A small but groundbreaking University of Minnesota study is attracting attention from military leaders and Congress for its potential to help troops and their families. It comes amid growing recognition that supporting military families at home makes soldiers stronger at war.

It’s dinnertime at the Ross house in the Twin Cities suburbs. National Guardsman Kevin Ross asks his 2-year-old son, Isaac, to put plastic cups on the table for him and his two sisters. With the help of a new parenting study, Ross has recently changed the way he talks to his three children — Elena, 9; Lucy, 6; and Isaac. Before, Ross says, he would have talked to them like he talks to the soldiers he commands, and he would have expected them to obey without talking back.

The Rosses are one of more than 120 military families participating in the University of Minnesota study, After Deployment: Adaptive Parenting Tools, or ADAPT. Researchers in the study observe families and then offer them special discipline and communication techniques to try at home. Lead investigator Abi Gewirtz says the idea is to reduce the kind of stress that can cause conflict between parents and kids.

“What we know about families under stress — whether it’s stress due to deployment or stress due to any other family transition — is that when families are stressed, it’s parenting that is hit,” Gewirtz says.

When a service member returns from deployment, household routines are turned upside-down, and parents have to renegotiate their relationship as a couple as well as their roles in the family. To prevent hurting a child’s development, the ADAPT study recommends that parents get on the same page when it comes to discipline. The program teaches them to give short, simple, face-to-face directions kids can understand, and to use praise and incentives to encourage good behavior. While all families could use the ADAPT study’s techniques, they’re especially helpful as troops transition from combat to the homefront.

Ross, 31, says his family knows these challenges firsthand. When he left in 2009 for Iraq with 682nd Engineer Battalion out of the Willmar, Minn., he and his wife, Emily, had two children. When he returned, they had three. Ross was away from home for about 18 months. For Emily, 32, single-parenting was tough. But it was an even bigger adjustment when her husband returned home.

“His responsibilities were all centered around him, and then coming back to a household of five people and a wife who’s been dealing with it alone all this time and is ready for a break,” she says, “I think it took some time for him to readjust to even what his responsibilities in the family were.”

According to Emily, the parenting techniques they’ve learned in the study have made a big difference. Their kids don’t follow directions every single time, but they now know what’s expected of them. She says she’d like to see the study expanded to help military families nationwide.

“It should almost be a requirement for families going through this that they go through training like this,” she says. “You know, they train the soldiers; you might as well train the families along with them.”

ADAPT researchers agree. Over the next five years, the study will recruit 400 more families and follow them. They hope their findings eventually can be shared with military families across the U.S. [Copyright 2012 Minnesota Public Radio]

That’s exactly what Phoenix-based artist William “Bill” LeGoullon did in a series called Fingerprints of Drinkable Culture.

He set out to capture the relationship between science and the top five most-consumed beverages: beer, wine, cola, tea, and coffee.

But it didn’t go as planned. At first, he tried to photograph the liquids while they were wet.

“It was difficult because of the way the camera and microscope work, you can’t really focus on more than one little thing,” he tells The Salt. “So I got frustrated and took it outside to let it dry. When it came back, it was a whole ‘nother thing.”

When the beverages dried on the slide, the imprints were more detailed and more beautiful than the liquids, he says. So they became the fingerprints series.

In honor of Memorial Day celebrations everywhere, enjoy these ultra close-ups from LeGoullon’s collection. We guarantee you’ll never look at beer, wine and cola the same way again. [Copyright 2012 National Public Radio]

The latest preview of “Barack Obama: The Story” provides details on Obama’s days in high school and college when passing a bong or a joint appears to have been a regular part of his routine.

Aptly, it’s BuzzFeed where you can find Maraniss excerpts that shed light on the president’s smoke-shrouded past:

“A self-selected group of boys at Punahou School who loved basketball and good times called themselves the Choom Gang. Choom is a verb, meaning ‘to smoke marijuana…’

“… As a member of the Choom Gang, Barry Obama was known for starting a few pot-smoking trends. The first was called ‘TA,’ short for ‘total absorption.’ To place this in the physical and political context of another young man who would grow up to be president, TA was the antithesis of Bill Clinton’s claim that as a Rhodes scholar at Oxford he smoked dope but never inhaled.”

Obama revealed in his memoir “Dreams for My Father” his youthful use of illegal drugs as he grew up in Hawaii. But Maraniss apparently fills in the picture with quite a few colorful details.

