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Sueann Ramella
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National and World News from NPR

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Sports
4:27 am
Sun June 10, 2012

Sports Roundup: A Hot Night For Devils, Heat

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By editor

Originally published on Sun June 10, 2012 12:50 pm

Transcript

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LIFE IS A BALLGAME")

SISTER WINONA CARR: Life is a ball game being played each day...

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

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Sunday Puzzle
3:27 am
Sun June 10, 2012

This Changes Everything!

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Originally published on Sun June 10, 2012 12:50 pm

On-Air Challenge: Given a sentence, change one letter in one word to make a new word which completely reverses the meaning of the sentence. For example, given "The singer is not coming on stage." Changing the "T" in not to a "W" in the word "not" makes the sentence, "The singer is now coming on stage."

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Books
3:05 am
Sun June 10, 2012

Two Poems From The Nation's New Top Poet

Credit Jalissa Gray / Creative Commons Image
English professor Natasha Trethewey was named the 19th U.S. poet laureate last week.
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Originally published on Sun June 10, 2012 3:14 pm

Natasha Trethewey is the newly announced, 19th U.S. poet laureate. The position is described by the Library of Congress as "the nation's official lightning rod for the poetic impulse of Americans."

Trethewey tells Weekend Edition Sunday host Rachel Martin that it's a lot of responsibility.

"Just trying to be the biggest promoter of poetry; someone who's really got to do the work of bringing poetry to the widest audience possible," she says.

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Books
3:04 am
Sun June 10, 2012

No One In 'The Red House' Gets Away Unscathed

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Credit iStockphoto.com
Credit Rory Carnegie
Mark Haddon is the author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time.
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Originally published on Mon June 11, 2012 9:50 am

Ah, the family getaway. All of you together in one space — maybe a cabin in the mountains or a beach house. Delightful family meals, maybe some Scrabble. A time of togetherness and familial harmony.

That is decidedly not the kind of family vacation writer Mark Haddon draws inspiration from. In his latest novel, The Red House, Haddon peers inside the messy dynamics of a group of relatives, each grappling with their own fears and trying to make sense of themselves as a family, all while stuck in a vacation house in the remote English countryside.

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History
3:02 am
Sun June 10, 2012

Return To Alcatraz: Will A Legend End After 50 Years?

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Credit Gabriel Bouys / AFP/Getty Images
Sometimes referred to as "The Rock," Alcatraz Island on San Francisco Bay in California served as a lighthouse, then a military fortification, and then a federal prison until 1972, when it became a national recreation area. Now the island is open to tours.
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Originally published on Tue June 12, 2012 4:43 pm

Fifty years ago, three men set out into the frigid waters of the San Francisco Bay in a raft made out of raincoats. It was one of the most daring prison escapes in U.S. history.

As one newsreel put it: The spoon proved "mightier than the bars at supposedly escape-proof Alcatraz prison."

"Three bank robbers serving long terms scratched their way through grills covering an air vent, climbed a drainage pipe and disappeared from the forbidding rock in San Francisco Bay," the report continued.

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Home Front: Soldiers Learn To Live After War
3:02 am
Sun June 10, 2012

For Guard Members, A Last Stop To Transition Home

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Credit Tom Dreisbach / NPR
A recent Yellow Ribbon Reintegration Program event in Boston offered help for members of the 182nd Infantry Regiment of the Army National Guard as they transition back to being civilians.
Credit Tom Dreisbach / NPR
Maj. Matthew Porter, his wife, Jennifer and their 3-month-old daughter attended the Yellow Ribbon event. They say the deployment strained their relationship, but they are working to keep their marriage healthy.
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Originally published on Sun June 10, 2012 1:42 pm

The 182nd Infantry Regiment of the Army National Guard landed back in the U.S. last March after a yearlong deployment to Afghanistan.

After two months of leave, however, their official transition time is over and the deployment paychecks have stopped. It's now time to get back to regular life, and for the members from Massachusetts, that means a mandatory check-in with the unit's leadership.

