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Former National Enquirer publisher David Pecker speaks from the witness stand during Trump's criminal trial on charges that he falsified business records to conceal money paid to silence adult film star Stormy Daniels in 2016, in Manhattan state court in New York City, on Monday, in this courtroom sketch. Jane Rosenberg hide caption

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Jane Rosenberg

On the stand, an ex-National Enquirer publisher says he pledged to be Trump's 'eyes and ears'

David Pecker has previously cooperated with federal investigations into payments made to two women who were going to allege they had affairs with Trump ahead of the 2016 presidential election.

Last month the Calvert County, Md., state's attorney's office filed misdemeanor hate crimes charges against three 13-year-olds, alleging they targeted a fellow Plum Point Middle School (shown here) classmate, who is Jewish. Google Maps/Screenshot by NPR hide caption

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Google Maps/Screenshot by NPR

3 Maryland juveniles are charged with hate crimes. How did it get to that point?

The arrests of the three middle schoolers came last month. Experts say young kids are increasingly exposed to hate ideologies, leaving communities to figure out how to respond.

U.S. Olympic Gymnasts Aly Raisman, Simone Biles, McKayla Maroney and NCAA and world champion gymnast Maggie Nichols testified on Capitol Hill in 2021 about the Inspector General's report on the FBI handling of the Larry Nassar investigation of sexual abuse of Olympic gymnasts. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images hide caption

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Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Justice Department pays $138 million over FBI failures in the Larry Nassar abuse case

The DOJ settlement goes to 139 victims of Larry Nassar, the disgraced team doctor of USA Gymnastics who sexually assaulted elite and Olympic gymnasts, after the FBI failed to promptly investigate

British explorer George Mallory and fellow climber Edward Felix Norton scale the north-east ridge of Mount Everest in 1922, left, while Mallory is seen in an undated file photo, right. Captain Noel/Hulton Archive/Getty Images; AFP/Getty Images hide caption

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Captain Noel/Hulton Archive/Getty Images; AFP/Getty Images

Read the last letters of George Mallory, who died climbing Mount Everest in 1924

The British explorer died in 1924 during his third trip to Everest, the world's highest point. In one letter to his wife Ruth, he described the expedition's chance of success as "50 to 1 against us."

The Tennessee House passed a bill allowing the arming of teachers, after several walk-outs and teach-ins hosted by students against the measure. Alexis Marshall/WPLN News hide caption

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Alexis Marshall/WPLN News

Education

Tennessee legislature passes bill allowing teachers to carry guns in schools

WPLN News

Tennessee teachers may soon be able to carry guns in schools under a bill that passed out of the state legislature. It comes a little more than a year after a deadly school shooting in Nashville.

"Music has given me my whole life," St. Vincent says. "It was hard work, but it's worth it because every night you get to spend 90 minutes with people and go someplace completely out of this world." Alex Da Corte/Nasty Little Man hide caption

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Alex Da Corte/Nasty Little Man

St. Vincent offers tension, release and sonic 'jump scares'

Fresh Air

"I'm not playing with persona," St. Vincent says of All Born Screaming. "It's a really a record about life and death and love. That's it. That's all we got."

Writer T.S. Eliot takes a reflective puff at a cigarette before starting work. Keystone Features/Getty Images hide caption

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Keystone Features/Getty Images

Cruel songs for the cruelest month

Is April, as T.S. Eliot put it, the cruelest month? We reflect on the question with a mix that's both cringe-inducing and hilarious, from the cruelest takedowns to the most insidious earworms.

Cruel songs for the cruelest month

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New Hampshire Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut, center, and Terese Bastarache, right, at the Governor and Executive Council meeting on March 27, 2024. Bastarache, who is running for a seat on the council, founded the activist group We The People NH and says she communicates with the commissioner regularly. Todd Bookman/NHPR hide caption

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Todd Bookman/NHPR

From NHPR and APM Reports

How New Hampshire's top education official used his office in the culture wars

Frank Edelblut pledged to stay "nonpartisan." But as head of New Hampshire's education department, he's used his platform to pursue conservative grievances against the education system and individual educators.

After decades creating and publishing recipes, cookbook author Joan Nathan has released what she said is likely her final book, a cookbook and memoir called "My Life in Recipes." Michael Zamora/NPR hide caption

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Michael Zamora/NPR

After years of documenting Jewish food traditions, Joan Nathan focuses on her family's

Joan Nathan has spent her life exploring in the kitchen, but for the Passover Seder, she sticks with a menu that follows her own family's traditions.

After years of documenting Jewish food traditions, Joan Nathan focuses on her family's

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A uranium ore pile is the first to be mined at the Energy Fuels Inc. uranium Pinyon Plain Mine Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024, near Tusayan, Ariz. Ross D. Franklin/AP hide caption

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Ross D. Franklin/AP

Environment

Navajo, environmentalists concerned as uranium ore shipments are poised to resume

KJZZ News

America's only uranium processing plant is preparing to start receiving uranium ore from US mines for the first time in 25 years. The Navajo Nation is worried about health risks from trucks hauling that ore across their reservation.

Florentino Escobar (second from right) and the six other Starbucks employees known together as the Memphis 7 stand in front of a Memphis, Tenn., mural that honors the 1968 Memphis sanitation workers strike. Amy Holden hide caption

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Amy Holden

What the Starbucks case at the Supreme Court is all about. Hint: It's not coffee

Starbucks and some of its baristas have been in a contentious fight over unionizing since 2021. Now, the Supreme Court is hearing a case that could have implications for unions far beyond Starbucks.