Maraniss tweeted a message Friday that sounded somewhat exasperated by all the attention being paid to young Obama’s romances and pot use:

“No controlling the twitterverse, but…so much more to The Story than Genevieve diary and high school Choom Gang.”

No doubt. But the book’s June 19 release date is still a few weeks away. Meanwhile, presumably it’s publisher, Simon & Schuster, deciding what spicy morsels to release ahead of time to whet our appetite for the book. We’re just working with what they’ve doled out.

That said, you can imagine that there could be some very challenging conversations, at least from a parent’s perspective, around the Obama dinner table between the president and his daughters about illegal drug use. How, for instance, does he respond to the line: “Well, Dad, it doesn’t seem to have hurt you or your career.” [Copyright 2012 National Public Radio]

Here’s a look at where things stand between the Republican Walker and Barrett, the mayor of Milwaukee, heading into Friday night’s televised debate, the first of two before the June 5 rematch. (Walker defeated Barrett in the 2010 governor’s race, 52.2 percent to 46.5 percent.)

At stake is whether Walker will become the third governor in U.S. history to be recalled by voters, or whether Barrett’s third try for the office ends like the first two.

Polls

A flurry of statewide survey results released over the past 10 days shows Walker widening his lead over Barrett.

–A Marquette Law School poll had Walker improving his lead over Barrett to 6 percentage points, 50-44 percent. The school’s poll last month had Walker up by 1 point.

–A St. Norbert College/Wisconsin Public Radio poll showed Walker with a 50-45 percent lead over Barrett. Of Walker supporters surveyed, half said his greatest success has been budget and deficit control; 21 percent cited his rollback of collective bargaining rights. Nearly half of Barrett supporters said they wanted Walker recalled because of his “character,” including “bully tactics,” and his divisiveness; 26 percent cited his position on collective bargaining.

–An internal Democratic poll by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research for a labor coalition had Walker up 50-47 percent, within the poll’s margin of error.

–A Reason-Rube poll of likely voters for the libertarian Reason Foundation released Thursday gave Walker a 50-42 percent lead. The poll also showed Wisconsin voters evenly split on their views of public employee unions.

–And, finally, an internal poll for Barrett by Democratic pollsters GarinHartYang Research Group had Walker up 50-48 percent. “Our data,” the pollsters reported, “show a highly polarized electorate, but with Tom Barrett making notable gains among independent voters.”

Ads

Wisconsin’s political ad-saturated airways got some new ones in recent days, with both the Republican Governors Association and the National Rifle Association going up with new anti-Barrett ads. The RGA compares Walker’s record as governor with Barrett’s tenure as mayor. The NRA scare ad asserts that Barrett would “recall your gun rights.”

The Democratic Governors Association on Thursday announced it will plow an additional $1 million into the race for both television advertising and efforts to get voters to the polls on June 5.

Bill Lueders at the Wisconsin Center for Investigative Journalism reports that the projected $80 million that may be spent on the recall race is, essentially, targeting a handful of undecided voters.

In the bitterly divided state where some project election turnout could top 2.5 million, all that money may be “geared toward just 75,000 people, which comes to more than $1,000 per undecided vote,” Lueders, the center’s Money and Politics Project director, wrote Thursday.

President Who?

A parade of GOP bigwigs, from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, have made appearances and raised money for Walker.

Some Wisconsin Democrats have bemoaned what they see as a lack of similar national party commitment from their side.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel’s Craig Gilbert noted in a column Thursday that President Obama’s team may be helping with voter turnout and fundraising appeals, “but the president has avoided taking a vocal role in the conflict.”

A presidential visit to Wisconsin before the June 5 election? Unlikely, Gilbert reports, quoting Obama campaign spokesman Tom Reynolds as saying this:

“The President has made it very clear where he stands in this election. He offered his clear support for (Mayor Barrett) the night of his primary victory. Obama for America has been working hand-in-glove with the mayor’s campaign ever since then. We’re going to continue to work with the campaign to figure out how we can be most helpful in the closing days.”

Not helping Barrett in this final frantic stretch: The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has popped a major investigative story targeting the Milwaukee Police Department for errors in reporting crime statistics.

The story, by Ben Poston, found that since 2009, city police in hundreds of cases misclassified serious assaults as “lesser offenses,” skewing the crime statistics it reports to the FBI. In 2011, for example, the faulty stats showed a 1.1 percent decrease in violent crime, the newspaper reported, rather than the 2.3 percent increase that actually occurred in the city.

