Do-It-Yourself Marshmallows

On dark winter nights, after a day of sledding and snow, I remember reveling in the heat from the crackling fireplace and anticipating the skewers of marshmallows and packs of graham crackers and chocolate that would become a sweet wintry sandwich. Marshmallows elicit other all-American memories — more s’mores on the Fourth of July, Thanksgiving [...]

Looking For Boost, Candidates Hit The Ground In N.H.

With three weeks to go before the New Hampshire primary, presidential campaigns are working at full speed to reach out to voters. Political strategists say a good ground game — a campaign’s ability to identify voters and get them to the polls — is worth 3 points at the ballot box. That’s a boost any [...]

‘Breadcrumbs’: Young Readers Follow A Wintry Tale

Welcome to the third installment of NPR’s Backseat Book Club, where we select a book for young readers — and invite them to share their thoughts and questions with us and the author. Our selection for December is a perfect holiday story: the enchanting modern-day fairy tale Breadcrumbs, by Anne Ursu, author of the popular [...]

In North Korea, Lavish Praise For The Heir Apparent

North Korean state-run television today showed Kim Jong Il lying in state — and for the first time since his death, it also showed the man being prepared to inherit the mantle of power. Kim Jong Un looked solemn, frowning as he paid his respects and bowed to his father’s body laid out in a [...]

In A Drug War, Mexican Forces Accused Of Abuses

In Mexico, the past five years of President Felipe Calderon’s drug war have been marked by brutal violence, unsolved kidnappings and tens of thousands of deaths. Most of the violence has come from the drug gangs, but some of these atrocities have been committed by the Mexican military and police. Human rights groups say that [...]

Many Police Officers Are Sleep Deprived, Risky For Them And Us

Harvard researchers say they’ve uncovered a big problem among the nation’s 700,000 police officers: a serious lack of sleep. In what’s believed to be the first study of its kind, the researchers queried nearly 5,000 municipal and state police officers in the U.S. and Canada about their sleep habits and symptoms of possible sleep disorders. [...]

In Iowa, The Final GOP Ground Game Takes Shape

Two weeks from Tuesday, Iowa voters will head out to almost 1,800 caucus sites to help select a Republican presidential nominee. It could be cold. It could also be snowing. And the campaigns know they’ll have to work hard to make sure their supporters show up. Those get-out-the-vote efforts could make all the difference in [...]

‘We The People’: NPR Readers Would Ratify Four New Amendments

In “Reconstituting The Constitution: How To Rewrite It,” we invited readers to share their own thoughts on how we might change the founding document for 2011. Now the people have spoken. As of Dec. 20, you’ve voted to abolish the Electoral College, to limit campaign contributions from corporations, to deny corporations the rights of citizens [...]

DVD Picks: ‘Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale’

Time now for a home-viewing recommendation from our film critic Bob Mondello. With Christmas just five days away, he’s suggesting an unusual holiday treat — a sinister Santa comedy from Scandanavia called Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale. Somehow, I missed Rare Exports when it came out last year. In my defense, since it took in [...]

2011 In Film: Iron Ladies And Rowdy Women

Meryl Streep has served up more than her share of ice queens in her time, but her rendering of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in the new film The Iron Lady is a peak experience. In a horrifically funny scene toward the end, we see Mrs. T. — a grocer’s daughter who clawed her [...]