Search results for

Mary Jo Draper from member station KCUR in Kansas City, Missouri, reports on a severe winter storm that tore across the Plains and parts of the Southwest yesterday and today. Several states including Missouri, Kansas, and Oklahoma were frozen by sleet, snow and wind. In parts of Minnesota and North Dakota, high-winds have blown the snow into huge drifts, shutting down highways and in some places keeping snow plows off the roads.

Linda Gradstein reports that a date for early Israeli elections has not been finalized, although the ruling Labor Party says it prefers May 20, five months ahead of the regularly scheduled vote. Meanwhile, the campaign already has begun, with Labor saying it will bring about a comprehensive Middle East peace settlement and the opposition Likud Party warning that a victorious Labor Party will surrender East Jerusalem to the Palestinians.

Larry Pratt, a co-chairman of Patrick Buchanan's presidential campaign, has stepped aside following allegations that he has been a featured speaker at white supremacist meetings. Pratt denies any links to racist groups, and says he hopes to put the charges to rest and then rejoin the Buchanan campaign. The allegations surfaced in a report on the associations of leaders of the various presidential campaigns, and NPR's Peter Overby has more on that study.

NPR's Ted Clark reports that yesterday's bombing reveals undercurrents of anti-Americanism in Saudi Arabia and resentment toward the government there. Though the opposition is fuelled by militant Islam to some degree, analysts say that Saudi Arabia remains stable, though the opposition will have to be managed carefully if the country is to remain stable.

The U-S and North Korea have an agreement that may help the U-S get back the remains of more servicemen missing from the Korean War. The U-S has committed to paying North Korea two million dollars to cover the cost of recovering 162 sets of remains that were returned in 1993-94. Thousands of servicemen who were in the war are unaccounted for. NPR's Phillip Davis reports on the agreement.

NPR's Richard Harris reports that the Food and Drug Adminstration today approved a new HIV test. The test allows people take their own blood at home and mail it to a laboratory for analysis. They can then call for the results by telephone. The test's maker, and the FDA, say the test will make it easier for people to find out their HIV status. Some public health experts worry about how the results will be handled.

Steve Tripoli of member station WBUR reports that the town of New Bedford, Mass. has lost 10,000 jobs in recent years to plant closings. Now, the town is trying a radical approach to preventing the new out-of-town owner of a plant from shutting it down: the city wants to use its power of eminent domain to seize the plant and sell it to local bidders.

NPR's Mike Shuster reports that the Clinton administration has taken a keener interest in the ongoing violence in Burundi, as fighting there between Hutus and Tutsis has escalated in recent weeks. Four senior administration officials have visited the central African nation in the past week, and the US is pushing at the United Nations for the creation of a peacekeeping force. Many fear that Burundi's conflict could escalate to the level of mass killing experienced in neighboring Rwanda two years ago.

NPR's David Baron reports that an international group of scientists has issued a warning that synthetic chemicals in the environment may be harming children's intelligence and behavior. This concern stems from ongoing studies of chemicals -- such as PCBs and dioxins -- that may disrupt hormones in the body. Skeptics say the evidence of harm is sketchy and comes mostly from animal experiments using far higher levels of the chemicals than most people encounter.

NPR's Brian Naylor reports that Bob Dole's position on the Republican platform's abortion plank has set the stage for a renewed fight this summer at the party's national convention in San Diego. Conservative state party activists are trying to ensure that delegates to the convention are committed to keeping the plank as it is, calling for a constitutional amendment to ban abortion. Dole supports that position, but would like to include language recognizing that there are differences within the party on this issue.