NPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94 WYPR is the NPR affiliate in Baltimore, MD. NPR Digital Services RSS Generator 0.94 WYPR 88.1 FM Podcast Sat, 21 Sep 2019 22:01:03 +0000 https://www.wypr.org editor Fresh Air Weekend highlights some of the best interviews and reviews from past weeks, and new program elements specially paced for weekends. Our weekend show emphasizes interviews with writers, filmmakers, actors and musicians, and often includes excerpts from live in-studio concerts. This week: Edward Snowden Speaks Out: 'I Haven't And I Won't' Cooperate With Russia: In 2013, Snowden showed journalists thousands of top-secret documents about U.S. intelligence agencies' surveillance efforts. He's been living in Russia ever since. His new book is Permanent Record. 'Ad Astra' Approaches The Sublime With Its Portrait Of Masculinity In Crisis: Brad Pitt is an astronaut who saves the world by traveling millions of miles to reunite with his long-absent dad. It's an unabashedly ridiculous premise, but somehow Ad Astra manages to pull it off. Journalist Andrea Mitchell: Asking Tough Questions Is 'Very Empowering': Mitchell, the chief foreign affairs correspondent for NBC News and anchor of her https://www.wypr.org/post/fresh-air-weekend-edward-snowden-journalist-andrea-mitchell 574020 as https://www.wypr.org Sat, 21 Sep 2019 17:55:00 +0000 Fresh Air Weekend: Edward Snowden; Journalist Andrea Mitchell editor A 22-year-old man was taken into custody Friday afternoon after he drove his SUV through a mall in Schaumburg, Ill., police said, causing panic as social media erupted with reports of an active shooter. The man drove through the Sears entrance of Woodfield Mall, about 13 miles from Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, and continued through a hallway lined with kiosks until he was detained by mall patrons and two off-duty officers, Schaumburg Police Chief Bill Wolf said at a news conference . "I am happy to report that there were only very minor injuries from this incident," Wolf said. No patrons were hit by the vehicle, he added. The driver's identity will not be released until charges are authorized by the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, Wolf said, adding that the police are also investigating a connection to the driver's possible medical condition. A video posted on Twitter Friday shows the black Chevrolet Trailblazer erratically weaving through the mall as bystanders run https://www.wypr.org/post/suv-drives-through-chicago-mall-prompts-false-claims-active-shooter 574019 as https://www.wypr.org Sat, 21 Sep 2019 17:12:00 +0000 SUV Drives Through Chicago Area Mall, Prompts False Claims Of Active Shooter editor Comedian Zach Galifianakis is known for his Internet series Between Two Ferns, in which he conducts celebrity interviews while seated — you guessed it — in between two ferns. Between Two Ferns: The Movie premieres on Netflix in September. We've invited Galifianakis to play a game called "Between Two Derns" — three questions about actor Laura Dern and her father, Bruce Dern. Click the audio link above to find out how he does. Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit PETER SAGAL, HOST: And now the game where we ask people who have risen to the highest levels to come down back to ours. It's called Not My Job. So Zach Galifianakis is a comedian and a movie star. But he may be most well-known for his Internet series "Between Two Ferns." In it, he interviews real celebrities and says really mean things to them. And somehow the celebrities do not then arrange to have him killed. (LAUGHTER) SAGAL: "Between Two Ferns" is now a movie. It's premiering on Netflix. And Zach Galifianakis joins us now. https://www.wypr.org/post/not-my-job-zach-galifianakis-plays-game-called-between-two-derns 574018 as https://www.wypr.org Sat, 21 Sep 2019 15:05:00 +0000 Not My Job: Zach Galifianakis Plays A Game Called 'Between Two Derns' Scott Detrow Updated at 1:50 p.m. ET Friends, family, reporters and politicians gathered Saturday in downtown Washington, D.C., to remember journalist Cokie Roberts. She was hailed as a "servant" of God and referred to as a "special singular soul" by those who delivered remarks. Roberts died Tuesday at age 75 of complications from breast cancer. She had covered and commented on politics for NPR since 1978 and spent decades working for ABC News as well, including several years co-hosting the Sunday morning political show This Week . House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., a longtime friend, told mourners that Roberts was "a national treasure whose passing is a great loss for America." "Many honors are