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All Things Considered

Monday - Friday, 3:00 p.m. – 6:30 p.m. on KUOW
Melissa Block and Robert Siegel

Hear KUOW and NPR award-winning hosts and reporters from around the globe present some of the nation's best reporting  of the day's events, interviews, analysis and reviews on All Things Considered.

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Music Interviews
10:53 am
Wed February 27, 2013

Richard Thompson: The Acoustics Behind 'Electric'

Credit Claire O'Neill / NPR
Richard Thompson performs live at the All Things Considered studio.
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Originally published on Wed February 27, 2013 3:03 pm

Guitar players will hear the pure, ringing tones conjured by 10 fingers that seem to be doing the work of 20 and say, "Oh, for sure — that's Richard Thompson."

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The Salt
9:19 am
Wed February 27, 2013

Germans Are Drinking Less Beer These Days, But Why?

Credit Johannes Simon / Getty Images
A waiter carries beer mugs during the 2012 Oktoberfest in Munich.
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Originally published on Wed February 27, 2013 2:57 pm

For centuries, Germany has been synonymous with beer. Tourists flock from around the world to take part in the country's many beer festivals, including the famous Oktoberfest.

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The Sequester: Cuts And Consequences
3:14 pm
Tue February 26, 2013

Advocates Warn Sequester Could Mean Big Cuts For The Low-Income

Credit John Moore / Getty Images
A nutrition specialist prepares a Meals on Wheels delivery in upstate New York. The national organization says the sequester could mean significant cuts in the number of meals they serve to homebound seniors.
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Originally published on Tue February 26, 2013 4:05 pm

Many programs affecting low-income Americans — like food stamps, Medicaid and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families — are exempt from across-the-board spending cuts set to go into effect March 1.

But many other programs are not, and that has service providers scrambling to figure out how the budget stalemate in Washington might affect those who rely on government aid.

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The Two-Way
2:24 pm
Tue February 26, 2013

Can U.S. Embassies Be Safe Without Being Unsightly?

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Credit Shaun Curry / AFP/Getty Images
The U.S. Embassy in central London in 2009.
Credit Shaun Curry / AFP/Getty Images
The current U.S. Embassy in central London was designed by Finnish-born American architect Eero Saarinen in 1960. Saarinen also designed the St. Louis Gateway Arch.
Credit Angelo Carconi / AP
An Italian security policeman checks the main entrance of the U.S. Embassy in downtown Rome in 2008, ahead of a visit by President George W. Bush. The embassy building is over 300 years old and was once the home to the first queen of Italy, Margherita.
Credit Joh MacDougall / AFP/Getty Images
View of the entrance to the U.S. Embassy in Berlin in 2009. The new building opened in 2008 and exemplifies the new design standard to maintain security without sacrificing beauty.
Credit Marco Ugarte / AP
A policeman stands in front of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City in 2008. This embassy was built in 1961 and is more in line with the fortress-style embassies.
Credit Sia Kambou / AFP/Getty Images
The U.S. Embassy in Bangui, the capital of the Central African Republic, was evacuated on Dec. 28, 2012, because of security concerns as the CAR government continues to combat rebels.
Credit Khaled Desouki / AFP/Getty Images
An Egyptian protester stands above the entry of the U.S. Embassy in Cairo on Sept. 11, 2012, during a demonstration against a film deemed offensive to Islam.
Credit Kieran Timberlake / U.S. Embassy
A rendering of the new U.S. Embassy in London that is expected to open in 2017. Susan Johnson describes it as a fortress that has been softened and feels more open.
Credit U.S. Department Of State
The embassy in Baghdad features a more fortresslike design.
Credit Teh Eng Koon / AFP/Getty Images
Local and foreign journalists visit the new U.S. Embassy in Beijing on Aug. 5, 2008. This massive embassy is the second-largest in the world after the heavily fortified compound in Baghdad.
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Originally published on Tue February 26, 2013 4:05 pm

There's been a tug of war between aesthetically pleasing and safe when it comes to American embassies around the world.

Many embassies have been slammed as bunkers, bland cubes and lifeless compounds. Even the new Secretary of State John Kerry said just a few years ago, "We are building some of the ugliest embassies I've ever seen."

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The Salt
1:27 pm
Tue February 26, 2013

Family Dinner: Treasured Tradition Or Bygone Ideal?

