Search results for

Militia loyal to radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr begin handing over their weapons to Iraqi police in the Sadr City district of Baghdad. The disarmament is part of an attempt to end weeks of clashes with U.S. troops. NPR's Emily Harris reports.

This week, the federal government put the major tobacco companies on trial for civil racketeering. The government claims that the tobacco industry lied to Americans about the health risks of smoking and that the industry has been using direct and indirect ways to get young people hooked on cigarettes. NPR's Libby Lewis reports.

NPR's Rachel Jones reports on North Carolina's advanced childcare system called Smart Start. The decade-old program has worked as a model for other state-run child care programs.

Much of the nation will switch from punch-card balloting to touch-screen voting this November, and that's raised questions about verifying election results. One solution is a paper backup system that records each electronic vote. One such system got a tryout Tuesday in Nevada. NPR's Pam Fessler reports.

President Bush often gets a big round of applause when he says small businesses should be able to band together to buy insurance. But fewer people realize his plan to let them do that is opposed by the nation's governors, the insurance industry, and half the Senate's Republicans. NPR's Julie Rovner reports.

President Bush and Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry interrupt their preparations for Thursday's debate to talk to voters. While Kerry spoke in Spring Green, Wis., and the president in Springfield Ohio, they both claimed to have a better plan for Iraq. NPR's Scott Horsley reports.

Top Fannie Mae executives defend the company's accounting practices in Congress. CEO Franklin Raines denied allegations the company had manipulated its books, telling lawmakers the controversy at the mortgage giant stems from different ways to interpret complex accounting rules. NPR's Jack Speer reports.

Michigan is one of three states holding Democratic presidential caucuses Saturday. Former Vermont governor Howard Dean is in a fierce battle with Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry to win the support of the state's union members. Union support appears critical to the survival of Dean's candidacy. Quinn Klinefelter of Detroit Public Radio reports.

NPR's Wendy Kaufman reports that federal and state government officials are investigating the operations of a health clinic associated with the Hanford Nuclear Reservation. The clinic is funded by the Department of Energy to deal with workplace problems and is accused of falsifying medical records and failing to provide adequate care to workers exposed to dangerous substances.

Spain mourns the victims of a terrorist bombings on commuter trains that killed nearly 200 people and wounded 1,400 others. Spain at first blamed Basque separatists, but another group claimed responsibility in the name of al Qaeda for the worst terrorist attack in Spanish history. Jerome Socolovsky reports from Madrid.