As GM Hires, Michigan City’s Outlook Brightens

Hamtramck, Mich., has seen its fortunes rise and fall with the auto industry. In recent years, they’ve been falling. But now there’s reason for some optimism. General Motors says it will add 2,500 jobs at its Detroit-Hamtramck plant, and bring production of the next-generation Chevy Impala to the facility. The plant, which straddles the border [...]

Mozambique’s Struggles Fueled By The Price Of Bread

Everywhere you go in Mozambique, you see people at bakeries buying their daily bread — delicious crusty loaves or eggy sweet rolls. At the Padaria Allianca, a bakery in the capital, Maputo, customers wait in a long line for their bread. Workers are busy slapping and shaping golden mounds of dough. The bakery turns out [...]

Wildfire Becomes Second-Largest In Arizona History

A ferocious wildfire that has driven thousands from their homes in eastern Arizona grew to 486 square miles Tuesday and set its sights on the biggest target yet — two of the most populous towns in the fire-scarred mountains. The blaze, now the second-largest in state history, began more than a week ago, casting smoke [...]

A Great Mystery Comes Into Focus: Anti-Matter Trapped For 16 Minutes

Yesterday my son and I were driving through Pennsylvania when we stopped for gas. As I drained my wallet filling the tank, he went to the Quickie Mart and returned with $10 worth of ‘poppers’. A popper, for those who don’t know, is small paper-wrapped wad of explosive. Throw one down on a hard surface [...]

NBC Bids Billions And Retains Olympic TV Franchise

NBC beat out rivals Fox and ABC/ESPN Tuesday to win yet again the gold medal franchise in sports broadcasting. And it cost the veteran Olympic broadcaster an average of $1 billion dollars an Olympics for the four winter and summer games from 2014 through 2020. That’s a record deal for the exclusive American rights to [...]

Health Insurance Brokers Fight For Relevance

Will health insurance agents and brokers face a fate similar to that of travel agents, whose role in travel planning has dwindled as people book their own trips online? There’s no telling exactly what will happen in coming years as states set up online exchanges where consumers can shop for health insurance policies starting in [...]

Ghost Of Betty Friedan Miraculously Appears On LA Street (Maybe)

I’d like to do a little poll here, if I could. The other day I was watching a video, shot by my friend Dan Mercandante (a Radiolab regular) who was standing on a street in Los Angeles when two people happened by, the two you see here, one of them in black jogging clothes, that’s [...]

Keith Olbermann: The ‘Countdown’ To His New Show

After abruptly departing MSNBC in January, Keith Olbermann returns to broadcasting on June 20 with a new version of Countdown on the Current TV network. He tells Fresh Air’s Terry Gross that his new show resembles his old show on MSNBC but “with some additional bells and whistles and a little bit more commentary.” And, [...]

Egyptians Find Optimism In Wake Of Uprisings

As Egypt continues adjusting to its life in the four months since President Hosni Mubarak stepped down, the Gallup polling organization has captured locals’ thoughts, concerns and aspirations. Gallup is releasing a new report today called “Egypt from Tahrir to Transition.” It is one of the first comprehensive assessments of Egyptian public opinion in the [...]

E. Coli Outbreak May Boost Argument For More U.S. Food Safety Funds

Tracking the source of the European E. coli outbreak is a worldwide challenge for investigators. It’s put the public on edge once again about produce safety. But it may provide a unique opportunity for U.S. regulators to get Congress to cough up the money to try to prevent these kinds of outbreaks from happening here. [...]