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Around the Nation
1:44 pm
Tue January 24, 2012

Down And Out Escape To 'Slab' In California Desert

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Credit Gloria Hillard / For NPR
Slab City is an informal community in the California desert on the site of a former WWII artillery range. The recent recession has sent the town a new wave of people who have fallen on hard times and are looking to escape the burdens of modern life.
Credit Gloria Hillard / For NPR
Eighteen-year-old Allie Neill and 20-year-old Eliza Aseltine sit on the front steps of Neill's family's RV in Slab City, Calif. Slab City is an informal, off-the-grid community in the California desert.
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Originally published on Tue January 24, 2012 6:30 pm

There are no signs leading to Slab City. From Los Angeles you head east deep into the desert, and then south, past the Salton Sea. For years, a diverse group of people has been drawn to the abandoned Marine base, but the troubled economy has driven even more travelers to the place dubbed "The Last Free Place in America."

Following the tire tracks of countless RVs, trailers, vans and campers, you pass a landscape of the vehicles that have taken root here, their tires now soft on the desert floor.

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NPR Story
1:00 pm
Tue January 24, 2012

As Speaker, Gingrich Brought Change, Controversy

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Robert Siegel speaks to Janet Hook of the Wall Street Journal about Newt Gingrich's time as speaker of the House. Hook covered those years as a reporter for the Los Angeles Times. When Gingrich became speaker, he brought a tremendous change to the House and the Republican Party. But he caused a lot of trouble for his rank and file. In 1997, there was a secret attempt to overthrow him as speaker by a group of "back benchers," who thought he was flying off the handle. They wanted a conventional leader, and he kept doing things on his own, without telling people.

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NPR Story
1:00 pm
Tue January 24, 2012

Fox Plans Spanish-Language Network

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Originally published on Tue January 24, 2012 4:07 pm

Transcript

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

Fox is getting into the lucrative Spanish language TV market here in the U.S. They're putting together a broadcast network that will begin airing this fall.

As NPR's Elizabeth Blair reports, it's a partnership with RCN, a Colombian television company.

ELIZABETH BLAIR, BYLINE: RCN is a major producer and exporter of Spanish-language programming. They're the ones who created the original "Ugly Betty."

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SERIES "YO SOY BETTY")

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: (Foreign language spoken)

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Presidential Race
1:00 pm
Tue January 24, 2012

Romney Releases His Tax Returns

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Mitt Romney released his tax returns for 2010 and 2011, after earlier suggesting he would wait until after winning the GOP nomination. While Romney's total tax bill was in the millions, his tax rate was actually lower than that of many middle-class Americans.

Asia
12:43 pm
Tue January 24, 2012

For China's 'Left-Behind Kids,' A Free Lunch

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Credit Louisa Lim / NPR
Students enjoy free meals on the inaugural day of the Free Lunch for Children program at Hujiaying primary school in Shaanxi province's Nanzheng county.
Credit Louisa Lim / NPR
For many of the students, the free school lunch is the best meal of the day. A study last year found that malnutrition has stunted the growth of 12 percent of China's poorest children.
Credit Louisa Lim / NPR
On a recent day, the children receive a tray full of rice, stir-fried pork with celery, spicy tofu and greens with mushrooms.
Credit Louisa Lim / NPR
Bai Baojun is the school's headmaster. The parents of 80 percent of his students have moved away to find work, and many of these "left-behind" children routinely go hungry, he says.
Credit Louisa Lim / NPR
The school's new canteen was built with government funding; the government is also stepping up its efforts to provide nutritional supplement for the country's poorest kids.
Credit Louisa Lim / NPR
The Free Lunch for Children program is a godsend for 10-year-old Xie Xiaoyuan, whose family of five survives on just $120 a month.
Credit Louisa Lim / NPR
Xie has frostbitten ears from her daily trek to school. She eats no breakfast and, before the school lunch program, had only two pieces of bread to keep her going until dinner.
Credit Louisa Lim / NPR
Because they are so hungry, the children say, they are unable to concentrate on their lessons.
Credit Louisa Lim / NPR
The Free Lunch for Children program is the brainchild of journalist Deng Fei. In eight months, he raised $4 million online, and is now feeding 25,000 children a day.
Credit Louisa Lim / NPR
Hujiaying primary school in China's remote Shaanxi province is among the schools benefiting from the nonprofit Free Lunch for Children program.
Credit Louisa Lim / NPR
In the school kitchen, a cook uses a shovel for stir-frying. He is preparing meals for more than 200 students.
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Originally published on Wed May 23, 2012 9:06 am

For 10-year-old student Xie Xiaoyuan, just getting to school is an ordeal. On a recent day, her frostbitten ears are testament to just how difficult the trip is.

"I get up at five o'clock," she says, "then I comb my hair and start walking."

Xie navigates a mountain path in China's remote Shaanxi province in the dark, trudging through snowstorms and mudslides. Then she has to get a bus for about 10 miles. She hasn't time to eat breakfast.

"For lunch, I spend 15 cents on two pieces of bread and a drink," she says.

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