WAMC

Why The IRS Scandal Is Built To Last

Frank James — Sun, 19 May 2013 00:08:26 +0000

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.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration's position that national security considerations justified the Justice Department's gathering of journalists' phone records in a leak investigation may be enough to remove fuel from the outrage.

Toronto Mayor Blames Newspaper For Cocaine Video

Scott Neuman — Sun, 19 May 2013 00:07:47 +0000

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford responded on Friday to a video that purports to show him smoking crack cocaine, calling it "ridiculous."

According to The Toronto Star, the cellphone video, seen by two of the newspaper's reporters, is being "shopped around Toronto by a group of Somali men involved in the drug trade." The Star writes that the video:

"...

David Foster Wallace Tells Us About Freedom

Robert Krulwich — Sun, 19 May 2013 00:07:18 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmpYnxlEh0c

New 'Trek' Goes 'Into Darkness,' But Not Much Deeper

Bob Mondello — Sat, 18 May 2013 22:14:00 +0000

The opening sequence of J.J. Abram's new entry in the Star Trek universe has all the ingredients of the classic franchise.

There's Kirk and his crew bellowing on the bridge, everyone worrying about the prime directive and our favorite Vulcan trapped in a volcano.

OK, I'm in. I may not be a fanboy anymore, but I sure was in my youth, and having these guys in their youths again is just as cool at the outset as it was last time.

Chris Pine's baby-Shatner is spitting his lines while Zachary Quinto channels his inner Nimoy.

Plum Baby

Carmiel Banasky — Sat, 18 May 2013 22:01:21 +0000

There isn't enough time in this world to grow your own tree. That tree is a plum baby still, never mind it's tall as the house those men are taking from us. It grew up with me. I say this to Mama Lee as she rests her hand on my shoulder like another shoulder. She nods and nods some more. She's been nodding all day like she's got two weights, one in her chin and the other in back of her skull that can't lie at rest.

We're standing in the yard facing the house in the dewy grass.

Author Elliott Holt Says: 'Go West, Young Woman'

Lidia Jean Kott — Sat, 18 May 2013 22:01:04 +0000

In Elliott Holt's beautifully subtle debut novel You Are One of Them, the protagonist, an American in her 20s, moves to Moscow shortly after the Cold War. After a few months, she returns to the U.S. a changed woman.

Holt, who is 39, also lived in Moscow where she worked as a copywriter at an advertising agency, as well as in London and New York. Currently, she resides in Washington, D.C., and writes full time.

I asked Holt to make a list of her favorite books about living abroad and then called her to interview her about her choices.

Working Women On Television: A Mixed Bag At Best

Neda Ulaby — Sat, 18 May 2013 22:00:37 +0000

When actress Geena Davis was watching children's shows with her daughter a few years ago, she became so troubled by the lack of female representation, she started a think tank on gender in the media. The Geena Davis Institute recently partnered with University of California, Los Angeles, professors to conduct a study analyzing gender roles and jobs on screen.

The good news?

Alzheimer's Cases Rise, But Hope Remains

editor — Sat, 18 May 2013 21:27:00 +0000

More than 5 million Americans are currently living with Alzheimer's disease, and the National Institute on Aging estimates that that number is going to triple by 2050 — in part due to aging baby boomers.

The cost of coping with the disease — currently estimated at $215 billion — is projected to rise to half a trillion dollars by 2050.

Prominent Pakistani Politician Shot, Killed On Re-Election Eve

Eyder Peralta — Sat, 18 May 2013 21:09:00 +0000

On the eve of a re-vote, a prominent Pakistani politician was shot and killed on Saturday.

Pakistan's Dawn newspaper reports that Zahra Shahid Hussain, who was the senior vice-president of Pakistan's Movement for Justice (PTI), was shot in the head during "an attempted robbery incident."

"According to police," Dawn reports, "robbers tried to steal Hussain's hand bag and opened gun fire upon resistance by the PTI leader outside her residence in Defence Housing Authority Phase-

Impossible Choice Faces America's First 'Climate Refugees'

editor — Sat, 18 May 2013 20:42:00 +0000

Climate change is a stark reality in America's northernmost state. Nearly 90 percent of native Alaskan villages are on the coast, where dramatic erosion and floods have become a part of daily life.

Perched on the Ninglick River on the west coast of the state, the tiny town of Newtok may be the state's most vulnerable village. About 350 people live there, nearly all of them Yupik Eskimos. But the Ninglick is rapidly rising due to ice melt, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers says the highest point in the town — a school — could be underwater by 2017.

Suzanne Goldenberg, a U.S.