What the Starbucks case at the Supreme Court is all about. Hint: It's not coffee

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In an aerial view, the cargo ship Dali sits in the water after running into and collapsing the Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26, 2024 in Baltimore, Maryland. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images hide caption

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Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images

National

Baltimore seeks to hold the owner of the Dali fully liable for the Key Bridge collapse

WYPR

The city is pushing back against attempts by the company to limit its liability in paying for damages associated with the ship's collision into the Francis Scott Key Bridge last month, stating the vessels actions were grossly negligent and possibly criminal.

Glide Memorial Church pastor Rev. Cecil Williams, right, and his wife Janice Mirikitani look at donated produce in November 2014 outside of Glide Memorial Church in San Francisco. Glide Memorial Church had been serving more than 800,000 meals a year to the needy. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images hide caption

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Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Cecil Williams, the co-founder and longtime pastor of GLIDE Memorial, dies

KQED

Williams' stewardship of the Tenderloin neighborhood church made it a world-renowned congregation and nonprofit service provider. He also was known for his welcoming approach to the LGBT community and his unflinching support of civil rights.

LA Johnson/NPR

To prevent digital eye strain, give those peepers a little love

You can strain your eyes if you stare at a screen for too long, say eye doctors — and that can cause eye fatigue, headaches and blurry vision. Nip those symptoms in the bud with these eye care tips.

COMIC: To prevent digital eye strain, give those peepers a little love

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Works on display from the Denver Art Museum's Northwest Coast and Alaska Native arts collection on April 16, 2024. Ian Dickson/KTOO hide caption

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Ian Dickson/KTOO

Culture

Many museums are repatriating Indigenous items. The Denver Art Museum refuses many requests

KTOO Service

Since the passage of a law in 1990, museums have been required to work to return items claimed by a tribe. But at the Denver Art Museum, "we're not in the business of just giving away our entire collections," a curator told one reporter.

A quarter of U.S. congregations in the United Methodist Church have left the denomination as of December due to disagreements over whether to ordain LGBTQ clergy and perform same-sex weddings. Charlie Riedel/AP hide caption

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Charlie Riedel/AP

United Methodists will again debate LGBTQ clergy and same-sex weddings

The United Methodist Church is holding its first General Conference since the pandemic and will consider whether to change policies on several LGBTQ issues.

United Methodists will again debate LGBTQ clergy and same-sex weddings

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The Supreme Court will hear another case about abortion rights on Wednesday. Protestors gathered outside the court last month when the case before the justices involved abortion pills. Tom Brenner for The Washington Post/Getty Images hide caption

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Tom Brenner for The Washington Post/Getty Images

What's at stake as the Supreme Court hears Idaho case about abortion in emergencies

The Supreme Court will consider the question: Should doctors treating pregnancy complications follow state or federal law if the laws conflict? Here's how the case could affect women and doctors.

Border Patrol picks up a group of people seeking asylum from an aid camp near Sasabe, Arizona, on Wednesday, March 13, 2024. Justin Hamel/Bloomberg via Getty Images hide caption

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Justin Hamel/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Despite a fortified border, migrants will keep coming, analysts agree. Here's why.

The number of people coming from South and Central American is rising and they will eventually arrive at the U.S. Southern border, analysts say.

Despite a fortified border, migrants will keep coming, analysts agree. Here's why.

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A group of volunteers check on homeless people living in a park in Grants Pass, Ore., on March 21. Jenny Kane/AP hide caption

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Jenny Kane/AP

The Supreme Court appears to side with an Oregon city's crackdown on homelessness

Lower courts ruled it's "cruel and unusual" to fine or jail people on public land if no shelter is available. An Oregon city says that's hamstrung efforts to keep public spaces safe and open to all.

Supreme Court appears to side with an Oregon city's crackdown on homelessness

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Amy Tan, author of The Backyard Bird Chronicles. Kim Newmoney/Penguin Randomhouse hide caption

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Kim Newmoney/Penguin Randomhouse

Amy Tan's bird obsession led to a new book — and keeping mealworms in her fridge

In The Backyard Bird Chronicles, author Amy Tan charts her foray into birdwatching and the natural wonders of the world.

Amy Tan's bird obsession led to a new book — and keeping mealworms in her fridge

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Democratic State Sen. Nicole Mitchell, right, of Woodbury, speaks with Sen. Robert D. Farnsworth, a Republican from Hibbing, April 2 on the floor of the Minnesota Senate at the State Capitol in St. Paul. Steve Karnowski/AP hide caption

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Steve Karnowski/AP

From Minnesota Public Radio

A state senator's arrest on suspicion of burglary could change Minnesota's balance of power

MPR News

State Sen. Nicole Mitchell, 49, was arrested early Monday in Detroit Lakes, Minn. The state senate is currently evenly split, so if the Mitchell is removed from office, Republicans would take over the chamber.

George Alan Kelly listens to closing arguments in Santa Cruz County Superior Court on April 18, 2024, in Nogales, Ariz. Kelly was charged with second-degree murder in the January 2023 death of 48-year-old Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, who lived south of the border in Nogales, Mexico. Angela Gervasi/Nogales International via AP hide caption

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Angela Gervasi/Nogales International via AP

A mistrial is declared in the case of an Arizona rancher accused of killing a migrant

Jurors couldn't reach a verdict after more than two days of deliberations. George Alan Kelly said he fired warning shots at a group of people on his property but didn't shoot directly at anyone.

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