Search results for

Ellen Ciurczak of member station KQED reports that the California state senate has passed an emergency measure that would reduce the cost of electricity. The state assembly won't consider the bill until after next week's Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles. Under deregulation, electric bills for some Californians have doubled and even tripled this summer.

NPR's Jim Zarroli examines the role the oil industry may play in this year's presidential election. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney have spent considerable time working for big oil, and opponents are concerned that a Republican victory would mean petroleum companies could have an inside track to more favorable policies in Washington.

Tripp Sommer of member station K-L-C-C reports on the conditions that are sustaining the wildfires in the Western states. As the fires continue to burn out of control thousands of people are forced to evacuate their homes. Some of the fires are slowing their advance because of cooler temperatures.

NPR's Melissa Block reports on one of Al Gore's closest advisors in his presidential campaign: his daughter, Karenna Gore-Schiff.

NPR's Tom Goldman reports on the growing pressure on professional sports teams -- like the NFL's Washington Redskins -- to change their logos and mascots, which critics say disparage certain ethnicites.

NPR's Barbara Bradley reports that the Immigration and Naturalization Service is preparing guidelines that tell district offices they can show more discretion in enforcing the 1996 immigration reform law. Deportations and incarcerations based on the tough law drew criticism. The INS said Congress left it no room for discretion. Some members of Congress insisted that the agency was allowed to use more judgment. As the INS moves to ease its guidelines, some members of Congress are developing legislation to adjust the law.

Noah talks to Kelly Joe Phelps. Phelps switched from jazz guitar to playing country blues and found even more space there for improvisation. His instrument is the lap slide guitar.

A Florida jury today ordered Walt Disney to pay $240 million in damages to two businessmen who alleged the company stole their idea for a sports complex. Disney denied using anyone else's idea for the Wide World of Sports complex at Walt Disney World in Orlando. But the six-member jury found the company guilty of fraud, theft of trade secrets and breaking a confidential relationship. NPR's Phillip Davis reports.

NPR's Larry Abramson reports on the struggle between new high-tech businesses and unions over whether employees are allowed to organize. Union membership has been dropping in recent decades, while high-tech jobs are growing, so the industry is key to the future of labor relations.

NPR's Michele Kelemen reports that the tragedies of the gulag archipelago still haunt the Siberian mining city of Norilsk. Stalin deported prisoners to this frozen region in Russia's far north to mine some of the world's richest deposits of nickel, palladium and platinum. Today, construction crews plough up miners' bones from mass graves in the industrial wasteland.