Search results for

NPR's Scott Horsley reports on a commercial database that keeps track of millions of Americans who have bounced checks. More than 85-thousand bank branches subscribe to the database, called Chexsystem, and use it to screen potential customers. But critics say a single bad check can place someone's name on the database, and once listed, it's unlikely they'll be able to open an account for up to five years.

NPR's Tovia Smith reports on the unique challenges that Joseph Lieberman's strict religious beliefs may present as his campaign for Vice-President kicks into gear.

Los Angeles Times film critic Kenneth Turan reviews the new documentary, The Eyes of Tammy Faye. Televangelist Tammy Faye Baker is the subject of the film.

Ten years ago this month Iraqi forces invaded Kuwait, leading ultimately to the Persian Gulf War. Jacki speaks to Middle East scholar Shibley Telhami about the legacy of the invasion, and the impact sanctions and a strengthened Saddam Hussein have on the people of Iraq.

Linda talks with Bill Kristol, editor at the Weekly Standard, about what Joseph Lieberman brings to the Democratic ticket in terms of "family values."

NPR's Martin Kaste reports that in addition to all of the usual problems associated with illegal drug production, the drug trade in Colombia is causing environmental problems. Chemicals such as ammonia and sulfuric acid, used in the production of cocaine, end up in rivers that flow through sensitive ecosystems such as the country's rain forest. Colombian officials have used the environmental argument to obtain a billion dollars of U-S aid money to fight the cocaine industry. They say their efforts to eradicate illegal drug production will save vast areas of rain forest.

NPR's Linda Gradstein reports from Jerusalem on the uproar caused by an orthodox rabbi's derogatory remarks about Arabs, and about Jews who died in the Holocaust. Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the leader of Israel's ultra-orthodox Shas party , has been busily trying to backtrack on his charges over the weekend that Arabs were unfit to live with or near and that the Jews who died in the holocaust were "reincarnated sinners," or Jews whose secular ways had offended God. In one single sermon he offended both Israelis and Arabs. Yosef's part was until recently a part of the governing coalition.

In the first of a three-part series on the Mafia, NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports that a courageous new generation of magistrates and politicians has dealt serious blows to the Sicilian mob, also known as the Cosa Nostra. But anti-Mafia crusaders worry that the Cosa Nostra is quietly re-emerging under new guises.

Denis Johnson is a writer best known for his quirky stories about the drug life in the collection titled, Jesus' Son, which opened as a movie this summer. Now he's published a new novel called, The Name of the World. Alan Cheuse reviews it. (1:45) Please Note: Jesus' Son, and The Name of the World, both by Denis Johnson, are published by Harper Collins.

NPR's Tovia Smith profiles the man Al Gore has asked to join him on the Democratic ticket. Joseph Lieberman began life as the son of a liquor store owner who never went to college. But he studied hard, got a scholarship to Yale and then attended law school there. After that it was the state legislature, the state attorney general's office and an upset win over a senior Republican senator in 1988. Now, thanks to his reputation for religious commitment and moral fiber, Lieberman suddenly finds himself on the national stage.