Morning Edition

Weekdays from 5:00 - 9:00am

Every weekday for over three decades, NPR's Morning Edition has taken listeners around the country and the world with two hours of multi-faceted stories and commentaries that inform challenge and occasionally amuse Morning Edition is the most listened-to news radio program in the country.

Genre: 
Composer ID: 
5187f4cde1c8a450fdefbbfc|5187f4c7e1c8a450fdefbbd8

Pages

Books
7:36 am
Fri December 7, 2012

'Gray' Has Random House Employees Seeing Green

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne. The publishing industry isn't doing too hot, except Random House, where things got downright steamy this year after it published "Fifty Shades of Grey." That bestselling tale of kinky passion has sold over 60 million copies, which is why Random House employees are now seeing green. The big announcement at the publisher's Christmas party: a $5,000 bonus for every employee, from editors to the mailroom. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.

Europe
7:26 am
Fri December 7, 2012

Honest Bus Driver Returns Missing Euros

The Austrian press reports after his shift in Vienna, the driver was inspecting his bus and found a bag of cash. Stacks of euros worth $500,000. He gave the money to police, and they tracked down the owner, a 77-year-old woman.

Politics
5:19 am
Fri December 7, 2012

South Carolina's Jim DeMint To Leave U.S. Senate

Republican Senator Jim DeMint announced Thursday that he is resigning his seat from South Carolina to become president of the right-leaning Heritage Foundation, a Washington think tank. What will his departure mean for the Senate and for South Carolina?

Economy
5:18 am
Fri December 7, 2012

Superstorm Sandy May Hurt November's Jobs Report

Originally published on Fri December 7, 2012 11:51 am

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

This is MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Read more
Middle East
4:55 am
Fri December 7, 2012

How Long Will Egypt's Protesters Stay Unified?

Originally published on Fri December 7, 2012 6:58 am

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Protests in Egypt rage on, despite President Mohammed Morsi's offer in a televised speech last night to meet with his opponents. Demonstrators filled Cairo's streets again today. The opposition in Egypt is confident and they're displaying a newfound unity, something Egypt hasn't seen since the early days of the revolution that ousted Morsi's predecessor, Hosni Mubarak. But as NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reports, many question whether this unity will last beyond the ongoing political crisis.

(SOUNDBITE OF PROTEST)

Read more
Around the Nation
4:55 am
Fri December 7, 2012

Michigan Likely To Become A Right-To-Work State

Originally published on Fri December 7, 2012 5:42 am

The Michigan House and Senate have passed the legislation in different versions, and may take final action on the bills next week. Michigan could become the 24th state to say workers cannot be forced to pay union dues even if they work for a business or government employer with union representation.

Politics
2:57 am
Fri December 7, 2012

Tea Party May Be Losing Steam, But Issues Still Boil

Originally published on Fri December 7, 2012 9:56 am

The battle over how to avoid the looming cuts and tax increases known as the fiscal cliff is a frustrating one for the Tea Party. The movement is still a force within the GOP, even as its popularity has fallen over the past two years.

But in the current debate, there have been no big rallies in Washington, and Tea Party members in Congress seem resigned to the fact that any eventual deal will be one they won't like — and one they'll have little influence over.

Read more
Music Interviews
2:56 am
Fri December 7, 2012

Barry Manilow On Singing Standards And His Real Job

Credit Jacob Langston / Courtesy of the artist
Barry Manilow's latest release, The Classic Christmas Album, includes holiday classics from his previous three Christmas albums.

Originally published on Fri December 7, 2012 7:47 am

Shots - Health News
2:55 am
Fri December 7, 2012

Post-Election, 'Morning After' Pill Advocates Want Age Rules Revisited

Credit AP
Currently, you need a doctor's prescription to obtain emergency contraception, such as Plan B, if you are younger than 17.

Originally published on Fri December 7, 2012 9:20 am

Friday marks a not-so-happy anniversary for some of President Obama's biggest supporters: It's exactly one year since Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius decided not to lift the age restrictions on availability of the so-called morning-after pill, Plan B.

Read more
StoryCorps
1:51 am
Fri December 7, 2012

3 Years After Parents' Divorce, Son Looks Back

Credit StoryCorps
At StoryCorps in the Tri-Cities area of Washington state, Anand Hernandez and his mom, Sarah Avant, discussed his parents' 2009 divorce.

Originally published on Fri December 7, 2012 9:52 am

Sarah Avant and her 12-year-old son, Anand Hernandez, rarely get a lot of one-on-one time. Anand has two younger siblings, and his parents are divorced.

So it was a big deal when they decided to spend a whole week together — just the two of them. During that time, they visited StoryCorps in Washington state to record an interview together.

"How do you think you are different because your dad and I got divorced?" Sarah asks her son.

