NPR News

A high water table and red clay that soaks up the moisture make dry basements an expensive and iffy proposition right in the heart of Tornado Alley.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

The Guardian Council, which vets all candidates, approved eight names, but left out an influential former president and a top aide to the current president. Their exclusion gives establishment-friendly candidates a clear path to the presidency in the June 14 election.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Nick Stremble, a registered nurse and manager at the hospital, described what he saw Monday. As winds ripped through the facility, people started "to tumble and roll and be pushed down the hall," he said.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Once NOAA realized conditions were ripe for severe weather they put their satellites on overdrive. They beamed back amazing images.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

The nation's largest group of nutritionists is urging the FDA to reject the dairy industry's petition to change the definition of milk. The petition aims to allow aspartame or other alternatives to be used to sweeten milk in an effort to boost consumption in schools.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Douglas Shulman, who led the IRS during the years when agency workers targeted tax-exempt applications from conservative groups, did his best to deflect accusations from unhappy senators.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

When Margot Adler learned that a cousin had hidden from the Nazis in Amsterdam, she was stunned. Adler started digging around and discovered that like Anne Frank, 25,000 Dutch Jews hid, and two-thirds of them survived. Her cousin was one of them.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Microsoft unveiled its new Xbox One Tuesday, displaying a device that takes new steps in game consoles' journey into becoming all-purpose entertainment and communication devices. The new console replaces the Xbox 360, which has been on the market for more than seven years.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Hipsters may just be discovering the joys of backyard chickens, but in African megacities, people have been bringing their animals into the slums with them for decades. That's creating a new ecosystem of animals and huge numbers of people living closely together like never before.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Rewards to policyholders for claims that don't meet the annual deductible can be a boon for healthy people. But the approach might not pass the smell test in 2014 when the federal health law bans discriminating against people based on their health status.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

A pair of sandals, a shawl and a drinking cup that were used by the Indian independence leader are among the objects going under the hammer in the U.K.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Architects have come up with spectacular concepts for vertical farms that would grow crops in city skyscrapers. But many horticulturists think the future of vertical farming isn't in skyscrapers, but rather in large, indoor warehouses lit up magenta by superefficient LEDs.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

The high school in Moore, Okla., wasn't badly damaged by Monday's tornado. But a special ed teacher stayed with her own students there rather than hunting for her own daughter at a wrecked elementary school.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Sens. Tom Coburn and James Inhofe have become the faces of pushback on federal emergency spending. Now the deadly and devastating tornado in their home state has put them in an awkward position.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

A rare piece of America's military history was located this spring, when dolphins from the Navy's Marine Mammal Program located an unusual artifact: a torpedo from the 19th century. Discovered during a training exercise in the ocean near San Diego, the torpedo will eventually make its way to a museum.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

The government has argued that the classified images could spark violence against Americans abroad.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

China has been building museums with abandon, opening about 100 annually in recent years. Two of the biggest opened on the same day last fall on opposite banks of Shanghai's Huangpu River. But filling these museums — with both art and visitors — is proving more challenging.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

After eight years of Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Los Angeles voters will pick a, shall we say, more charismatically-challenged successor.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Newspaper columnist Regina Brett and her daughter Gabrielle share a genetic risk factor for breast cancer. It's the same one that led Angelina Jolie to have a preventive mastectomy. Before Jolie's very public decision, the Bretts struggled with their own.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us

Trenda Purcell searched for her 8-year-old son Kamden after Monday's tornado in Moore, Okla. When she found him, their reunion was emotional. The Oklahoman was there to capture the moment.

» E-Mail This     » Add to Del.icio.us