Melissa Block

Information tracked by educational software can be of great help to teachers. But as Politico's Stephanie Simon explains, private companies can also monetize the data by selling it to marketers.

Herb Jeffries was the first singing star of all-black cowboy movies in the late 1930s, which garnered him the nickname the "Bronze Buckeroo." He died Sunday in California, at age 100.

Scott Gold, senior writer for The Los Angeles Times discusses Elliot Rodger, the man who police say went on a stabbing and shooting rampage in Isla Vista, Calif., last week before killing himself.

The federal Medicare program for the elderly and disabled will cover two new drugs that can cure hepatitis C, a liver disease that can cause cancer and lead to death. The drugs are ve...

The New York Times has announced that Dean Baquet, the paper's managing editor, will replace Jill Abramson as the executive editor. Both Abramson and Baquet were named to their current jobs in 2011.

In Tucson, Ariz., a man set to be deported has taken sanctuary in a church. Immigrant rights activists are hailing the move as a new way to fight the Obama administration's deportation policies.

Stanford says it will its divest holdings in coal companies over climate change concerns. It's the most prominent of the roughly one dozen colleges that have decided to sell off fossil fuel holdings.

For more on the effort to rescue the abducted Nigerian girls, Melissa Block speaks with Richard Downie, the deputy director of the Africa Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Three states go to the polls Tuesday, starting what will be an eight-week stretch of primaries in the U.S. For a look at the intra-party political landscape, NPR's Charlie Mahtesian has this overview.

Ryan Beitz has a goal: Collect every VHS copy of the movie Speed known to man. He has over 500 of them now, he says. But the man pushes on, scouring the earth for more.

The Israeli government suspended peace talks with Palestinians, citing a unity agreement announced Wednesday by Palestinian leadership. The Israeli security cabinet came to the decisi...

Mike Lazer-Walker created a free browser plug-in called Literally, which replaces the word "literally" with "figuratively" in all online text. As the website explains, that's literally all it does.

To mark the 50th anniversary of the 1964 New York World's Fair, we turn back to some predictions that The New York Times commissioned Isaac Asimov to make on the occasion. He got many things right.

Lyndon Johnson taught in the South Texas town of Cotulla in 1928. Even as president, he always remembered the grinding poverty of his students.

Audie Cornish and Melissa Block read letters from listeners about repetition in music and what to call Ukraine.

The boom has brought unexpected prosperity — and many new problems — to Cotulla. It's in the heart of the Eagle Ford Shale area, which has quickly become the nation's No. 2 oil-producing region.

A geopolitical language lesson: It's correct to say Ukraine — not the Ukraine. Those three letters make a big difference, and we explain why.

Melissa Block and Audie Cornish read letters from listeners about the demands made on students and student-athletes in college.

The Kentucky Wildcats and the Connecticut Huskies take the court in Monday's NCAA men's college basketball final. NPR's Tom Goldman talks to Melissa Block about what to watch for in the game.

In Killeen, Texas, another mass shooting had some asking, "Again?" The flags flew at half staff as the community began to pick up the pieces.