Search results for

Quinn Klinefelter of member station WDET reports that promoters of the Detroit Grand Prix are hoping to move the car race from its current home on Bell Isle to a proposed site at the state fairgrounds. Michigan's Governor John Engler supports the idea, but Detroit Mayor Dennis Archer is opposed. Archer says although he supports a new site, the proposed fairground location, would cause too many problems for the surrounding residents.

NPR's Renee Montagne profiles writer Thomas Lynch. He's an award winning essayist and poet ...and he leads a double life. Lynch also is the proprietor of Lynch and Sons funeral home in Milford, Michigan. (8:40) The name of the book mentioned Bodies in Motion and at Rest: On Metaphor and Mortality by Thomas Lynch is published by W.W. Norton & Company; ISBN: 03930

NPR's Claudio Sanchez has this week's final Changing Face of America story on how technology is changing education. For six months out of every year, children of migrant workers travel the country with their families harvesting crops. This lifestyle makes it difficult for most of them to stay in school, but a handful of migrant kids have been given laptops to keep up with their classes...even when they're working thousands of miles away from home.

NPR's Neal Conan has the season-ender in his Play-by-Play series: reflections on what's it's like to broadcast baseball games. Neal talks about how hard it is to muster enthusiasm for a losing team. The Aberdeen Arsenal concludes its first minor league season at home, Thomas Run Park in Bel Air, Maryland over the next four days.

Veta Christy of Peach State Public Radio reports from Atlanta on a new paging system that's being installed on school buses and alerts school children in the morning, when their bus is within a few minutes of picking them up. It's called the Bus Pal, and sends a signal from the bus to a pager in the home, alerting them that the bus is approaching. It also alerts parents or caregivers, when students are about to be dropped off after school.

NPR News' Michael Sullivan reports a year after the violence and destruction that followed East Timor's vote for independence, tens of thousands of refugees have not returned home. They remain in refugee camps in West Timor, where aid officials and some refugees say they are being threatened and intimidated by pro-Indonesian militias. There is some evidence that the militias are staging raids across the border into East Timor. U.N. officials say the situation is not likely to improve until the Indonesian government gets the militias out of the camps.

Janet Heimlich reports that Austin, Texas utility officials are trying out a new program that allows their customers to buy power generated from renewable energy sources such as solar, or wind power. It means slightly higher power bills for customers who choose the program. But the city has long been home to a strong environmental community that supports such initiatives. Also, the rising price of fossil fuels -- oil and natural gas -- has closed the price gap, making the program more attractive to residents.

Companies like Affirm and Klarna allow shoppers to take their purchases home immediately and pay them off over time.

Beyond the glamour of Hollywood and the romance of the Golden Gate Bridge, there is another California -- and it's home to the greatest garden in the world. The 400-mile-long Central Valley supplies fully one-quarter of the food America eats. Now the region faces huge changes. NPR's John McChesney and Richard Gonzales begin a four-part series focusing on the future of California's Central Valley.

When Congress went home in October, the Senate was still stuck on its version of a bill to create a new Department of Homeland Security. But President Bush campaigned hard on the issue, which may have helped elect a new Republican majority in the Senate. That gave new momentum to negotiators who have been trying to fashion a compromise version of labor-management rules that both parties could accept. NPR's Pam Fessler reports.