Sports
4:29 pm
Tue March 5, 2013

No Obvious Favorites As NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament Starts

Originally published on Tue March 5, 2013 5:20 pm

Go on, pick a favorite in this year's NCAA tournament. We dare you. There's more than a dozen legitimate contenders to pick from. And then there's all those potential Cinderella teams. Mike Pesca talks to Audie Cornish about the upcoming NCAA Men's College Basketball tournament, which is as wide open as it has even been.

Television
4:29 pm
Tue March 5, 2013

New Fox Sports Network Hopes To Challenge ESPN's Cable Dominance

Originally published on Tue March 5, 2013 5:20 pm

Rupert Murdoch announced on Tuesday the launch of Fox Sports 1, an all sports cable channel that will compete head to head with ESPN.

Theater
4:29 pm
Tue March 5, 2013

For This Pair Of Clowns, 'Old Hats' Mean New Laughs

Originally published on Tue March 5, 2013 6:14 pm

Twenty years ago, theatrical clowns Bill Irwin and David Shiner collaborated on a Broadway show called Fool Moon — a giddy mixture of slapstick, improv and audience participation that proved such a success that it came back to Broadway for two more runs and toured both the U.S. and Europe. Now Irwin and Shiner have put together a new show called Old Hats, and it's been receiving rave reviews off-Broadway.

Irwin and Shiner's rubber-faced, loose-bodied clowning hasn't gotten easier over two decades.

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Remembrances
4:13 pm
Tue March 5, 2013

Venezuela's Chavez: An Outsized Personality, A Domineering Figure

Originally published on Tue March 5, 2013 5:20 pm

The Two-Way
4:02 pm
Tue March 5, 2013

At 106, Man Finally Gets An Elusive High School Diploma

Fred Butler has done many things in his 106 years, from serving in two military theaters of World War II to helping raise five children. But he had never gone to high school, or earned a diploma — the result of leaving school after the eighth grade to work full-time in a print shop to help support his family.

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Middle East
3:59 pm
Tue March 5, 2013

Kerry: We're Trying To Offer Syrian President A Rational Choice

Originally published on Tue March 5, 2013 5:20 pm

Secretary of State John Kerry is wrapping up his first official overseas trip to Europe and the Middle East. He's shifted U.S. policy on Syria, offering direct assistance to the opposition coalition and non-lethal aid to fighters. He's also offered Egypt's Islamist government $190 million to avert a budget crisis and he's warning Iran that talks can't go on indefinitely.

NPR Story
3:50 pm
Tue March 5, 2013

Posthumous Pardon For Heavyweight Boxer Jack Johnson A Bipartisan Effort

Originally published on Tue March 5, 2013 5:20 pm

Democratic Senators Harry Reid and Mo Cowan have joined Republicans John McCain and Representative Peter King to call for the pardon of former heavyweight boxing champ Jack Johnson. He was the first black fighter to win that title, in 1908. Another win in 1910 sparked race riots nationwide, and his relationships with white women only added to the controversy. He was convicted of taking women across state lines for "immoral purpose." Audie Cornish has more.

It's All Politics
3:02 pm
Tue March 5, 2013

In Jeb Bush's Immigration Mishmash, One Thing's Clear: 2016 Race is On

Credit Mark Humphrey / AP

Originally published on Tue March 5, 2013 5:34 pm

If Nov. 7 brought pangs of withdrawal from the end of the presidential race — good news!

The next one has already started.

Witness last week's dust-up over the American Conservative Union's failure to invite New Jersey's Chris Christie, one of the most popular Republican governors in the country, to its annual Conservative Political Action Conference. And if that flew under the radar, this week's book tour launch by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has removed all doubt that the countdown to Iowa has begun.

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The Two-Way
2:38 pm
Tue March 5, 2013

Green Jacket Auction Halted After Augusta National Asserts Ownership

Credit Streeter Lecka / Getty Images
Augusta National says it has long maintained ownership of the green jackets it awards the winners of the Masters Tournament. Here, Bubba Watson accepts his jacket after winning last year's event.

The Masters Tournament is still a month away, but the green jackets that grace the winners' shoulders are already in the news, thanks to a lawsuit over a proposed auction of a former champion's jacket.

On one side is tournament host Augusta National Golf Club, which says the jacket, won by Art Wall Jr. in 1959, was stolen; on the other is Florida doctor Stephen Pyles and Heritage Auctions of Texas, who insist the jacket was obtained legally and can thus be sold to the highest bidder.

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Around the Nation
2:20 pm
Tue March 5, 2013

Sequestered Spring Means Fewer Rangers, Services At National Parks

Credit Gosia Wozniacka / AP
Hikers walk on the Mist Trail to Vernal Fall at Yosemite National Park in California. The National Park Service has to cut $134 million from sites around the country, including Yosemite, due to the lack of a budget deal in Congress.

Originally published on Thu March 7, 2013 10:49 am

Spring has come early to the Yosemite Valley, and the melting snow makes for a spectacular rush of water off the granite face of Yosemite Falls, the tallest in North America.

Early March is when park officials would normally be gearing up for the busy tourist season. Instead, they're figuring out how to cut $1.5 million from their budget. Without a budget deal, the sequestration has forced the Park Service to cut a total of $134 million from sites around the country.

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