The Two-Way
9:58 am
Tue June 12, 2012

Elinor Ostrom, First Woman To Win Nobel In Economics, Dies

Credit Raveendran / AFP/Getty Images
Elinor Ostrom in January 2011.

Originally published on Tue June 12, 2012 2:10 pm

  • Elinor Ostrom, speaking with Michele Norris

Elinor Ostrom, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences, died this morning at Indiana University's Health Bloomington Hospital.

The university says that the 78-year-old distinguished professor succumbed to cancer.

Ostrom shared the 2009 Nobel. As the prize committee said at the time:

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The Two-Way
9:03 am
Tue June 12, 2012

Alcatraz Escapees Didn't Return 50 Years Later? Says Who?

Sure, "there was no sign of the men," as Laura Sullivan and Ben Bergman reported on Morning Edition.

The legend was that Frank Morris and brothers John and Clarence Anglin would reappear Monday on Alcatraz Island — 50 years to the day after they escaped in one of the most daring prison breaks in U.S. history.

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Economy
8:55 am
Tue June 12, 2012

The Fed's Tough Job Gets Harder In Election Year

Credit Alex Wong / Getty Images
Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke hasn't said whether the central bank will act to further stimulate the economy.

Americans who fear the economy is losing steam would like to see the Federal Reserve turn up the heat.

That might happen when the central bank holds its next meeting June 19-20. The Fed could take steps to drive interest rates even lower, or create fresh piles of cash to stimulate growth.

But with the election season gearing up, the Fed's ability to act boldly may be restrained. That's because the monetary policymakers want to preserve the Fed's credibility as a nonpartisan entity.

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Planet Money
8:06 am
Tue June 12, 2012

Why It's Illegal To Braid Hair Without A License

Credit Jim Urquhart / AP
Jestina Clayton, would-be braider.

Originally published on Thu June 21, 2012 5:21 am

Note: This post was updated to add audio from Morning Edition.

Jestina Clayton learned how to braid hair as a girl growing up in Sierra Leone. When she was 18, she moved to America. Got married, had a couple kids, went to college.

When she graduated from college, she found that the pay from an entry-level office job would barely cover the cost of child care. So she decided to work from her home in Utah and start a hair-braiding business.

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The Two-Way
7:48 am
Tue June 12, 2012

JPMorgan Knew Of Risks, 'WSJ' Reports

"Some top JPMorgan Chase executives and directors were alerted to risky practices by a team of London-based traders two years before that group's botched bets cost the bank more than $2 billion," The Wall Street Journal is reporting.

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The Two-Way
7:28 am
Tue June 12, 2012

The Dingo Did Take The Baby

Credit Patrina Malone / AFP/Getty Images
Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton holds her daughter Azaria's death certificate as ex-husband Michael Chamberlain (left) looks on after a coroner ruled today that a dingo snatched the baby from a tent in the Australian desert 32 years ago.

A coroner in Australia has agreed that the dingo did in fact take the baby — "settling a notorious 1980 case that split the nation and led to a mistaken murder conviction," as The Associated Press writes.

And Australia's ABC News says Michael Chamberlain and his ex-wife Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton on Tuesday (in Australia) heard words for which they've waited 32 years:

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Remembrances
7:18 am
Tue June 12, 2012

'Dynasty' Costume Designer Nolan Miller Dies

Renee Montagne has a remembrance of fashion designer Nolan Miller, who died last week at the age of 79. Miller was best known for his costume design for the 1980s prime-time soap opera Dynasty.

Commentary
6:59 am
Tue June 12, 2012

Into It: Vinyl Records

LPs are the fastest-growing medium for recorded music.

Mark Foley explores the joys of vinyl.

For the past decade, vinyl records have been making a comeback. Today, LPs are the fastest-growing medium for recorded music. One estimate of sales for last year is four million—impressive in an industry that has been shrinking since the early 1980s.

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History
6:26 am
Tue June 12, 2012

50 Years Later, Mystery Of Alcatraz Escape Endures

Originally published on Tue June 12, 2012 12:37 pm

Fifty years ago three men set out into the frigid waters of the San Francisco Bay in a raft made out of raincoats. It was one of the most daring prison escapes in U.S. history from what was billed as the nation's only "escape-proof prison" — Alcatraz.

Most people assume the men have been at the bottom of the bay or were swept out to sea since the night they broke free, tunneling out of their cells in part with spoons from the kitchen and climbing the prisons' plumbing to the roof.

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The Two-Way
6:19 am
Tue June 12, 2012

Syrian Children Are Being Killed, Tortured And Used As Shields, U.N. Says

Credit AP
A Syrian boy sits in the rubble of house destroyed during a military operation in April in the town of Taftanaz, Syria.
  • NPR's Deborah Amos, reporting from Damascus

After more than a year's worth of appalling news about atrocities in Syria as President Bashar Assad's regime cracks down on dissent, now there's this:

"New crises have caused enormous suffering for children and continue in 2012. In Syria, children were victims of killing and maiming, arbitrary arrest, detention, torture and ill-treatment, including sexual violence, by the Syrian Armed Forces, the intelligence forces, and the Shabbiha militia.

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