Read more
Around the Nation
7:14 am
Thu December 6, 2012

'Star Wars' Fan Builds Life-Size Millennium Falcon

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Read more
World
7:09 am
Thu December 6, 2012

Perfume Evokes Smell Of Pizza Box Opening

When you crack open a pizza box, the heat's released and you get that scent from the dough and cheese and sauce. Pizza Hut in Canada has released that scent in a bottle of perfume. The company made 110 bottles and distributed them to its Facebook followers.

Around the Nation
5:12 am
Thu December 6, 2012

Post Sandy: Atlantic City Wants Its Tourists Back

Originally published on Thu December 6, 2012 4:24 pm

A month after Hurricane Sandy pounded the New Jersey Shore, Atlantic City is back in business. Even though most of the casinos and restaurants sustained very little damage in the storm, they're now suffering from a lack of visitors. But the city has launched an effort to change that.

As three young boys roll their skateboards down the "World Famous Atlantic City Boardwalk," it's proof that it is still here, fully in tact, and that rumors of its demise were greatly exaggerated.

Read more
Around the Nation
5:12 am
Thu December 6, 2012

Satellite Colleges Setting Up Shop In Phoenix Suburbs

Originally published on Thu December 6, 2012 5:41 am

Phoenix suburbs are becoming a magnet for small universities. Five schools — Benedictine, Albright, Wilkes, Upper Iowa and Westminster — have announced plans for satellite campuses in downtown Mesa. And at least three more are coming to Peoria.

Business
5:12 am
Thu December 6, 2012

The Last Word In Business

Originally published on Mon December 10, 2012 5:41 pm

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

And our last word in business today is Trump versus Forbes. The Forbes we're talking about is a Scotsman named Michael Forbes. He has the misfortune of living right next to Donald Trump's new golf course in Scotland. Forbes has refused to sell his property to Trump; and what has ensued is the war of words that you probably would expect between the property magnet, and anyone who gets in his way.

Read more
Middle East
3:33 am
Thu December 6, 2012

'It's A Disaster': Life Inside A Syrian Refugee Camp

Credit Odd Andersen / AFP/Getty Images
Mothers and their children sit among their washing in a refugee camp on the border between Syria and Turkey near the northern city of Azaz on Wednesday. The internally displaced faced further misery as heavy rain was followed by a drop in temperatures.

Originally published on Thu December 6, 2012 10:20 pm

It's early afternoon when the sun is bright, and it's finally warm enough to come outside. This tent camp on a hill overlooking the Turkish border, near the Syrian town of Atma, houses more than 14,000 displaced Syrians.

The water here is trucked in, and it's the only source. Women line up with plastic jugs to haul the daily delivery back to the tents. What is striking are the children — in dirty clothes and summer shoes, faces red and raw from the cold.

Read more
Shots - Health News
3:32 am
Thu December 6, 2012

Why It's Easier To Scam The Elderly

Credit Allen Breed / AP
Fraud victims are more likely to have opened official-looking sweepstakes notices and other mailings. A new study says the elderly are more susceptible than the young to being swindled.

Originally published on Thu December 6, 2012 4:23 pm

Lots of scams come by phone or by mail, but when the scam artist is right in front of you, researchers say the clues are in the face.

"A smile that is in the mouth but doesn't go up to the eyes, an averted gaze, a backward lean" are some of the ways deception may present itself, says Shelley Taylor, a psychologist at UCLA.

Read more
Africa
3:31 am
Thu December 6, 2012

Why No One's Going To Timbuktu These Days

Originally published on Thu December 6, 2012 10:41 am

Tourism, the livelihood of hundreds of thousands of people in the West African country of Mali, has ground to a halt. Since the coup in March and the subsequent occupation of the north by militants linked to al-Qaida, Mali has virtually become a no-go zone for visitors. The impact on the economy and people's lives is profound.

In the historic city of Segou, about 150 miles north of the capital, Bamako, the effects are obvious.

On a recent day, the engine of the brightly painted pinasse, a wooden boat handcrafted with a swooping wicker canopy, slowly starts up.

Read more
Food
7:21 am
Wed December 5, 2012

British Burger Is Hot, Red Hot

Originally published on Wed December 5, 2012 9:09 am

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Read more
Around the Nation
7:14 am
Wed December 5, 2012

Famous Rudolph, Ohio, Postmark Will Shine On

Originally published on Wed December 5, 2012 9:09 am

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

Read more
NPR Story
4:48 am
Wed December 5, 2012

Cooper Union Students Protest Threat To Free Tuition

Originally published on Wed December 5, 2012 9:09 am

A student occupation at Cooper Union is entering its third day. The New York school of art, architecture and engineering is famous for not charging tuition to undergraduates. Administrators say the school is facing a financial crisis and needs to find new revenue sources.

NPR Story
4:48 am
Wed December 5, 2012

Senate Fails To Ratify U.N. Treaty On Disabilities

Originally published on Wed December 5, 2012 9:09 am

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And amid that budget debate, a wall of Republican opposition to a new United Nations treaty kept it from being ratified in the Senate. The treaty is aimed at promoting and protecting the rights of disabled people. And even though it was inspired by the Americans with Disabilities Act, Republicans argue that it would harm U.S. sovereignty and even interfere with home schooling. Here's NPR's David Welna.

