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All Things Considered on KTXI

Melissa Block and Robert Siegel

In-depth reporting and transformed the way listeners understand current events and view the world. Every weekday, hear two hours of breaking news mixed with compelling analysis, insightful commentaries, interviews, and special - sometimes quirky - features.
 

Genre: 
News/Talk
Composer ID: 
5182a499e1c8d42026520995|5182a41de1c82ad60e1e78d2

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Energy
4:17 pm
Thu January 3, 2013

Wind Industry Secures Tax Credit, But Damage May Be Done

Credit Charlie Riedel / AP
Wind turbines dwarf a church near Wilson, Kan. Although Congress voted to extend a wind energy tax credit, the temporary uncertainty dealt a blow to the industry.
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By editor

Originally published on Thu January 3, 2013 5:10 pm

The wind energy industry is dependent on something even more unpredictable than wind: Congress. Hidden in the turmoil over the "fiscal cliff" compromise was a tax credit for wind energy.

Uncertainty over the credit had lingered long before the last-minute political push, causing the industry to put off further long-term planning. So while the now-approved tax credit revives prospects for an industry facing tens of thousands of layoffs, don't expect to see many new turbines coming up soon.

Growing Uncertainty

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U.S.
2:55 pm
Thu January 3, 2013

Hit-And-Run Deaths Increase, But Culprits Hard To Capture

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Credit Gloria Hillard for NPR
Officers Carol Mitchell and John Hill investigate the death of a disabled teen who was struck and killed by a hit-and-run driver in Los Angeles.
Credit Gloria Hillard for NPR
A memorial for Conor Lynch, a 16-year-old who was killed in a hit-and-run accident in 2010.
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By Gloria Hillard

Originally published on Thu January 3, 2013 5:10 pm

Pedestrian and cyclist fatalities are increasing nationwide, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and Los Angeles and New York City have the highest rates of those deaths.

In Los Angeles, where the car is the major mode of transportation, hit and runs involving pedestrians occur almost daily. But these crimes can be the most difficult for law enforcement to investigate and solve.

People Don't Want To Get Involved

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U.S.
2:49 pm
Thu January 3, 2013

For Many Kids, Winter Break Means Hungry Holidays

Credit Dan Carsen / WBHM
Tamara Burney's kindergartners eat lunch in the Hillview Elementary cafeteria in Jefferson County, Ala.
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By editor

Originally published on Thu January 3, 2013 5:10 pm

Holidays are typically a festive time, with breaks from the routine, meals with loved ones, maybe even some gifts. But for many families across the U.S., the season comes with intense stress: Roughly 1 in 5 families with children are not getting enough food.

For some, free or reduced-price school meals have become a major source of basic nutrition. When schools close for the holidays, many of those families struggle to fill the gap.

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The Salt
2:48 pm
Thu January 3, 2013

Drought Puts The Squeeze On Already Struggling Fish Farms

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Credit Kristofor Husted / KBIA News
Catfish swim in a tub outside the Osage Catfisheries office.
Credit Kristofor Husted / KBIA News
Osage Catfisheries drained this catfish pond to make room for another, potentially more lucrative species, such as paddlefish or bass.
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Originally published on Thu January 3, 2013 5:10 pm

This year's drought delivered a pricey punch to US aquaculture, the business of raising fish like bass and catfish for food. Worldwide, aquaculture has grown into a $119 billion industry, but the lack of water and high temperatures in 2012 hurt many U.S. fish farmers who were already struggling to compete on a global scale.

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Sports
5:26 pm
Wed January 2, 2013

Game, Set And Match: U.S. Tennis Tournaments Move Abroad

Credit Danny Moloshok / AP
Pete Sampras returns a forehand against Russia's Marat Safin during an exhibition tennis match at the L.A. Tennis Open tournament in 2009. The tournament, which has been around for decades, is now relocating to Colombia as America's dominance in the sport declines and global appeal surges.
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By editor

Originally published on Thu January 3, 2013 6:16 am

Throughout most of its 86 years, Los Angeles' premier tennis tournament attracted the biggest names in the game. But over the years, stars stopped coming, and so did fans.

