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By Mapping Oceans, Scientists Identify Areas Most In Need Of Protection

A team of marine scientists are on a mission to preserve biodiversity in oceans around the world. To do it, they need accurate maps that will help them identify areas in need of protection. There are several ongoing projects to create these maps. But they’re led by different groups, using different methods that can produce conflicting results.




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3-2-1...Liftoff! Lab Mice Head For Space On A Monthlong Science Mission

A group of genetically engineered super-strong mice from Connecticut are headed to space. Their mission? Study a new therapy to prevent muscle loss.




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Study Offers A Mixed Bag For Opioid Users Taking Benzos

Benzodiazepines are some of the most commonly prescribed medications in the country, often used to treat anxiety. But a new study warns that taking benzodiazepines can be both helpful and risky for those with opioid use disorder.




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New Spinal Muscular Atrophy Screening For Connecticut Infants

Connecticut’s public health laboratory has begun screening newborn babies for a genetic disorder called spinal muscular atrophy.




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General Assembly Committee Approves $43 Billion Biennial Budget

The Connecticut General Assembly Appropriations Committee approved a $43.3 billion two-year state budget proposal on Tuesday. It sets the stage for final budget negotiations in June with Democratic Governor Ned Lamont.




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Tensions Rise Between Lamont And Lawmakers Over State Finances

Some of the bills passed by Connecticut lawmakers in committee this week challenge Governor Ned Lamont’s control of state finances, which could lead to testy budget negotiations with the governor in coming days.




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Connecticut Spent $63 Million To Settle Lawsuits

Officials say Connecticut paid $63 million to settle lawsuits last year. Nearly three-quarters of the money went to settle one case.




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Eighth New York State Senator Announces Departure After 2020

Senator Rich Funke of Rochester is the latest Republican lawmaker to announce he will not seek reelection. Funke joins a growing list of seven other minority party GOP senators who say they are moving on to other things, after less than a year under Democratic rule in the Senate.




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What Recent College Graduates Are Going Through During The Pandemic

NPR's education reporter talks about what graduating seniors are going through right now as the colleges are closed due to the pandemic and answers their questions.




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Public Health Experts Say Many States Are Opening Too Soon To Do So Safely

As of Friday in Texas, you can go to a tanning salon. In Indiana, houses of worship are being allowed to open with no cap on attendance. Places like Pennsylvania are taking a more cautious approach, only starting to ease restrictions in some counties based on the number of COVID-19 cases. By Monday, at least 31 states will have partially reopened after seven weeks of restrictions. The moves come as President Trump pushes for the country to get back to work despite public health experts warning that it's too soon. "The early lesson that was learned, really, we learned from the island of Hokkaido in Japan, where they did a really good job of controlling the initial phase of the outbreak," said Bob Bednarczyk, assistant professor of global health and epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University in Atlanta. Because of that success, many of the restrictions on the island were lifted. But cases and deaths surged in a second wave of infections. Twenty-six days later




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COMIC: Hospitals Turn To Alicia Keys, U2 And The Beatles To Sing Patients Home

Dr. Grace Farris is chief of hospital medicine at Mount Sinai West in Manhattan. She also writes a monthly comics column in the Annals of Internal Medicine called "Dr Mom." You can find her on Instagram @coupdegracefarris . Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.




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Reopening After COVID: The 3 Phases Recommended By The White House

President Trump wants states to begin relaxing stay-at-home orders and reopen businesses after the spread of the coronavirus pummeled the global economy and killed millions of jobs. The White House coronavirus task force released guidelines on April 16 to encourage state governors to adopt a phased approach to lifting restrictions across the country. Some states have moved ahead without meeting the criteria . The task force rejected a set of additional detailed draft recommendations for schools, restaurants, churches and mass transit systems from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that it considered " overly prescriptive ." A number of states have already begun to lift restrictions, allowing for businesses including hair salons, diners and tattoo parlors to once again begin accepting customers. Health experts have warned that reopening too quickly could result in a potential rebound in cases. States are supposed to wait to begin lifting any restrictions until they have a 14




