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4:32 pm
Wed June 13, 2012

New Doping Charges Filed Against Lance Armstrong

Originally published on Wed June 13, 2012 6:32 pm

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

It's ALL THINGS CONSIDERED, from NPR News. I'm Audie Cornish.

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

And I'm Melissa Block. There's news today that the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, or USADA, has brought formal doping charges against seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. USADA is the body that fights performance-enhancing drug use in Olympic sports.

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The Picture Show
4:30 pm
Wed June 13, 2012

Frustrated By Autism, A Father Turns To Photos

Originally published on Wed June 13, 2012 7:14 pm

"I don't care about autism," says San Francisco-based photographer Timothy Archibald, who has a way of being refreshingly candid about kids who have it.

"They can frustrate you to no end," he says.

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The Two-Way
4:20 pm
Wed June 13, 2012

Can The Klan "Adopt-A-Highway"? Not In Georgia

Originally published on Wed June 13, 2012 4:24 pm

This one probably isn't over yet. A local Georgia chapter of the Ku Klux Klan applied for permission to conduct regular trash clean ups along a state road, as part of the Adopt-A-Highway program. In exchange, Georgia usually posts a couple of small road signs honoring volunteers. This group's sign would read: IKK Realm of GA, Ku Klux Klan.

It would get your attention.

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Shots - Health Blog
4:20 pm
Wed June 13, 2012

Surgery Restores Sexual Function In Women With Genital Mutilation

Credit Jean Ayissi / AFP/Getty Images
French surgeon Pierre Foldes in his Paris office in 2004. Foldes performs reconstructive surgery on women who have undergone genital mutilation. He recently authored a study on the long-term effects of the surgery.

Originally published on Wed June 13, 2012 11:58 pm

Female genital mutilation is still remarkably common — mainly in Africa, but also in some countries in Asia and the Middle East and in immigrant communities in Europe and the U.S.

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The Two-Way
4:16 pm
Wed June 13, 2012

VIDEO: Airborne Launch Sends X-Ray Observatory Into Earth Orbit

Credit JPL-Caltech / NASA
This artist's illustration shows what NuSTAR should look like in orbit after its 30-foot-long mast deployed.

Originally published on Thu June 14, 2012 8:30 pm

A NASA mission aimed at surveying black holes and supernovae, among other things, launched successfully today at noon ET from beneath the belly of a wide-body jet flying approximately 40,000 feet above a darkened Pacific Ocean.

The 772-pound NuSTAR X-ray observatory was carried into an equatorial orbit about 400 miles above the Earth by a Pegasus rocket, which fired its three-stage motor for 13 minutes after being dropped by the L-1011 jet.

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Environment
4:15 pm
Wed June 13, 2012

Climate Change May Spark More Wildfires In Future

Originally published on Wed June 13, 2012 6:32 pm

A new study shows that in coming years, the frequency of wildfires will increase because of climate change. Audie Cornish talks to Max Moritz, lead author of the study at University of California-Berkeley.

Around the Nation
4:14 pm
Wed June 13, 2012

Colo. Fire Now One Of The Biggest In State History

Originally published on Wed June 13, 2012 6:32 pm

Colorado's High Park Fire northwest of Fort Collins has topped 46,000 acres, making it one of the largest wildfires in the state's history. It's also destroyed more than 100 buildings. But firefighters are beginning to gain ground and have started containing the blaze.

Animals
4:08 pm
Wed June 13, 2012

Blinded By The Light, Birds Crash Into Radio Towers

Originally published on Wed June 13, 2012 6:32 pm

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Wildlife researchers estimate that each year nearly seven million migrating birds die because of communications towers. The big problem, according to researchers at the University of Southern California, are the solid red lights on these towers - lights required by the FAA - in order to that are meant to warn aircraft pilots.

Scientists say the light causes a kind of vertigo and a recent effort in Michigan to temporarily turn the lights off during migrating season cut the number of bird deaths there by more than half.

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Europe
4:08 pm
Wed June 13, 2012

French First Lady Sets Country A-Twitter

Originally published on Wed June 13, 2012 7:16 pm

Europe may be in major financial and political turmoil, but in France, it's a tweet that has the country in an uproar.

The political storm erupted Tuesday when first lady Valerie Trierweiler tweeted her support for a candidate running in Sunday's parliamentary elections.

That may sound harmless, but the candidate she encouraged is running to unseat prominent politician Segolene Royal, the former partner of President Francois Hollande and the mother of his four children.

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It's All Politics
4:01 pm
Wed June 13, 2012

Romney, Obama: When Wooing Women Voters, Check Marital Status First

Originally published on Thu June 14, 2012 9:20 am

What do women want, electorally speaking?

We know that women, like men, are "not some monolithic bloc," to quote the current occupant of the White House.

But as a group they are reliably influential voters, more risk-averse than men, and — pollsters tell us — generally more likely than the opposite sex to vote for Democrats, oppose the use of military force and support government programs.

In 2008, unmarried women, one of the nation's fastest-growing demographic groups, were a key to Barack Obama's presidential win.

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