Now the Farmers Classic, which has been in L.A. since 1927, is headed to Bogota after it was bought by a Colombian sports marketing and entertainment company.

"There's a big hole in my heart. And believe me, this is something we didn't see coming, I'll be honest," says Bob Kramer, longtime tournament director of the Farmers Classic.

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Science
3:50 pm
Wed January 2, 2013

'Stand Your Ground' Linked To Increase In Homicides

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Credit Joe Burbank / AP
George Zimmerman (left) and his attorney appear in court for a bond hearing in June. Zimmerman's case sparked a nationwide debate about so-called "stand your ground" laws.
Credit Alyson Hurt, Adam Cole & David Schultz/NPR
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Originally published on Thu January 3, 2013 9:54 am

If a stranger attacks you inside your own home, the law has always permitted you to defend yourself. On the other hand, if an altercation breaks out in public, the law requires you to try to retreat. At least, that's what it used to do.

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Middle East
2:58 pm
Wed January 2, 2013

On Multiple Fronts, Russian Jews Reshape Israel

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Credit Oded Balilty / AP
Russian-speaking Israelis mingle at the Soho nightclub in Tel Aviv. The club caters to the Russian-speaking immigrant community, featuring hired dancers and extravagant decorations rarely seen in informal Israel.
Credit Oded Balilty / AP
People gather for a Russian folk music festival in northern Israel in May. About 2,000 immigrants from the former Soviet Union attended the two-day festival, singing Russian standards, barbecuing and drinking vodka.
Credit Oded Balilty / AP
Children of immigrants from the former Soviet Union attend a ballet class in Lod, central Israel. Some prominent ballet dancers left the former Soviet Union for Israel, forming ballet schools and continuing a dance culture highly regarded in their countries of origin.
Credit Oded Balilty / AP
Immigrants from the former Soviet Union practice sword-fighting in full knight armor at a public park in Ramat Gan, central Israel. Medieval combat simulation is popular in ex-Soviet countries, and some immigrants have continued the hobby in Israel.
Credit Oded Balilty / AP
Russian-speaking Israeli immigrants train at a boxing club in Ashdod, a southern Israeli city heavily populated by immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
Credit Oded Balilty / AP
A choir practices in a government-funded elderly care facility catering to Russian-speaking immigrants in Ashdod. The choir sings Russian standards and Israeli folk songs translated into Russian.
Credit Oded Balilty / AP
Canned sardines are served at a family dinner at the home of Moldovan immigrant Puma Rotner in Ashdod. Rotner left her native city of Bendery in Moldova in 2006, bringing her dishes and silverware to Israel.
Credit Oded Balilty / AP
Bella Perlin (center) and Avraham Shapiro (left), Belarusian immigrants, eat breakfast at their home in Hadera, northern Israel. They moved to Israel in 1991 at the height of the wave of immigration from the former Soviet Union.
Credit Oded Balilty / AP
Alexandra Bahman, who immigrated to Israel from Moldova in 2006, sits in her bedroom with her cat in Ashdod. Bahman left Moldova with the carpet and photos that now decorate her bedroom walls.
Credit Oded Balilty / AP
Two immigrants from the Ural region of the former Soviet Union rinse off after bathing in the Mediterranean Sea on an early December morning in Tel Aviv. Many Soviet immigrants gather at the beach for a traditional winter dip, the closest substitute to the freezing waters of the former Soviet Union.
Credit Oded Balilty / AP
Acrobats wait in a dressing room before their show at L'Chaim, a Russian restaurant in Ashdod. Many circus performers in Israel emigrated from the former Soviet Union, and acrobatic shows are a unique feature of Russian restaurants in Israel.
Credit Oded Balilty / AP
People attend a 2011 New Year's party catering to the upper crust of Israel's Russian-speaking immigrant community, in Tel Aviv.
Credit Oded Balilty / AP
An employee of the Mizra pork factory poses with a pig's head in a refrigerated warehouse in Kibbutz Mizra, northern Israel. The million-strong Soviet immigrant community has increased customer demand for pork in the country, a nonkosher food rarely eaten by Israeli Jews.
Credit Oded Balilty / AP
Russian-speaking Israelis mingle at the Soho nightclub in Tel Aviv. The club caters to the Russian-speaking immigrant community, featuring hired dancers and extravagant decorations rarely seen in informal Israel.
Credit Oded Balilty / AP
Gymnasts from Russian-speaking immigrant families warm up at a gymnastics competition organized for Israel's immigrant community, in the southern resort city of Eilat. Most of Israel's Olympic gymnasts are immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
Credit Oded Balilty / AP
A waiter serves traditional Russian food at a seaside restaurant in Ashdod, a southern Israeli city heavily populated by immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
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Originally published on Sun January 6, 2013 7:54 am