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Top 5 Moments From The Supreme Court's 1st Week Of Livestreaming Arguments

For the first time in its 231-year history, the Supreme Court justices heard oral arguments remotely by phone and made the audio available live. The new setup went off largely without difficulties, but produced some memorable moments, including one justice forgetting to unmute and an ill-timed bathroom break. Here are the top five can't-miss moments from this week's history-making oral arguments. A second week of arguments begin on Monday at 10 a.m. ET. Here's a rundown of the cases and how to listen. 1. Justice Clarence Thomas speaks ... a lot Supreme Court oral arguments are verbal jousting matches. The justices pepper the lawyers with questions, interrupting counsel repeatedly and sometimes even interrupting each other. Justice Clarence Thomas, who has sat on the bench for nearly 30 years, has made his dislike of the chaotic process well known, at one point not asking a question for a full decade. But with no line of sight, the telephone arguments have to be rigidly organized, and




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Opinion: Endangered Bird Couple Returns To Chicago's Shore

Monty and Rose met last year on a beach on the north side of Chicago. Their attraction was intense, immediate, and you might say, fruitful. Somewhere between the roll of lake waves and the shimmer of skyscrapers overlooking the beach, Monty and Rose fledged two chicks. They protected their offspring through formative times. But then, in fulfillment of nature's plan, they parted ways, and left the chicks to make their own ways in the world. Monty and Rose are piping plovers, an endangered species of bird of which there may only be 6,000 or 7,000 in the world, including Monty, Rose and their chicks. They were the first piping plovers to nest in Chicago in more than 60 years. After their chicks fledged, they drifted apart. Rose went off to Florida for the winter, and Monty made his way to the Texas coast. They'd always have the North Side, but were each on their own in a huge, fraught world. And then, just a few days ago, Monty and Rose were sighted again, on the same patch of sand on




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Pandemic Gardens Satisfy A Hunger For More Than Just Good Tomatoes

In this time of fear and uncertainty, people are going back to the land — more or less. Gardening might just be overtaking sourdough baking, TV binging and playing Animal Crossing as our favorite pandemic coping mechanism So here I am in my back yard, where I've got this lovely four foot by eight food raised garden bed — brand new this year, because yes, I'm one of those people who are trying their hand at gardening. I've got tomatoes, I've got cucumbers, I've got radishes, I've got beets sprouting up, I've got what I think might be a zucchini and a spaghetti squash, but the markers washed away in a storm. And I had some watermelon seedlings, but they died in the last cold snap. So that's why I'm out here today — driving in stakes and draping plastic wrap for the next cold snap. I have to be extra careful now, because I couldn't actually replace my watermelon seedlings — garden centers and hardware stores have been picked clean. Jennifer Atkinson is a senior lecturer in environmental




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Women Bear The Brunt Of Coronavirus Job Losses

Very briefly, at the end of 2019 and the start of 2020, there were slightly more women on American nonfarm payrolls than men. That's no longer true. The historically disastrous April jobs report shows that the brunt of job losses fell on women. Women now account for around just under half — 49% — of American workers, and they accounted for 55% of the increase in job losses last month. One way of looking at why that matters that is to look at the gap that opened up between women's and men's unemployment last month. The below chart shows women's unemployment rate minus men's unemployment rate since 2007. Usually, the line bumps around near or just below zero — meaning men's unemployment is usually near or slightly higher than women's. But that spike on the far right shows how women's unemployment leapt to be 2.7 points higher than men's in April. Women had an unemployment rate of 16.2% to men's 13.5% last month. That's uncommon for a recession. The below chart is a longer view, and the




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Little Richard, The 'King And Queen' Of Rock And Roll, Dead At 87

