Search results for

The last few days of 2013 have been some of the best of the year for the Republican Party, which came out on top in congressional races in a poll this week. NPR's political editor Ron Elving joins Linda Wertheimer for a look back at the GOP's rollercoaster political year, from the partial government shutdown to the rollout of the Affordable Care Act.

President Obama stopped short of admitting he's had a pretty tough year in his final press conference of 2013. Historian Robert Dallek joins NPR's Linda Wertheimer for a look back at the year, and to put Obama's trying times in context with other presidents who had difficult second terms.

Washington, D.C., clears out in the last weeks of December, as members of Congress and their staffs head back to their home districts for the holidays. NPR's Linda Wertheimer enjoys walking the quiet streets, and uses that time to reflect on the past year in politics.

On the fourth day of Christmas, Ask Me Another gave to me: a game inspired by Mad Men. Contestants have to answer questions about silly but shockingly authentic etiquette rules dating from the 1960s.

Does Kobe Bryant's latest injury setback signal the beginning of the end of a Hall of Fame career? In the NFL's final regular season weekend there are division titles on the line, but injuries might make the difference there too. Howard Bryant of ESPN.com and ESPN the Magazine talks with NPR's Linda Wertheimer about the week in sports, and the way concussions have shaped sports in 2013 and will continue to do so in the year to come.

Global warming is pushing species like the polar bear to the brink of extinction. It's not a typical conservation problem, so one government biologist discovered the best way he could help save the great white bears was to quit his job.

We've invited the matriarch of The Partridge Family to play a game called: "Look, it's the partridge family! GET THEM!" Three questions about the sport of partridge shooting. (Originally broadcast on Oct. 04, 2013.)

By the time 2013 ends, the Minnesota Orchestra will not have played a single note in its own concert hall due to a labor dispute between musicians and management. It's an emblem of the problems facing non-profit arts institutions around the country.

Each winter, a team of scientists sets out on a search for those rare shooting stars that make it to the ground instead of burning up in the sky. There aren't many better places to look for these space rocks than Antarctica, often in areas where no human has set foot before.

Fake stories on the Internet are not new, but their nature is changing. They seem to be more calculated, more elaborate and have a deeper intent to elicit a swell of emotion. Grantland writer Tess Lynch explains why she thinks 2013 was the year of the hoax — and which story even fooled her.