Sports
2:53 pm
Thu April 19, 2012

Russian Gymnasts Seek To Soar Once Again

Originally published on Thu April 19, 2012 5:34 pm

Back in the days of the Soviet Union, the women's gymnastics competition was highly predictable — the Soviet squad won the team gold medal at every Olympics it participated in.

Even when Nadia Comaneci was reeling off perfect 10s at the 1976 Olympics in Montreal, she and her Romanian teammates had to settle for second in the team competition behind the legendary Olga Korbut and her Soviet comrades.

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The Two-Way
2:48 pm
Thu April 19, 2012

Catcher Ivan Rodriguez Will Retire After A 23-Year Career

Credit Tony Gutierrez / AP
In this Sept. 13, 2009, photo, Texas Rangers catcher Ivan Rodriguez pauses during a baseball game against the Seattle Mariners in Arlington, Texas.

Next Monday, Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez, considered one of Major League Baseball's greatest catchers, will announce his retirement.

The news was first reported by the AP and confirmed today by the Texas Rangers, the team where Rodriguez made his debut.

Rodriguez, a 14-time All-Star, won a record 13 Gold Golves. The AP reports:

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The Two-Way
2:36 pm
Thu April 19, 2012

Levon Helm, Legendary Drummer-Singer Of The Band, Dies

Credit Craig Ruttle / AP
Levon Helm and the Levon Helm band perform during the Heros of Woodstock concert at Bethel Woods Center for the Arts in Bethel, N.Y. in 2009.

Originally published on Fri April 20, 2012 7:30 am

After a long battle with cancer, Leon Helm died today. He was 71.

"Levon Helm passed peacefully this afternoon," a statement posted on his website read. "He was surrounded by family, friends and band mates and will be remembered by all he touched as a brilliant musician and a beautiful soul."

Helm was the legendary drummer and singer of '60s rock act, The Band. Earlier this week, Helm's family announced that he was in the final stages of cancer.

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The Record
2:26 pm
Thu April 19, 2012

Levon Helm, Drummer And Singer In The Band, Dies

Originally published on Fri April 20, 2012 7:33 am

The Salt
1:47 pm
Thu April 19, 2012

Starbucks Ditches Bug-Based Red Dye In Strawberry Drink

Credit Armstrong Photo / Starbucks
By June, this drink will be bug-free, Starbucks says

For those of you boycotting Starbucks over the red dye made from crushed bugs it's been using, this Strawberries & Crème Frappuccino® is for you.

As we reported last month, vegetarians and others who'd rather not eat insects protested when they found out the the company uses cochineal, the red "juice" a tiny white bug called Dactylopius coccus exudes when crushed, to color certain food and drinks.

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NPR Story
1:26 pm
Thu April 19, 2012

Inside The Hidden World Of Immigrant Smuggling

Originally published on Thu April 19, 2012 1:51 pm

Transcript

JOHN DONVAN, HOST:

This is TALK OF THE NATION. I'm John Donvan in Washington. Earlier this month, nine immigrants suspected of being illegally smuggled into the United States were killed in a car crash. That journey came to a violent and sudden end. But there have been, and there will be others bent on crossing the Mexican border north to the U.S. who will make that very same journey and with a similar setup.

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Digital Life
1:26 pm
Thu April 19, 2012

Young People Turn From Kony To Spooning Record

Originally published on Thu April 19, 2012 2:50 pm

Students at the College of William & Mary are talking about a big extracurricular event being held on their campus on Friday. Organized largely through social media, more than 600 students at the prestigious Virginia campus have signed up to participate.

It's not about Joseph Kony. It's an attempt to break the world record for spooning, set by Carleton College back in 2010.

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NPR Story
1:19 pm
Thu April 19, 2012

Crack Addict Aspires To 'Ninety Days' Of Sobriety

Credit Christian Hansen /
Author Bill Clegg works as a literary agent in New York.

Originally published on Fri April 20, 2012 10:35 am

In his 2010 book, Portrait of an Addict as a Young Man, Bill Clegg described his addiction to crack cocaine and the dramatic spiral of self-destruction that left him nearly broke, homeless, out of work and suicidal. His latest book, Ninety Days: A Memoir of Recovery, picks up where that story left off.

Clegg talks with NPR's John Donvan about his harrowing journey through recovery, and the friends, family and fellow addicts who gave him second chances.

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NPR Story
1:02 pm
Thu April 19, 2012

'Ambassador' Guy Davis Takes Blues Around The Globe

Credit Giulia Ciappa / Flickr
Guy Davis performs in northern Italy at the Piacenza Blues Festival in 2010.

Originally published on Fri April 20, 2012 1:29 pm

The son of Ruby Dee and the late Ossie Davis, Guy Davis initially followed in his famous parents' footsteps. But then he discovered the blues in college, and now travels the world performing in places untouched by the genre, from Greenland to the Galapagos Islands.

Known as "The Ambassador of the Blues," Davis talks with NPR's John Donvan about his new album, The Adventures of Fishy Waters: In Bed With the Blues, and his passion for blues music.


Interview Highlights

On Fishy Waters, The Character He Created For His New Record

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NPR Story
1:02 pm
Thu April 19, 2012

From Kerouac To Rand, 'Harmful' Reads For Writers

Credit Alan Levine / Flickr
Kilian calls Jack Kerouac's On the Road one of the 20th-century novels that has "done more harm than good to apprentice writers."

Originally published on Fri April 20, 2012 10:50 am

Columnist Crawford Kilian advises aspiring writers to avoid Jack Kerouac's On the Road, Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged and eight other well-known novels.

But Kilian isn't saying they're bad novels — quite the opposite, actually. In a piece for the Canadian online daily The Tyee, Kilian writes, "their readable styles look so easy that they might seduce a young writer into imitating them."

Kilian tells NPR's John Donvan that he composed his list based on personal experience.

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