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All Things Considered

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Robert Siegel and Melissa Block
Jill Roberts and Janie Gould

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6:00 pm: Excursions in Geography with Jim Lett

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It's All Politics

5:59 pm

Wed August 15, 2012

Could Ryan Lure Younger Voters To GOP?

Credit Saul Loeb / AFP/Getty Images

Rep. Paul Ryan greets supporters during a campaign rally Sunday in Waukesha, Wis.

By editor

Originally published on Thu August 16, 2012 9:08 am

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Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the newly chosen vice presidential running mate for Republican Mitt Romney, was in Ohio on Wednesday to speak at his alma mater.

Ryan graduated from Miami University of Ohio in 1992 with degrees in economics and political science. And his ascension to the GOP ticket thrills Rob Harrelson, a member of the school's College Republicans (as was Ryan, two decades earlier).

American Dreams: Then And Now

5:42 pm

Wed August 15, 2012

A Baseball School For Big League Dreamers

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Credit Chip Litherland for NPR

Ketchum Marsh, a senior from Massachusetts, walks back to the dugout during an intrasquad game at IMG Baseball Academy, where he trains and goes to school.

Credit Chip Litherland for NPR

Marsh will play baseball at Hendrix College in Conway, Ark., next year.

Credit Chip Litherland for NPR

Just 1,200 players are drafted each year — and major league rosters have only 750 active slots.

Credit Chip Litherland for NPR

Ketchum Marsh, a high school senior from Massachusetts, walks back to the dugout during a May 21 intrasquad game at IMG Baseball Academy in Bradenton, Fla., where he trains and goes to school.

Credit Chip Litherland for NPR

World Geography teacher Christoph LeClainche with some of the student-athletes at IMG Academy. IMG students spend half the day in class and half playing baseball.

Credit Chip Litherland for NPR

Marsh started attending IMG in eighth grade. Tuition, room and board for the academic and sports program runs about $70,000 a year.

Credit Chip Litherland for NPR

IMG says it's had 17 players drafted since 2006.

Credit Chip Litherland for NPR

IMG Academy pitching coach Dave Shepard gives pointers to pitcher Cameron Varga.

Credit Chip Litherland for NPR

Marsh warms up during an intrasquad game. His coaches say he has surpassed other players who may have had more athletic ability but lacked his work ethic.

Credit Chip Litherland for NPR

IMG Baseball Academy Director Ken Bolek is a former major and minor league coach.

By Robert Benincasa

Originally published on Wed August 15, 2012 9:11 pm

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If you have ever dreamed of playing big-league baseball, chances are the dream started to fade sometime in high school.

It gradually becomes clear: You won't be starting in Game 7 of the World Series, and tipping your cap after hitting a walk-off homer. So at some point you go from player to fan — watching others chase greatness on the diamond.

But not every baseball dreamer is willing to give up so early. And in Bradenton, Fla., there's a place that lies somewhere between the Little League field and Yankee Stadium.

Shots - Health Blog

5:25 pm

Wed August 15, 2012

Bill Gates Crowns Toilet Innovators At Foundation's Sanitation Fair

Credit Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Bill Gates, co-founder of the the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, checks out a toilet demo at the Reinvent the Toilet Fair in Seattle, Wash. The festival featured prototypes of high-tech toilets developed by researchers around the world.

By editor

Originally published on Wed August 15, 2012 6:23 pm

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This week, Bill Gates was at a summer fair in Washington State, but he was not eating deep-fried butter on-a-stick, or checking out livestock.

Gates was inspecting cutting-edge toilet technology on display at an event his foundation hosted in Seattle — the Reinvent the Toilet Fair.

World

4:35 pm

Wed August 15, 2012

India's Planned Mars Mission Irks Critics

By Julie McCarthy

Originally published on Wed August 15, 2012 6:23 pm

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India turned 65 on Wednesday, and amid the great pomp and ceremony of National Day celebrations, the prime minister announced plans for a mission to Mars. India plans to send a research satellite to the Red Planet in November next year — at a cost of $82 million. Critics say the money would be better spent on the nation's creaky infrastructure, and connecting the 400 million Indians who are not on the national electricity grid.