Updated at 1:55 p.m. ET Little Richard, the self-described "king and queen" of rock and roll and an outsize influence on everyone from David Bowie to Prince, died Saturday. He was 87 years old. Wayne Chaney, his longtime bandleader and tour manager, tells NPR that Little Richard died at his brother's home in Tullahoma, Tenn., after a battle with cancer. Rolling Stone was the first to report on his death. With his ferocious piano playing, growling and gospel-strong vocals, pancake makeup and outlandish costumes, Little Richard tore down barriers starting in the 1950s. That is no small feat for any artist — let alone a black, openly gay man who grew up in the South. He was a force of nature who outlived many of the musicians he inspired, from Otis Redding to the late Prince and Michael Jackson. His peers James Brown and Otis Redding idolized him. Jimi Hendrix, who once played in Little Richard's band, said he wanted his guitar to sound like Richard's voice. The late David Bowie was 9




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Domestic Violence Shelters May See Surge Once COVID-19 Lockdown Is Lifted

Police are responding to an increased number of domestic violence calls during the coronavirus pandemic. An increase had been expected because many women have to shelter-in-place with their abusers. Shelters had prepared for an increase in service requests, but those calls aren't coming as frequently as anticipated. As WEMU'S David Fair found out from Safehouse Center executive director Barbara Niess-May, that is worrisome for a number of reasons.




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Issues Of The Environment: Washtenaw County Flood Greater In 2020

It's been forecast that this spring will be quite wet. That could bring flooding to portions of Washtenaw County. Washtenaw County Water Resources Commissioner Evan Pratt joined WEMU's David Fair to discuss planning for such issues and the proactive nature of work already underway on this week's "Issues of the Environment."




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#OTGYpsi: Sense Of Community And Encouragement Grows Out Of Ypsilanti COVID-19 Photo Project

It's safe to say that the COVID-19 crisis will be more than a footnote in world history. In fact, a new initiative is underway to see that this moment in time will be never be forgotten and that "we're all in this together." For this week's "On the Ground-Ypsi," WEMU's Lisa Barry and Concentrate Media's Sarah Rigg talk to local historian Kim Clarke about the "Ypsilanti Coronavirus Digital Archive," a new photo project designed to preserve memories of everyday life during the pandemic.




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WISD Expecting Decreased Revenue

The Washtenaw Intermediate School District expects to receive less state revenue sharing this year as a result of COVID-19.




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Michigan Republicans Sue Whitmer Over Emergency Powers

The Legislature ’s Republican leaders are suing Governor Gretchen Whitmer . They say she’s exceeded her emergency authority to deal with the COVID-19 health crisis and violated the state constitution . We have more from Rick Pluta.




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Ann Arbor Art Fair Cancelled This Year Due To Current Global Health Crisis

Saying it would be “impractical and implausable to maintain social distancing” due to COVID-19, the Ann Arbor Summer Art Fair has been cancelled this year, July 2020. WEMU's Lisa Barry talks with Maureen Riley, the executive director of the Ann Arbor Art Fair-The Original, about all that went into making the very difficult decision to cancel the annual Ann Arbor Art Fair.




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Washtenaw County Commissioners Approve Hazard Pay

The Washtenaw County Board of Commissioners has approved hazard pay for some of the county’s first responders as a result of COVID-19.




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TheRide Implements Additional Safety Measures During COVID-19

Additional safety measures are being implemented to help protect public transit users from COVID-19.




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State Senator Jeff Irwin Proposes Switching Michigan To A Vote-By-Mail System

State Senator Jeff Irwin wants all future elections to be done entirely with absentee ballots.




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Dingell Supports Slow Start To Reopening The Economy

Governor Gretchen Whitmer has extended her stay-at-home order through the end of May, while introducing a multi-step plan to get Michigan's economy going again. 12th District Representative Debbie Dingell expressed her optimism to WEMU for a safe start to the process while calling for more bi-partisan efforts to support those in need.




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EMU Planning To Have Students Back On Campus For Fall

Eastern Michigan University released information regarding its planning process for the Fall 2020 semester.




