Search results for

NPR's David Baron reports that a new study suggests the time, effort, and money put into rescuing oil-soaked seabirds after oil spills is often for naught. An analysis of North American oil spills over the past three decades finds most rehabilitated birds die within two weeks after release to the wild. Wildlife rehabilitators say the study doesn't take into account recent improvements in treatment.

Margot Adler reports that although most of the mainstream media has been debunking the story, a controversial account of the introduction of crack into the streets of Los Angeles... and its connection to the CIA and the war in Nicaragua... has been fueling black talk-radio shows for the past two months. Discussion is particularly strong on this topic on the Internet. It has led to demonstrations, a hunger strike, and even a Senate hearing.

Two of the five major record labels say they will change the accounting methods they use to calculate artist royalty payments. Label executives hope the reforms will convince more artists to join the battle against free music on the Internet. NPR's Rick Karr reports.

Host Bob Edwards speaks with Ted Benna, who created the 401(K) savings plan 20 years ago. Benna says the Internet makes it much easier for people to track their retirement savings accounts. But he advises people to ignore investment fads and day-to-day ups and downs in the market and to concentrate instead on long-term growth.

The Pandora Papers' nearly 12 million documents reveal how the supremely wealthy conceal their wealth in offshore accounts.

A federal judge approves a partial settlement between WorldCom and the SEC in which the company accepts allegations of fraud and agrees to close monitoring of its corporate governance and its accounting controls. The judge defers a decision on penalties. NPR's Jim Zarroli reports.

President Bush says he will continue to press for changes to Social Security, despite signs that many Americans are opposed to it. At a White House news conference, Bush says he is committed to private accounts but admits they will not fix the financial problems that loom ahead for Social Security.

Last week, a judge in Michigan ordered Yahoo to give a deceased Marine's family full access to his e-mail account. Liane Hansen speaks with Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Information Center about what the Michigan case means for the privacy of personal communications.

According to the Pentagon, improvised explosive devices account for half of all combat deaths in Iraq. The Pentagon says by summer, all U.S. military vehicles in Iraq will have factory-produced armor. The military also is turning to high-tech solutions, including drones that can detect items buried in the ground.

The intricacies of accounting fraud can be confusing, if not dull. But not always. New York Times writer Kurt Eichenwald's new book on corporate deceit and betrayal in the Enron scandal, Conspiracy of Fools, is full of riveting detail. He tells Jennifer Ludden about the reporting process.

NPR's Robert Siegel talks with Judith Yaphe, senior research fellow at National Defense University about the demographic make-up of Iraq, and how that will affect Iraq's future. She says Sunni Arabs account for only about 17 percent of the population. Shia Arabs 60 percent; Kurds -- mostly Sunni -- about 20 percent; and Turkmen only about three percent, though they claim much higher numbers.

What accounts for the for the recent surge in white enrollment at historically black colleges and universities? We look at one institution that is now mostly white, and discuss the diversity issue with Dwayne Ashley, president and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund, and with Joahanne Thomas-Smith, provost and senior vice president for academic and student affairs at Prairie View A&M.