Back From China: Furniture Maker Returns To N.C.

The self-proclaimed “world’s largest furniture market” in High Point, N.C., is the industry’s showpiece event, where manufacturers hawk their products to retailers. And this week, the market also has an old-school component: a large pavilion dedicated to furniture that’s made in America. In fact, there are signs that market conditions stemming from China’s fast growth [...]

In Boston Terrorism Trial, A Free Speech Defense

Opening statements are expected to begin Thursday in an unusual terrorism trial, involving a young Massachusetts man named Tarek Mehanna. What makes this case unusual isn’t the alleged terrorist’s plot. It’s his defense: the First Amendment. Mehanna’s lawyers asked the judge Wednesday to instruct the jury about free-speech rights under the U.S. Constitution. Prosecutors say [...]

The Global Coal Trade’s Complex Calculation

This is the second of two reports on plans to export U.S. coal to China. Coal producers in Wyoming and Montana are hoping new export terminals will be built in Washington state so they can ramp up their sales to China. Activists are trying to stop those ports, in part because they’re concerned about global [...]

Feds Asked Polar Bear Researcher To Take Polygraph

A government researcher who wrote a controversial report on dead polar bears was asked to take a polygraph test by a federal agent investigating allegations of scientific misconduct. That’s according to Jeffrey Gleason’s lawyer, Jeff Ruch of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which is providing legal representation to Gleason and Charles Monnett, two researchers with [...]

Advice To Guideline-Writers: Keep Patients Involved in PSA Decision

Hey guys, feeling confused about the fuss over PSA screening for prostate cancer? Listen up. A couple of docs who ponder such medical dilemmas say there’s a middle ground between business-as-usual and throwing PSA tests out altogether. You may recall the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force kicked up a ruckus earlier this month when it [...]

House Democrat Campaign Chief Likes Party’s Chances For Retaking Control

The lawmakers who are chosen to lead their party’s efforts to pick up seats in Congress seem congenitally wired to exude confidence about their prospects. That’s why their colleagues chose them to play that role, in the first place. So it’s usually wise to discount their optimism to some degree. Still, Rep. Steve Israel, the [...]

Libyans Say NATO’s Bomb Sometimes Hit Civilians

NATO’s role in Libya was crucial to the rebellion that toppled Moammar Gadhafi, but that assistance came at a cost, according to some Libyans. Mohammed Abueishi lives in the Souq al-Juma neighborhood of Tripoli, near an apartment building on a quiet residential street that was hit by a NATO aistrike on June 19, a little [...]

Looking For Lung Cancer With A Yearly X-Ray Doesn’t Reduce Deaths

The drive to test healthy people for common cancers rests on the idea that finding malignancies early can trigger life-saving treatment. But the evidence that some of the tests will actually reduce mortality is sometimes lacking or is less than clear cut for the people who’ll get tested. Now, a big federally funded study finds [...]

DVD Picks: ‘Alfred Hitchcock: The Essentials Collection’

Time for our home video feature, where NPR movie critic Bob Mondello suggests something for those who like to pop their own popcorn and pop in a video. For this Halloween week, Bob suggests sending a shiver up your spine with some classics from: Alfred Hitchcock: The Essentials Collection. When I was a kid, these [...]

Insect Cuisine Is All The Buzz

Kudos to the SF Weekly for their fascinating in-depth cover story last week on bug eating. Seems the City by the Bay has become a “hotbed of insect cuisine,” David Gordon, a nationally renowned entomophagist (bug eater) and author of The Eat-A-Bug Cookbook, tells the alternative weekly. But could it be that daring Bay Area [...]