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Former Presidents Bush and Obama Eulogize John McCain

Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit SCOTT SIMON, HOST: Memorial services are underway, as we speak, for Senator John McCain at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. Meghan McCain spoke urgently and passionately about the legacy of her father. We're joined by Ron Elving. He's NPR's senior editor and correspondent on the Washington Desk. Ron, thanks for being with us. RON ELVING, BYLINE: Good to be with you, Scott. SIMON: And NPR's Kelsey Snell is outside of the cathedral. Kelsey, can you hear us? KELSEY SNELL, BYLINE: Yes, I can. SIMON: Henry Kissinger is speaking at the moment. We've also heard from Senator Joe Lieberman. Let me ask you both about the remarks made by Meghan McCain - deeply personal eulogy, deeply personal memories of her father and reaction but also some very pointed things to say with political smack, if I might put it that way. Ron and Kelsey, let me just quote one. She said, "we gather here to mourn the passing of American greatness, the real thing, not




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Emma Thompson On 'The Children Act'

Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit SCOTT SIMON, HOST: In the film "The Children Act," Emma Thompson plays Fiona Maye, a High Court justice who's palpably brilliant and accomplished but also contends with conflicting morals and her own unraveling marriage. She's asked to rule on if a 17-year-old boy who was a Jehovah's Witness should be compelled to receive blood transfusions even though it conflicts with his faith. The justice decides on seaming impulse to see him in the hospital. (SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE CHILDREN'S ACT") EMMA THOMPSON: (As Fiona Maye) Should we let you do yourself in? Somehow, I've got to decide. FIONN WHITEHEAD: (As Adam Henry) I think it's my choice. THOMPSON: (As Fiona Maye) I'm afraid the law doesn't agree. WHITEHEAD: (As Adam Henry) The law is an ass. THOMPSON: (As Fiona Maye) So they say. SIMON: "The Children Act" is written by Ian McEwan based on his novel. It also stars Stanley Tucci and Fionn Whitehead. And Emma Thompson, who this year became a Dame




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Saturday Sports: End Of Baseball Season

Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) SCOTT SIMON, HOST: And to the uplifting notes of B.J. Leiderman, who writes our theme music, Major League Baseball is headed into the final weeks of the regular season. Mercy, is there a race in the NL Central. Howard Bryant of ESPN and espn.com joins us. Howard, thanks for being with us. HOWARD BRYANT, BYLINE: Good morning, Scott. SIMON: Oh, it is a good morning. The Cubs defeated the Reds - I mean the Cincinnati baseball team, not the KGB - 3-2. The Brewers defeated the Pirates 7-2. The Dodgers defeated the Cards 3-0. This put the Cubs a game and a half above the Brew Crew (ph) and five ahead of the Cards. These are three very worthy teams, aren't they? BRYANT: You know what, Scott? We talk so much this year about the president, and we talk about the NFL when we talk about Colin Kaepernick, and we talk about Serena and we talk about all of these things, but this has been such an underrated baseball season. And this is my




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First Debate Held In Surprisingly Close Texas Senate Race

Copyright 2018 KERA. To see more, visit KERA . SCOTT SIMON, HOST: In Texas, a race that no one expected to be this competitive. The candidates for Texas Senate battled in a debate last night. KERA's Christopher Connelly reports from Dallas. CHRISTOPHER CONNELLY, BYLINE: It was a scene that feels kind of rare in American politics these days. Two guys with diametrically opposed opinions lobbing barbed policy prescriptions back-and-forth without any name calling. Senator Ted Cruz and Congressman Beto O'Rourke were forceful and civil - mostly. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING) BETO O'ROURKE: You just said something that I did not say... TED CRUZ: What did you not say? O'ROURKE: ...And attributed it to me. CRUZ: What did you not say? O'ROURKE: I'm not going to repeat the slander and the mischaracterization. CRUZ: So what did you say? What did you say? O'ROURKE: I'm not going to repeat the slander and mischaracterization. CRUZ: You're not going to say what you did say? CONNELLY: Ted Cruz is




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Saturday Sports: Free Agents In The NFL, The Patriots, Tiger Woods

