3:11pm

Wed February 29, 2012
Arts & Culture

Beatles Karaoke

Credit photo credit: Terry Lorant

The vocalist you’re hearing is Dana Harnik, participating in the monthly all-Beatles karaoke night at Café Royale on Post Street in San Francisco. Note that this is no “follow the bouncing ball” laser-disc performance. Joshua Raoul Brody, of the band Tango Number 9, plays live piano to match each singer’s style. The next event takes place Monday, March 5, and the first Monday of every month. Music begins about 8pm, and a book of lyrics is provided.

 

A Writer's Almanac

Garrison Keillor offers a daily poem and literary history almanac.

Read the daily poem at the Writer's Almanac website here.

3:08pm

Wed February 29, 2012
It's All Politics

Evangelicals Still Cool On Romney, Exit Poll Analysis Shows

Credit Charles Krupa / ASSOCIATED PRESS

A next-day analysis of the Republican presidential primaries in Michigan and Arizona won by Mitt Romney underscores one of his weaknesses with his party's base, especially with the ascent of his now-chief rival Rick Santorum: he fares more poorly with born-again and evangelical voters than with non-evangelicals.

Read more

3:08pm

Wed February 29, 2012
It's All Politics

Romney Says He Opposes Contraceptive Bill, But His Campaign Says Otherwise

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney told a reporter Wednesday that he opposes a measure being considered by the Senate that would allow employers to decline to provide contraception coverage to women.

"I'm not for the bill," Romney said during an interview with Ohio News Network reporter Jim Heath. "But, look, the idea of presidential candidates getting into questions about contraception within a relationship between a man and a woman, husband and wife, I'm not going there."

Read more

2:57pm

Wed February 29, 2012
All Tech Considered

New Ways To Think About Online Privacy

Originally published on Wed February 29, 2012 3:01 pm

Credit Nina Gregory / NPR

As an editor who helps put Morning Edition on the air, I work overnight. There is something called sleep hygiene that some of us who work while you sleep have studied closely. Sleep hygiene is a set of practices that aim to help you sleep better — like not reading in bed, not watching TV there or playing Angry Birds or reading the news.

In light of the news of Google's new privacy policy, I got to thinking about privacy practices, something you might call privacy hygiene.

Read more

2:40pm

Wed February 29, 2012
Crisis In The Housing Market

Fannie, Freddie Won't Write Down Mortgage Principal

Credit Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Despite some green shoots in the economy, the housing sector remains weak. With 11 million Americans still underwater on their mortgages, some housing experts believe it's time for more dramatic solutions.

The idea of reducing the principal on the loans of underwater homeowners used to be a fringe concept, embraced by a few outliers. Today, many policymakers believe principal reduction is necessary to keep some troubled homeowners afloat.

But so far, the nation's biggest mortgage holders, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, haven't embraced the idea.

Read more

2:35pm

Wed February 29, 2012
The Two-Way

Priest Was Wrong To Deny Communion To Lesbian, Archdiocese Says

Credit Saeed Khan / AFP/Getty Images

There's been lots of talk on the Web and the news channels today about The Washington Post's front page account of what happened when Barbara Johnson went to Communion on Saturday during the funeral mass for her mother in Gaithersburg, Md.

The priest, Rev. Marcel Guarnizo said he would not give her the sacrament because she is a sinner.

Johnson is a lesbian.

Read more

2:34pm

Wed February 29, 2012
Rick Santorum

Is Rick Santorum Missing JFK's Point On Religion?

When GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum was growing up, he says, John F. Kennedy was a hero in his Catholic home.

In a speech last year, he said he had always heard glowing reports of Kennedy's speech about religion to Protestant ministers in 1960.

"And then very late in my political career, I had the opportunity to read the speech and I almost threw up," Santorum told a group of college students last year. "You should read the speech. In my opinion, it was the beginning of the secular movement of politicians to separate their faith from the public square."

Read more

2:30pm

Wed February 29, 2012
Shots - Health Blog

Federal Judge Rules Graphic Cigarette Labels Violate Constitution

Originally published on Wed February 29, 2012 2:36 pm

Credit FDA

Scary labels the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would require on cigarette packages later this year were nixed today.

U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon in Washington ruled the requirement that cigarette makers put the labels — some quite gruesome and all quite large — on their products would "violate the First Amendment by unconstitutionally compelling speech."

Read more

2:07pm

Wed February 29, 2012
Asia

N. Korea To Halt Nuclear Tests; U.S. To Provide Aid

North Korea has agreed to suspend uranium enrichment and missile tests, and the U.S. says it will provide food aid. The agreement should set the stage for a new round of nuclear disarmament talks. But analysts caution this is a small first step.

U.S. State Department officials returned from three days of talks in Beijing with a deal meant to improve the atmosphere for a resumption of so-called six-party nuclear disarmament talks. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton outlined the deal in Congress on Wednesday.

Read more

Pages