NPR News, Author at Northwest Public Broadcasting

Read at night, at the end of a too-long day, and characters will enter and exit the rooms of memory, trailing the scent of cigarette smoke and faded perfume. With Simon Van Booy's new novel, Night Came With Many Stars, open in front of me, I know the smell of summer afternoons and the pattern of paint spattered on a workingman's boots. I can hear the bugs in the dark and Read More

Carl Nassib Is The First Active NFL Player To Come Out As Gay

Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib said on Monday that he would not have been able to publicly come out as gay without the support of the NFL and his teammates. CREDIT: Jeff Bottari/AP

Raiders defensive end Carl Nassib came out in a personal Instagram post on Monday, saying he has "agonized over this moment for the last 15 years."Read More

Cargo Is Piling Up Everywhere, And It’s Making Inflation Worse

Shipping containers are stacked high at the Port of Los Angeles in April. Supply chain disruptions are hitting small-business owners across the United States. CREDIT: Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty Images

Soaring demand from Americans for everything from iPads to cars is leading to a surge in freight crossing the Pacific, hitting business owners such as Nephew.Read More

The Supreme Court Sides With NCAA Athletes In A Narrow Ruling

Faced with the prospect of reshaping college athletics, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a narrow but potentially transformative ruling Monday in a case that pitted college athletes against the NCAA.Read More

Unpaid Caregivers Were Already Struggling. It’s Only Gotten Worse During The Pandemic

By NPR News June 20, 2021

The COVID-19 pandemic has been particularly difficult for unpaid caregivers, with many reporting symptoms of stress, anxiety, and depression. CREDIT: Portra Images via Getty Images

The pandemic has taken a massive toll on people's mental health. But a new report by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirms what many of us are seeing and feeling in our own lives: The impact has been particularly devastating for parents and unpaid caregivers of adults.Read More

The Record Temperatures Enveloping The West Are Not Your Average Heat Wave

By NPR News June 20, 2021

Thermometer reading 130 degrees F in Death Valley National Park

It might be tempting to shrug at the scorching weather across large swaths of the West. This just in: It gets hot in the summer. But this record-setting heat wave's remarkable power, size and unusually early appearance is giving meteorologists and climate experts yet more cause for concern about the routinization of extreme weather in an era of climate change.Read More

After Debate On President Biden’s Abortion Views, U.S. Bishops Vote To Rethink Communion Rules

By NPR News June 18, 2021

President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill Biden, shown here on Jan. 20, 2021, attend Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle during Inauguration Day ceremonies in Washington, D.C. CREDIT: Evan Vucci/AP

After a contentious debate, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has voted to move forward with a process that could call into question the eligibility of politicians like President Joe Biden to receive Communion.Read More

To Celebrate Juneteenth, Listen To A Reading Of The Emancipation Proclamation

By NPR News June 18, 2021

The United States has a new national holiday to celebrate: Juneteenth, marking the day in 1865 — in the aftermath of the Civil War — when U.S. Army troops landed in Galveston, Texas, and informed some of the last enslaved Americans that they were free.Read More

Supreme Court Rules Catholic Group Doesn’t Have To Consider LGBTQ Foster Parents

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday sided with Catholic Social Services in a battle that pitted religious freedom against anti-discrimination laws in Philadelphia and across the country. Read More

President Biden Signs Bill Into Law Making Juneteenth A Federal Holiday

President Joe Biden signs the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act in the East Room of the White House on Thursday. CREDIT: Evan Vucci/AP

President Biden on Thursday signed a bill to recognize Juneteenth — the celebration to commemorate the end of chattel slavery in the United States — as a federal holiday.Read More

Black Newspaper Carrier Confronted By Off-Duty Pierce County Sheriff Files $5M Tort Claim

A Black newspaper carrier confronted by Pierce County Sheriff Ed Troyer has filed a legal claim seeking at least $5 million in damages.Read More

In Historic, Bipartisan Move, House Votes To Repeal 2002 Iraq War Powers Resolution

The U.S. House on Thursday moved to repeal a nearly two-decade-old war powers measure, marking what many lawmakers hope will be the beginning of the end of wide-ranging authorities given to the president after the 9/11 terror attacks.Read More

Federal Reserve Will Continue Supporting The Economy Despite Surging Prices

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell has been under pressure from President Trump to cut interest rates. CREDIT: Patrick Semansky/AP

