The Salt
4:07 pm
Tue September 11, 2012

Yelp Reviewers Slice And Dice The Politics Of Pizza

Credit Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP
President Obama is lifted off the ground by Scott Van Duzer, owner of Big Apple Pizza and Pasta Italian Restaurant, during an unannounced stop Sunday in Fort Pierce, Fla.

Originally published on Wed September 19, 2012 1:07 pm

When Scott Van Duzer welcomed President Obama to his pizza shop Sunday with a massive bearhug, it was the beginning of the end of his anonymity.

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Alan Cheuse has been reviewing books on All Things Considered since the 1980s. His challenge is to make each two-minute review as fresh and interesting as possible while focusing on the essence of the book itself.

Formally trained as a literary scholar, Cheuse writes fiction and novels and publishes short stories. He is the author of five novels, two collections of short fiction, and the memoir Fall out of Heaven. His prize-winning novel To Catch the Lightning is an exploration of the intertwined plights of real-life frontier photographer Edward Curtis and the American Indian. His latest work of book-length fiction is the novel Song of Slaves in the Desert, which tells the story of a Jewish rice plantation-owning family in South Carolina and the Africans they enslave. With Caroline Marshall, he has edited two volumes of short stories.

With novelist Nicholas Delbanco, Cheuse wrote Literature: Craft & Voice, a major new introduction to literary study. Cheuse's short fiction has appeared in publications such as The New Yorker, The Antioch Review, Ploughshares, and The Southern Review. His most recent collection of his short fiction was published in September 1998, and his essay collection, Listening to the Page, appeared in 2001.

Cheuse teaches writing at George Mason University in Washington, DC, and spends his summers teaching writing at the Squaw Valley Community of Writers in Santa Cruz, Calif. Cheuse earned his Ph.D. in comparative literature with a focus on Latin American literature from Rutgers University.

The Two-Way
2:47 pm
Tue September 11, 2012

Chicago Mayor Emanuel Does Not Like Nickelback, Spokesperson Says

Credit Daniel Strauss / via Twitter
A sign seen during a protest by the Chicago Teachers Union.

Originally published on Tue September 11, 2012 2:53 pm

The strike going on in Chicago is serious: 350,000 students are locked out and we brought you the news in a post from this morning.

We'll get back to real news in a little. First, here's a bit of levity:

There is a picture from the picket lines on Monday that had Daniel Strauss, who tweeted it, saying, "Civility has disappeared in Chicago Teachers Union protests."

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Science
2:43 pm
Tue September 11, 2012

'Astonishing' Arctic Ice Melt Sets New Record

Credit Norman Kuring / NASA/GSFC/Suomi

Originally published on Tue September 11, 2012 6:57 pm

Arctic sea ice has melted dramatically this summer, smashing the previous record. The Arctic has warmed dramatically compared with the rest of the planet, and scientists say that's what's driving this loss of ice.

To be sure, ice on the Arctic Ocean always melts in the summer. Historically, about half of it is gone by mid-September. But this year, three-fourths of the ice has melted away, setting a dramatic new benchmark.

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Shots - Health Blog
2:42 pm
Tue September 11, 2012

Where Traffic Noise Takes A Toll On Health

Credit David Goldman / AP
How much does noisy traffic in Atlanta affect people's health?

Originally published on Thu September 13, 2012 8:29 am

Living next to a noisy highway can be annoying. The racket can also disrupt your sleep.

Too many bad nights' sleep can raise the risk of heart attack, high blood pressure and other ailments.

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Environment
2:36 pm
Tue September 11, 2012

Officials Combat Big Stink In Southern California

Originally published on Tue September 11, 2012 6:57 pm

Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

Here are some descriptions of a foul smell that has stunk its way across a huge stretch of Southern California.

PAT STEVENS: Rotting fish, sewage, you know.

JOYCE THATCHER: It smells exactly like somebody's septic system overflowed.

SEAN NEALON: Like an old banana under the seat for, like, a week, and it just turns all black and gooey and, like, something's rotting.

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From Our Listeners
2:36 pm
Tue September 11, 2012

Letters: A Daughter's Connection To 'American Pie'

Originally published on Tue September 11, 2012 6:57 pm

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH: Now a correction. Followed by your letters about we made you cry. Correction first. On Friday's program, in a story about Amazon's latest Kindle device, we said that Apple does not offer an iPad with a 4G wireless connection. In fact, some iPad models do include a 4G connection.

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

And now, on to those tears. They were shed over a connection of a different type.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AMERICAN PIE")

DON MCLEAN: I met who girl who sang the blues, and I asked her for some happy news.

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Education
2:36 pm
Tue September 11, 2012

Chicago Teacher Strike Puts Obama In Awkward Spot

Originally published on Tue September 11, 2012 6:57 pm

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Now, to the potential political implications of the strike and how it might shake up the presidential race. Here's NPR's Brian Naylor.

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Book Reviews
2:36 pm
Tue September 11, 2012

Book Review: 'God Carlos'

Originally published on Tue September 11, 2012 6:57 pm

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

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

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

And I'm Melissa Block. Now to the 16th Century and the Spanish port of Cadiz. It's the setting for "God Carlos," a new novel by Jamaican-born writer Anthony Winkler, who takes us on a voyage to the New World. Alan Cheuse has this review.

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NPR Cities: Urban Life In The 21st Century
2:36 pm
Tue September 11, 2012

Racial, Regional Divide Still Haunt Detroit's Progress

Originally published on Tue September 11, 2012 7:20 pm

For many years — perhaps even decades — Detroit has been the poster child for economic malaise. Adjusting for inflation, per capita income in metro Detroit dropped more than 20 percent between 1999 and 2010.

Some analysts say regional cooperation might have helped keep Detroit above water when the car industry sank, but that entrenched divisions that pit the city against its suburbs, and blacks against whites, have hindered that.

A Deeply Entrenched Regional Divide

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