Search results for

WGCU Reporter Amy Tardif takes listeners on a tour of North America's only public tree canopy walkway, located in Myakka River State Part in Sarasota, Florida.

It's summer, time to kick back and take off your shoes. Dave DiFonzo of the Dirty Soles Society takes host David Wright for a walk around Washington without footwear. DiFonzo believes going shoeless in public is healthy, and legal in public buildings. Our host and guest find out if the guards at some Washington landmarks agree. For more information, listeners can go to http://www.barefooters.org.

Robert interviews Matt Simmons, President of Simmons and Company International, an investment banking firm works exclusively with the energy business.

MUSIC MAN interviews continued.The Republican National Convention convenes in Philadelphia in a week. A talk with FRANK PUNZO, Sales Manager for Verizon Communications which is the official local telecommunications provider for the convention. PUNZO is responsible for providing the infrastructure that supports telephone service, video conferencing, internet access and video streaming.Rock critic KEN TUCKER reviews "Transcendental Blues" the new recording by Steve Earle.12:58:30 NEXT SHOW PROMO (:29) PROMO COPY On the next fresh air. . .the Broadway revival of "The Music Man". . . A talk with stars CRAIG BIERKO (Be-AIR-co) who plays the role of con-man Harold Hill, and REBECCA LUKER who plays Marian the Librarian. Also . . .what it's like to make sure 45,000 people at the Republican National Convention have access to telephone, internet and other telecommunications. A talk with the man responsible for wiring the Convention. That's coming up on the next Fresh Air.

Host Bob Edwards talks with author Tom Keneally about his recent visit to Eritrea. The country is suffering from the results of their two-year conflict with Ethiopia compounded by a drought. There are an estimated one million Eritreans uprooted, with many of them homeless and living in refugee camps.

NPR's Anthony Brooks reports on today's long-awaited endorsement of Vice President Al Gore by his one-time rival, Bill Bradley. The former New Jersey senator had harsh things to say about Gore's veracity during the primaries, and refused to say the "e" word after he withdrew from the race. But in making his endorsement today, Bradley said that, in the words of Vince Lombardi, "winning is a team sport."

Commentator David Ropeik explains why Americans should abandon their fears of food irradiation. Despite its erroneous reputation for making food glow, irradiation is actually, the most effective method of ensuring that this summer's barbecue is free of the germs that harm people.

NPR's John Ydstie reports that once again the economy has outperformed expectations. The nation's gross domestic product increased five-point-two-percent in the second quarter, a much faster pace than most economists expected and a bit faster than growth in the first quarter. But even as overall growth sped up, inflation cooled off.

{LOST AND FOUND SOUND: "VOICES OF THE DUSTBOWL"} -- Today we hear the latest installment the "Lost and Found Sound," series: "Voices of the Dustbowl." In the 1930s, hundreds of thousands of people from Oklahoma and Arkansas traveled to California, in search of better living. Depression-related poverty and a massive drought and subsequent dust storms had made life impossible for them back home. There were no jobs, and the fields were fallow. California held the promise of work and wages, harvesting fruit and vegetables year-round. Sixty years ago, in the summer of 1940, Charles Todd was hired by the Library of Congress to visit the federal camps where many of these migrants lived, to create an audio oral history of their stories, and to document the success of the camp program to the Roosevelt administration back in Washington. Todd carried a 50-pound Presto recorder from camp to camp that summer, interviewing the migrant workers. He made hundreds of hours of recordings on acetate and cardboard discs. Todd was there at the same time that writer John Steinbeck was interviewing many of the same people in these camps, for research on a new novel called "The Grapes of Wrath." Producer Barrett Golding went though this massive collection of Todd's recordings. Together, they bring us this story, narrated by Charles Todd.

United Nations arms inspector Scott Ritter is returning to Baghdad this Saturday at the invitation of Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi leader has agreed to provide Ritter and a documentary film crew access to weapons facilities throughout the country. Ritter will attempt to judge whether Iraq has rebuilt its arsenal since U.N. inspectors left the country 19 months ago. Linda talks to Colum Lynch, United Nations Reporter for The Washington Post, about Ritter's trip.