Articles in United States

President Obama revealed in his memoir "Dreams for My Father" his youthful use of illegal drugs as he grew up in Hawaii. But journalist and biographer David Maraniss apparently fills in the picture with quite a few colorful details.

The spin that one British newspaper has put on this otherwise unremarkable story may give you a laugh. So might the video that the Cape Cod Times produced.

On May 27, 1937, San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge opened, connecting bustling San Francisco to sleepy Marin County to the north. The Oakland-Bay Bridge had opened six months earlier — but the Golden Gate was an engineering triumph. And on its first day, thousands of people walked across it.

A possible resolution in the Etan Patz case highlights how much things have changed since he was abducted in 1979 as a 6-year-old. Missing children were barely on the radar of law enforcement agencies back then, but are a priority all over the country today.

For some time now al-Qaeda has been attracting recruits through the Internet. The group has launched jihadi chatrooms and online magazines, and their recruitment efforts have been fairly successful. Now the State Department is fighting back with something they call the "Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications."

Josef Miles is a hero to many for his simple statement. He says he just doesn't like seeing Westboro Baptist's controversial signs protesting homosexuality, abortion and other issues.

Some Indiana third graders are already planning for summer school. They're preparing to retake a new statewide test, which they'll need to pass to go on to 4th grade. Host Michel Martin speaks with StateImpact Indiana reporter Kyle Stokes and NPR's Tovia Smith about the effects of these tests on kids and implications for states across the country.

The Mitt Romney campaign has a sequel to its "Day One" ad, in which it explains what else the presumptive GOP nominee would include in his immediate to-do list if inaugurated president. Candidates often use the "first day" promise to highlight priorities. But Washington politics can change things.

But news reports say the man is not a suspect in the 6-year-old boy's death and disappearance. Still, he may help solve the 33-year-old mystery. Patz's was one of the first missing children cases to gain national attention.

Declaring that a "national emergency" exists in public education, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney shifted from his usual economic message to outline his education platform during a speech to a Latino business group Wednesday.

With all the Reagan veneration, it's not surprising there's a Reagan relic out there. A lab vial is said to contain a now dried blood sample from the president on the day he was nearly assassinated in March 1981. That the vial is up for auction has caused a controversy, with some denouncing the possible sale of the blood sample as a new and crass low in presidential memorabilia.

Whoever wins in November may go down in history as the First Robot President. Not because people have found Barack Obama and Mitt Romney robot-like on occasion (although they have). But because the next occupant of the White House will face a growing influx and influence of robots in our everyday lives.