Search results for

Reporter Neal Tickner of member station WHYY reports on a University of Pennslyvania survey of 852 intensive care nurses, 16% of whom say they participated in euthanasia or assisted suicide -- sometimes at the request of patients, family members or physicians and sometimes on their own. Critical care specialists say this is not unusual. Nurses say the survey is misleading and may frighten patients.

The Department of Education today released its annual report on the demographics of the nation's schoolchildren. The number of students is at an all-time high, prompting concerns that school construction is not keeping up with the "baby boom echo," the increase in students resulting from many baby boomers having children later in life. NPR's Claudio Sanchez reports.

NPR's Peter Overby reports on today's release of an interim report from the House Ethics Committee into allegations against House Speaker Newt Gingrich. An investigative subcommittee has been looking into the relationship of GOPAC, Gingrich's former political action committee, to a college course that Gingrich taught from 1993 to 1995.

The Federal Reserve has just released its analysis of the nation's wealth. The net worth of the typical family, according to the report, rose more than 10 percent in 2001. As in past years, though, the gap between rich and poor widened. NPR's Robert Siegel talks about the Fed's report with Nancy Kimmelman of SEI Investments in Oaks, Pa.

NPR's Jennifer Ludden in Jerusalem reports there was widespread violence in the West Bank and Gaza today, dimming hopes for the cease-fire announced earlier this week. Israeli troops fought gun battles with Palestinians in some areas. In others, the Israelis clashed with rock-throwing demonstrators. At least nine Palestinians were reported killed, and there were injuries on both sides.

Wade Goodwyn reports on a study by a Texas advocacy group that says the state's death penalty system needs a drastic overhaul. The report, by the Texas Defender Service, says the system is full of dishonest prosecutors, incompetent defense attorneys, a weak appeals process, and racial bias in sentencing and jury selection.

NPR's Pam Fessler reports on the impact of the first figures released from the 2000 census. An explosion of Hispanic and Asian populations in New Jersey, Wisconsin, Mississippi, and Virginia -- the first states to be reported -- is expected to transform politics and public policy at every level and in nearly every community. Figures from remaining states are to be released in the coming weeks.

Robert Siegel talks to Lowell Bergman, a reporter for the New York Times, who broke a story this weekend that revealed a tunnel underneath the Russian embassy in Washington, D.C., that was used by the FBI and the National Security Agency to monitor Russian embassy activity. Lowell Bergman is also a reporter for the PBS program Frontline and a professor of journalism at the University of California, Berkeley.

NPR's Tom Gjelten reports from the Pentagon that the United States is not considering sending troops to Macedonia or increasing its deployment in neighboring Kosovo. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld discussed the crisis today with his British counterpart, Geoffrey Hoon. Gjelten reports that the Bush administration seems unprepared for this latest Balkan crisis.

1.2 billion of the world's six billion people live on less than a dollar a day, according to the World Bank's annual report on global development, released today. Sub-Saharan Africa is suffering the world's most dire poverty, while conditions in East Asian and Pacific nations are improving. NPR's Kathleen Schalch reports.