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Cycle Of Poverty Hard To Break In Poorest U.S. City

Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR

Devora Trapp, 24, picks up her 8-month-old son, Dardarius Taylor, late one evening at the Opportunity House's Second Street Learning Center, a 24-hour day care center for low-income families in Reading, Pa.

Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR

Meghan Gonzales, 25, a mother of four, lived in a homeless shelter in Reading, Pa., a few years ago. She recently graduated from nursing school and now works full time in a nursing home.

Credit Kainaz Amaria / NPR

Tracy Boggs, 49, walks her daughter Emily, 7, to the Second Street Learning Center in Reading, Pa.

By Pam Fessler

Originally published on Tue July 10, 2012 10:31 pm

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In the middle of the night, most children are home in bed. But at the Second Street Learning Center in Reading, Pa., a half-dozen tiny bodies are curled up on green plastic floor mats, fast asleep.

Conversations are hushed. The lights are dim. At 1:30 a.m., day care worker Virginia Allen gently shakes two little sisters, snuggled under the same blanket, to tell them that their mother is there to pick them up.

2:38 pm

Tue July 10, 2012

The Heat, The Fires, The Flooding: Is Climate Change To Blame?

Credit Frederic J. Brown / AFP/Getty Images

People enjoy the view from a lifeguard structure as the sun sets at Seal Beach, south of Los Angeles, California on Monday. Much of the U.S. has been gripped by a relentless heatwave, sparking health warnings and sending people to makeshift cooling shelters.

By editor

Originally published on Tue July 10, 2012 4:12 pm

Every time there's been a bout of severe weather, like the heat wave in the northeast, the wild fires in the west and flooding across the U.K, the talk, naturally, turns to climate change.

The big question: How much does global warming have to do with severe weather?

2:12 pm

Tue July 10, 2012

A Twitter Conversation: #NPRCities Roundtable

Credit Peter Booth and Alexandra Booth / iStockphoto

By editor

Originally published on Tue July 10, 2012 6:34 pm

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What do you think makes a better city? Do you like a mix of old and new on the same block?

Several urban thinkers joined us for a discussion on Twitter, including Bruce Katz of the Brookings Institution, Carol Coletta of ArtPlace America, writer and blogger Aaron Renn, The Atlantic Cities editor Sommer Mathis and Diana Lind of Next American City.

2:07 pm

Tue July 10, 2012

New In Paperback July 9-15

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By editor

Fiction and nonfiction releases from Colson Whitehead, Donald Ray Pollock, Ben Mezrich and Mark Hertsgaard.

Shots - Health Blog

2:01 pm

Tue July 10, 2012

When Does An App Need FDA's Blessing?

Credit Benjamin Morris / NPR

Pedometer, an app, keeps track of your steps, distance traveled and calories burned.

By editor

Originally published on Tue July 10, 2012 6:34 pm

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Bernard Farrell obsesses over every bite he eats, every minute of exercise he gets, and everything that stresses him out. And, more than anything else, Farrell obsesses over his blood sugar.

He has to. Farrell, 55, has Type 1 diabetes.

"Pretty much everything affects our blood sugar," says Farrell, of Littleton, Mass.

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Poverty In America

2:42 pm

Tue July 10, 2012