afforded to members of Congress, especially to the speaker, but nothing surpasses the honor of paying tribute to Cokie's memory." Pelosi said Roberts' work through the years "shone a powerful spotlight" on the many women heroes of American history whose stories had often been overlooked. "Her life and https://www.wypr.org/post/watch-friends-family-gather-remember-cokie-roberts 574017 as https://www.wypr.org Sat, 21 Sep 2019 14:00:00 +0000 Friends, Family Say Cokie Roberts' Passing Is 'A Great Loss For America' Denny S. Bryce From small things, greatness. This line from Tracy Chevalier's new A Single Thread perfectly sums up a story about how a needle and the right stitch can change the course of a life. A Single Thread focuses on 38-year-old Violet Speedwell, who's piecing together a life for herself after her fiancé and her beloved brother both died in World War I. She's part of a generation in which a woman's worth is defined by her role as a wife, widow or mother — and by 1932, Violet knows she's not going to be any of those things. She's a surplus woman, alone in the world, with no chance to marry as a result of the Great War's devastation of the male population. For Violet, the label "surplus" amounts to a curse. Unless a woman has a dowry or family with wealthy purse-strings, she is an outcast, and in Violet's case, dependent upon a disjointed, dysfunctional family for her livelihood — unless she makes a change. And so she does. Violet leaves home for the nearby city of Winchester and gets a job as a https://www.wypr.org/post/stitch-time-saves-life-single-thread 574016 as https://www.wypr.org Sat, 21 Sep 2019 14:00:00 +0000 A Stitch In Time Saves A Life In 'A Single Thread' Robbie Harris Erin Shibley and Chirag Rathod are parents to Miko the cat. "Miko Angelo. Miko Angelo's his full name. Miko for short," Rathod says. It's dinner time, and the smell of paninis is wafting from the kitchen of their apartment in Blacksburg, Va. It smells delicious, especially to Miko, who takes it as a signal that it's his mealtime, too. "He is a vacuum eater, which means that he will just inhale his food," Shibley says. Shibley knows her cat's habits. Not just from living with Miko, but because recently, he was part of a yearlong study at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine designed to understand how to to keep indoor cats at a healthy weight. As part of the study, Shibley, along with Dr. Lauren Dodd, a resident in clinical nutrition at the school, did weekly check-ins on Miko and fed him a special low-calorie diet of high-nutrition food. Miko was an ideal candidate for the study: no illnesses and a bit chunky. "We didn't ration his food," Rathod says. "It was totally https://www.wypr.org/post/fat-cats-struggle-real-when-it-comes-losing-weight-and-keeping-it 574015 as https://www.wypr.org Sat, 21 Sep 2019 11:46:00 +0000 For Fat Cats, The Struggle Is Real When It Comes To Losing Weight And Keeping It Off Scott Simon David Yoon's debut novel has set off commotion, excitement, and a movie option. It's Frankly in Love , in which we meet Frank Li, a high school senior and a self-described nerd, who, with his best friend Q, plays video games, watches obscure movies, gets high SAT scores and doesn't talk about girls — except, of course, when they do. Which is a lot. Frank's parents are Korean — he doesn't like the hyphen before his own "American." And when he develops what we'll call age-appropriate feelings for Brit, a white girl in his calculus class, his parents say he should only get crushes on and go out with Korean girls. What's Frank to do? "When I was in high school, my parents were pretty set on having me only date Korean girls," Yoon says. "And so as a result, I would wind up hiding my entire love life from them — which in hindsight, it's kind of a strange thing to do, is hide something so important from people who are so important in your life." Interview Highlights On Frank's family When I https://www.wypr.org/post/navigating-culture-and-crushes-frankly-love 574013 as https://www.wypr.org Sat, 21 Sep 2019 11:46:00 +0000 Navigating Culture And Crushes In 'Frankly In Love' Emma Hurt Nearly the moment Republican Sen. Johnny Isakson announced his plans to resign late last month, rumors and speculation started flying about whom Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp would appoint to fill the seat. Isakson plans to leave the office he has held for nearly 15 years at the end of 2019 for health reasons. In an effort "to ensure an open and transparent appointment process," Kemp has opened an online application process for anyone eligible to submit their resume or C.V. Within the first