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The Hurricane

Around the Nation

3:29 pm

Thu September 27, 2012

Despite Record Drought, Farmers Expect Banner Year

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Credit Frank Morris / KCUR

With far less than half of their normal corn yield, the Ulrich brothers are relying in part on government-subsidized crop insurance to keep their farm afloat.

Credit Frank Morris / KCUR

Kansas farmer Luke Ulrich pilots his combine through the last eight rows of this year's ragged crop, which produced far less than half the normal yield.

Credit Frank Morris / KCUR

The dairy Eric Neill and his wife operate in Freeman, Mo., nearly went under this summer, crushed by high feed prices from drought-scarce grains. The farm was saved by restorative rains brought by Hurricane Isaac.

By Frank Morris

Originally published on Fri September 28, 2012 10:39 am

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After one of the driest summers on record, recent rains have helped in some parts of the country. But overall, the drought has still intensified. The latest tracking classifies more than a fifth of the contiguous United States in "extreme or exceptional" drought, the worst ratings.

In some parts of the Lower Midwest, water-starved crops have collapsed, but the farmers have not. Farmers across the country are surviving, and many are even thriving. This year, despite the dismal season, farmers stand to make exceptionally good money, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

3:29 pm

Thu September 27, 2012

Aurora, Colo., Tries To Capitalize On Its Ethnic Riches

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Credit Megan Verlee for NPR

Families in a predominantly Latino youth soccer league gather for matches in Aurora. Hispanics make up nearly a third of the city's population, according to the 2010 Census.

Credit Megan Verlee for NPR

With its many Latino, African and Asian businesses, Colfax Avenue in Aurora, Colo., is a central artery for the city's most diverse neighborhoods. Inexpensive housing and convenient public transportation to jobs in Denver have attracted a highly diverse population to this city.

Credit Megan Verlee for NPR

Aurora police officer Tim Jeffrey explains common procedures to a group of Bhutanese refugees. The police department organized the outreach event to help newcomers feel more at home.

By Megan Verlee

Originally published on Fri September 28, 2012 11:00 am

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Aurora, Colo., became a familiar name this summer, in the wake of a mass shooting at a local movie theater.

But there's much more to this Denver suburb than the recent tragedy. Just ask Ethiopian immigrant Fekade Balcha. Balcha's apartment, on Aurora's north side, sits in a dense neighborhood of squat brick apartment buildings and tiny homes.

"You see, in our apartment, there are Russians, Mexicans, Africans," Balcha says. "From Ethiopia, Somalia, Nigeria, and something like that."

3:29 pm

Thu September 27, 2012

Renoir Found At Flea Market May Be Real, But It's Also Stolen

Credit Paul J. Richards / AFP/Getty Images

This weekend's auction of a flea-market find that turned out to be a work by French Impressionist master Pierre-Auguste Renoir has been put on hold, after evidence turned up the painting had been pilfered from a Baltimore museum decades ago.

By Maureen Pao

Originally published on Thu September 27, 2012 3:42 pm

Turns out there's a bigger story behind the Renoir painting purchased for $7 a couple of years ago at a West Virginia flea market — a mystery, and an alleged theft, in fact.

3:29 pm

Thu September 27, 2012

A Second, Chance Interview With Subject Of Controversial First Lady Remarks

Credit Alex Wong / Getty Images

Mitt Romney speaks Thursday at American Legion Post 176 in Springfield, Va.

By Ari Shapiro

Originally published on Thu September 27, 2012 4:17 pm

During the Republican National Convention last month, I traveled with Mitt Romney's campaign from Tampa, Fla., to the American Legion conference in Indianapolis.

Romney delivered a speech about foreign affairs and national security. Among the thousands of attendees from around the country, I interviewed one woman from Virginia whose quote sparked a conversation among NPR's audience and staff.

2:54 pm

Thu September 27, 2012

Questions Still Linger After U.S. Consulate Attack

By editor

Originally published on Thu September 27, 2012 3:50 pm

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Two weeks after the attacks that killed the U.S. Ambassador to Libya and three other Americans, there is still confusion about what exactly happened and whether the United States might have prevented the tragedy. Critics of the Obama administration accuse the White House of dissembling about the attack. NPR's Dina Temple-Raston talks to Melissa Block.

Credit Jay Paul

Allison Aubrey is a correspondent for NPR News. She contributes to The Salt, NPR's James Beard award-winning food blog. And her stories can be heard on Morning Edition and All Things Considered. She's host of the NPR video series Tiny Desk Kitchen and has contributed to Shots, NPR's health blog.

Through her reporting Aubrey can focus on her curiosities about food and culture. She has investigated the nutritional, and taste, differences between grass fed and corn feed beef. Aubrey looked into the hype behind the claims of antioxidants in berries and the claim that honey is a cure-all for allergies.