The central bank said Wednesday it would leave interest rates near zero and maintain its aggressive program of bond purchases in hopes of encouraging a faster rebound from the pandemic recession.Read More

President Biden And Putin Say Their Summit Was Constructive As The World Waits For Results

Russian President Vladimir Putin and President Biden shake hands during their meeting at the Villa la Grange in Geneva on Wednesday. CREDIT: Alexander Zemlianichenko/AP

President Joe Biden said he also tried to establish some basic rules of the road, sharing with Vladimir Putin a list of 16 elements of critical infrastructure he suggested be considered off limits for cyber attacks.Read More

An Olympic Hopeful Says Her Pork Burrito Is To Blame For Her Positive Drug Test

Shelby Houlihan, the middle-distance runner who currently holds two U.S. records, says she's been banned from the Tokyo Olympics after testing positive for the steroid nandrolone. Houlihan says she's clean and is blaming the test result on a pork burrito she got from a food truck.Read More

Royal Caribbean’s Launch Of Its New Megaship Just Got Sidelined By COVID Cases

Royal Caribbean cruise ship in the water

Royal Caribbean's new megaship, Odyssey of the Seas, was supposed to hail the company's return to business as near-usual this summer. But the ship's launch is now delayed after eight crew members tested positive for the coronavirus. Its first scheduled trips are now canceled.Read More

Donald Trump Pressed Justice Department To Reverse The Election Results, Documents Show

By NPR News June 15, 2021

Former President Donald Trump addresses the North Carolina Republican Party's annual state convention on June 5. Melissa Sue Gerrits/Getty Images

A batch of emails released by the Democrats on the House Oversight Committee appears to paint a clearer picture of how former President Donald Trump and his allies attempted to pressure the U.S. Justice Department to investigate unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud in the 2020 election.Read More

U.S. Senate Unanimously Approves A Bill To Make Juneteenth A Public Holiday

By NPR News June 15, 2021

The Senate unanimously approved a bill Tuesday that would make Juneteenth, the date commemorating the end of chattel slavery in the United States, a legal public holiday.Read More

U.S. Hits 600,000 COVID Deaths, More Than Any Other Country

By NPR News June 15, 2021

Memorials hang from the front gate of Greenwood Cemetery during an event and procession organized by Naming the Lost Memorials to remember and celebrate the lives of those killed by the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

More than 15 months since the first confirmed death due to COVID-19 in the U.S., the coronavirus pandemic has claimed more than 600,000 lives across the country.Read More

The U.S. Bans Importing Dogs From 113 Countries After Rise In False Rabies Records

The infectious and contagious rabies virus, shown here in a colorized micrograph, can be transmitted to humans through the bite or saliva of an infected animal. Thanks to protective vaccination of pets, rabies was eliminated from the U.S. dog population in 2007, though a bite from infected bats, skunks and raccoons can still transmit the virus. CREDIT: Biophoto Associates/Science Source

The U.S. is banning the importation of dogs from more than 100 countries for at least a year because of a sharp increase in the number of puppies imported into the country with fraudulent rabies vaccination certificates.Read More

The Supreme Court Declines To Expand Sentencing Reforms For Crack Cocaine Cases

The U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that some crack cocaine offenders sentenced to harsh prison terms more than a decade ago cannot get their sentences reduced under a federal law adopted with the purpose of doing just that.Read More

Novavax Says Its COVID Vaccine Is Extremely Effective, But Has Yet To Be Approved In U.S.

A vial of the Phase 3 Novavax coronavirus vaccine is seen ready for use in the trial at St. George's University hospital in London Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020. Novavax Inc. said Thursday Jan. 28, 2021 that its COVID-19 vaccine appears 89% effective based on early findings from a British study and that it also seems to work — though not as well — against new mutated strains of the virus circulating in that country and South Africa. (AP Photo/Alastair Grant)

According to Novavax, the vaccine's manufacturer, it had a 100% efficacy against the original strain of the coronavirus and 93% efficacy against more worrisome variants that have subsequently appeared.Read More

‘In The Heights’ Star Anthony Ramos Says The Movie Sees ‘Good In Every Hood’

Usnavi (Anthony Ramos) runs a corner bodega and dreams of returning to the Dominican Republic in In the Heights. Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

The first time actor Antony Ramos saw In the Heights, Lin-Manuel Miranda's Broadway production about a Latinx community in New York City's Washington Heights neighborhood, he was floored.Read More

5 Ways For Seniors To Protect Themselves From Online Misinformation