© 2026 KVNF Public Radio
THE COMMON THREAD
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Search results for

  • The U.S. landline network was once the best in the world. But these days, phone companies see them as a burden, an old technology too expensive to maintain. AT&T wants to start replacing the system with cheaper options. Some call it a hasty abandonment of the tried-and-true traditional network.
  • About 10 percent of working Americans carpool to work. For two years, Neville Amaria was one of them. He spent two to three hours a day in the car with as many as four co-workers squeezed in alongside him. Now his office has moved closer to home. Here's an audio diary from the last morning of his carpool.
  • Fifteen years ago, pocket-sized characters known as Pokemon arrived on American shores from Japan. The cute creatures were suddenly everywhere: television, video games, card games and a movie. But few people imagined that in 2013, the franchise would still be going strong.
  • Sen. Max Baucus released a detailed "discussion draft" Tuesday that envisions a revenue-neutral reshaping of the tax code. Among the plan's goals: bringing home some of the cash that U.S. corporations are thought to have parked overseas.
  • The number of landlines grew in about two dozen countries, but their growth was explosive in Cambodia, Cameroon and Kiribati, countries that until recently had poor infrastructure. Still, as expected, cellphone numbers were even more impressive.
  • After he ran out of food during Hurricane Sandy, New York artist Tattfoo Tan vowed to be better prepared for future climate-related disasters. His latest art installation features meals made from dehydrated vegetables that will last one year on the shelf.
  • The politically oriented nonprofit co-founded by Karl Rove reports it received 84 percent of its donations last year from gifts of $1 million or more.
  • New figures show women have more jobs in the U.S. than ever before - but men are still struggling to pull out of the recession. Host Michel Martin speaks with NPR senior business editor Marilyn Geewax, and Ariane Hegewisch from the Institute for Women's Policy Research.
  • Announcements of legal settlements worth hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars, including Tuesday's $13 billion U.S. settlement with JPMorgan Chase, have been common in recent years. Often, though, only a fraction of the amount ends up in consumers' pockets.
  • Princeton University is asking students to get vaccinated with a shot not approved for use in the U.S. in an effort to stop a meningitis outbreak. Meningitis can be deadly, and it spreads in places where people are in close contact, like a dormitory or a prison.
4,068 of 27,474