Many signs are in the Cyrillic alphabet. The men and women sitting in the cafes are speaking Russian. The shops sell vodka, black bread, pickled herring and Russian-brewed Baltika beer. You have to pinch yourself to remember where you are.

This scene, with all its echoes of the former Soviet Union, is not in St. Petersburg or Vladivostok, or anywhere else in that vast sweep of bleak northern lands. It is in Ashdod, Israel, a palm-lined, pastel-colored port city that sprawls along the mild shores of the Mediterranean.

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National Security
2:34 pm
Wed January 2, 2013

At $130 Million A Plane, Critics Question The Cost Of The F-35

Credit Roslan Rahman / AFP/Getty Images
Visitors look at a Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter jet at the Singapore Airshow in 2010. The cost of the plane keeps on rising and is now $130 million or more per plane, depending on the model.
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Originally published on Wed January 2, 2013 6:51 pm

Second of two parts

In a mile-long building on the edge of Fort Worth, Texas, an assembly line is taking shape to build the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Lockheed Martin, which got the contract to build the jet back in 2001, is slowly cranking up production. It's hard to keep a plane current, when it takes so many years to develop.

But Lockheed's Kevin McCormack says the F-35 is designed to change as technology evolves.

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Shots - Health News
2:04 pm
Wed January 2, 2013

Drug Fulfills Promise Of Research Into Cystic Fibrosis Gene

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Credit Vertex Pharmaceuticals Inc.
Kalydeco is one of the first drugs that is effective at combating the root causes of a genetic disease.
Credit Jeffrey Sauger
Emily Schaller suffers from cystic fibrosis. New treatments that target the genetic basis of her disease allow her to live an active, healthy life.
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Originally published on Wed January 2, 2013 6:53 pm

The promise of genetic medicine is beginning to be fulfilled, but it's been a long, hard slog.

Take the story of Kalydeco. It's designed to treat people with a lung disease called cystic fibrosis. While not quite a cure, the drug is extremely effective for some CF patients.

But the success of Kalydeco has been more than two decades in the making.

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Asia
10:01 am
Wed January 2, 2013

The Tony Soprano of Karachi: Gangster Or Politician?

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Credit Dina Temple-Raston
Baloch has been the most powerful figure in Karachi's Lyari neighborhood since 2009. His armed men control the area, and police stay away. He's shown here at his home.
Credit Dina Temple-Raston
Uzair Baloch is known as the don of Karachi's Lyari Town slum. He is pictured here at his home.
Credit Akhtar Soomro / Reuters/Landov
Uzair Baloch (center), 32, controls an impoverished section of Karachi and commands a large armed force. He is routinely described as a gangster, though he calls himself a politician and a social worker. He's shown here at a rally in Karachi in November 2011.
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Originally published on Wed January 2, 2013 6:56 pm

Gangsters have been part of life in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city, for decades. And nowhere is their rule more notorious than in the slums of Lyari, a dusty warren of low-slung tenement houses in the south central part of Karachi.

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