Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

I'm Michel Martin, and this is TELL ME MORE, from NPR News. We'd like to start today by mentioning that, as you would imagine, NPR is continuing to follow developments concerning that deadly tornado that struck Oklahoma yesterday. We hope you will stay tuned to your public radio station or check our website, npr.org, for the latest updates.

Sensitive personal information belonging to thousands of applicants to a government phone program was exposed to the public on the Internet, according to a new investigative report from Scripps Howard News Service.

The federal program is called Lifeline, and it reimburses phone companies for providing service to low-income Americans.

Pakistanis have coped with — even rioted — over the country's frequent power cuts. Now, the government is feeling the impact, too. The country's caretaker prime minister has banned air conditioners in government offices and instituted a dress code for civil servants. Among his recommendations: no socks.

In the first segment:

An annual report from Children At Risk, a Houston-based nonprofit and advocacy group, focused on public schools in Texas and found that while other major cities were seeing improvements in a variety of metrics, several of San Antonio's school districts were not measuring up.

Rebellious athletes, drained budgets, dysfunctional management and a string of embarrassing scandals forced a major reorganization of U.S. Speedskating over the weekend.

The group governs a sport that has produced 85 Winter Olympic medals for the United States — more than any other sport. But persistent turmoil threatened continued success in the next Games, just nine months away in Sochi, Russia.

The changes leave USS with a smaller board and without numerous committees that have permitted parochial interests to meddle in the governance of the sport.

Speaking at the White House on Tuesday, President Obama offered words of comfort and federal resources to Moore, Okla., where a tornado hit Monday. At last count, 24 people were confirmed killed; the number was expected to rise.

The newest class of San Antonio police cadets wasted no time getting to work, heading out on the job directly after walking the stage at their graduation ceremony.

The class, known as 2012-B, which began training late last year, graduated Friday at the Lila Cockrell Theatre downtown.

39 police cadets spent eight months going through intense training, saying it was both mentally and physically challenging.

But graduation day is a time for pride and celebration.

Before Monday's tornado hit, Barbara Garcia says, she had a gameplan. In the event of an emergency, the Moore, Okla., resident would gather up her little dog and retreat to a bathroom to wait out the storm. But after Monday's powerful twister blew through her neighborhood, Garcia tells CBS News, she couldn't find her dog.

Underneath heavily-traveled Interstate 35 at Theo and Malone, in an unexpected place for art, six spherical chandeliers bathe the ground, concrete columns and underside of the bridge with rich, vibrant color and transform an otherwise industrial thoroughfare into an enjoyable space for pedestrians and drivers.

Ballroom Luminoso is the first public art project to be completed under the new bond program approved by voters in 2012.

Parents who want to keep their teenagers safe while they're driving might want to tuck them in bed early the night before.

Drowsiness is a well-known risk for adult drivers, but teenage drivers are more impaired than adults when facing an equivalent lack of sleep, an Australian study finds.