Health
Health Coverage on Weekend America
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Politics on the Spot: Emergency Room
For election season, we're taking you around the country to hear how some of the big issues at stake are playing out on the ground. This week we're tackling one of the most complex issues on the candidates' agendas: health care. To get at it, we sent WCPN's Mhari Saito to the MetroHealth System hospital in Cleveland. It's considered the hospital of last resort for the uninsured in the county.
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Science of Happiness
A new book, "Emotional Awareness: Overcoming the Obstacles to Psychological Balance and Compassion," brings together the thoughts and experience of world renowned scientist Paul Ekman and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. An unusual project for a renowned brain scientist, but Ekman is the kind of researcher who inspires passionate following.
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Bankopalypse, Drilling, and Anchovies
It's been a rough week if you have or would like to have money ever. Or if you participate in the economy in any way. Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy, Merrill Lynch was hastily sold to Bank of America. Insurance and financial services giant AIG got an $85 billion loan from the government. The Dow plunged, then soared later in the week as Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced a plan to back troubled money market funds.
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Biloxi's Luck
It's been three years since Hurricane Katrina. The damage to flooding and botched response to the flooding in New Orleans has gotten the most attention. But it was actually Mississippi that received the full brunt of Katrina's 120 mile-per-hour wind and 27-foot storm surge. In Biloxi, Miss., the casinos that sat on huge barges in the bay were washed inland and destroyed. But the coastal casinos are now making record profits, more than one-billion dollars in revenue last year.
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The Amethyst Initiative
We are now in late August, and that means back to school. And on college campuses, there is a heated debate raging about alcohol. More than 100 college presidents have signed a petition calling on lawmakers to consider lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18. Proponents say the current age limit encourages dangerous behavior such as binge drinking, While opponents say easier access to booze will cause more problems like DWIs.
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Medicinal Music
Having trouble sleeping? Some doctors are experimenting with a remedy that uses music personalized to your own brain waves that reportedly relaxes you into slumber. Weekend America's Jim Gates speaks with a patient who uses, and the doctors who prescribe and design a new treatment called Brain Music Therapy, or BMT.
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Scarred for Life
Karen Williams had the chicken pox when she was seven years old. The case wasn't severe, but her body was left covered with unusual scars, called keloids, that often form on African-American skin. These days, Karen doesn't pay much heed to her scars, but other people do.
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Dry Town Goes Wet
Prohibition might have ended in 1933, but with more than 500 "dry" municipalities dotting the country - especially across the South - the spirit of Prohibition is alive and well. But that might be changing.
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To Dare Mighty Things
When the Tour de France wraps up in Paris, the riders will have covered a total of 3,500 kilometers or 2100 miles. That's roughly two-thirds the distance across the United States. Now, that might seem like an awfully long time to be on a bicycle but, not to Candyce Deddens. She's no stranger to long bike rides.
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The Intimate Times of Life
Many people work weekend jobs. Even more people work jobs they carry with them on their days off. Debra Nicholls' weekend job not only stays with her all week, but changes how she experiences her life.
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Catching the Big One
More than 30 million people in the United States fish each year. What a nice relaxing way to spend the weekend. Kicking back, waiting for a nibble. But sometimes fishing can go wrong. Very wrong.
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How to Cook a Wolf
As the economy slows, food prices rise, and more families are turning to food stamps and food banks to get by. It's enough to make the whole eating thing an anxiety-ridden affair. But solace might be found in an old book.
