Search results for

For the past 20 years, president and director Gary Graffman has nurtured top talent at Philadelphia's Curtis Institute of Music. Now 77, he's stepping down from his adminstrative posts and focusing once again on teaching piano.

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki calls for an Iraqi committee to meet with the U.S. military to establish ground rules for raids on Iraqi homes. He said Iraq "totally rejects" conduct such as the reported killing of 24 Iraqi civilians by U.S. Marines last fall in Haditha.

For its latest album, the New Orleans funk band laced a new element on top of its groove-based jams: hip-hop MCs. On tour, Galactic visited Mountain Stage with one of its guest stars, Boston rapper Mr. Lif.

In his first one-on-one interview with the media since the start of the war in Iraq, Sec. of State Colin Powell talks about expanding the "coalition of the willing" -- and says he has no intentions of stepping down as the nation's top diplomat.

The Pfizer drug company agrees to pay a $430 million fine and plead guilty to illegal marketing practices, U.S. prosecutors say. The unprecedented fine comes after the company admitted that its Warner-Lambert unit promoted Neurontin, an epilepsy drug, for several unapproved uses. The drug remains a top seller for Pfizer, with 2003 sales of $2.7 billion. NPR's Snigdha Prakash reports.

Thomas Edison's music room went unused since the days when he was using it to record the famous at the turn of the century. Lately, some top names have been back there in West Orange, New Jersey, making modern-day wax cylinders, which use no microphone, no electricity.

James Nicholson, the top official at the Department of Veterans Affairs, says he will leave his post by Oct. 1. Under Nicholson, the agency was criticized for being unprepared to care for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

NPR's Melissa Block is in Tallahassee, where the Bush campaign won a potentially significant legal victory early today. A circuit judge reaffirmed the decision of Katherine Harris, Florida's Secretary of State and a Republican, which said Harris could certify the state's vote count tomorrow without having to include the results of hand recounts that are going on in several counties. Then late in the day the Florida Supreme Court delayed any certiification of the election by the Florida Secretary of State. The manual recounts have been going on in predominantly Democratic counties, and the Gore camp hoped that numbers coming out of those counties would put the Vice President over the top in the key battle for Florida's 25 electoral votes. Democrats said they will appeal the ruling in state Supreme Court.

John Kerry's smile and the Bush-Cheney campaign's fearful rhetoric are among the latest targets for two of America's top political cartoonists. Mike Peters and Mike Luckovich talk with NPR's Renee Montagne about the 2004 presidential campaign.

Melissa Block and food writer Mark Bittman visit a farmer's market, and return with ingredients for a springtime meal that features an unusual use for beets.