Sports

4:34 pm

Wed August 15, 2012

Megan Rapinoe On Winning Gold, Soccer's Future

By editor

Originally published on Wed August 15, 2012 6:23 pm

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Melissa Block talks to U.S. women's soccer player Megan Rapinoe about winning a gold medal in London, the future of the profession, and coming out before the start of the Olympics.

Politics

4:17 pm

Wed August 15, 2012

Judge Won't Block Pa. Voter ID Law

By Pam Fessler

Originally published on Wed August 15, 2012 6:23 pm

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Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Audie Cornish.

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

And I'm Melissa Block. This presidential campaign season features not only battles between candidates, but fights over how the voting process should work. Today in Pennsylvania, a judge refused to block the state's new voter ID law from going into effect before the election. The law requires voters to show identification at the polls.

As we hear from NPR's Pam Fessler, opponents of the law say they will appeal.

Around the Nation

4:17 pm

Wed August 15, 2012

Controversy At The National Scrabble Tournament

By editor

Originally published on Wed August 15, 2012 6:23 pm

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A player at the national Scrabble tournament was kicked out of the competition after he was caught cheating. For more, Audie Cornish speaks to sportswriter and Scrabble aficionado Stefan Fatsis.

The Salt

3:34 pm

Wed August 15, 2012

Saving Lives In Africa With The Humble Sweet Potato

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Credit Dan Charles / NPR

Sweet potato evangelist Maria Isabel Andrade from the International Potato Center drives around Mozambique in her orange Toyota Land Cruiser.

Credit Dan Charles / NPR

These two varieties of orange sweet potatoes are being promoted in Mozambique for their tolerance to drought.

Credit Dan Charles / NPR

Arcanjo Alfabeto Cosim works on a farm that grows orange sweet potatoes and distributes vines to other farmers to plant.

By Daniel Charles

Originally published on Mon October 22, 2012 11:26 am

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A regular old orange-colored sweet potato might not seem too exciting to many of us.

Middle East

3:11 pm

Wed August 15, 2012

From All Sides, Iran Under Siege

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Credit Vahid Salemi / AP

Iranians walk through the main bazaar in Tehran in January. Sanctions by the EU and U.S., plus political woes related to the Syrian uprising, have created the most serious crisis faced by Tehran since the 1980s.

Credit UPI /Landov

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (left) greets Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem in the presidential palace in Tehran on July 29, in this official handout photo. The war in Syria threatens Iran's only ally in the Arab world.

By Mike Shuster

Originally published on Thu August 16, 2012 6:19 pm

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Iran appears to be facing a crisis more serious than anything it has experienced since its war with Iraq in the 1980s.

Diplomatically, President Bashar Assad's regime is under threat from the widening war in Syria, Iran's sole ally in the Arab world. Domestically, the European oil embargo and U.S. banking sanctions are undermining the Iranian economy, bringing inflation, food shortages and unemployment.

Iran is trying to maintain a defiant posture, without much success.

Europe

1:50 pm

Wed August 15, 2012

On Denmark's Summer Nights, Tivoli Gardens Beckon

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Credit Courtesy of Tivoli

Tivoli Gardens is part Disney, part state fair. Walt Disney was a visitor and give it rave reviews. Many Danes first come as children and return as adults.

Credit Courtesy of Tivoli

Tivoli Gardens, one of the world's oldest amusement parks, has been a landmark in Copenhagen, Denmark, since the middle of the 19th century. It remains hugely popular, particularly on summer nights.

By Eleanor Beardsley

Originally published on Fri August 17, 2012 4:17 pm

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Maybe it's because there are so few of them, but there is something special about a Scandinavian summer night. And there is no better place to spend one than at Copenhagen's Tivoli Gardens amusement park.

Long before there was Disney, there was Tivoli, the second-oldest amusement park in the world. (The oldest, Dyrehavsbakken, or Deer Park Hill, is also in Denmark.) For nearly 170 years, people have been enjoying the magic of a summer night here.

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