Author: WNYC

On-air challenge: We just passed the Ides of March, or March 15, an Ancient Roman date best remembered for the assassination of Julius Caesar. Now, I know that IDES is a singular noun in Ancient Roman, but today we’re calling it a plural. We’re going to insert a bunch of I-D-Es into words to make…

Saturday on PBS News Weekend, we examine the safety and reliability of helicopters after a string of fatal crashes. Then, the myth of plastic recycling and how the plastics industry knew for decades that it wasn’t a viable solution. Plus, the human implications of a shark conservation success story off the coast of Cape Cod.…

A manhunt is underway after a shooting in Falls Township, a Pennsylvania suburb near Trenton, N.J. Middletown Township Police Department said “several” people were shot and the shooter remains at large. Authorities described the suspect as a 26-year-old male who has ties to Trenton and Bucks County, Pa. Police are still determining if the shooting…

Police in Haiti are reportedly trying to arrest gang leader Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Chérizier. Show more Police in Haiti are reported to have launched an operation to arrest the leader of the coalition of gangs which now control most of the capital. Jimmy ‘Barbecue’ Chérizier is seen as the main instigator of the protests which forced…

More than 1.5 million college students in America are homeless. One college student experiencing homelessness in Colorado found support. ROB SCHMITZ, HOST: College can be stressful enough – studying, deadlines, rising tuition costs – without having to worry about housing. But more than a million and a half college students in America are homeless, making…

David Alan Grier joins Paula Poundstone, Mo Rocca, and Adam Burke to talk his new movie, announcing at the Oscars, and why you didn’t see him in Forrest Gump.Get access to bonus episodes, sponsor-free listening, and the chance to participate in a quiz with Peter Sagal when you sign up for Wait Wait… Don’t Tell…

A new study raises doubts about the high rate of maternal mortality in the U.S. that was officially reported. SCOTT SIMON, HOST: It is an unimaginable tragedy every time somebody dies after childbirth or during pregnancy. The measure of that tragedy is maternal mortality. That’s a death during pregnancy or within 42 days after delivery.…

NPR’s Scott Simon asks “The English Patient” author Michael Ondaatje about his new collection of poems, “A Year of Last Things.” SCOTT SIMON, HOST: Michael Ondaatje, the Booker Prize-winning novelist, has a new volume of poetry, “A Year Of Last Things.” And it may reveal much of his wide-ranging life – from his childhood in…

NPR’s Scott Simon and ESPN’s Michele Steele discuss March Madness, the new world of paid college athletes, and bobblehead crime. SCOTT SIMON, HOST: I look forward all week to being able to say, and now it’s time for sports. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) SIMON: March Madness, time for brackets and small-change office pools, and a debate…

NPR’s Scott Simon speaks with Tobias Menzies, star of the Apple TV+ miniseries “Manhunt,” which relates the story of the pursuit of John Wilkes Booth after President Abe Lincoln’s assassination. SCOTT SIMON, HOST: One night toward the end of the U.S. Civil War, an off-duty security agent falls into conversation at a bar with what…