Walker’s detractors are quick to note that, unlike the governor — whose time as Milwaukee County executive is being investigated by the county district attorney — Barrett himself isn’t the aim of the newspaper’s investigation.

Walker has called for an outside audit of police data; Barrett has said wrong numbers will be corrected.

The recall will finally be decided in less than two weeks. And then beleaguered Wisconsin voters will get a two-month breather before the state’s Aug. 14 GOP Senate primary, a rollicking four-person contest featuring former Gov. Tommy Thompson.

And then on to November … for that other race. [Copyright 2012 National Public Radio]

Brian Banks, now 26, has gone through all that.

Then Thursday, the California man’s rape conviction was dismissed. His accuser, who last year sent Banks a message on Facebook suggesting that they “let bygones be bygones,” had been videotaped saying she lied about being raped. Wanetta Gibson’s previous statements to police about the alleged 2002 incident had been the only evidence against Banks — there was no physical evidence that Banks had raped her. With the change in her story, prosecutors and a judge agreed, there was no case.

Having his name cleared made for “the greatest day of my life,” Banks told Southern California Public Radio’s Patt Morrison. Not only does the conviction come off his record, but the electronic monitor comes off his ankle and he no longer has to register as a sex offender.

The former high school football star, who once seemed to be on the way to playing for the University of Southern California, says he now wants to pursue that lifelong dream of playing in the NFL.

Banks’ story, which he’s scheduled to talk about later today with All Things Considered, raises anew questions about the U.S. legal system. After his arrest, as KPCC reports, Banks’ lawyer “urged him to plead no contest rather than risk a sentence of 41 years to life in prison if convicted.”

Justin Brooks of the California Innocence Project, who handled Banks’ case after the accuser recanted, told Patt Morrison that racism surely played a part in what happened. Banks’ original lawyer, he said, basically told the then-teenager that because he was a large, black, young man it would be his word against hers and that he should take the deal.

As for Banks’ accuser, she hasn’t been willing to repeat to authorities what she said on the videotape (made by a private investigator) about the accusation. In fact, the Los Angeles Times says, she “recanted her video statement.” Her family had been granted a $1.5 million legal judgment from the Long Beach, Calif., public school system because she had claimed the rape happened on school property. Now, Brooks told the Times, she doesn’t want to put that money at risk.

Banks is looking ahead. He told KPCC that, “I remained unbroken throughout this situation and I know that if I can get through this and get my life back, I’ll be able to get through the rest.”

Update at 2:30 p.m. ET. You Have To Move On “And Move On Strong”:

In his conversation with Banks, NPR’s Robert Siegel just noted that people who have spent time in prison for crimes they are later cleared of having done are often not outwardly angry. Banks is another example. Why is that?

“You have to realize that myself and others that have been wrongfully convicted of crimes, we’ve dealt with the situation,” Banks said. And, “you realize that you’re not going to survive in prison or progress as a human being if you allow yourself to continue to hold on to this negative energy. You keep the truth within you and understand what has taken place, but you also want to move on and move on strong.”

Banks also told Robert that he took the original plea deal in part because his attorney had told him he would likely only serve another 18 months or so in prison (he had been in jail about a year by that time). “I was pretty much sold this dream,” he said. Instead, the judge issued a harsher sentence.

Much more from Robert’s conversation with Banks will be All Things Considered later, and we’ll add the as-broadcast version of that conversation to the top of this post. Click here to find an NPR station that broadcasts or streams the show. [Copyright 2012 National Public Radio]

Until, that is, the now adult Brown’s wife, Deirdre Oringer, came across a rusted bike — banana seat and all — in the woods near where Brown’s two-wheeler went into the Herring River.

That discovery happened nearly a year ago, as the Cape Cod Times reported last June, and as it “dramatically” recounted in this quite funny video.

So why mention it now?

Because it seems that Britain’s Daily Mail just discovered the story and decided that the headline should be:

” ‘It was like finding a long lost friend’: Lesbian reunited with bike she lost FOUR DECADES ago after her wife spots it in muddy stream.”

As Gawker, which is having some fun at the Mail’s expense, says: “What will the lesbians do next?” [Copyright 2012 National Public Radio]

“GSA spokesman Adam Elkington would not say whether Neely resigned or was fired from the agency that is in charge of federal buildings and supplies,” The Associated Press says.

