Marine Olivesi

The pregnancy rate among teenage girls in the United States has jumped for the first time in more than a decade, according to a report released today by The Guttmacher Institute. The pregnancy rate among 15-to-19-year-olds increased three percent between 2005 and 2006.

In a new audio message, Al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden claims responsibility for the Christmas Day bombing attempt and warns the United States of more attacks. We talk to Bruce Riedel, former CIA officer and advisor to the White House on terrorism and security.

It's been almost two weeks since the 7.0 earthquake struck Haiti and the government has formally called an end to the search and rescue efforts. The focus of relief will soon shift from treating the wounded survivors to embarking on the long slog of rebuilding a collapsed city. We get an update on the overall situation there and then we examine how other cities dealt with reconstruction challenges after a disaster like this.

We've gotten many, many calls and email messages this week from you, our listeners, about the special election in Massachusetts, the chances for national health care reform and yesterday's Supreme Court ruling.

This week in Washington has been all about the F word you can say on the air: 'Filibuster.'

The election of Republican Scott Brown as Massachusetts' new junior senator on Tuesday night sent shock waves through Washington. Politicians of on both sides of the aisle flocked to microphones to give their takes on the future of health care reform now that the Democrats no longer have the Senate 60 votes needed to avoid a filibuster. But how did we come to expect a 59-vote majority as a bad thing? We look at the history of the supermajority.

 

Yesterday we talked about some technological innovations that can help in emergency situations. Doctors Without Borders is bringing its own innovations to Haiti right now: Like the inflatable field hospital that is expected to arrive in the country today. We hear how the organization is treating the survivors of the Haiti earthquake with Sophie Delauney, executive director of Doctors Without Borders in the United States.

Yesterday, The Haitian Red Cross released its first estimate of the death toll after Tuesday's earthquake. It said between 45,000 and 50,000 people might have died. As the body count rises, relief efforts are intensifying. President Obama promised $100 million and more than 5,000 soldiers and marines, but the aid workers are facing many obstacles reaching the victims.

The CEOs of the country's major banks came under a grilling yesterday, as the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission kicked off hearings on the causes of last year's economic meltdown. We get reaction from Elizabeth Warren, who heads the group charged with overseeing the U.S. banking bailout, the Congressional Oversight Panel. 

After four years of service, Spc. Marc Hall hoped he would be out of the Army by February, when his term was supposed to end. But he was told last fall that we will be kept in the military ranks for a yearlong tour in Iraq. That's when he wrote a hip-hop song blasting the Army and its "stop loss" policy and describing himself going on a shooting spree.

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission kicked off hearings yesterday. Banks CEOs were the first ones to testify, and the debate heated up very quickly.

 

The 2008 race to the White House has been documented more thoroughly than any other. It kept bloggers, commentators, humorists busy on a daily basis for almost two years. So you might think you’ve heard it all. But two veteran political reporters say you haven’t.

Yesterday we heard some strong arguments against the very structure of bank bonuses from economics professor Dan Ariely. Today we hear from someone who represents the financial services industry to explain why bonuses are used.

The Democratic Party found out this week that two of its stars will be setting: Senators Christopher Dodd from Connecticut and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota – who’ve served a combined ...

The botched Christmas Day terror attack was only the latest blow for an already-hurting airline industry. Before that, there was the recession, which brought smaller travel budgets fo...

Winter Weather: Bo Herndon, vegetable grower from Toombs County, Georgia, and president of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association,  talks about the potentially devasta...

Two of the men behind an al-Qaida plot to blow up a Northwest Airlines jet over Detroit on Christmas Day were well known by U.S. and Saudi officials: They had both previously been det...

At last week's White House Jobs Summit, small business owners from across the country pressed President Obama on dozens of issues related to the economic downturn. Credit, though, was...

We're talking about the costs of caring for Grandma, and whether they're going to get any cheaper with health care reform. The CLASS ACT – short for 'Community Living Assistance Servi...

The world-famous New York City Marathon will celebrate its 40th anniversary this weekend.