Music Reviews
2:22 pm
Wed January 30, 2013

Paloma Faith's 'Fall To Grace' Is A Keeper

In culling through albums released late last year that I still play with pleasure, Paloma Faith's Fall to Grace was a real keeper. In contrast to my joy, Faith was singing about her agony: her broken heart, her wracked sobs about ruined affairs, her choked goodbyes to lovers who'd left her. She made all this sound tremendously intense and exciting. Not for nothing did she title her previous album Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?

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The Two-Way
2:06 pm
Wed January 30, 2013

South Africa's First Black Billionaire Pledges To Donate Half His Wealth

Credit Getty Images
Patrice Motsepe in 2010.

Originally published on Wed January 30, 2013 4:41 pm

If you were looking for good news, here's a bit of it from South Africa: Patrice Motsepe, the country's first black billionaire, announced today that he will donate half his fortune in order to help the poor.

Reuters reports:

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Shots - Health News
2:03 pm
Wed January 30, 2013

Bellevue Hospital's Slow Comeback After Superstorm Sandy

Originally published on Wed January 30, 2013 4:18 pm

When a ferry crashed in lower Manhattan earlier this month, ambulances took dozens of people to hospitals around the island.

Bellevue Hospital took in 31 passengers, but they all had minor injuries. The most seriously hurt patients from the crash went elsewhere. Dr. Suzi Vassallo said that's because Bellevue still can't handle serious traumatic injuries.

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The Two-Way
1:58 pm
Wed January 30, 2013

Israel Bombs Military Target Outside Damascus, Syria Says

Originally published on Wed January 30, 2013 5:38 pm

Israel's air force bombed a military facility in western Syria, the Syrian media said Wednesday, a development that could further complicate the already volatile conditions in the region.

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Books
1:51 pm
Wed January 30, 2013

Sotomayor's Memoir Already A Bestseller

Originally published on Thu January 31, 2013 1:27 pm

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's memoir is riding high, topping the New York Times best-seller list in its first week of sales.

My Beloved World, Sotomayor's account of her path from the tenements of the Bronx to the U.S. Supreme Court, is on track to outdistance even the best-selling books of other justices.

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Music Reviews
1:27 pm
Wed January 30, 2013

A 1969 Bootleg Unearths Miles Davis' 'Lost' Quintet

Credit Courtesy of the artist
Miles Davis' Live in Europe 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 2 is a compilation of previously unreleased material performed by a short-lived incarnation of his touring band.

Originally published on Wed January 30, 2013 4:18 pm

After a slew of multidisc sets devoted to key points in the career of Miles Davis, you'd think Columbia Records would have unearthed every speck of consequential music by now. But not quite.

This week, Columbia brings out Live in Europe 1969: The Bootleg Series Vol. 2 — a three-CD, one-DVD set devoted to the jazz maverick's "lost" quintet, his touring band from 1969.

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All Songs Considered
1:24 pm
Wed January 30, 2013

New Mix: A Secret Atoms For Peace Track, Roxy Music As '20s Jazz, More

Credit Courtesy of the artists
Clockwise from upper left: Bryan Ferry, Night Beds, Thom Yorke of Atoms For Peace, Ex-Cops, Unknown Mortal Orchestra

Originally published on Fri February 1, 2013 8:50 am

On this week's episode, hosts Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton are back with their latest mix, including a hard-to-find track from Thom Yorke's latest project, Atoms For Peace. The song "What The Eyeballs Did," doesn't appear on the band's upcoming album, Amok. But if you do some digging on the group's website, you'll find a hidden link to download it.

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The Two-Way
12:54 pm
Wed January 30, 2013

Report From Homeland Security Details 'Commonalities' In Mass Shootings

Credit Kevork Djansezian / Getty Images
Mourners create a memorial at the fountain of the Aurora Municipal Center after a prayer vigil Sunday for the 12 victims of Friday's mass shooting at the Century 16 movie theater.

Back in November, one of the Homeland Security's intelligence analysis centers in New Jersey was tasked with finding "commonalities" of mass shootings in the United States.

Today, the website Public Intelligence received an unclassified version of that report through a Freedom of Information Act request. The New Jersey "Fusion Center" looked at 29 mass shootings in the United States since 1999.

The findings:

-- Nearly half of the shootings happened at a workplace.

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Around the Nation
12:41 pm
Wed January 30, 2013

Boy Scouts' Repeal Of Gay Ban Mirrors Its Approach To Racial Integration

Originally published on Wed January 30, 2013 5:10 pm

As Boy Scouts of America mull over whether to allow gay members to openly join, their approach might mirror the leave-it-to-the-locals tack the organization once took in deciding how to tackle the issue of desegregating its Scout troops.

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World
12:41 pm
Wed January 30, 2013

Israeli Election Rekindles Debate Over Military Service

Credit Baz Ratner / Reuters /Landov
Ultra-Orthodox Jews are not required to perform military service in Israel, and the issue is subject to intense debate following the country's election last week. Here, ultra-Orthodox men sign up for alternate civilian service earlier this month.

Originally published on Sun February 3, 2013 10:51 am

The rise of a new Israeli political party after last week's elections has set the stage for renewed conflict over the country's military draft.

That new party, Yesh Atid, or "There is a Future," campaigned on a promise to draft thousands of ultra-Orthodox students who are currently exempt from military service.

And with the number of ultra-Orthodox students in Israel on the rise given the community's high birth rates, this longstanding debate has become a critical post-election issue.

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