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People of Northwest Public Radio

Sueann Ramella

Morning Edition Host & Producer

Thom Kokenge

All Things Considered Host & Producer

Robin Rilette

Music Director & Classical Music Host

Kerry Swanson

Station Manager

Gillian Coldsnow

Assistant Manager of Programming and Operations

John Paxson

News Director

Steve Reeder

Classical Music Host

Africa

2:55 pm

Thu May 3, 2012

Diplomats Up Efforts To Avert War Between Sudans

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Credit Ebrahim Hamid / AFp/Getty Images

Sudanese soldiers walk in the oil town of Heglig on April 24. South Sudanese forces occupied Heglig last month. The international community called on the South to pull out, which it says it did.

Credit Ashraf Shazly / AFP/Getty Images

Sudanese soldiers step on the South Sudan flag painted on a seized tank for the Sudanese Peoples Liberation Army in Heglig last month.

Credit Ofeibea Quist-Arcton / NPR

Student Gloria Emmanuel (center) speaks for many South Sudanese who claim Sudan, and its president, Omar Hassan Al Bashir, have declared war on the South.

By Ofeibea Quist-Arcton

Originally published on Wed May 9, 2012 7:43 am

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Sudan and South Sudan are facing the threat of United Nations sanctions if they fail to stop fighting along their disputed frontier in the Horn of Africa.

A unanimous U.N. Security Council resolution, which condemns the surge of border violence, orders the two Sudans to cease hostilities within two days and resume negotiations within two weeks.

The U.N. resolution endorses an African Union road map it hopes will avert a return to war.

2:37 pm

Thu May 3, 2012

What American Women Do For Work

Credit Lam Thuy Vo / NPR

By editor

Originally published on Thu November 1, 2012 3:09 pm

Forty years ago, only 1 in 3 American workers was a woman. Today, it's 1 in 2.

You know this already. But it raises interesting, subtler questions: What jobs did all those women get? And how did the gender breakdown change by industry over the past 40 years?

This graph answers those questions.

It shows how the gender breakdown changed in major sectors of the economy between 1972 and 2012.

The size of the circles shows how some sectors grew to include a larger share of the workforce, while others shrank in relative terms.

Two main themes jump out here.

Terry Gildea comes to KUER from San Antonio where he spent four years as a reporter and host at Texas Public Radio. While at KSTX, he created, produced and hosted the station's first local talk show, The Source. He covered San Antonio's military community for the station and for NPR's Impact of War Project. Terry's features on wounded warriors, families on the home front and veterans navigating life after war have aired on Morning Edition, Weekend Edition and All Things Considered. His half-hour radio documentary exploring the burn unit at Brooke Army Medical Center was honored by the Houston Press and the Texas Associated Press Broadcasters. Prior to his position in San Antonio, Terry covered Congress for two years with Capitol News Connection and Public Radio International . He holds a bachelor's degree in English from the University of Washington and a master's degree from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism. Terry enjoys spending time with his wife and two young sons, fixing bicycles and rooting for his hometown Seattle Mariners.

It's All Politics

2:14 pm

Thu May 3, 2012

Do Campaign Ads Seem More Negative This Year? It's Not Just You

By Peter Overby

Originally published on Wed May 9, 2012 7:43 am

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If you thought the presidential primaries were extraordinarily negative, now there's statistical evidence that you were right.

A new analysis of TV ads finds that 70 percent of the messages were negative — a trend spearheaded by the heavily financed superPACs supporting the candidates. At this point in the 2008 election, 91 percent of TV ads were positive.

2:11 pm

Thu May 3, 2012

Greenland's Ice Melting More Slowly Than Expected

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Credit Ian Joughin / UW, Sarah Das/WHOI and Richard Harris/NPR

Researchers studying Greenland's ice say it is melting more slowly than previously thought. Here, ice travels down a relatively small outlet glacier into the sea.

Credit Richard Harris / UW, Sarah Das/WHOI and Richard Harris/NPR

Ian Joughin, a polar scientist, says the "worst-case scenario" of 6 feet of sea level rise is unlikely. "My guess is probably 3 feet or less," he says.

Credit Richard Harris / UW, Sarah Das/WHOI and Richard Harris/NPR

At the peak of the summer, meltwater runoff forms streams and lakes on the ice surface in this 2007 photo.

Credit Richard Harris / UW, Sarah Das/WHOI and Richard Harris/NPR

Rushing water at the end of a lake has cut a deep channel into the ice. Greenland's ice contains enough water to raise sea levels by 20 feet.

Credit Richard Harris / UW, Sarah Das/WHOI and Richard Harris/NPR

Rivers drop into deep holes called moulins. Once the water reaches the bedrock, it lubricates the underside of ice sheets, so they move faster.

Credit Sarah Das / UW, Sarah Das/WHOI and Richard Harris/NPR

Researchers say the rate of glacier movement is still increasing. Over the past decade, glaciers have sped up an average of 30 percent.

Credit Ian Joughin / UW, Sarah Das/WHOI and Richard Harris/NPR

As glacial ice moves down toward the coast, it gets funneled through outlet glaciers, and large and small icebergs break off into the sea.

Credit Ian Joughin / Science/AAAS

Researchers studying Greenland's ice say it is melting more slowlyl than previously thought. Here, ice travels down a relatively small outlet glacier into the sea.

Credit Ian Joughin / Science/AAAS

Massive sections of ice (center front) have broken away from the Jakobshavn glacier into the sea. There's enough water stored in Greenland's glaciers to raise the sea level by 20 feet.