Copyright 2018 NPR. To see more, visit SCOTT SIMON, HOST: Finally, time for sports. (SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC) SIMON: The NFL suddenly powered by free agents. Are the Pats running out of gas? And the return of the Tiger (imitating tiger roar). Joined now by NPR sports correspondent Tom Goldman, who's somewhere in Minnesota - actually, Minneapolis. He's pretty easy to find. Tom, thanks so much for being with us. TOM GOLDMAN, BYLINE: Always a pleasure, Scott. How are you? SIMON: I'm fine, thanks. A little over three weeks into the season. Free agents are getting contracts. Among them, let me ask you about safety Eric Reid. This was kind of a surprise, yes. GOLDMAN: Sure is. And it is not just any free agent signing. Eric Reid, former San Francisco teammate of Colin Kaepernick's. He followed Kaepernick's lead and was the second player to take a knee during the national anthem protests. And he also filed a collusion grievance against the NFL, like Kaepernick, after he wasn't signed as a free




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Phoenix Residents Respond To Flake And Kavanaugh

Copyright 2018 KJZZ. To see more, visit KJZZ . SCOTT SIMON, HOST: Jeff Flake and Rachel Mitchell, of course, are two of the featured players in this week's emotional and contentious back-and-forth over the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh. They both happened to be from Arizona. Will Stone of member station KJZZ took to the streets of Phoenix and Tempe to find out what Arizonans are thinking. WILL STONE, BYLINE: Lorraine Pellegrino had no qualms with how Republicans handled Judge Kavanaugh's contentious hearing with his accuser, Dr. Christine Blasey Ford. LORRAINE PELLEGRINO: We as a party have been extremely accommodating and sensitive. STONE: Pellegrino was not the only one at the fall meeting of her organization, the Arizona Federation of Republican Women, who felt that way. She is proud of how the GOP has handled the confirmation hearings. PELLEGRINO: Including what the special... UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: The prosecutor... PELLEGRINO: ...Prosecutor... UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: ...Did a




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"Hammer" - cast: Mark O'Brien, Will Patton, Ben Cotton

Release date : TBA 2020
Synopsis : A father faces a personal crisis when he discovers his estranged son fleeing a botched drug deal. The two men ...




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"Da 5 Bloods" - cast: Chadwick Boseman, Delroy Lindo, Jean Reno, Jonathan Majors, Paul Walter Hauser, Clarke Peters, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Norm Lewis, Melanie Thierry, Jasper Paakkonen

Release date : TBA 2020
Synopsis : The film follows Vietnam veterans who return to the jungle to find their lost innocence. Searching for the remains of ...




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"Sweetness in the Belly" - cast: Dakota Fanning, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, Kunal Nayyar, Wunmi Mosaku, Peter Bankole

Release date : TBA 2020
Synopsis : Lilly Abdal (Dakota Fanning) was orphaned in Africa as a child and experiences her parents' homeland of England for the ...




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"Babyteeth" - cast: Eliza Scanlen, Toby Wallace, Emily Barclay, Eugene Gilfedder, Ben Mendelsohn, Essie Davis, Andrea Demetriades, Charles Grounds, Justin Smith, Arka Das, Priscilla Doueihy, Zack Grech, Georgina Symes, Jack Yabsley

Release date : June 19, 2020
Synopsis : When seriously ill teenager Milla (Eliza Scanlen) falls madly in love with smalltime drug dealer Moses (Toby Wallace), it's her ...




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"The King of Staten Island" - cast: Pete Davidson, Marisa Tomei, Bill Burr, Bel Powley, Maude Apatow, Steve Buscemi, Pamela Adlon, Machine Gun Kelly, Jimmy Tatro, Ricky Velez, Kevin Corrigan, Domenick Lombardozzi, Mike Vecchione, Moises Arias,

Release date : June 12, 2020
Synopsis : Scott (Pete Davidson) has been a case of arrested development ever since his firefighter father died when he was seven. ...




