Search results for

One of the biggest unanswered questions facing the Supreme Court is whether Chief Justice William Rehnquist, or any other court member, will retire this year. The 80-year-old Rehnquist is battling a serious form of thyroid cancer. NPR Legal Affairs Correspondent Nina Totenberg talks about who might succeed the chief justice.

Preston, Idaho, has seen tourism boom since the film Napoleon Dynamite became a cult hit. The town is about to hold its first Napoleon festival. Scott Simon talks with organizer Penny Christensen.

Jacki Lyden talks with biographer Lyndall Gordon about the life of Mary Wollstonecraft, the 18th-century feminist and author of A Vindication of the Rights of Women. Gordon describes Wollstonecraft's violent upbringing, her radical views on education, and her failed love affair.

Commentator Ruth Levy Guyer, a biologist, ponders the uncertainties inherent in some professions, and the kinds of minds that appreciate those uncertainties.

The great fear of many experts is that Hurricane Katrina may drive the waters of Lake Pontchartrain over levees and into the city, overwhelming an elaborate pumping system. The potential exists for the worst flood damage in U.S. history.

Jacob McMurray is senior curator at the Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle... and at the Experience Music Project, a music museum. His reading list is heavy on sci-fi, with a bit of rock history, too.

With the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza complete, attention turns to plans for redevelopment in the area. Nigel Roberts of the World Bank tells Renee Montagne about rebuilding prospects and obstacles to economic recovery.

The Base Closure and Realignment Commission overturns the Pentagon's recommendation to close Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota. The decision preserves the state's second-largest employer.

The commentator recalls his childhood battles with musical instruments. Regardless of whether it was wind, brass, piano or percussion, practice did not make perfect.

Hundreds of women are taking part in a revival of one of America's most violent sports: roller derby. Alex Cohen of NPR station KQED, and a member of the L.A. Derby Dolls league, reports.