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Remembering Roger Boisjoly: He Tried To Stop Shuttle Challenger Launch

Boisjoly was the engineer who boisterously warned about problems with the Challenger's elastic seals. That he couldn't do anything about the launch haunted him and turned him into a crusader for ethics in engineering. Boisjoly died at age 73.
NPR

In Battleground Colorado, Independents On The Rise

A centrist think tank finds that in several key states, both parties are losing voters relative to the number of newly declared independents. In Colorado, which holds its Republican caucuses Tuesday, declared independents are now about even with registered Republicans or registered Democrats.
NPR

Fight For GOP Soul, SuperPACs Spur Negative Political Ad Explosion

While the barrage of negative ads is likely to be bad during the general election, the Republican primaries have seen a confluence of factors that have made for particularly fertile ground for negative ads: the introduction of superPACs collided with a war for control of the GOP between conservatives and hard conservatives.
NPR

'Boxing Is The Love Of My Life': A Woman Fights For A Shot At Gold

You could say Tyrieshia Douglas' boxing career began at 16, when she was arrested for street fighting. Now, at 23, Douglas is one of 24 fighters competing for three spots on the first ever U.S. Olympic women's boxing team.
NPR

Is White, Working Class America 'Coming Apart'?

In his new book, Charles Murray, co-author of the controversial The Bell Curve, argues that in an increasingly economically stratified America, the white working class is slipping behind.
NPR

Pennsylvania School District Goes Broke

The Chester Upland School District — a small, mostly minority district outside Philadelphia — is on the verge of going broke. State budget cuts have put the district in such financial straits that teachers and some other employees agreed last month to work without pay for the rest of the school year. A judge ordered the state to advance Chester Upland $3 million, but that will only keep the schools open for a few weeks.
NPR

As Olympic Trials Near, Women's Boxing Heats Up

Women's boxing will be an Olympic sport for the first time in London later this year and the trials to choose the U.S. competitors will be held in Spokane in February. Tyrieshia Douglas from Baltimore is one of the competitors. When she was 16-years-old, she was arrested for street-fighting and says her juvenile court judge recommended she take her skills into the gym. Now she's 23-years-old and ranked No. 2 in the country in her weight category.

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