In 2009, Aubrey was awarded both the American Society for Nutrition's Media Award for her reporting on food and nutrition. She was honored with the 2006 National Press Club Award for Consumer Journalism in radio and earned a 2005 Medical Evidence Fellowship by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Knight Foundation. She was a 2009 Kaiser Media Fellow in focusing on health.

Joining NPR in 1998 as a general assignment reporter Aubrey spent five years covering environmental policy, as well as contributing to coverage of Washington, D.C., for NPR's National Desk.

Before coming to NPR, Aubrey was a reporter for PBS' NewsHour. She has worked in a variety of positions throughout the television industry.

Aubrey received her bachelor's of arts degree from Denison University in Granville, OH, and a master's of arts degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.

The Salt

2:26 pm

Thu September 27, 2012

Health Benefits Of Tea — Milking It Or Not

Credit Courtesy of Park Hyatt

The Emperor's Himalayan lavender tea is popular at Washington, D.C.'s Park Hyatt Tea Room, but please don't put milk in it.

By Allison Aubrey

Originally published on Thu September 27, 2012 3:50 pm

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The idea that milk may diminish the potential heart-health benefits of tea has been a topic of some debate. Lots of us can't imagine black tea without a little dairy to cut the bitterness. But, according to this research going back to 2007, we might want to at least consider trying, say, a nice cup of green tea sans sugar or cream.

2:24 pm

Thu September 27, 2012

American Airlines Fliers Fed Up As Labor Clash Rages

Credit Joe Raedle / Getty Images

American Airlines planes sit on the tarmac at Miami International Airport this month. Reports indicate that American Airlines has canceled somewhere between 2 and 5 percent of flights in recent days, reportedly blaming a surge in pilot sick days and maintenance write-ups by pilots.

By Wade Goodwyn

Originally published on Fri September 28, 2012 10:37 am

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Pat Henneberry is an airline's dream customer. She flies all week, every week, and buying an $800 ticket so that she can have full flexibility is standard operating procedure. She's an American Airlines platinum customer. But she is fed up with the endless delays and cancellations.

2:15 pm

Thu September 27, 2012

Amy Goodman coming to Paonia!

By Christy Eller

Amy Goodman will be speaking at the Paradise Theater in Paonia on Saturday, October 6 at 4:30pm. Amy Goodman is an award winning, internationally recognized journalist, syndicated columnist, investigative reporter and author. She is the host of the popular global news program "Democracy Now!" broadcasted daily on radio, TV and Internet. Proceeds benefit KVNF Radio and High Country News Magazine.

Election 2012 Silenced Majority Tour

Saturday, October 6, 2012 at 4:30pm

1:11 pm

Thu September 27, 2012

Streams Of Water Once Flowed On Mars; NASA Says Photos Prove It

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Credit NASA

NASA says it has found proof that water shaped the rocks on the left, in a photograph taken by the Mars rover Curiosity (left). For comparison, the agency released an image of rocks from the Earth (right).

Credit NASA

Pathfinder, 1997: The first mission to land a rover on Mars, Pathfinder touched down in Ares Vallis, an ancient flood plain in the planet's northern hemisphere. Among the 2.3 billion bits of data sent back by the lander and its rover, Sojourner, were 15 chemical analyses of rocks and soil, which suggested Mars had once had liquid water and a thicker atmosphere.

Credit NASA

Spirit, 2010: When NASA's Spirit rover got stuck in Martian sand, it proved to be a lucky break: The spinning wheel churned up soil that provided evidence of rocks formed in the presence of water.

Credit NASA

Opportunity, 2004: Opportunity discovered tiny mineral spheres — nicknamed blueberries — poking out of rocks that were likely formed by water. Researchers using Opportunity's science instruments identified them as concretions rich in the mineral hematite, deposited by water saturating the bedrock.

Credit NASA

Curiosity 2012: A wider view of the outcrop of a former streambed shows bedrock that scientists believe was likely exposed by meteorites striking the surface of Mars.

Credit NASA

Curiosity, 2012: NASA says that water shaped the rocks on the left, in a photograph taken by the Mars rover Curiosity. For comparison, the agency released an image of rocks from the Earth (right).

By Bill Chappell

Originally published on Thu September 27, 2012 7:31 pm

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NASA's Curiosity rover has found definitive proof that water once ran across the surface of Mars, the agency announced today. NASA scientists say new photos from the rover show rocks that were smoothed and rounded by water. The rocks are in a large canyon and nearby channels that were cut by flowing water, making up an alluvial fan.

"You had water transporting these gravels to the downslope of the fan," NASA researchers say. The gravel then formed into a conglomerate rock, which was in turn likely covered before being exposed again.

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