'Darkhorse' Battalion And The Afghan War
2:40 pm
Mon October 31, 2011

An Afghan Hell On Earth For 'Darkhorse' Marines

Originally published on Fri November 4, 2011 4:55 pm

A year ago, nearly 1,000 U.S. Marine officers and enlisted men of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Regiment deployed to restive Helmand province in southern Afghanistan. By the time their tour ended in April 2011, the Marines of the 3/5 — known as "Darkhorse" — suffered the highest casualty rate of any Marine unit during the past 10 years of war. This week, NPR tells the story of this unit's seven long months at war — both in Afghanistan and back home.

Second of seven parts

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The Two-Way
2:40 pm
Mon October 31, 2011

Tom Keith, 'A Prairie Home Companion's' Sound Guy, Has Died

Credit A Prairie Home Companion / via Facebook

Tom Keith.

Tom Keith, who fans of A Prairie Home Companion knew as the show's sound guy, passed away Sunday, after collapsing at his Minnesota home. He was 64.

Minnesota Public Radio, which produces APHC along with American Public Media, reports that Keith started his relationship with host Garrison Keillor in 1976, when the two worked on MPR's Morning Show.

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Herman Cain
2:34 pm
Mon October 31, 2011

Experts Doubt Cain's Response To Harassment Report

Credit Win McNamee / Getty Images

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain speaks at the National Press Club on Monday.

Republican presidential front-runner Herman Cain has stumbled before, and on big issues ranging from his position on legal abortion to the effects of his radical flat tax plan on the poor and middle class.

But his response to a Politico report that he faced two sexual harassment complaints that were settled with cash payments more than a decade ago presents a new kind of threat to his cometlike ascendancy in the Republican race.

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Latin America
2:16 pm
Mon October 31, 2011

In Cuba, A Used Car Is No Bargain

Originally published on Mon October 31, 2011 4:51 pm

What may be the most expensive Honda Civic in the world can be found in Havana. There's nothing especially luxurious about the car: It's a red 2005 model, with 60,000 miles on the odometer.

But what is special about this Civic is that there are few like it on the supply side of Cuba's used car market. And that's why Acela Claro says she's had plenty of interest, even though she's offering it for $65,000.

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Politics
2:12 pm
Mon October 31, 2011

Ohio Voters To Decide Union Law's Fate

Credit J.D. Pooley / Getty Images

State Sen. Shannon Jones, who introduced Senate Bill 5, argues that if pay and benefits for government workers can be held down, schools and cities can avoid cutbacks.

Earlier this year, Wisconsin received lots of attention after passing a law slashing the power of public employee unions.

But soon after, Ohio legislators went even further.

In March, Gov. John Kasich and Republican lawmakers pushed a sweeping plan to slash union negotiating clout. It would ban strikes by all of Ohio's 350,000 government workers, require all public employees to pay at least 15 percent of their health care premiums, and use merit to decide pay and layoffs.

Now, Ohio is getting attention because voters there will decide that law's fate on Nov. 8.

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Presidential Race
2:00 pm
Mon October 31, 2011

Cain Responds To Harassment Allegations

Businessman Herman Cain recently entered the top tier of Republican presidential candidates. A story published Sunday evening by Politico alleges that Cain harassed two female employees when he ran the National Restaurant Association in the 1990s. On Monday, Cain appeared at two public events, a discussion of his 9-9-9 tax plan at the American Enterprise Institute as well as a speech and Q-and-A session at the National Press Club.

Monkey See
1:50 pm
Mon October 31, 2011

John Hodgman And Robert Siegel Consider 'All' Things, Some Of Them Rather Dubious

Credit Brantley Gutierrez

"I could be wrong, you know:" John Hodgman notes that while his book That Is All is intensely concerned with "the coming global superpocalypse," it also contains much information about travel and sports and wine, and is "not depressing."

Originally published on Mon October 31, 2011 4:51 pm

If there's anything guaranteed to lift the heart of an NPR nerd, it's the sound of All Things Considered's Robert Siegel losing his composure. This is a news anchor, after all, who can deliver the song title "Party 'Til You Puke" with all the gravity of a president announcing the death of a hero. (No, really. This happened.)

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World Cafe
1:42 pm
Mon October 31, 2011

T-Bone Burnett On World Cafe

Credit Lee Celano / AFP/Getty Images

T Bone Burnett holds two trophies, one for Producer of the Year, at the Grammy Awards in 2002.

Originally published on Mon May 21, 2012 1:18 pm

Legendary singer-songwriter and folk-rock pioneer T-Bone Burnett is known for his captivating solo material, but also for his role as a legendary producer of records by everyone from Roy Orbison to actor Jeff Bridges. In a new interview on World Cafe, Burnett sits down with host David Dye to reflect on some of his most famous projects.

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The Two-Way
1:35 pm
Mon October 31, 2011

Steve Jobs And His Last Words

Credit Peter Macdiarmid / Getty Images

A photographer uses his iPhone to take a picture of a tribute to Apple co-founder Steve Jobs in front of an Apple store in London.

There's been plenty written about Steve Jobs since his death. But, yesterday, The New York Times published a eulogy delivered at a memorial service by his sister, the novelist Mona Simpson.

It's lovely to say the least and there are lots of little nuggets about Jobs and his relationship to his family and Jobs as a devotee of love and beauty. But the thing the Web is buzzing about today is what Simpson said were his last words:

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