As we’ve reported, more than $800,000 was spent on the four-day conference, which included appearances by a mind-reader and clown, and nearly $150,000 spent on food and beverages, and commemorative coins that cost more than $6,000.

The scandal led to GSA Administrator Martha Johnson’s resignation. [Copyright 2012 National Public Radio]

Giffords’ resignation set in motion a special election to serve out the rest of her two-year term. Giffords’ former district director, Ron Barber, won the Democratic nomination uncontested. Jesse Kelly easily beat three opponents in the Republican primary.

Barber, 66, was wounded in the Tucson shooting and says Giffords asked him to run. He calls himself a moderate like his former boss.

“The voters in this district really, I believe, are looking for moderation and pragmatic solutions to serious problems, and not ideological extremism,” Barber says.

That last part implies that Barber’s opponent is extreme. But Kelly, a 30-year-old former Marine who describes himself as a member of the Tea Party, rejects the extremist label, saying he can appeal to anyone.

“It’s southern Arizona families, it’s veterans, it’s seniors, it’s people who just want a better economy, people who want better jobs and lower gas prices,” he says.

This is Kelly’s second try for the seat. After a bitter campaign in 2010, he narrowly lost to Giffords. This time, the race’s dominant focus has been on statements Kelly made two years ago about Social Security and Medicare.

Barber has been running ads saying Kelly wants to eliminate Social Security and Medicare.

But Kelly responded with his own ad attacking Barber for supporting President Obama’s health care overhaul, which Kelly says will hurt seniors. The ad features Kelly’s grandfather.

The district has a lot of seniors, and they vote. They were certainly out in force at the campaign’s only public debate Wednesday night at the Tucson Jewish Community Center.

Much of the debate was taken up with Social Security and Medicare, but this time it was part of a broader discussion of the role of the federal government.

Barber said Social Security and Medicare, as well as any government health care overhaul, depend on everyone’s participation.

“We cannot, as Mr. Kelly suggests, allow people to leave the system. That’s what keeps the system solvent,” Barber said.

But Kelly said people should not be forced to participate: “This is not Europe, this is not Russia. This is not some crazy place where our government allows us to do things. We are the land of the free. We do as we please in this nation.”

Kelly says government should be subordinate to business, and the rich should not be taxed more.

Democratic voter Jack Fitzgerald isn’t buying it, and he’s supporting Barber.

“Greed is great, if that’s what you think, but it’s strictly middle America. All you gotta do is look at the records. Middle America is taking it in the shorts,” Fitzgerald says.

Republican Pat Sexton agrees with Kelly’s Tea Party philosophy. She even wishes Giffords had resigned sooner so Kelly might have more time in office.

“I’m sorry anything like this had to happen,” Sexton says. “But if Ms. Giffords really was thinking about the voters and her constituents, she would have stepped down as soon as she knew she was not able to do it.”

As it stands, this is the last term for anyone in Arizona’s 8th Congressional District. It was just redrawn, and in November it becomes the 2nd District, with fewer Republicans and more Democrats.

The special election is June 12. But the race could well be decided by early ballots. They’re coming in by mail at a record pace, and election officials say early ballots could make up 70 percent of the vote. [Copyright 2012 National Public Radio]

Wright was drafted in March 1943.

“I was an 18-year-old boy,” he says. “I blew the bugle in our outfit,” he adds, largely because he had played the trumpet in high school.

Wright was a member of the 227th Battalion, which followed other divisions and furnished them with soldiers after large and costly battles. During the war, he participated in funerals for men killed in action.

“If a young man is killed in action or dies defending his country, you blow taps over his grave,” Wright tells Guess. “And it just — there’s no way to describe it, the emotion that you feel, knowing that those notes is going out.”

When World War II ended in 1945, Wright and his battalion were in Belgium.

“And I remember the war was over just a few days,” he says, “and they asked me to blow taps for all who died in the war.”

That was in Dolhain, Belgium, in the country’s hilly eastern section near Germany.

“We climbed this high hill. It was like a mountaintop,” says Wright. “And my battalion was at the bottom. I blew those taps. And when I did, the men said it floated out across all that valley, and said it was beautiful.”

“They were all telling me how good it sounded, and what a tribute it was to our fallen comrades.”

Audio produced for Morning Edition by Michael Garofalo. [Copyright 2012 National Public Radio]