Search results for

Even Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick himself describes the story of his life — from growing up on welfare in Chicago to thriving in business and politics — as "improbable." But he had a lot of help, he says, from a loving family and supportive teachers.

April 14 marks the date 150 years ago that the first person was killed in the Civil War. But there's more to the story, and NPR's Kee Malesky has a special connection to it.

Wayne Pacelle has been criticized for inviting the quarterback to speak out against dogfighting. But he says he thinks Vick has learned from his mistakes and will hopefully be able to speak out in more communities about the special human connection to animals.

Earlier this month, the Justice Department created a special task force, putting a veteran mob prosecutor in charge. Analysts say putting criminal prosecutors in charge instead of environmental prosecutors could mean something important for BP and other likely targets.

The case before the court Wednesday comes from South Carolina, where Michael Turner was jailed for a year for failing to pay child support. He argues that he couldn't afford to pay, and that sending indigent parents to jail without providing them with a lawyer is a modern form of debtors' prison.

The U.S. is prosecuting pirates again. Piracy is one of the oldest crimes in federal law. Three cases have been heard in Virginia, including one in which five Somali men were sentenced this week to life plus 80 years. Often, suspects claim to be minors, and the government has to spend time trying to find out if it's true.

In The Other Life, author Ellen Meister writes about a woman who can simultaneously live two realities — that of a suburban houswife, and a big city dreamer. How does she do it? Through a portal hidden in her basement.

Journalist Annia Ciezadlo covered the Iraq War and the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict for major newspapers. While abroad, she absorbed local recipes and the culture of food, and stories like the bravery of a mother driving across Baghdad for her 11-year-old daughter's birthday cake.

The 40-pound, six-volume, $625 and 2,438-page cookbook celebrates the science of cooking. But at that price — and with such exactingly detailed "recipes" — who's gonna buy it?

In Rawhide Down, journalist Del Quentin Wilber offers new information about the March 1981 day that President Ronald Reagan was shot in Washington, D.C. Wilber and Jerry Parr, the head of Reagan's Secret Service detail at the time of the shooting, speak with NPR's Ari Shapiro.