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Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
From left: 8-year-old Celedonia, 3-year-old Gavin, Amy Spencer and Doug Brown gather around the kitchen as Doug prepares a fruit salad for dinner.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
The Brown-Spencer family is made up of Brown's three daughters from a previous marriage, and Spencer's three children. To make cooking dinner manageable every night, each child is assigned a day to be a kitchen helper.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
Brown, who is the director of music at the Ginter Park Presbyterian Church, moved to a six-day workweek so that he can leave early on weekdays to meet his girls when they get home from school at 3 p.m.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
Laura, 6 (from left), Anna, 8, and Anita, 13, head out to the cul-de-sac to play before dinner. The kids get most of their exercise roller-skating, biking or playing ball after school.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
Brown checks his phone while his daughters Anita and Anna play on a swing set near their home.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
Brown makes dinner rolls while helping his seventh-grader, Anita, with math homework.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
"With the schedules of six kids and two adults, [dinner] has to be a priority or it just wouldn't happen," says Brown.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
Dinner at the Brown-Spencer house this evening is pasta carbonara with broccoli and fruit salad.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
Laura, Celedonia, Anna, Miriam and Anita reach for the bread basket.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
Celedonia (left) and Anita pick a few pieces of candy to add to their lunches. The house rule is that they can eat no more than two to three pieces a day.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
Anna, 8, practices the viola with her stepdad as her mother cleans up after dinner. All five of their daughters play an instrument and practice after dinner four nights a week.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
After dinner, Brown gets a moment to himself.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
Celedonia, 8, Gavin, 3, Spencer and Brown gather around the kitchen as Brown prepares a fruit salad for dinner.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
The Brown-Spencer family gathers for dinner at their home in Mechanicsville, Va. This family of eight manages to eat together nearly every weeknight, but they've had to cut back on many after-school activities to make it work. From left: Doug Brown, Laura, Celedonia, Anna, Miriam, Anita, Amy Spencer and Gavin.
Credit Maggie Starbard / NPR
Brown stops by the grocery story after work to pick up ingredients for a fruit salad that he plans to make for dinner.
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Originally published on Thu February 28, 2013 12:06 pm

When we asked you (via our Facebook page) to tell us about the weekday challenges your families face, given the competing demands of work, commutes, schoolwork and activities, you didn't hold back. Especially on the subject of squeezing in a family dinner.

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Middle East
1:08 pm
Tue February 26, 2013

Sanctions Bite, But Iran Shows No Signs Of Budging

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Credit Behrouz Mehri / AFP/Getty Images
An Iranian woman shops at a supermarket in the capital, Tehran, on Feb. 22. International sanctions have hurt Iran's economy, but prospects for a breakthrough on Iran's nuclear program are dim as negotiators meet in Kazakhstan.
Credit Abedin Taherkenareh / EPA/Landov
A view of fruit market in the northern Iranian city of Tonekabon.
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Originally published on Wed February 27, 2013 9:31 am

A new round of international talks on Iran's nuclear program is under way in Kazakhstan, where the U.S., Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany are asking Iran to give up any thought of building a nuclear weapon in exchange for relief from sanctions.

Western leaders do not predict a breakthrough, but they say small steps could be taken that would increase confidence on both sides.

Still, it's hard to imagine how such negotiations could proceed with lower expectations for progress.

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Shots - Health News
4:10 pm
Mon February 25, 2013

Governors' D.C. Summit Dominated By Medicaid And The Sequester

Credit Manuel Balce Ceneta / AP
Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad speaks during a panel discussion at the National Governors Association 2013 Winter Meeting in Washington, D.C.
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Originally published on Mon February 25, 2013 4:31 pm

When the nation's governors gathered in Washington, D.C., over the weekend for their annual winter meeting, the gathering's official theme was about efforts to hire people with disabilities.

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Economy
2:53 pm
Mon February 25, 2013

Too Soon To Blame Payroll Tax For Stagnant Retail Sales?

Credit Daniel Acker / Bloomberg via Getty Images
Wal-Mart is one of several large retailers that say an increase in the payroll tax may hurt U.S. sales in the months ahead.
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Originally published on Mon February 25, 2013 4:23 pm

For Darden Restaurants, the company behind Olive Garden and Red Lobster, its earnings projections out last week were not pretty. Sales will fall, it said, and company CEO Clarence Otis called higher payroll taxes a "headwind."

After a two-year tax break, the payroll tax, which funds Social Security payments, went back up to 6.2 percent on Jan. 1. The 2-percentage-point increase is an extra $80 a month in taxes for someone earning $50,000 a year.

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Remembrances
2:32 pm
Mon February 25, 2013

Koop Turned Surgeon General's Office Into Mighty Education Platform

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Originally published on Tue February 26, 2013 10:34 am

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

C. Everett Koop was the most outspoken and some would argue the most influential of all U.S. surgeon generals. [POST-BROADCAST CORRECTION: The correct plural form of the word is surgeons general.] He wore the uniform throughout most of the 1980s, and he turned an office with little power into a mighty platform - to educate Americans about AIDS prevention and the dangers of smoking.

C. Everett Koop died today at his home in Hanover, New Hampshire. He was 96. NPR's Joseph Shapiro looks back on his career.

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Shots - Health News
1:32 pm
Mon February 25, 2013

To Spot Kids Who Will Overcome Poverty, Look At Babies

Credit iStockphoto.com
For some kids who grow up in poverty, the bond developed with Mom is especially important in dealing with stress.
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Originally published on Wed February 27, 2013 3:25 am

Why do some children who grow up in poverty do well, while others struggle?

To understand more about this, a group of psychologists recently did a study.

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