Weekend Edition Sunday

Planet Money's Zoe Chace reports that the immigration overhaul bill proposes doubling the number of skilled-worker visas available to companies that want to hire foreign workers. But the application process is a challenge in itself. (This piece initially aired May 2, 2013, on Morning Edition.)

Brooklyn-based keyboardist and vocalist Xenia Rubinos likes to play with syncopation. Her debut album, Magic Trix, is based around rhythms that sometimes are identifiable as Caribbean, and at other times veer into the experimental.

"It's something I have a lot of fun with — just taking one rhythmic figure and turning it around as many ways as I can," Rubinos says. "That's a huge part of my compositional process, just messing around with something very simple and seeing how far I can take it."

Transcript

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Transcript

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.

There's been a lot of talk about a red line this past week and whether the regime of Bashar al-Assad in Syria has crossed it. After U.S. intelligence reports came out saying with varying degrees of confidence that Syrian forces have used chemical weapons on rebels and civilians, President Obama said he is still weighing America's response.

Transcript

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Transcript

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Six months after Hurricane Sandy, nearly 1,000 New Yorkers are still living in temporary housing, hotel rooms paid for by the city.

DAPHNE MURPHY: My name is Daphne Murphy and I'm from Rockaway Park, Queens.

MARTIN: Daphne and her long-term boyfriend were living in a Rockaway Park bungalow when the storm hit.

Transcript

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Here in the U.S., the largest Korean population is in California. It's actually the largest concentration outside of northeast Asia. People in that community have been especially alarmed by North Korea's recent threats. But as Doualy Xaykaothao reports from Los Angeles, many Koreans living there think the North's provocations are mostly bluster.

(SOUNDBITE OF CHATTER)

Transcript

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

We wanted to hear what younger people are thinking about when it comes to retirement and the viability of Social Security. Here's reaction from 20- and 30-somethings in Nashville, Tennessee.

ROD KELLY: I don't expect it to be there and I'm not planning on it to be there. I'm doing what I can right now to put into, like, IRA, you know, or Roth funds to make sure that I don't have to depend on it.

Transcript

(SOUNDBITE OF SPORTS THEM MUSIC)

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The 78th Annual National Football League players' selection meeting, what you probably think of as the NFL draft, well, it wrapped up yesterday. And NPR's Mike Pesca, who is our top pick, was monitoring as it played out over the last three days.

Hey, Mike.

MIKE PESCA, BYLINE: Ah, thank you.

MARTIN: You're welcome.

PESCA: Its swell to be a top pick

MARTIN: It was close.

PESCA: I'm putting on the WESUN hat right now.