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Kelly Rowland Blames Album Delay on Her Own Incompetence

The former Destiny's Child member admits she's inept at using music software so she's not as productive as she wanted to be during the ongoing coronavirus lockdown.




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Mark Ronson Enlists Miley Cyrus and Dua Lipa for Video Mixtape

The 'Uptown Funk' hitmaker announces live performances by a series of musicians for a new lockdown livestream event which he describes as a video mixtape.




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Shawn Mendes, Beyonce, Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande Among Winners at Virtual Kids' Choice Awards

The complete winners for the 2020 Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards have been announced at an online event which is hosted by 'Victorious' actress Victoria Justice.




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Camila Cabello Joins All In Challenge With Offer of Cameo Appearance in Music Video

Pearl Jam, in the meantime, takes part in the viral challenge by proposing to fans a chance to write their future setlist and be Eddie Vedder's personal guitar technician.




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Demi Lovato Pushes Scooter Braun to Make Tori Kelly Duet Happen

During a chat on Instagram Live, the 'I Love Me' singer and the 'American Idol' alum decide to show off their powerful vocals by performing an a capella duet of her 2016 single 'Stone Cold'.




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French Montana Demands Royalty From Swae Lee's 'Powerglide'

In a new interview, the 'Lockjaw' hitmaker also calls out the Rae Sremmurd member for putting out the sequel of his hit record 'Unforgettable' without including him.




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Guns N' Roses' 'Sweet Child O' Mine' Turned Into Children's Book

The book inspired by the daughter and niece of the band's manager and authored by James Patterson is expected to use lyrics of the rock group's classic single.




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JoJo Assigns Mother to Lighting Duty When Shooting Sensual Music Video for 'Comeback'

Aside from sharing the behind-the-scenes story, the 'Leave (Get Out)' singer promotes her new song featuring Tory Lanez and 30 Roc as one that oozes the 'sexy time playlist' vibe.




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Episode 1: Listening

In episode one, host Will McInerney talks with Farris Barakat about the night his brother Deah was killed along with Deah's wife Yusor Abu-Salha and sister-in-law Razan Abu-Salha. All three Muslim-Americans were shot execution style in their home. Subscribe to this Podcast Stories with a Heartbeat is a new WUNC podcast about the human condition in conflict. Host Will McInerney is an award-winning poet who travels the globe exploring conflict and what it says about us as people. This podcast weaves together interviews, sound, music and poetic reflection into 15 minutes that will pull listeners in and encourage them to explore friction. "Along the journey, I discovered that conflict is a prism; a window into the human condition. In conflict we see the full spectrum, from the unthinkably worst to the absolute best, from resilience to despair, and from life to death," McInerney says. "So what happens when we break down the simplified and dehumanized narratives we so often hear? What




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Episode 7: Seven Poems for Pulse

Seven poets from across the US share new works written and posted to Facebook within one day of the recent mass shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando . These poems are raw, personal, and earnest. In the wake of such horrific violence, host Will McInerney passes the mic to seven writers to help us understand what happened at the Pulse nightclub on June 12th . When the country is collectively at a loss for words, sometimes poets can help us find them. Subscribe to this Podcast




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WCBE's Random Acts of Kindness Journal - Alison's Adventures

During the WCBE spring fund drive the staff was so inspired by your responses that we promised to each do five random acts of kindness in your honor. Coming up with ideas wasn’t hard, and putting them into action was even easier. In fact, I realized there were different categories of RAK. Some of the things I did in your name were not-so-random; every week when I do my grocery shopping now, I spend $5-10 on food for the free Little Pantry in my neighborhood, to provide a snack or an extra meal for someone who needs it. Some were practical, like taking cat litter and a dozen cans of prescription food to the folks at Cat Welfare. Some were more… whimsical. I used scraps of old sweaters to make a dozen or so little monsters – then scattered them around the children’s sections of two different libraries. Some of the best RAKs, the ones that make people smile, are small, spontaneous gestures. In the course of this challenge to myself, I realized how many opportunities there are in a day for