Disappointing. Dismal. Bleak. These are just a few of the words used to describe the latest employment report. It showed that the U-S economy added just 69-thousand jobs in May, less than half of what economists expected. With the unemployment rate now at 8.2 percent, we asked people in Athens, Ohio, and Washington, D.C., how they're faring in this economy.
The queen of England this year marks 60 years on the throne, and Buckingham Palace is coordinating a week of events, including a concert at the palace and a 1,000-boat flotilla along the River Thames. NPR's Philip Reeves reports.
On Tuesday, Wisconsin voters will decide whether Republican Scott Walker becomes just the third governor recalled from office in U.S. history. But as NPR's David Schaper reports, some now wonder whether the intensity of the left has been eclipsed by the resolve of the right.
Checked suits, bright colors, garish patterns — you name it, and Craig Sager's worn it. This violet outfit accompanied a 2010 playoff game between two teams with purple in their color scheme, the Los Angeles Lakers and the Phoenix Suns.
Once Sager's worn an outfit at the All-Star Weekend, he tries not to wear it again on TV. In 2010, he wore this pink-checked suit to the Rookie Challenge, where he interviewed Tyreke Evans.
On Saturday night, the NBA semifinals notched yet another thriller as the Oklahoma City Thunder resisted a late push by the San Antonio Spurs. The series is now even at 2-2.
Thunder star Kevin Durant's fourth-quarter heroics were a spectacle — but just as mesmerizing was the man patrolling the sidelines in a pearly white jacket, blue shirt and fire-truck red pants.
That would be Craig Sager, TNT's go-to sideline reporter for NBA games. His outlandish outfits have made him an iconic part of the NBA on TV.
Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta is on a week-long trip to Asia, with stops in Singapore, Vietnam and India. As NPR's Larry Abramson tells host Rachel Martin, Panetta's trip highlights the Pentagon's new strategic focus on China and the Pacific.
Sunday marks 50 years since what was then the world's deadliest airplane accident: a crash that claimed 130 lives outside Paris. The most devastated community was not in France, but in the United States.
It was the worst thing that ever happened to Milton Bevington. He witnessed the crash of the Boeing 707 at Orly Airport, with his wife and mother-in-law onboard.
"The plane went up about 6 feet and came back down and bounced around, zigzagged and finally broke in half," he said.
Even if you're just finishing your morning cup of coffee, there's a question that you're likely to be asked by your wife or your kids or whoever turns up around 6:00 in the evening. It's harder to answer for some than others. What's for dinner? Jenny Rosenstrach says getting dinner on the table has become a source of major stress.
Frank Collin, head of the National Socialist Party of America, tells the press about his organization's plans to march in the predominantly Jewish town of Skokie, Ill., on June 22, 1978. The Supreme Court affirmed the neo-Nazi organization's right to march, but Jeremy Waldron says that's just the kind of speech the government should be restricting.
Warning: This story contains language that some might find offensive.
In the late '70s, Skokie, Ill., became the epicenter of the debate over free speech in the U.S. The town was home to many Holocaust survivors, along with their families, and that made it a target for the National Socialist Party of America — a neo-Nazi group from nearby Chicago.
The Transit Of Venus: The planet Venus appears as a tiny black dot as it transits across the face of the sun on June 8, 2004. The rare astronomical event will take place again on June 5, 2012.
It's been a good season for stargazers, a veritable meteor shower of astronomical goodies, from a supermoon to a solar eclipse. Next up? On Tuesday, June 5, astronomy enthusiasts can witness the Transit of Venus — one of the rarest astronomical events.
During the six-hour transit, Venus moves in between the Earth and the sun. It's a daytime phenomenon: "Instead of seeing Venus as the brightest object in the night sky, you see Venus as a tiny black dot crossing the burning disc of the sun," explains Andrea Wulf, author of Chasing Venus.
When tenor Noah Stewart was growing up in Harlem, N.Y., his friends called him "opera boy." They were onto something.
Earlier this year, he became the first black singer to hit No. 1 on the classical music charts in the U.K.
But Stewart's musical tastes aren't confined to Puccini, Bizet and Strauss, and his new, self-titled album gives him a chance to put his mark on everything from American spirituals to Top 40 hits.
Stewart says he doesn't mind being called an opera singer, but that he would rather just be called a singer.