Search results for

Detroit's emergency manager, Kevyn Orr, defended his decision to take the city into bankruptcy. The most contentious issue regarding the city is what bankruptcy protection could mean for the pensions of some retired city workers.

Wildfires were once essential to the American West. Prairies and forests burned regularly, and those fires not only determined the mix of flora and fauna that made up the ecosystem, but they regenerated the land.

Session musician Stephen Bruner has played bass in other people's bands for more than a decade. He can play metal, R&B, hip-hop, jazz. With his second album, he's stepping to the front of the stage.

At a small park in Pyne Poynt on the north side of Camden, N.J., kids take practice cuts on the infield dirt and adjust their hats. A small but enthusiastic crowd shouts words of encouragement, but the cheering parents and playful bench-side scuffles only momentarily disguise the troubles in the city. Baggies, vials and hypodermic needles litter the same field where practice is being held.

Read an exclusive excerpt of David Rakoff's last novel, Love, Dishonor, Marry, Die, Cherish, Perish, a set of humane, witty interlocking vignettes in verse that illustrate the scope of the 20th century, from 1920s Chicago meatpackers to dissatisfied 1980s yuppies.

Movie star Ava Gardner agreed to write her memoirs with British journalist Peter Evans in 1988. Now, after the deaths of both Gardner and Evans, the results of their abortive collaboration are being published. Reviewer Bob Mondello says the book is dead on arrival.

Secretary of State John Kerry held a press conference Tuesday with the Saudi foreign minister. Prince Saud al-Faisal said his country cannot ignore Iran and Hezbollah's support of Assad's regime. NPR foreign correspondent Deb Amos explains Saudi Arabia's role in Syria.

The growing problem of sexual assaults in the U.S. military has led to arguments in Congress, where lawmakers disagree over how to confront the issue. Top military officers have also weighed in on the topic. But in Australia, where the military has its own sexual assault problem, the army chief has a simple solution: "Show moral courage and take a stand."

The nation's top military leaders came to Capitol Hill Tuesday primed to defend their ability to handle, in their chain of command, the sexual assault scandal that has engulfed the armed services.

The Transportation Security Administration has told Congress that it's finished retrofitting airport scanners to blunt a widely criticized technology that shows graphic detail of a passenger's body as he or she goes through security checkpoints.