Read more
NPR Story
4:48 am
Wed December 5, 2012

Reality TV Moves In A Different Direction

Originally published on Wed December 5, 2012 2:54 pm

Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

From the story of a literary star to one of a reality TV star, Mike Rowe, host of the television show "Dirty Jobs," quietly announced last month that his show has been cancelled by the Discovery Channel. TV critic Eric Deggans says the trend in reality TV is moving away from the kind of programming Rowe brought to the screen.

ERIC DEGGANS, BYLINE: For eight seasons, Mike Rowe was the guy who dared poke things, go places and do jobs no typically blow-dried TV host would touch.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "DIRTY JOBS")

Read more
The Salt
2:36 am
Wed December 5, 2012

Milk Producers Peer Over The Dairy Cliff

Originally published on Wed December 5, 2012 9:09 am

There's more than one cliff drawing controversy this month. The federal farm bill is one of many items caught in congressional gridlock. The bill resets U.S. agriculture policy every four years, and most farmers are still covered by crop insurance and other programs until next planting season. But there's one exception: dairy.

Read more
Education
2:35 am
Wed December 5, 2012

When The Art Of The Deal Includes Improv Training

Originally published on Wed December 5, 2012 9:09 am

Some top-tier business schools are offering more than just finance and marketing these days: Duke, UCLA, MIT and Stanford are all teaching improv. Professors say these techniques help students increase collaboration, creativity and risk taking.

In an improvisational leadership class at MIT's Sloan School of Management, instructor Daena Giardella coaches a scene where a hospital administrator is firing surgeons after a horribly botched operation.

Giardella, who does professional improv, boils it down to a rule known as "yes, and."

Read more
It's All Politics
2:35 am
Wed December 5, 2012

Is A Recess Appointment Valid If The Senate Says It's Not Really Gone?

Credit Win McNamee / Getty Images
The Senate side of the U.S. Capitol.

Originally published on Wed December 5, 2012 9:09 am

In a tug of war between President Obama and Congress, a federal appeals court panel in Washington, D.C., will hear arguments Wednesday on the legality of Obama's controversial recess appointments.

The White House says it was forced to install three new members of the National Labor Relations Board in January because of inaction by Senate Republicans. But those lawmakers argue the Senate wasn't really in a recess at the time.

Read more
Books
2:21 am
Wed December 5, 2012

Susan Straight: One Home Town, Many Voices

Originally published on Wed December 5, 2012 9:09 am

Think of all the great writers who have made their hometowns literary history — William Faulkner, Zora Neale Hurston, Thomas Wolfe, to name a few. Now, Susan Straight is getting the same praise for her portrayal of Riverside, Calif. It's a small town at the foot of the San Bernardino Mountains, an hour east of Los Angeles.

Read more
Sweetness And Light
10:03 pm
Tue December 4, 2012

Navel-Gazing: Why Golf Should Embrace Belly Putters

Credit Hunter Martin / Getty Images
Carl Pettersson of Sweden putts for birdie on the eighth hole during the final round of the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island, S.C., in April. The long putter he uses is in danger of being banned.

Originally published on Wed December 5, 2012 2:20 pm

When did "issues" become such an all-purpose, often euphemistic word for anything disagreeable? We have issues now where we used to have problems, and concerns, and troubles, and hornet's nests. Like for example: The American and British big wheels who run golf have "issues" with putting.

Now understand, modern golfers have kryptonite drivers with club heads as large as prize pumpkins, and steroid balls that would not pass the drug test, even if the hapless International Cycling Union were doing the random sampling.

Read more
The Two-Way
11:07 am
Tue December 4, 2012

Hay Thefts Soar As Drought Deepens

Credit Erik S. Lesser / EPA /Landov
That's a valuable commodity: A hay bale at a farm in Eatonton, Ga., earlier this year.

Originally published on Wed December 5, 2012 9:09 am

  • Sheriff Bobby Whittington talks with NPR's Renee Montagne

Your crime fodder ... sorry, make that blotter ... news of the day.

From St. Louis:

Read more
It's All Politics
8:58 am
Tue December 4, 2012

Obama Changes Tack With Congressional Republicans

Credit Charles Dharapak / AP
President Obama speaks at the National Defense University in Washington on Monday. Since his re-election four weeks ago, Obama is showing signs of a new, more aggressive leadership style.

Originally published on Tue December 4, 2012 12:37 pm

Throughout his first term, some of President Obama's critics said he wasn't a tough enough negotiator. They felt he caved to Republicans too early, too often. Since his re-election, Obama has subtly changed his approach. He's bringing a more aggressive style — but some critics say it's not the best way to find common ground.

Read more

Pages