generation Indian-American. He shares his fascinating style and story on this episode of Piano Jazz.

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It's All Politics
12:58 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

Advice TO GOP: Don't Legislate, Focus On Scandals

Originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 2:25 pm

Heritage Action, the political activist offshoot of the conservative Heritage Foundation, has some advice for House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor: focus on the scandals plaguing the Obama administration and stay away from legislation that could "highlight major schisms" within the House Republican Conference.

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The Two-Way
12:32 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

Mother Of India Gang Rape Victim Faces Suspects In Court

Originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 1:04 pm

In India, the mother of the 23-year-old woman fatally gang-raped on a moving bus last December appeared in court Friday and for the first time clapped eyes on the men accused in the heinous attack on her daughter.

The four men on trial have been charged with murder and face capital punishment for the crime that convulsed the country and prompted harsher punishments for rape.

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The Two-Way
12:24 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

Former Argentine Dictator Who Oversaw Death Squads Dies At 87

Credit Eduardo Di Baia / AP
Gen. Jorge Rafael Videla (center) is sworn in as president in Buenos Aires after seizing power in 1976.

Originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 1:19 pm

Jorge Rafael Videla, an ambitious Army chief who seized power in Argentina in 1976 and orchestrated a campaign of terror against his opponents, has died in prison at age 87.

Videla, whose "Dirty War" killed at least 15,000 people, perhaps twice as many, died of natural causes in Argentina's Marcos Paz prison, where he was serving multiple life sentences for crimes against humanity, officials said.

After leading a bloodless coup that toppled President Isabel Martinez de Peron on March 24, 1976, Videla became the head of a junta.

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All Songs Considered
12:16 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

Song Premiere: The Understated Allure Of Laurel Halo's 'Sex Mission'

Credit Georg Gatas / Courtesy of the artist
Brooklyn producer Laurel Halo.

Originally published on Sat May 18, 2013 12:49 pm

Carnal implications abound on "Sex Mission," a new techno track from the Brooklyn-based musician Laurel Halo. There's the not-exactly-subtle title, and the EP from whence it comes is called Behind the Green Door (out May 21), a nod to a ground-breaking porn flick from the 1970s. The music itself throbs like an accelerating heartbeat. A looped grainy sample — "be still" — conjures up an imaginary lover who's about to show you a really good time.

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The Two-Way
12:05 pm
Fri May 17, 2013

Aw-Inspiring Video: Sea Lion Worries When Little Girl Falls

Credit Live Leak
Just before the fall, and the sea lion's wonderful reaction.

Originally published on Sun May 19, 2013 5:28 am

Take a break from the scandal du jour for something that's just darn nice.

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Music Reviews
11:40 am
Fri May 17, 2013

Jerry Lee Lewis: Live, Singing As If Life Depended On It

It was April 4, 1964, and Jerry Lee Lewis had officially bottomed out. He hadn't charted a record in years, and now, on tour in England and Germany, he was getting paid so little that he couldn't afford to bring his own musicians. Instead, he was forced to use pickup bands in England, and then, when he arrived in Hamburg, a British band called the Nashville Teens was waiting for him. The venue was the Star Club, where The Beatles, who had just leaped into stardom in America, had played not long before.

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Television
11:05 am
Fri May 17, 2013

Bill Hader On Sketch Comedy, Classic Hollywood

Credit Mike Coppola / Getty Images
Bill Hader was nominated for an Emmy as Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series for his role as Stefon on Saturday Night Live.

Originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 11:40 am

This interview was originally broadcast on Aug. 22, 2012.

Comedian Bill Hader is adept onstage and doing live TV. But he's scared to death of standup.

He remembers watching Chris Rock's 1996 HBO special, Bring the Pain, and thinking, "I don't know how people do that."

"I need a character," Hader tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "I need people out there with me."

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