All Things Considered

Boy Scots Vote To Allow Gay Members, But Not Leaders

Kathy Lohr — Fri, 24 May 2013 00:23:00 +0000

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

The Boy Scouts ban on openly gay scouts is coming to an end. That's the result of a vote held today by the leadership of the Boys Scouts of America.

WAYNE PERRY: Our vision is to serve every kid. We want every kid to have a place where they belong, to learn and grow and feel protected.

BLOCK: Today's historic vote is being celebrated by gay rights advocates as a hard-fought victory and criticized by opponents as a moral capitulation. NPR's Kathy Lohr is in Grapevine, Texas, where the vote took place, and she joins us now.

'Extremely Active' Atlantic Hurricane Season Predicted

Jon Hamilton — Thu, 23 May 2013 22:49:00 +0000

Unusually warm ocean temperatures and favorable wind patterns mean the Atlantic is likely to see "an active or extremely active" hurricane season this year, say officials from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The agency expects between seven and 11 hurricanes and as many as 20 named storms during the 2013 season, which runs from June 1 through November.

So for residents of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts, "now is the time to pay attention to preparedness," NOAA's acting administrator, Kathryn Sullivan, told a news conference Thursday at the agency's new Climate Prediction

Abortion Opponents Try to Spin Murder Case Into Legislation

Julie Rovner — Thu, 23 May 2013 22:07:35 +0000

As predicted, abortion opponents on Capitol Hill are wasting no time in their efforts to turn publicity over the recent murder conviction of abortion provider Kermit Gosnell to their legislative advantage.

Their latest goal: a federal ban on most abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.

Rep.

After The Storm: Students Gather For One More School Day

David Schaper — Thu, 23 May 2013 22:05:00 +0000

Under cloudy skies and through intermittent showers, 4-year-old Kamrin Ramirez holds in her little hands two cards, one addressed to Ms. Patterson, the other for Ms. Johnson, her two preschool teachers at Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Okla.

"I write thank you so much," she says.

Plaza Towers was obliterated by Monday's powerful twister, and seven children died beneath the rubble there.

Georges Moustaki, Who Wrote Songs For Edith Piaf, Dies

Elizabeth Blair — Thu, 23 May 2013 21:15:00 +0000

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfdRaVPQnH8

Health Officials Decry Texas' Snubbing Of Medicaid Billions

Wade Goodwyn — Thu, 23 May 2013 21:03:00 +0000

The state of Texas is turning down billions of federal dollars that would have paid for health care coverage for 1.5 million poor Texans.

By refusing to participate in Medicaid expansion, which is part of the Affordable Care Act, the state will leave on the table an estimated $100 billion over the next decade.

Texas' share of the cost would have been just 7 percent of the total, but for Gov.

In La., Families Still Searching For Storm-Scattered Remains

editor — Thu, 23 May 2013 20:44:00 +0000

Lionel Alverez is in the Promised Land Cemetery again, taking inventory. He has been coming to this cemetery in Plaquemines Parish, La., all his life. The graveyard is hemmed in between the Mississippi River and the marsh on a lonely stretch of highway.

Promised Land has been the final resting place for the Alverezes for generations. Alverez, 61, points out several graves, one by one. "Albert Alverez. Huey Alverez and Harold Alverez. My brother Allen is near the rear, back there."

Lionel's mother, Leola Alverez, wanted to be entombed here as well.

The First Web Page, Amazingly, Is Lost

editor — Wed, 22 May 2013 22:40:00 +0000

Given the World Wide Web's ubiquity, you might be tempted to believe that everything is online. But there's one important piece of the Web's own history that can't be found through a search engine: the very first Web page.

Now a team at the lab where the World Wide Web was invented is seeking to restore that page, and other pieces of memorabilia from the earliest moments of the http:// era.

U.S. Non-Intervention In Syria Could Mirror Outcome In Congo

editor — Wed, 22 May 2013 22:40:00 +0000

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

This is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED from NPR News. I'm Melissa Block.

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

And I'm Robert Siegel.

When President Obama was asked by The New Republic about getting the U.S. more involved in Syria, he posed the following questions in response: What would be the aftermath of our involvement on the ground? Could it trigger even worse violence or the use of chemical weapons? What offers the best prospect of a stable post-Assad regime?

A Decade In The Making, West Bank Barrier Is Nearly Complete

editor — Wed, 22 May 2013 21:53:00 +0000

Israeli army Capt. Barak Raz climbs a metal staircase to the top of a high concrete wall that is part of Israel's West Bank barrier. From his perch, he overlooks both the Palestinian village of Bil'in and Modin Illit, the largest Jewish settlement in the West Bank, with some 50,000 residents.

The barrier here used to be a fence. After many confrontations with Israeli soldiers, Palestinian villagers won a court case, and the fence was moved off some of their land.