Search results for

U.S.-Iran relations are expected to get even tougher when a new Iranian president takes office Thursday. He's a former prosecutor expected to take a hard line inside and outside the country.

Democrat Ron Wyden wins the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Bob Packwood -- before interest groups were taking credit. Environmentalists, pro-choicers, unions, and the Democratic Party all say they made the difference in the reed-slim victory margin. NPR's Wendy Kaufman finds local pols saying negative campaigning, the weather, and the first-ever mail-in balloting had more to do with the result.

Linda talks with NPR's senior political correspondent Elizabeth Arnold, who is traveling in Iowa, about how publisher Steven Forbes is being received in the state. Forbes, who's campaign for the Republican presidential nomination has been waged mostly over the airwaves, has spent the past two days touring the state by bus and meeting potential primary voters. While he's been trying to sell his flat tax plan, he's increasingly questioned about his views on a broad range of other issues, like abortion.

SCOTT SPEAKS WITH GARDENING CONSULTANT KETZEL LEVINE ABOUT THIS WEEKEND'S GARDEN SHOW IN SEATTLE. THEY ALSO TALK WITH AN EXHIBITOR ON THE FLOOR OF THE SHOW.

Madeleine Brand of member station WBGO reports that there hasn't been a hike in the values of properties in Newark, New Jersey, for nearly four decades. But that may soon change, leading to an enormous exodus from the state's largest and perhaps most embattled city.

NPR'S TED CLARK REPORTS ON THE RISING TENSIONS BETWEEN TURKEY AND SYRIA.

In order to promote "traditional" family values, the Virginia Housing Authority, has decided to stop making housing loans to gays and unmarried single people. NPR's Adam Hochberg reports that the agency, which loans money to low and moderate-income first-time home buyers, has taken the step at the urging of Republican Gov. George Allen. Federal officials are examining policy changes for possible civil rights violations.

DAN SCHORR DISCUSSES THE PRESIDENT'S STATE OF THE UNION SPEECH THIS WEEK WITH SUSAN YOACHUM, POLITICAL EDITOR OF THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE NEWSPAPER, AND MERLE BLACK, PROFESSOR OF POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT AT EMORY UNIVERSITY IN ATLANTA.

SIMON/LETTERS: SCOTT READS SOME LISTENER COMMENTS.