Steve Inskeep

Blast Rips Through West, Texas, Fertilizer Plant

Steve Inskeep — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 09:59:00 +0000

A fertilizer plant exploded near Waco, Texas, Wednesday night. The explosion at West Fertilizer in downtown West, a community about 20 miles north of Waco, happened around 7 p.m. and could be heard as far away as Waxahachie, 45 miles to the north.

Venezuelan Humorist Engages Kidnappers In Election Dialogue

Steve Inskeep — Fri, 12 Apr 2013 11:53:00 +0000

Earlier this week in Caracas, we were about to go to an interview when it had to be rescheduled. The man we were going to speak with was unavoidably detained — kidnapped, to be precise.

It took awhile after that for Laureano Marquez to free up his schedule and meet us in a coffee shop.

"I'm so sorry," he said when he finally arrived, as if it was his fault for being thrown into a car and driven off to the far reaches of town.

We'd been planning to talk with Marquez about Venezuela's presidential election this weekend, an election that opens a door on a changing Latin America.

How Hugo Chavez's Policies Affected Ordinary Venezuelans

Steve Inskeep — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 09:45:00 +0000

In the days before elevators, there was no such thing as a penthouse on the top floor. The highest floors of a building had cheaper rents because the stairs were hard to climb.

Caracas, Venezuela, is organized roughly the same way, with many poor neighborhoods climbing up the sides of a mountain valley. Some of the poorest homes are among the most remote, accessible not by any road but by alleyways and long flights of stairs.

Up one of those flights of stairs, we found a woman whose life says a lot about Venezuela and by extension about Latin America.

NCAA Tournament: Previewing Thursday's Games

Steve Inskeep — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 09:10:00 +0000

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

OK. The NCAA Tournament has completed the preliminaries, the handful of games deciding the last teams to make it into the round of 64. So today, we begin a massive national overdose of basketball that will continue for weeks. NPR's Mike Pesca joins us from Lexington, Kentucky, where some of today's games will be played. Mike, good morning.

MIKE PESCA, BYLINE: I'm here to hold your hand as you overdose.

INSKEEP: Oh, that's great. Yeah, yeah. Stay with me.

Selection Sunday Sets NCAA Tournament Brackets

Steve Inskeep — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 08:06:00 +0000

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

OK. The field is set for the NCAA Division One men's basketball tournament. Top seeds include Kansas, Louisville, Indiana and Gonzaga. The team previously known for its heroic upsets in the NCAA tournament is now one of the teams to beat. NPR's Mike Pesca is here to discuss the selections. Mike, good morning.

MIKE PESCA, BYLINE: Hello.

INSKEEP: How'd Gonzaga do it?

PESCA: I know, right? You read those other teams, and it's, like, perennial power, perennial power, perennial power, Jesuit school from Spokane.

(LAUGHTER)

PESCA: But they're awesome.

Employment Data Expected To Show Modest Improvement

Steve Inskeep — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 09:39:00 +0000

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. I'm Steve Inskeep. Good morning on this Friday. Let's talk a little more deeply about the surprisingly strong jobs report that came out today. NPR's Yuki Noguchi is here with the numbers. Hi, Yuki.

YUKI NOGUCHI, BYLINE: Good morning.

INSKEEP: OK. So what does the Labor Department say happened in the labor market in February?

NOGUCHI: OK. So, 236,000 net jobs added last month. The prediction had been for 160,000, so this is far better. The unemployment rate ticked down more than expected, to 7.7 percent.

Chicago Blackhawks Continue Impressive Winning Streak

Steve Inskeep — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 09:48:00 +0000

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Pro hockey's Chicago Blackhawks have played 24 games without a loss in regulation time. They defeated the Colorado Avalanche last night. That gets the Blackhawks to the midpoint of the season with 21 wins, no defeats in regulation, three losses in shoot-outs or overtime. It's a league record start for the team that last won the Stanley Cup in 2010, possibly a big deal for a sport playing a season shortened by a lockout.

NPR's David Schaper is a lifelong Blackhawks fan, and just happened to be at last night's game.

Second-Person Narrator Tells Readers 'How To' Live, Love — And Get Filthy Rich

Steve Inskeep — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 11:28:00 +0000

This is not the first time Pakistani author Mohsin Hamid has taken a risky approach to a novel. His The Reluctant Fundamentalist was written entirely in the second person. The bearded narrator of that book sits at a tea stall in Lahore, talking about his drift toward extremism while directly addressing "you," the reader, who is taken to be an increasingly jumpy and terrified American across the table.

Hamid returns to the second person in How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia, but this time it's in the form of a self-help book — a particularly sly one.

Deciphering Hidden Biases During Interviews

Steve Inskeep — Wed, 06 Mar 2013 09:45:00 +0000

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Benjamin Franklin said the only certain things are death and taxes. Let's add a third thing: Interviews. At many points, starting with school admissions or a new job, you're going to sit down before someone else and answer their questions.

Which is what NPR's Shankar Vedantam is about to do with us because he's got some new research relating to this topic. Hi, Shankar.

SHANKAR VEDANTAM, BYLINE: Hi, Steve.

INSKEEP: And let's begin this interview.

Analyzing Jeb Bush's Immigration Position

Steve Inskeep — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 10:18:00 +0000

In the past, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush favored a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, but in a new book, he modifies that position to call for requiring illegal immigrants to leave the U.S. and re-apply to enter if they want to pursue citizenship.