Elysha O'Brien and her husband, Michael, with sons (left to right) Gabriel, Joseph and Michael. Elysha never learned Spanish but is determined that her children will.
Credit Courtesy of Allen Nunez Wickham
Allen Nunez Wickham (far left) with his family in the early 1990s. His grandmother chose not to teach his father Spanish, and Nunez Wickham also never learned.
Credit Courtesy of O'Brien family
Elysha, husband Michael and son Joseph with Elysha's grandparents, Evelia and Homer Patino.
NPR continues its conversations about The Race Card Project, where NPR Host/Special Correspondent Michele Norris asks people to send in six-word stories about race and culture. The submissions are personal, provocative and often quite candid.
Supporters say Wisconsin farmer Vernon Hershberger's trial isn't just about raw milk: It's also, they say, about the right to get foods from farmers without government intervention.
Credit Maureen McCollum, Wisconsin Public Radio
Activists supporting Hershberger have set up camp across the street from the Sauk County courthouse, in the Al Ringling Theatre.
What is the case against Wisconsin farmer Vernon Hershberger really about? It depends on whom you ask.
To hear the prosecution, it's about licensing, not raw milk: Hershberger, a dairy farmer hailing from the town of Loganville, is on trial this week for operating without three licenses. He's also accused of continuing to sell raw milk to members of his private club after he was ordered not to.
If convicted, the father of 10 faces more than a year in jail and more than $10,000 in fines.
Stacy Montgomery, pre-K teacher from Briarwood Elementary, grieves with fellow teachers at the informational meeting for Moore ISD teachers and administration.
Credit Katie Hayes Luke for NPR
Teachers from North Moore Elementary School gather at a meeting at Southern Hills Baptist Church in Oklahoma City.
What was billed as an informational meeting for teachers turned into a session of sharing and healing.
"A lot of people in this district will need grief counseling, including myself," said Susan Pierce, the superintendent of public schools in Moore, Okla.
For the first time, the U.S. government has acknowledged killing four American citizens in lethal drone strikes far outside traditional battlefields, confirming information that had been widely known but has only recently been unclassified under orders of the president.
After five marathon sessions debating 150 proposed amendments, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a landmark rewriting of the nation's immigration laws this week — and the bill emerged largely intact.
Three Republicans voted with the panel's 10 Democrats on Tuesday night to forward the bill to the full Senate. That strong showing followed a wrenching choice for Democrats on the committee: whether to risk shattering support for the bill by amending it to recognize equal rights for same-sex couples.
Public opinion about the scandals plaguing the Obama administration is decidedly mixed.
Republicans believe that the trio of controversies — concerning Benghazi, the IRS, and the Justice Department snooping on media phone records — are evidence enough that President Obama is either running a government motivated by partisan politics, or is badly out of touch.
Democrats, however, are proving to be much more forgiving.
On this day, two years ago, just after 5:30 p.m., a tornado roared into Joplin, Missouri. It cut a nearly straight line through town, splintering everything in its path. About 160 people were killed. Some 7,500 homes were damaged or destroyed.
Mike Woolston was the mayor at the time. He's now a city councilor in Joplin, and he joins us from Joplin to talk about his experience two years ago and how it might inform the task ahead for Moore, Oklahoma. Mike Woolston, welcome to the program.
During a tornado, the safest place to protect yourself is usually underground, but that's not an option for the large majority of people in southern Oklahoma. If you look just at new construction, fewer than 1 percent of homes in the area hit by the tornado have basements. Here to help explain why is NPR's Scott Neuman, who's written about this for our Two-Way blog.
And Scott, where I come from, a basement is a really common thing to have under the house. Not so in Oklahoma. Why not?
Another day, another heated hearing on Capitol Hill about the IRS. The agency's leadership has faced angry questions over its flagging of conservative groups applying for tax exempt status. At today's hearing, the most anticipated witness answered no questions. Instead, she took the Fifth, as we hear from NPR congressional correspondent Tamara Keith.
Add this to the list of Democratic worries surrounding the wave of Obama administration scandals: the downstream effect.
It's prime candidate-recruiting season right now — the period in the two-year election cycle when officials in both parties fan out across the map in hopes of persuading prospective candidates to run for Congress. Issues and money always get plenty of attention, but the ability of party leaders to attract strong, capable candidates is vital to success on Election Day.
Now we'd like to turn to a story that more than five months later is still painful. In the aftermath of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School last December, the Newtown, Connecticut community had many tough decisions to make. One of them was just what should happen to the elementary school where 26 people were killed.
Finally today, I'm still thinking about that massive Powerball jackpot last weekend. That caused me to think about what's wrong with Powerball — the most important thing, of course, being the fact that I didn't win. You know you feel the same way. I'm sure I would have been a good winner. Like Oprah, I would use my powers for good and not evil. Like, I might buy a Bentley out of the showroom window, just to prove to myself that I could. But then I'd settle down and endow scholarships, and fix up blighted storefronts, and invest in local businesses.
Debris litters a park adjacent to a neighborhood that was destroyed by Monday's tornado in Moore.
Credit Rick Wilking / Reuters/Landov
Volunteers form a chain as they retrieve clothing and other household items Wednesday at a home destroyed by a tornado, across the street from Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla.
Credit Adrees Latif / Reuters/Landov
A resident walks past a fallen roof after salvaging belongings from her home in Moore. The National Weather Service said Monday's tornado produced winds in excess of 200 mph, making it a top-of-the-scale EF5.
