This month we are collecting your stories about the good things Americans are doing to make their community a better place. Some of your contributions will become blog posts and the project will end with a story that weaves together submissions to make a story of Americans by Americans for Americans.
Decades ago, there were hardly any Sikhs in the Milwaukee area. After a 1960s change in immigration law made it easier for people to reach the U.S. from Asia, they began flowing in. And one of the earliest arrivals was Swaranjit Arora, who came in the '60s and arrived in Milwaukee in 1972 to teach at the University of Wisconsin. He talked with us about how things have changed.
It's MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
And I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning.
The Fierce Five have finished their run at the London Summer Olympics. Fierce Five is the nickname given to America's whiz-kid female gymnasts - average age just a bit over 16. They started the Games by winning the most important gold medal, in the team event. They finished yesterday with their team captain finally getting a break that seemed elusive. From London, here's NPR's Tom Goldman.
Yesterday was a day for people in some states to vote in primary elections. Kansas Republicans unseated some of their own lawmakers who were seen as too willing to cooperate with Democrats, and we'll have more on that in a moment.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
We'll also report on a primary vote that affects this fall's contest to control the Senate. Democrats hold an advantage in the Senate now. Republicans have many opportunities to gain seats or even win control.
It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep.
RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:
And I'm Renee Montagne.
Look at the electoral maps put up by political analysts and a few things become clear: President Obama holds an advantage in the state-by-state electoral votes that determine this fall's election.
INSKEEP: But his lead in several key states is narrow, and as of now, the red and blue maps put up by those analysts suggest he is still short of the 270 votes he would need to win.
Here in the U.S., analysts are trying to figure out what affect an oil refinery fire could have on gasoline prices. The fire erupted Monday night at an important refinery in Richmond, California. It's owned by Chevron Corporation. It was extinguished within five hours, but could have a lasting impact.
NPR's Richard Gonzales reports that gas prices are expected to shoot up in an already expensive market.
The Olympic Games in London have already brought a lot of drama and made some history, as well. And today and tomorrow could bring more memorable moments.
NPR's Howard Berkes is covering his eighth Olympics and he joins us now to tell us about what we can look forward to. Good morning.
HOWARD BERKES, BYLINE: Good morning.
MONTAGNE: I see the decathlon is on your list of events to pay attention to today. Outside of the Olympics, of course, most of us don't pay a lot of attention to that particular sport. Why today?
And our last word in business is: shocking - positively shocking.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Any James Bond fan knows that's a line from (Singing) "Goldfinger."
It's what Bond says after electrocuting a henchmen in a bathtub.
MONTAGNE: Britain has the Olympics, and this fall, it will have a 24-hour James Bond channel. British broadcaster BSkyB is launching the channel for the month of October to mark the 50th anniversary of the Bond franchise.
We've been hearing, in recent days, about the city of Anaheim here in Southern California. Violent protests shook that city following police shootings of two Latino men. Tensions there remain high, and tonight the city council will hold a special meeting to hear residents' concerns. But as NPR's Carrie Kahn reports, some community members say their complaints have long been ignored in what they say is a city that cares more about Anaheim's big businesses than about them.
NPR's business news starts with markets rather optimistic.
Stock market averages in Asia closed higher today for the third day in a row. There's apparently a feeling that the U.S. and Europe are poised to make moves that will help the global economy. Investors are betting that the Federal Reserve will launch new stimulus action. And they're also betting that some decisive action will be taken soon to reign in the fiscal crisis in Europe.
Originally published on Thu August 9, 2012 9:44 am
Shiny glass buildings are a hallmark of modern architecture, but for birds, that shimmer can be deadly. Every year, an estimated 100 million to 1 billion birds die by flying into glass windows. By studying how birds interact with buildings, architects and ornithologists are trying to create special features designed to keep birds alive.
Below, click around to see architectural features that can make buildings safer for birds — or more deadly.
Before U.S. swimmer Michael Phelps broke the record for the most medals, did anyone say the precious record-holder, gymnast Larisa Latynina, was the greatest Olympian?
Credit Quinn Rooney / Getty Images
Prince William, his wife, Catherine, and Prime Minister David Cameron take part in the wave as they watch the track cycling at the London Games.
I always like it when Olympic champions from one sport go to another competition, so I was particularly touched to see Kobe Bryant, with his children in tow, watching as the magnificent Michael Phelps bid adieu to his sport by winning yet one last gold.
