Tell Me More

Tattoos Still Taboo?

editor — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:40:00 +0000

America has a love/hate relationship with tattoos, but body ink is becoming more and more mainstream. Host Michel Martin speaks with Fatty, the owner of Fatty's Custom Tattooz in Washington, D.C, about America's fascination with tattoos, and the fading cultural taboos.

Styling The NBA

editor — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:35:00 +0000

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

I'm Michel Martin and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. For the end of our program today, we want to talk about two aspects of American style. In a few minutes, we're going to talk about tattoos. They used to be something you got when you went into the Army or to jail, but now they've gone mainstream. We'll talk with a leading tattoo artist about that in just a minute.

But first, we turn to another influential arena of American style where the rules are changing.

The Argument For Stop-And-Frisk

editor — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:35:00 +0000

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

I'm Michel Martin and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. Today, as you would expect, we are continuing to follow events in Moore, Oklahoma, where residents are recovering from the impact of a deadly tornado. We decided to call on leaders from Joplin, Missouri. Two years ago today that town was also hit. So we thought this would be a good time to check in on Joplin's recovery and see if there are any lessons Joplin residents can offer their neighbors.

But first we are going to go back to New York City.

Sandy Hook's Future: What's To Become Of The School?

editor — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:35:00 +0000

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Now we'd like to turn to a story that more than five months later is still painful. In the aftermath of the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary School last December, the Newtown, Connecticut community had many tough decisions to make. One of them was just what should happen to the elementary school where 26 people were killed.

Rich Harwood is the founder and president of the Harwood Institute for Public Innovation. That's a nonprofit group that facilitates community discussions.

Powerball? America Already Hit The Jackpot

editor — Wed, 22 May 2013 16:35:00 +0000

Finally today, I'm still thinking about that massive Powerball jackpot last weekend. That caused me to think about what's wrong with Powerball — the most important thing, of course, being the fact that I didn't win. You know you feel the same way. I'm sure I would have been a good winner. Like Oprah, I would use my powers for good and not evil. Like, I might buy a Bentley out of the showroom window, just to prove to myself that I could. But then I'd settle down and endow scholarships, and fix up blighted storefronts, and invest in local businesses.

The Difficulties Of Proving Racial Profiling

editor — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:02:00 +0000

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

I'm Michel Martin, and this is TELL ME MORE, from NPR News. We'd like to start today by mentioning that, as you would imagine, NPR is continuing to follow developments concerning that deadly tornado that struck Oklahoma yesterday. We hope you will stay tuned to your public radio station or check our website, npr.org, for the latest updates.

Now, though, we are going to turn to the debate about balancing safety and civil liberties in New York City.

Market At Record Highs, Why Is Investment At Record Lows?

editor — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:02:00 +0000

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

We're going to switch gears now and take another look at the stock market. Last week about the same time, we talked about how the Dow has been hitting record highs, but did you know that stock ownership in this country is at record lows? According to a recent Gallup poll, only about half of Americans, 52 percent, now own stocks. That's the lowest level since Gallup started tracking that number back in 1998.

We wondered what, if anything, that means, so we've called, once again, upon one of our money coaches, Roben Farzad.

My Social Security Number Is Posted Where?

editor — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:02:00 +0000

Sensitive personal information belonging to thousands of applicants to a government phone program was exposed to the public on the Internet, according to a new investigative report from Scripps Howard News Service.

The federal program is called Lifeline, and it reimburses phone companies for providing service to low-income Americans.

Scripps reporter Isaac Wolf says he was able to access more than 100,000 records from one of those private

Getting Rid Of My Breasts, A Lot Of People Didn't Understand

editor — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:02:00 +0000

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

I'm Michel Martin and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. They say it takes a village to raise a child, but maybe you just need a few moms in your corner. Every week, we check in with a diverse group of parents for their common sense and savvy advice.

Today, though, we are talking about a difficult decision that both mothers and daughters face, sometimes together.

Decades Of History Behind IRS Flap

editor — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:00:00 +0000

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

I'm Michel Martin, and this is TELL ME MORE, from NPR News. Coming up, when you think about poverty in this country, you might think about certain people living in certain places. It turns out that some of those old assumptions are wrong. For example, more poor people now live in the suburbs. We'll talk about why that is in just a few minutes.

But first, we want to turn to that big story about the Internal Revenue Service.