Credit Adrees Latif / Reuters/Landov
A sign reads "God Bless Moore" as workers make repairs to Warren Theatre after the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore was devastated by a tornado.
Credit Rick Wilking / Reuters/Landov
Jon Booth carries debris from his mother's tornado-destroyed home across the street from Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore.
Credit Ed Zurga / EPA/Landov
Pastor Roger Murphy unloads a truck full of goods donated by Caliber Collision of Fort Worth, Texas, at OKC Faith Church in Oklahoma City. The goods will be delivered to Feed the Children to be distributed to help the Moore, Okla., tornado victims.
Credit Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images
Electric company employees work to restore power in a tornado-devastated neighborhood in Moore. As rescue efforts in wound down, residents turned to the daunting task of rebuilding a heartland community shattered by a vast tornado that killed at least 24 people.
Credit Jewel Samad / AFP/Getty Images
Tornado victim Todd (who only gave one name) looks through a pile of clothing at a roadside relief camp in Moore. The twister flattened block after block of homes as it struck at midafternoon Monday, hurling cars through the air, downing power lines and setting off localized fires in a 45-minute rampage.
Credit Charlie Riedel / AP
Susan Kates salvages items from a friend's tornado-ravaged home on Wednesday in Moore, Okla. Cleanup continues two days after a huge tornado roared through the Oklahoma City suburb, flattening a wide swath of homes and businesses.
Credit Rick Wilking / Reuters/Landov
Volunteers form a chain as they retrieve clothing and other household items at a home destroyed by a tornado, across the street from Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla., on Wednesday.
The powerful tornado flattened entire blocks in the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore. The death toll remained at 24, with scores more people injured and displaced.
As Moore, Oklahoma continues to recover after this week's deadly tornado, survivors of the 2011 Joplin, Missouri tornado are marking the second anniversary of that disaster today. Host Michel Martin discusses Joplin's recovery, and what lessons it might hold for Oklahoma, with Joplin Mayor Melodee Colbert Kean and school superintendent C.J. Huff.
I'm Michel Martin, and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. Today, as you would expect, we are continuing to follow events in Moore, Okla., where residents are recovering from the impact of a deadly tornado. We decided to call on leaders from Joplin, Mo. Two years ago today, that town was also hit. So we thought this would be a good time to check in on Joplin's recovery, and see if there are any lessons Joplin residents can offer their neighbors.
This is MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Linda Wertheimer.
DAVID GREENE, HOST:
And I'm David Greene. We now know the tornado that struck the city of Moore, Okla., on Monday was an EF5, with winds over 200 miles an hour. That designation is the strongest possible rating for a tornado. Federal, state and local teams are on the ground this morning, cleaning up debris and tending to survivors. But there is little - if any - chance of finding any more survivors; that, according to the fire chief in Moore.
In Orlando, Fla., early Wednesday "an FBI agent was involved in a deadly shooting connected to the Boston Marathon bombing case," NBC News is reporting. A man who was being questioned by the agent is dead. NPR's Dina Temple-Raston and Carrie Johnson have also confirmed the news.
Just how firm the man's alleged connection to the marathon case is, though, remains unclear.
The most unforgiving criticism in sport is directed at any athlete who fans believe is celebrated too excessively above his true talent level — especially those stars who are gloried because they're such pretty people.
A massive tornado swept through the Oklahoma City area Monday afternoon, leaving ruin in its path.
Moore Medical Center, which stood directly in the tornado's path, was devastated. But the workers, patients and their families in the hospital escaped.
Nick Stremble, a registered nurse and manager at the hospital, told Shots Tuesday what he saw.
It was the Senate's turn Tuesday to grill the Internal Revenue Service, or more accurately, former agency officials, about its handling of the scandal involving the targeting of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.
In Moore, for the many people whose homes were destroyed, the top priorities are finding a place to stay, some clothes to wear, and food to eat. NPR's Wade Goodwyn has been talking with survivors in Moore, and he sent this story.
WADE GOODWYN, BYLINE: Jamie Martinez(ph) is a retired police officer who still does security work, and that's where he was when the tornado slammed into his neighborhood yesterday.
It's been a difficult day in Moore, Okla., as crews go house-to-house searching for survivors from Monday's tornado. Authorities have tightened access into areas with the worst damage.
It's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Robert Siegel.
MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:
And I'm Melissa Block.
It has been an emotional 24 hours for the people of Moore, Oklahoma. Their city is now a federal disaster area, shattered by yesterday's deadly tornado. Meteorologists have confirmed that the tornado was a rare EF5, with winds in excess of 200 miles per hour. Entire neighborhoods are unrecognizable, trees splintered, houses gone.
Suzanne Sells, a special education English teacher at Moore High School in Moore, Okla., stayed with her students through Monday's tornado though for some time her own daughter's fate was unknown.
Suzanne Sells lost her house to Monday's tornado in Moore, Okla., but she's still helping other people.
Sells is a special education English teacher at Moore High School. It was spared a direct hit, but like other schools in town, it was closed Tuesday. Still, she showed up to let in a student who needed access to heart medicine that had been locked away.
Robert Siegel speaks with John Farnen, executive director of strategic projects for Mercy Hospital Joplin, regarding lessons of the Joplin, Mo., tornado for rebuilding large structures like the Mercy Hospital Joplin.
