Search results for

The award-winning songwriter speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about the value of melody, and writing a song about rain for a movie scene that had none.

The head of France's joint chiefs of staff says he thinks one of the leaders, Abdelhamid Abou Zeid, is probably dead, but he's less certain about Mokhtar Belmokhtar. The government of Chad over the weekend said the leaders had been killed in fighting in Mali.

Days after angering cyclists with his contention that people who ride bikes don't help pay for roads — and stating that "the act of riding a bike results in greater emissions of carbon dioxide from the rider," Washington State Rep. Ed Orcutt has apologized for his words.

The NBA will soon crown another team as the best. And another MVP will be named. But commentator Frank Deford says such titles of greatness are fleeting.

The partisan war over judicial nominees has accelerated in recent years. It took nearly a year to win Senate confirmation for Sri Srinivasan to the important federal appeals court for the District of Columbia, though he had no formal opposition.

The contentious little creatures were allowed in the Chelsea Flower Show for the first time in its 100-year history. Their presence has been hotly debated, but celebrity-decorated gnomes will be sold for a cause.

Also: an unusual job posting on Craigslist; a guided tour of George Saunders' desktop; and charges of nepotism at The New York Times.

A limousine filled with students headed to prom night at Western High in Davie, Fla., stopped for a detour Saturday, after a Honda van hit a concrete wall and flipped in front of the limo. The van's seven passengers had trouble getting out — until the limo's driver and the students helped.

China is believed to have executed about 3,000 people in 2012 — a 75 percent decline from a decade ago. Amnesty International says the "overall trend globally is towards abolition" of the death penalty.

The National Security Agency illegally collected emails of tens of thousands of Americans. The numbers are revealed in a newly declassified secret court opinion. The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court found the collection of those emails unconstitutional and ordered the NSA to fix the problem.