two days the governor had received nearly 200 applications, and they are all being made public. "We will carefully vet the applicants and choose a person who best reflects our values, our state, and our vision for the future," Kemp said in a statement. Per the Georgia Constitution, any Georgia residents who have been U.S. citizens for at least nine years and are at least 30 years old are eligible. Hopeful senators have ranged from a sitting Georgia Public Service Commissioner to a Home Depot sales https://www.wypr.org/post/want-be-next-georgia-senator-apply-now 574012 as https://www.wypr.org Sat, 21 Sep 2019 11:00:00 +0000 Want To Be The Next Georgia Senator? Apply Now! Jason Heller "How long until the world hollows me out?" Eunice Turner asks her younger brother Noah in one of her many letters to him — most of them suicide notes. That question lies at the heart of A Cosmology of Monsters , Shaun Hamill's debut novel. It's a horror tale unafraid to tackle big issues of familial fealty, the architecture of fear, and the metaphysics of love, all while shocking the pants off the reader. Like Lev Grossman's The Magicians , only for horror instead of fantasy, the book examines the way we interact and fail to interact with each other, all bound together with genre delights that are mildly subverted even as they're adoringly celebrated. Eunice is the writer in her family, but Noah is Cosmology 's focus and first-person narrator. When Noah is a boy, his father decides to build a haunted house, but one the likes of which the world has never seen — an immersive experience so frightening and seamless, it's like stepping into a shadow world of our own. (Imagine Welcome to https://www.wypr.org/post/cosmology-monsters-blends-freaky-frights-and-family-feels 574011 as https://www.wypr.org Sat, 21 Sep 2019 11:00:00 +0000 'A Cosmology Of Monsters' Blends Freaky Frights And Family Feels Reynaldo Leaños Jr. It's back-to-school time on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, and in the border town of Matamoros, Mexico, migrant children are attending a different kind of classroom. Volunteers have created a pop-up school on a downtown sidewalk in hopes of giving the kids some sense of stability. "One, two, three, four ..." Tito, an asylum-seeker from Cuba, counts in Spanish in front of a group of children attending the sidewalk school recently. He fled his native Cuba because he feared being persecuted for being gay, and he asked that we not use his last name. Back home he works in finance; here he's leading a math class. "I try to make the situation here a bit better for the kids and for myself," Tito said in Spanish. "It satisfies me." He said he can relate to the kids because they're all asylum-seekers, like him. Tens of thousands of migrant families are waiting in Mexican border towns for their day in U.S. immigration court. Here, in Matamoros near the international bridge, asylum-seekers https://www.wypr.org/post/sidewalk-school-aims-give-migrant-kids-sense-stability 574010 as https://www.wypr.org Sat, 21 Sep 2019 10:00:00 +0000 Sidewalk School Aims To Give Migrant Kids A Sense Of Stability Doreen McCallister The New England Patriots on Friday released wide receiver Antonio Brown, who had only been with the team for a short time, after a second woman accused him of sexual misconduct. The defending Super Bowl champions announced the move in a statement emailed to reporters, minutes after Brown posted on Twitter: "Thank you for the opportunity @Patriots #GoWinIt." "It's unfortunate things didn't work out with the Patriots," Brown 's agent, Drew Rosenhaus tweeted. "But Antonio is healthy and is looking forward to his next opportunity in the NFL. He wants to play the game he loves and he hopes to play for another team soon." Also this week, Nike cut ties with the receiver, saying in an email to The Associated Press on Friday, " Antonio Brown is not a Nike athlete." Brown, a four-time All-Pro, began his career in Pittsburgh after being drafted in 2010 as a sixth-round pick by the Steelers. Over time his relationship with the Steelers soured and he was traded this year to the Oakland Raiders. https://www.wypr.org/post/patriots-release-antonio-brown-after-another-sexual-misconduct-allegation 574009 as https://www.wypr.org Sat, 21 Sep 2019 08:08:00 +0000 Patriots Release Antonio Brown After Another Sexual Misconduct Allegation Tom speaks with Valeria Howard Cunningham , the CEO and President of the Bill Pickett Invitational Rodeo, about the importance of African American western heritage and the rodeo tradition. The Bill Pickett Invitational—the only touring African American rodeo in the United States—will be