The second installment in the Lord of the Rings story opens in movie theaters Wednesday. Frodo and Gandalf are back in The Two Towers, and NPR's Bob Mondello has a review.
Bob Mondello, who jokes that he was a jinx at the beginning of his critical career — hired to write for every small paper that ever folded in Washington, just as it was about to collapse — saw that jinx broken in 1984 when he came to NPR.
Four nonprofits joined a federal lawsuit to protect people in Texas prisons from the heat. It's one of several attempts over the years to address this issue, but efforts haven't gotten much traction.
Forecasters say most of the U.S. is set to have a hotter summer, and 2024 will be one of the five hottest years ever recorded. Meanwhile, hot water in the Atlantic means more fuel for hurricanes.
Author Kazuo Ishiguro and jazz singer Stacey Kent turned a friendship into a songwriting collaboration. Sixteen lyrics have been compiled in a new book The Summer We Crossed Europe in the Rain.