Phelps and Bryant are connected these days, too, because both have prompted some historical conversation. Kobe boasted that his current U.S. basketball squad could beat the sainted Dream Team of '92, while Phelps, simply by piling up more medals, opened up the barroom debate about who might be the greatest Olympian ever.
Larry McMurtry is perhaps best known for novels like The Last Picture Show, Terms of Endearment and Lonesome Dove; but the author also has a career as a bookseller.
His store, Booked Up, spills across four buildings in his small hometown of Archer City, Texas, and houses nearly half a million rare and used books. But starting this Friday, McMurtry is holding an auction to whittle down that number — by a lot.
Parkesdale Farm Market is run by Jim Meeks, 70, and his extended family, including his daughter-in-law Xiamara Meeks, 36. Business is booming and the stand has been a mainstay on presidential campaign stops since the days of George H.W. Bush.
Credit Becky Lettenberger / NPR
Candidate Obama visited the market in 2008 and took a photo with Xiomara Meeks' daughter, Piper.
Credit Becky Lettenberger / NPR
The market has grown from a simple fruit stand to a full-blown farmers market, open to the public seven days a week.
Credit Becky Lettenberger / NPR
The Meeks display a large photo of themselves posing with George and Barbara Bush in 1984. The market has become a "must-visit" destination for presidential candidates.
Credit Becky Lettenberger / NPR
Plant City calls itself the winter strawberry capital of the world. A map in the seating area outside the market marks the far-flung hometowns of visitors.
Credit Becky Lettenberger / NPR
Jim Meeks says the key to winning the election is drinking a Parkesdale strawberry milkshake. He plans to vote for Republican Mitt Romney and his daughter-in-law plans to vote for President Obama.
Credit Becky Lettenberger / NPR
Founded in 1956, the Parkesdale Farm Market is the largest family-operated strawberry market in Florida.
Credit Becky Lettenberger / NPR
Parkesdale Farm Market in Plant City, Fla., is run by Jim Meeks, 70, and his extended family, including his daughter-in-law Xiamara Meeks, 36. Business is booming and the stand has been a mainstay of presidential campaign stops since the days of George H.W. Bush.
As the presidential election nears, Morning Edition has begun a series of reports from an iconic American corner: First and Main. Several times in the next few months, we'll travel to a battleground state, then to a vital county in each state. In that county, we find a starting point for our visit: First and Main streets, the intersection of politics and real life.
A drop in natural gas prices is hurting balance sheets across the petroleum industry. The second-largest natural gas producer in the United States — Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy — has been hit especially hard.
After 23 consecutive years of touting its increasing natural gas production, Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon told investors during a conference call Tuesday that the company projects its gas output will drop about 7 percent in 2013.
Anti-nuclear protesters carry "No nukes" banners during a march in Tokyo last month. Protests against Japan's use of nuclear power have grown in the aftermath of the March 2011 Fukushima disaster.
Credit Jackie Northam / NPR
The Japanese government shut down all of the country's nuclear reactors after Fukushima. It recently restarted two of them at the power plant in Ohi (shown here on July 26), along the Sea of Japan.
At 6 p.m. every Friday — with the kind of precision timing the Japanese live by — the protests in downtown Tokyo begin.
Thousands of Japanese — young, old, in wheelchairs and on skateboards — shout anti-nuclear slogans from behind police barricades that snake around the office of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda. Over the past four months, the protests have swelled; at least 75,000 people turned out at a recent demonstration.
Nobuyuki Miyazaki, an office worker, says this is the first time he's ever been to a demonstration.