at the Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro on Saturday September 21st. For more information about the tour including ticket information and showtimes, visit the Bill Pickett Rodeo webpage. https://www.wypr.org/post/valeria-howard-cunningham-talks-about-keeping-african-american-western-heritage-alive 574008 as https://www.wypr.org Sat, 21 Sep 2019 00:19:20 +0000 Valeria Howard-Cunningham Talks About Keeping African American Western Heritage Alive Alina Selyukh Walmart says it will stop selling electronic cigarettes, at namesake stores and Sam's Club locations. The nation's largest retailer is responding to growing health concerns around vaping, especially among young people. Walmart cited "growing federal, state and local regulatory complexity and uncertainty regarding e-cigarettes," saying that its stores will stop selling e-cigarettes once the current inventory is sold. Just on Thursday , U.S. health officials said there are now 530 confirmed or probable cases of lung injury associated with vaping, a jump from 380 cases reported last week. Eight people have died. As NPR previously reported, vaping products originally were welcomed by many people as a potentially safer alternative to cigarettes. And while millions of adults have switched from cigarettes, vaping has also attracted a new generation of nicotine addicts. Between 2017 and 2019 vaping jumped dramatically among high school students, doubling from 11% to 25% of 12th-graders, https://www.wypr.org/post/walmart-stop-selling-e-cigarettes 574005 as https://www.wypr.org Fri, 20 Sep 2019 21:13:00 +0000 Walmart To Stop Selling E-Cigarettes David Welna The U.S. military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, is nearly empty these days, but President Trump is explicitly ruling out the possibility of sending thousands of captured Islamic State fighters there. "The United States is not going to have thousands and thousands of people that we've captured stationed at Guantánamo Bay, held captive at Guantánamo Bay for the next 50 years and us spending billions and billions of dollars," Trump told reporters Friday during an appearance at the White House with Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. "I want the countries to take back the captured ISIS fighters," Trump added, noting that many of these captives come from European nations, including Germany and France. "And if they don't take them back, we're going to probably put them at the border, and then they'll have to capture them again." Few of the foreign ISIS fighters captured on the battlefield in Syria and Iraq have been repatriated. Without embassies in those war-torn nations or https://www.wypr.org/post/trump-rules-out-sending-captured-isis-fighters-guant-namo-bay 574006 as https://www.wypr.org Fri, 20 Sep 2019 20:56:00 +0000 Trump Rules Out Sending Captured ISIS Fighters To Guantánamo Bay Ari Shapiro Even in Times Square — crammed with tourists from around the world dodging people in superhero costumes — the playwright Jeremy O. Harris stands out. He's walking down the sidewalk with two thick and long braids, standing six feet and five inches tall, wearing a see-through shirt, carrying bags from fashion designers and smoking a cigarette. He's between New York Fashion Week events and his Broadway opening. He approaches the Golden Theatre on 45th Street, where the marquee reads "the single most daring thing I've seen in the theater in a long time" — a quotation from Wesley Morris of The New York Times -- and has his name on it, in big, all-caps letters. "Yes, it's crazy," Harris says. "I don't know. I'm still like, 'OK! I guess that's what's happening now.'" The theater has been decorated for the controversial, explicit and funny work that sent Jeremy O. Harris on a rocket trajectory to Broadway: Slave Play . The show explores the legacy of slavery in interracial sexual dynamics. It https://www.wypr.org/post/slave-play-young-playwright-provokes-his-way-broadway 574004 as https://www.wypr.org Fri, 20 Sep 2019 20:44:00 +0000 With 'Slave Play,' A Young Playwright Provokes His Way To Broadway Jeff Lunden Copyright 2019 NPR. To see more, visit ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: One joy of live theater is that no two performances are ever the same. But Betty Corwin wanted to preserve important performances so anyone could experience "A Chorus Line's" first run or Meryl Streep's turn in "Taming Of The Shrew." That's why she created the Theater on Film and Tape Archive, which is part of the New York Public Library. Corwin died earlier this month at the age of 98. Reporter Jeff Lunden has this remembrance. JEFF LUNDEN, BYLINE: Over 8,000 Broadway and off-Broadway shows, as well as artist interviews, are currently contained in the archive. And it all came about because of Betty Corwin, who was honored with a special Tony Award in 2001. