At the end of August, the eyes of the political world turn to Tampa, Fla., for the Republican National Convention. It promises to dominate the national and local news in Tampa Bay that week and suck all the political air out of the room.
So if you're the Obama campaign, what do you do? How do you counterprogram Romney-palooza?
Apparently, by buying lots of TV airtime on The Bachelor, Dr. Oz and Rachael Ray.
Anna King calls Richland, Washington home and loves unearthing great stories about people in the Northwest. She reports for the Northwest News Network from a studio at Washington State University, Triââ
Sea scallops squeeze water out of their shells to propel them away from starfish or other predators. That's why they must be farmed in cages; otherwise, they'd swim away.
If you don't love scallops, you probably just haven't had one that's cooked properly. That is, pan fried with some garlic and butter and herbs. They are very tasty.
In Maine, scientists and fishermen are learning how to farm, instead of catching, these tasty sea critters. That could be good for business and the environment.
Out on the water off Stonington, Maine, Marsden Brewer is motoring his lobster boat through the crowded fishing harbor. Today, just about all the boats here are lobster boats. But 30 years ago, he says, it was a different story.
Traders prepare for the start of early trading at the New York Stock Exchange. Some say there's been a loss of faith in the stock market's return on investment over the last 15 years.
Ten years ago, Andres Cortez, a chauffeur in Los Angeles, might have been part of the hordes of people dabbling in day trading or haunting the online stock forums. He might have been bragging to his friends about the money he made in tech stocks, or learning how to margin trade at a night school.
Instead, he keeps his distance from stocks.
As he stands by his car and waits for a passenger downtown, Cortez says he has a little money he's put aside and is keeping it in a savings account, where it earns virtually nothing.
One thing Republican Mitt Romney's choice of Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate will certainly do is elevate issues like Medicare and Medicaid to the top of the election agenda.
As the nation gets closer to Election Day, Ryan's addition to the GOP ticket will present the public with a dramatic choice about the role the government should play in health care.
One thing the Wisconsin congressman never does is apologize for thinking big.
Chukar Cherries uses 250,000 pounds of cherries annually in its candies and other treats. The company dries them all over just a few weeks each summer.
Over the course of just a few sun-soaked weeks every summer, Chukar Cherries in central Washington state dries 250,000 pounds of fresh cherries.
"It's almost like going into your mom's kitchen and she's just taken a cherry pie out of the oven," says co-owner J.T. Montgomery. "A little bit like that."
Not surprisingly, the dried fruit goes into lots of Chukar Cherries' products, including the company's most popular: chewy, semi-dried cherries, rolled in oval nuggets of chocolate.
Before the summer slips away, we raise a glass to hot August nights — and their perfect wine pairings. A good summer wine will be "light, bright and affordable," Leslie Sbrocco, author of The Simple and Savvy Wine Guide, tells NPR's Linda Wertheimer.
Whether you're on the beach, on the go or at the grill, Sbrocco offers recommendations for affordable reds and whites under $25.
There are many election-related books you could choose to help you endure the final months of the presidential race, from desk-pounding policy proposals to thick, shelf-crushing biographies.
Or, you could turn to Sneaky Pie.
Now, full disclosure, Sneaky Pie is a cat, and she's usually solving mysteries as the main character in Rita Mae Brown's bestselling Mrs. Murphy series.
Abouzeid Mubarak, 28, arrived in Greece six months ago. But after being viciously assaulted, the father of three says he is thinking of returning home to Egypt.
Originally published on Sun August 12, 2012 5:27 pm
Ahmet Abuhamed runs a fish shop in Perama, a town near the port of Piraeus. He sells the day's catch, including sea bream, mackerel, sardines and octopus. A 40-year-old father of four, he moved to Greece 20 years ago from Rosetta, an Egyptian fishing village near Alexandria.
"All the fishermen [in Greece] are Egyptian," he says. "Go to any island in the country and listen to the conversations on the boats. You'll hear names like Alim and Mohammad."