From Soldier To Civilian

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Space
3:02 am
Sun June 10, 2012

NASA Fishes For Tools To Tackle Asteroid

Credit Miami Herald / MCT via Getty Images
Astronauts Shannon Walker and David Saint-Jacques test a probe in the waters off Key Largo, Fla. Their research may help NASA set foot on an asteroid someday.
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Originally published on Sun June 10, 2012 5:32 pm

NASA may have retired its shuttles, but it has its sights on sending astronauts deeper into space than ever before.

These voyages are years away, but on Monday, astronauts are heading underwater to take part in a simulation that will help them figure out how they might explore one possible new destination: a near-Earth asteroid.

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Around the Nation
3:00 am
Sun June 10, 2012

Farm Bill More Than Just Peanuts For Some Farmers

Credit Kathy Lohr / NPR
Georgia farmer Donald Chase says the Senate's proposed farm bill favors farmers in the Midwest and leaves Southern farmers without a safety net.
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Originally published on Sun June 10, 2012 1:58 pm

Southeast of Macon, Ga., near Oglethorpe, rows of peanuts planted six weeks ago have sprouted. Tiny yellow flowers dot the rich-green plants. Donald Chase, his father and grandfather have owned this farm since the 1950s.

Like many southern farmers, Chase objects to the version of the farm bill kicking around in the Senate this week. The bill aims to do away with direct payments to farmers by expanding crop insurance programs.

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Theater
9:03 pm
Sat June 9, 2012

Behind The Stars, The Sets That Help Them Shine

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Credit Mike Coppola / Getty Images
The idea behind Ost's design was to keep the set out of the way of the storytelling --€” and of Newsies' kinetic ensemble.
Credit Nathan Johnson
Ostling's finished set for the play's first half varies a bit from his initial design; note the higher stairway opening.
Credit Donyale Werle
For Peter and the Starcatcher, set designer Donyale Werle wanted to suggest the found-object serendipity characteristic of kids at play.
Credit Bob Crowley
Designer Bob Crowley modeled the set for Once on a pub — because the play's original venue had a built-in bar.
Credit Joan Marcus
All of the performers in Once play their own instruments; the onstage bar serves wine and beer before the show and at intermission.
Credit d
The finished Starcatcher set.
Credit Tobin Ost
Designer Tobin Ost conceived a modular set to represent the multitude of Manhattan locations in Newsies.
Credit Daniel Ostling
In Clybourne Park, a 1950s Chicago bungalow is as much a character as any of the people. Daniel Ostling's first-act set model, above, shows how the designer conceived the space and its furnishings.
Credit Tobin Ost
The mobile metal scaffoldings in Ost's design stand in for the cityscape and also support screens for the production's video projections.
Credit Mike Coppola / Getty Images
The idea behind Ost's design was to keep the set out of the way of the storytelling --€” and of Newsies' kinetic ensemble.
Credit Nathan Johnson
In the second act, the Clybourne Park house has seen substantial wear and tear. The play's story of a neighborhood's decline and rebirth is made tangible in Ostling's design.
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Originally published on Sun June 10, 2012 12:50 pm

Broadway caps off its 2011-2012 season June 10 at the 66th annual Tony Awards, and while the focus will mostly be on the nominated shows and actors, some attention must be paid to the set designers — the people who help create the environments that let those shows and actors shine.

Take Daniel Ostling: When he read Bruce Norris' script for Clybourne Park, a play that takes place in a very realistic Chicago bungalow, the veteran scenarist quickly came to a realization: "The house is actually a character."

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Politics
2:02 pm
Sat June 9, 2012

Could 'Taxmageddon' Crisis Create Compromise?

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Originally published on Sat June 9, 2012 3:35 pm

On Jan. 1, trillions of dollars in spending cuts and tax increases — called Taxmageddon — will take effect unless Congress and the White House can agree on a new plan. Many economists say the country will fall back into a recession if it happens. Former Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin says Congress may actually be "forced to make a decision that affects taxes and spending."

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