By Richard Harris

Originally published on Wed May 23, 2012 7:50 am

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A new study has some reassuring news about how fast Greenland's glaciers are melting away.

Greenland's glaciers hold enough water to raise sea level by 20 feet, and they are melting as the planet warms, so there's a lot at stake.

A few years ago, the Jakobshavn glacier in Greenland really caught people's attention. In short order, this slow-moving stream of ice suddenly doubled its speed. It started dumping a whole lot more ice into the Atlantic. Other glaciers also sped up.

2:10 pm

Thu May 3, 2012

Corn Farmers Hope, Cautiously, For A Bumper Crop

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Credit Scott Olson / Getty Images

This year, U.S. corn farmers have planted more acres of the crop than at any time since the Great Depression.

Credit Sarah McCammon

Bill Couser raises corn on his farm near Nevada, Iowa. Like many corn farmers, he is anticipating a banner crop this year.

By Sarah McCammon

Originally published on Wed May 9, 2012 7:43 am

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It's still too early to predict whether the 2012 corn harvest will set a record, but many corn farmers say the prognosis for a bumper crop is looking pretty good right now.

U.S. farmers are planting more acres of corn this year than they have in any year since the Great Depression. And with a mild spring across much of the nation's Corn Belt, many are hoping this autumn's yield will be one for the record books.

A Crop That 'Will Knock Your Socks Off'

2:06 pm

Thu May 3, 2012

In Utah, GOP House Candidate Out To Make History

Credit Leah Hogsten / The Salt Lake Tribune via AP

Saratoga Springs Mayor Mia Love speaks at the Republican state convention April 21 in Sandy, Utah.

By Terry Gildea

Originally published on Wed May 9, 2012 7:43 am

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A small-town mayor in Utah is trying to make congressional history.

2:06 pm

Thu May 3, 2012

Will French Election Mark A Reversal Of Austerity?

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Credit Guillaume Baptiste / AFP/Getty Images

Tens of thousands of people in Paris used the annual May Day workers' events this year to denounce the world of finance amid the Europe-wide debt crisis. If elected, France's Socialist presidential challenger, Francois Hollande, says he will pursue a growth-oriented strategy.

Credit AFP/Getty Images

Socialist Francois Hollande, (left) and France's incumbent president, Nicolas Sarkozy, pose for photos before facing off during a contentious debate Wednesday on national TV. Opinion polls favor Hollande heading into Sunday's election.

By Eleanor Beardsley

Originally published on Wed May 9, 2012 7:43 am

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The possibility that French President Nicolas Sarkozy may lose the presidential election Sunday is making waves across Europe. Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel are the architects of Europe's new fiscal austerity pact.

But the man likely to replace Sarkozy has other ideas.

Socialist candidate Francois Hollande — who is favored in opinion polls by several percentage points — says Europe cannot emerge from the crisis based on austerity alone.

2:02 pm

Thu May 3, 2012

Why Do Bike-Share Riders Skip Helmets?

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Credit John Rose / NPR

Bartender Matt Carucci says he rarely feels safe biking in the city but often rides without a helmet anyway. "There are a lot of other ways to hurt yourself," he says.

Credit John Rose / NPR

Carl Cavaliere, a legal assistant, has been a bicycle commuter in Washington, D.C., for 12 years and always wears a helmet. "You realize how bad the drivers are here," he says.

Credit John Rose / NPR

Chicagoans Matthew Kutz and Molly Witges didn't bring helmets to D.C. but felt safe anyway on the slow, heavy Bikeshare bikes. "You're never going to get into a high-speed collision," Kutz says.

Credit John Rose / NPR

Jason Lee, a government analyst, says he wears his helmet nine times out of 10. "My wife gets very angry when I leave the house without a helmet," Lee says.

Credit John Rose / NPR

Alex Tremble works in leadership development and has commuted by bike for the past month. He says his reluctance to buy a helmet is psychological: "If you don't own [a helmet], maybe you don't really feel like a 'bike rider.' " Now that he uses a bike every day, he says, "I need to get one."

Credit John Rose / NPR

Tom Suppan, a "bicyclist by nature," rarely rides without a helmet. "I've fallen too often not to wear one," he says. "If I hadn't had the helmet on, I'd have been in bad shape."

Credit John Rose / NPR

Sisters Bia and Cia Rosenquist are from Finland and Belgium, where helmetless riding is common. "We bike very carefully," Bia says. "We were riding more slowly because we don't know the city."

Credit John Rose / NPR

Kay McLaughlin, an editorial coordinator, sports a Capital Bikeshare-branded helmet. "This is my D.C. helmet. I keep it on top of my desk," she says. She has a second helmet for riding at home.

Credit John Rose / NPR

Bartender Matt Carucci says he rarely feels safe biking in the city but often rides without a helmet anyway. "There are a lot of other ways to hurt yourself," he says.

By editor

Originally published on Wed May 23, 2012 7:50 am

If you've ever shaken your head over urban bicyclists' apparent unanimous decision to forgo helmets, you're not far off the mark.

Among users of bike-sharing programs, like Capital Bikeshare in Washington, D.C., the problem is obvious.

1:45 pm

Thu May 3, 2012

'What's Going On': A New Generation Answers

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Credit Album cover

Detail of cover art from the 1974 album Marvin Gaye Live!

Credit Becky Lettenberger / NPR

Left to right: Youth Radio participants Evan Childress, 21; Brandon McFarland, 26; Rayana Godfrey, 18; and Skylar Tye Bryant, 18, pose in front of a portrait of Marvin Gaye at the Washington, D.C., restaurant Marvin.

By editor

Originally published on Mon May 21, 2012 5:00 pm

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