Experts say glass buildings kill millions of birds every year. Scientists at Powdermill Avian Research Center are studying ways to help prevent this. Here, a volunteer tags a black hooded warbler in Rector, Pa., in May.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
Luke DeGroote, the banding program coordinator, looks for birds trapped in fine-meshed mist nets. Nearly 70 nets cover a 24.7-acre area at Powdermill; they need to be checked every 30 to 40 minutes.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
DeGroote collects a gray catbird caught in one of the nets. The 39-foot-by-8-foot nets are designed to safely capture birds.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
Menzel prepares an experiment to test how birds react to various types of glass. The birds are placed at one end of the tunnel, then fly toward the glass panes at the other end. A fine mesh net catches the birds before they can hit the glass.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
Menzel looks into the tunnel to see if the bird flew toward the regular glass or the glass with the pattern. This experiment will help to determine which glass is better to use in bird-friendly architecture.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
Christine Sheppard (left), an ornithologist with the American Bird Conservancy, and her assistant, Cara Menzel, insert two panes of glass into a test tunnel. One pane is a regular piece of glass; the other has a pattern of lines painted on the inside that reflects ultraviolet light. The birds can see the pattern, but it is barely detectable by the human eye.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
DeGroote and Blaine Cernes, a banding assistant, enter the data they've collected into a database that will help monitor how well the avian populations are doing in the wild.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
DeGroote examines the wing of a yellow warbler.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
Experts say glass buildings kill millions of birds every year; scientists at Powdermill Avian Research Center are studying ways to help prevent this. Here, a volunteer tags a hooded warbler in Rector, Penn., in May.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
Christine Sheppard, an ornithologist with the American Bird Conservancy, cleans windows before conducting an experiment that will help determine which pane of glass is more bird friendly.
Modern architecture loves glass. Glass makes interiors brighter and adds sparkle to cityscapes. But glass also kills millions of birds every year when they collide with windows. Biologists say as more glass buildings go up, more birds are dying.
Originally published on Tue August 7, 2012 9:11 pm
Leo Manzano, 27, came from behind with a last-minute kick to claim silver in the men's 1,500-meter final, today. That's no small feat for the Mexican-born American runner: He is the first American to medal in the metric mile since Jim Ryun won a silver in 1968.
Originally published on Tue August 7, 2012 8:14 pm
There's a life-or-death drama unfolding in Texas tonight. It involves the death penalty, the Supreme Court and John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men.
First the basics: Marvin Wilson, 54, is set to be executed by Texas tonight. He was convicted of the 1992 killing of a police informant. His attorneys however argue that a Supreme Court ban on the death penalty for the mentally impaired prohibits the state from going forward with tonight's execution and are asking the high court to step in.
Misty May-Treanor of the U.S. celebrates at the end of the women's beach volleyball semifinal with Kerri Walsh Jennings (in the background) against China's Xue Chen and Zhang Xi. USA won 2-0.
The United States will have at least two shiny new medals no matter what happens tomorrow at the women's beach volleyball final.
After defeating China (2-0) and Brazil (2-1), today, the two American teams advanced to the finals, setting up an all-American match. It means the U.S. will receive a gold and silver.
Originally published on Tue August 7, 2012 5:50 pm
Former President Jimmy Carter may be the epitome of failed presidents in the eyes of many Republicans.
But the Democrats announced Tuesday that the one-term president will have a prime-time speaking role at their national convention in Charlotte, N.C., in September. Carter won't be there live, however; he'll speak by video.
A news release from the Democratic National Convention Committee quoted the former president:
While President Obama and Mitt Romney offer competing visions every day on the campaign trail, there's also a more superficial aspect to their campaigns.
And on the surface, Obama and Romney events feel completely different.
Take a recent summer night in Leesburg, Va. Dorothy Fontaine had been standing outside of a local high school since the sun was high in the sky.
When asked why she would spend that much time waiting, Fontaine replied: "It's the president of the United States! I mean, isn't it cool to go see the president of the United States?"
A panel from part one of Insufferable, the first title offered by the comics website Thrillbent.com. The site's creator, comic-book writer Mark Waid, hopes it will redefine comics in the era of smartphones and tablets.
He wouldn't make the claim himself, but when it comes to comic-book writers, Mark Waid is one of the greats.
"I've pretty much hit all of the pop culture bases," Waid says, surrounded by comic-book memorabilia in his Los Angeles home. Batman, Spider-Man and even The Incredibles have all had adventures dreamed up by Waid.
"Jan. 26, 1979, was the most important day of my life," Waid says. "Because that's the day that I saw Superman: The Movie. I came out of it knowing that no matter what the rest of my life was going to be like, it had to involve Superman somehow."
Peter Forcelli, an ATF agent who blew the whistle on management lapses in the gun trafficking scandal known as Fast and Furious, has reached an agreement with the bureau over his retaliation claims.
A lawyer for Forcelli declined to disclose the terms of the settlement because it was the product of a confidential mediation process.
Wuhan's newest attraction is Han Street, a shopping complex that stretches several football fields, features fancy faux European architecture, and is filled with stores featuring foreign brands from Dairy Queen to Zara.
