NPR News

Sen. Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat who lent his name to bipartisan legislation that would have extended background checks for gun purchasers to gun shows and online sales, isn't letting go. At least not yet. Others in the Senate, however, seem ready to move on.

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This week's explosion at the West Fertilizer Co. plant in Texas reminds us of the "cursed" side of the nitrogen that powers most of agriculture around the world. Through habit or necessity, we've come to depend on it. But there are costs.

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More insulation between battery cells and a new steel box to contain a potential fire are Boeing's solution for battery woes that grounded the "Dreamliner."

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While there is still conflicting reports about how easily the new strain can be transmitted between humans, the CDC says early intervention is key.

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France said discreet talks to free the family had been ongoing but that no ransom was paid.

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The Mississippi's stakeholders met recently to discuss the river's pressing needs, any common ground and how to speak with one voice in advocating for the nation's largest river system. Currently, the river has what one stakeholder calls "800 parents" — and that leaves the river an orphan.

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Images collected from social media show veritable ghost towns Friday after local residents were ordered to "shelter in place" during a manhunt for a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings.

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Area residents found themselves stuck inside of a crime scene Thursday night and Friday morning. Pictures taken behind window screens and on top of roofs gave the world a look at what people were seeing.

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With a manhunt underway for a suspect in Monday's bombings, the area in and around Boston has been virtually shut down. Transit isn't running, and most businesses and schools are closed. Most people are safe at home, but many are unnerved.

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The two suspects in Monday's deadly Boston Marathon explosions and the Thursday night murder of a police officer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are brothers from a former Soviet republic who were in the United States legally for years and lived together in a Cambridge, Mass., apartment.

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Author Dennis Lehane talks with Fresh Air's Terry Gross about his New York Times op-ed, "Messing with the Wrong City," which expressed his love for his hometown.

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Charles Sennott, vice president, executive editor and co-founder of GlobalPost, talks with Fresh Air's Terry Gross about the ongoing manhunt in Boston. Seth Mnookin, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, describes live-tweeting the events at MIT.

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Tylenol may relieve more than physical pain; it may dull existential aches, too. Researchers say their work is consistent with a growing body of research that suggests the brain processes physical and emotional pain in similar ways.

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Fast breaking developments in the marathon bombing manhunt put the city of Boston on lockdown. Host Michel Martin checks in with Boston resident Neil Minkoff, and gets perspective on keeping a major city safe during a manhunt from former London police official, Brian Paddick.

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The new Senate proposal to overhaul immigration policy is more than 800 pages long. Host Michel Martin gets a crash course on some of the details and what they mean for immigrants and the rest of the country. She's joined by immigration lawyer Sonia Ansari and Matt Barreto from the polling group, Latino Decisions.

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Listeners sound off on the program's hottest conversations as editor Ammad Omar joins host Michel Martin for Back Talk. This week listeners respond to a study that says the U.S. tortured detainees after 9/11.

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The frozen food industry wants you to know that even though its food isn't "fresh," it's still good. And they're paying big bucks to convince you.

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The frozen food industry wants you to know that even though their food isn't fresh, it's still good. And they're paying big bucks to convince you.

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While the manhunt for a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings continued Thursday night into Friday morning, residents of Watertown and surrounding communities were hiding in bedrooms, looking out from roofs and peering from behind locked doors. Many did not sleep as helicopters swirled overhead.

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Not 24 hours after the FBI released images of two suspects in Monday's blasts, one of the suspects is dead and the other is still at large.

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