Shots - Health Blog
5:40 pm
Mon June 25, 2012

Could Kaiser Permanente's Low-Cost Health Care Be Even Cheaper?

Credit Michel Euler / AP
George Halvorson, chairman and CEO of Kaiser Permanente, speaks during a session at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in 2009.

Originally published on Tue June 26, 2012 5:27 pm

Kaiser Permanente rose out of Henry J. Kaiser's utopian, industrialist dream.

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Shots - Health Blog
5:30 pm
Mon June 25, 2012

Why Are Women More Likely To Die From Lung Cancer In Alabama?

Credit Joan C Fahrenthold / AP
Back in 1998, Colleen Maxwell, then a 23-year-old student, smoked outside a San Diego bar, just weeks after California became the the first state in the nation to to ban smoking in most bars and gambling casinos.

Originally published on Thu June 28, 2012 8:46 am

California has long been a trendsetter. But when it comes to reducing smoking and lung cancer, the Golden State's success hasn't taken the entire nation by storm.

Just take a look at the chart, which shows lung cancer death rates among white women by the year they were born.

For those women born since 1933, lung cancer death rates in California have dropped by more than half. In Alabama, they've more than doubled.

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As an NPR correspondent based in Tucson, Arizona, Ted Robbins covers the Southwest including Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada.

Specifically, Robbins reports on a range of issues from immigration and border security to water issues and wildfires. He covers the economy in the West with an emphasis on the housing market and Las Vegas development. He reported on the January 2011, Tucson shooting that killed six and injured many included Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords.

From Tombstone to Santa Fe, Phoenix to Las Vegas and Moab to Indian Country, there's no shortage of people, politics and places worth covering in the growing American Southwest. Robbins' reporting is driven by his curiosity to find, understand and communicate all sides of each story through accurate, clear and engaging coverage. In addition to his domestic work, Robbins has reported internationally in Mexico, El Salvador, Nepal and Sudan.

Robbins' reporting has been honored with numerous accolades, including two Emmy Awards: one for his story on sex education in schools, and another for his series on women in the workforce. He received a CINE Golden Eagle for a 1995 documentary on Mexican agriculture called "Tomatoes for the North."

In 2006, Robbins wrote an article for the Neiman Reports at Harvard about journalism and immigration. He was chosen for a 2009 French-American Foundation Fellowship focused on comparing European and U.S. immigration issues.

Raised in Los Angeles, Robbins became an avid NPR listener while spending hours driving (or stopped in traffic) on congested freeways. He is delighted to now be covering stories for his favorite news source.

Prior to coming to NPR in 2004, Robbins spent five years as a regular contributor to The NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, 15 years at the PBS affiliate in Tucson, and worked as a field producer for CBS News. He worked for NBC affiliates in Tucson and Salt Lake City, where he also did some radio reporting and print reporting for USA Today.

Robbins earned his Bachelor of Arts in psychology and his master's degree in journalism, both from the University of California at Berkeley. He taught journalism at the University of Arizona for a decade.

Law
5:13 pm
Mon June 25, 2012

High Court Leaves Core Of Immigration Law Intact

Originally published on Tue June 26, 2012 5:27 pm

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

To the Supreme Court now and a much-anticipated decision on Arizona's controversial immigration law. The justices struck down most of SB1070, as the law is known. But the court did unanimously allow one key provision to take effect, and that's giving both sides reason to claim victory. We'll delve more deeply into the ruling with Nina Totenberg elsewhere in the program, but now to reaction from Arizona and NPR's Ted Robbins.

And Ted, let's start first with the three provisions of this law that were blocked. What were they?

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The Two-Way
5:05 pm
Mon June 25, 2012

Paralympic Cyclists Inspire Each Other, And A Documentary

Credit black train films
Paralympic cyclists are featured in the upcoming documentary Unstoppables.

Originally published on Tue June 26, 2012 6:44 am

The opening ceremony of the London 2012 Summer Olympics are just over a month away — leading NPR and other media to cover the intense preparations for the games. That also means the Paralympic Games are on the way, as athletes with physical disabilities round into top form for the Aug. 29 opening day.

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Adding to the coverage of NPR's national security team, Dina Temple-Raston reports about counterterrorism at home and abroad for NPR News. Her reporting can be heard on NPR's newsmagazines. She joined NPR in March 2007 fresh from a two year sabbatical in which she completed two books, learned Arabic and received a Master's Degree from Columbia.

A long-time foreign correspondent for Bloomberg News in Asia, Temple-Raston opened Bloomberg's Shanghai and Hong Kong offices working for both Bloomberg's financial wire and radio operations. She also served as Bloomberg News' White House correspondent during both Clinton administrations and covered financial markets and economics for both USA Today and CNNfn.

Temple-Raston is an award-winning author. Her first book, entitled A Death in Texas and about race in America, won the Barnes' and Noble Discover Award and was chosen as one of the Washington Post's Best Books of 2002. Her second book, on the role Radio Mille Collines played in fomenting the Rwandan genocide, was a Foreign Affairs magazine bestseller. She has two books related to civil liberties and national security. The first, In Defense of Our America (HarperCollins) written with Anthony D. Romero, the executive director of the ACLU, looks at civil liberties in post-9/11 America. The other, The Jihad Next Door (Public Affairs), is about the Lackawanna Six, America's first so-called "sleeper cell" and the issues that face Muslims in America.

Temple-Raston holds a Bachelor's degree from Northwestern University and a Master's degree from the Columbia University's School of Journalism. She was born in Belgium and French was her first language.

It's All Politics
4:26 pm
Mon June 25, 2012

Supreme Court's Arizona Ruling Could Aid Obama While Vexing Romney

Originally published on Fri June 29, 2012 8:47 am

The political impact of Monday's Supreme Court ruling that three of four provisions of Arizona's immigration enforcement law are unconstitutional — and that a fourth could eventually be found to be — certainly appeared, at first blush, to be a significant political win for President Obama.

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National Security
4:15 pm
Mon June 25, 2012

FBI Checking 100 Suspected Extremists In Military

Originally published on Tue June 26, 2012 5:27 pm

The FBI has conducted more than 100 investigations into suspected Islamic extremists within the military, NPR has learned. About a dozen of those cases are considered serious.

Officials define that as a case requiring a formal investigation to gather information against suspects who appear to have demonstrated a strong intent to attack military targets. This is the first time the figures have been publicly disclosed.

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Law
3:28 pm
Mon June 25, 2012

Immigration Ruling May Close, Open Legal Windows

Credit Matt York / AP
Arizona Republican Gov. Jan Brewer leaves a podium at the state Capitol in Phoenix after responding to President Obama's immigration speech on June 15. Brewer said the speech represented a "pre-emptive strike" aimed at what then was an upcoming Supreme Court ruling on Arizona's immigration law.

Originally published on Tue June 26, 2012 7:16 am

The Supreme Court's decision to strike down much of Arizona's immigration law is being hailed as a victory by both sides in a fight likely to spawn many more legal battles.

Monday, the court struck down three of four provisions in the law but upheld, at least for the moment, a controversial measure allowing police to check the immigration status of anyone stopped or detained for any reason.

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The Salt
3:19 pm
Mon June 25, 2012

Cooking Regional Food When You're Far From The Fava Beans

Credit Nancy Shute / NPR
Chef Mino Massi and his son Robi prep food from Puglia at the Washington, D.C. convention center.

How do you showcase regional food when you're not in the region? Don't smuggle the salami in, that's for sure.

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