Credit Frank Langfitt / NPR
The central Chinese city of Wuhan has a population of 10 million people, more than New York City. Both Chinese and foreigners are flocking to Wuhan, the GDP of which is expected to double in five years.
Credit Frank Langfitt / NPR
The central Chinese city of Wuhan has a population of 10 million people, more than than New York City. Wuhan's economy is growing at a rapid clip, and the local government is building three subway lines in order to help ease traffic congestion and commute times.
Credit Frank Langfitt / NPR
Yun Peng, 26, moved to Wuhan seven years ago from western China for school. Now, he has a local girlfriend and plans to stay because of the many opportunities he sees.
China became a majority urban country this year. No nation has shifted so quickly from rural to urban than China, where more than half of the people now live in urban areas.
Everyone is familiar with megacities like Beijing and Shanghai, but they are just a tiny part of China's urbanization story. The country has more than 160 cities with populations of a million or more — places most of the world is only vaguely familiar with, if at all.
Another once-promising Alzheimer's drug has just been tossed on the pharmaceutical scrap heap.
This time it's a drug called bapineuzumab. Like several previous experimental drugs, it was designed to attack the plaques that build up in the brains of people with Alzheimer's.
Mike Cannata with 2-year-old Bella. Mike and his wife, Barb, brought Bella home from Bulgaria this past spring after spending five years attempting to adopt.
Credit Courtesy of the Cannata family
The Cannata family at their home in rural Pennsylvania. Mike and Barb Cannata's second adoption experience was much more difficult than their first.
When Barb and Mike Cannata adopted their first daughter from China almost a decade ago, the process was smooth and relatively quick — just 17 months from start to finish.
Now a chatty and confident 9-year-old, Emma is an accomplished equestrian with her show horse, Ajax. But the family had trouble explaining to Emma why it took so long to get her a little sister.
When the Cannatas decided to adopt again in 2007, Barb Cannata says, everything had changed. They ruled out China early on.
U.S. water polo players on the bench react during their semifinal match between Australia and the United States at the Water Polo Arena in London. The Americans will play for gold on Thursday.
The American women's water polo team will again chase an elusive gold medal, this time at the London Olympics. The team qualified for the gold medal match by defeating longtime Olympic rival Australia.
Tied after regular time expired, the Americans scored two goals in overtime to beat the Australian water polo women, 11-9. Now the U.S. team moves on to the gold medal match Thursday.
Credit Richard Bain / Stratford Shakespeare Festival
The Festival Theater in Stratford, Ontario, is the main venue for the town's annual Stratford Shakespeare Festival. The town lies on the Avon River — just like Shakespeare's British birthplace — and had schools named after Romeo and Juliet before the festival started in 1953.
Credit Brian Santa Maria / iStockphoto.com
This summer, NPR's Destination Art series is going off the beaten path to visit small to midsize North American cities that have cultivated lively arts scenes. We want to hear from you! Where's your favorite art hot spot? What makes it unique? Tell us about it.
Credit David Hou / Stratford Shakespeare Festival
Cara Ricketts plays Innogen in Cymbeline, one of three Shakepeare plays produced for this year's festival.
Credit Peter Smith / Stratford Shakespeare Festival
For the first Stratford Shakespeare Festival in 1953, a circus tent was brought from Chicago and raised on a hillside.
Credit Cylla von Tiedemann / Stratford Shakespeare Festival
Mike Shara (left) as Cornelius Hackl and Josh Epstein as Barnaby Tucker in The Matchmaker, a play Thornton Wilder rewrote into its current form 50 years ago in Stratford .
Most theaters let audiences know the show is about to start by blinking the lights. Stratford's Festival Theater in Stratford, Ontario, is a bit more festive. Four burgundy-uniformed buglers and a drummer quicken the pace of hundreds of theatergoers who've been ambling up the hill from the banks of the Avon River. When curtain time arrives, a cannon will boom.
There's always a line at the Boulangerie Cauvet on the corner of rue St. Charles in Paris's 15th district. In their family owned bakery, Esmeralda Cauvet and her husband Cyril sell around 800 croissants and 3,500 baguettes a day.
In the kitchen, head pastry maker Pierre Gibert still rolls his croissants from triangular strips of dough. "The key to a good croissant is good ingredients and a high quality dough. You have to knead it, let it rise and roll it a second time in butter. That's what gives a croissant its flaky quality," Gibert says.