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) BETTY CORWIN: I want to thank Marlon Brando, Laurette Taylor and the Barrymores, whose magical performances were lost forever the moment the final curtain fell. They instilled in me a passion to preserve the theater of the great artists of https://www.wypr.org/post/creator-theatre-film-and-tape-archive-dies-98 574003 as https://www.wypr.org Fri, 20 Sep 2019 20:44:00 +0000 Creator Of Theatre On Film And Tape Archive Dies At 98 Sasha Ingber When Belinda Qaqamba Ka-Fassie dresses in drag, she doesn't typically go for the sequins and feather boas worn by performers on RuPaul's Drag Race . A post-graduate student of education at Stellenbosch University in Cape Town, South Africa, Ka-Fassie might put on a dress that resembles the white blanket typically worn by boys at a traditional male circumcision ritual, called ulwaluko, and she might add a multi-colored headpiece and beaded stick, both handmade and used by brides. It's a very deliberate choice made by black drag queens from townships who are celebrating their roots and challenging dress codes for men and women through their traditional apparel. "We cannot separate our queerness from our Xhosaness," says Ka-Fassie, a drag queen and activist. Mthulic Vee Vuma, a 21-year-old studying public management at West Coast College, wears traditional Xhosa clothing and jewelry in front of a shack in Khayelitsha. "The meaning of the clothing I am wearing is to love and accept our https://www.wypr.org/post/photos-drag-queens-south-africa-embrace-queerness-and-tradition 574002 as https://www.wypr.org Fri, 20 Sep 2019 20:41:00 +0000 PHOTOS: Drag Queens In South Africa Embrace Queerness And Tradition Emily Vaughn Just because there's a toilet built for women and girls, it doesn't necessarily meet their needs. A growing body of literature says public and school toilets in low- and middle-income countries all too often lack the basic elements women need for privacy and safety, and have design flaws that can leave users vulnerable to violent attacks. The latest study, out this month in the Journal of Adolescence , looks at menstrual needs. Interviewing 312 girls in three provinces in Pakistan, the researchers found toilets showed "gender-insensitive design," lacked disposal options for menstrual products and were unsafely located. So what would a female-friendly toilet look like? A design guide for female-friendly public and community toilets explains what features are essential and desirable in a bathroom facility for women. The guide, released in 2018, was authored by an international team of WASH specialists from nonprofit groups and academia (WASH stands for "water, sanitation and hygiene https://www.wypr.org/post/how-design-female-friendly-toilet 574007 as https://www.wypr.org Fri, 20 Sep 2019 20:30:00 +0000 How To Design A Female-Friendly Toilet Emily Sullivan Hundreds of Baltimore students left class and walked to City Hall on Friday to demand local and national leaders take action to lessen the impact of climate change. The protests are part of the Global Climate Strike , a youth-led mobilization to advocate for an end to fossil fuel use ahead of an emergency United Nations climate summit. On Friday, organizers rallied marches in more than 150 countries. More than 800 marches occurred in the U.S. https://www.wypr.org/post/we-ve-failed-protect-earth-baltimore-youth-march-climate-change-action-0 574001 as https://www.wypr.org Fri, 20 Sep 2019 20:29:52 +0000 “We’ve Failed To Protect The Earth”: Baltimore Youth March For Climate Change Action Today on the Midday News Wrap, Israel's Knesset remains deadlocked after Tuesday’s election. A Whistle Blower in the Intelligence Community raises concerns, but the Justice Department tells Congress it can’t know what those concern are. And, is a drone attack on a Saudi oil facility last Saturday the latest in a series of Iranian responses to the US campaign of sanctions and maximum pressure? Guests David Makovsky is the Ziegler distinguished fellow at the Washington Institute and director of the Project on Arab-Israel Relations . His latest book is called Be Strong and Of Good Courage: How Israel’s Most Important Leaders Shaped It’s Destiny , which he wrote with Ambassador Dennis Ross. Julian Borger is the world affairs editor at the Guardian. https://www.wypr.org/post/midday-news-wrap-92019 573997 as https://www.wypr.org Fri, 20 Sep 2019 19:57:40 +0000 Midday News Wrap 9.20.19