Here and Now

The cherry on top to yesterday’s encouraging jobs report was a record close for the Dow Jones industrial average.

Derek Thompson, senior editor at the Atlantic talks to Here & Now’s Robin Young about what the record means in context, for the economy as a whole, and for the average American

Ben Franklin is arguably the most famous American ever. His youngest sister Jane is mostly lost to history. But a Harvard historian found her in the letters she and her brother exchanged over their long lives.

They were called Benny and Jenny, and Benny wrote more letters to Jenny than he did to anyone else. Most of his survive; many of her’s do not.

In today’s “On Stage” segment, we look at the art of storytelling, which has taken off in venues across the country.

We go to Orlando, Florida, and the Orlando Story Club. The club was co-founded by South African-born Robin Cowie, who has a background in bringing powerful stories to life as a former Hollywood producer. He helped launch the pseudo-reality horror genre as co-producer of the 1999 film, “The Blair Witch Project.”

Walter Dean Myers, the award-winning children’s book author and former ambassador for young people’s literature, died this week at the age of 76.

He was a longtime advocate of children’s reading. Earlier this year, he appeared on Here & Now with his son Christopher to discuss the lack of characters of color in children’s literature.

Our homes are becoming more and more connected. Thermostats, televisions, lights and appliances can all be controlled remotely by our smartphones, tablets and computers, with smart-home software.

But Gunter Ollman, chief technology officer of tech security firm IOActive, tells Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson that technology has not caught up to current security measures, and all this connectivity is leaving us vulnerable to hacking.

The German Parliament voted today to set the country’s first national minimum wage, 8.5 euros, which is $11.60 per hour. The new minimum wage will be phased in starting next year.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government supported the move at the insistence of her government coalition partners, the center-left Social Democrats. The minimum wage passed over arguments that it would hurt Germany’s economy, which is Europe’s largest.

The Fourth of July is almost upon us, and for many people that means two things: fireworks and grilling. Here & Now resident chef Kathy Gunst may not have pointers on the pyrotechnics, but she sure knows her way around a grill. Kathy’s special ingredient for burgers? Bacon. Lots and lots of bacon. She also shares recipes for a goat cheese crostada, vegetable kebabs, potato salad (with bacon or without) and corn relish:

There’s a dramatic recovery underway in the forests of New England. Red spruce, a tree that researchers once thought was doomed because of acid rain, is now growing faster than ever.

And it’s not the only tree growing like gangbusters. The story of the red spruce hints that with a changing climate, there will be species that are winners as well as losers.

From the Here & Now Contributors Network, Sam Evans-Brown of New Hampshire Public Radio reports.

Harley Davidson is known for the size of its motorcycles and their distinctive growl. But the bike maker may soon be offering a model that’s a lot quieter.

There’s no shifting and no clutch on the LiveWire, and the motorcycle weighs only about 450 pounds, compared to the 700 to 800 pounds for a more typical Harley.

From the Here & Now Contributors Network, Latoya Dennis of WUWM reports from Milwaukee on the LiveWire, Harley’s possible foray into the electric motorcycle market.

Today in Brazil, it’s do or die, one and done, all or nothing — and any other sports cliche you can think of to describe the winner-take-all World Cup match between the U.S. and Belgium.

Doug Tribou of NPR’s Only A Game tells Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson that while Belgium is the favorite, the “Red Devils” are pretty banged up and some of their key players may not take to the pitch. Meanwhile, U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann says his team will be going on the attack.

July 4th is a day to celebrate the birth of a nation with parades, picnics and in many communities, fireworks.

People in the pyrotechnic business say their job is to entertain people. But the splendor and thrill of a magnificent fireworks display can come with a price.

Last month, a longtime seasonal employee of Entertainment Fireworks, Inc., one of the largest fireworks companies in the Northwest, was killed in an on-the-job explosion and fire.

Today the U.S. Supreme Court left in place lower court rulings in favor of businesses that objected to covering all forms of birth control mandated for coverage in the Affordable Care Act.

It’s a strong indication that the court’s ruling yesterday extending religious rights to “closely held” companies, applies broadly to all forms of birth control covered by the mandate, rather than just the four types objected to by Hobby Lobby and Conestoga.

Comic fans will have more on their mind this summer than whether the beloved, freckle-faced Archie Andrews should chose between Betty or Veronica.

It’s being billed as a revolution in television — a TV with four times the definition of standard high definition television (HDTV), which is also known as 1080p television (a resolution of 1920 pixels wide by 1080 pixels high).

These new “Ultra HD 4K” TVs have been on sale for about a year, ranging in price from about $1,000 to over $20,000 for the biggest, fanciest models. But is there content available for these new televisions? And can cable companies transmit that much data?

In France, the far right Front National party, under its leader Marine Le Pen, finished on top in the recent European elections. The French prime minister called it a political earthquake, with the ruling Socialist Party pushed into third place. So why did it happen?

The BBC’s Christian Fraser traveled into the French countryside to find out why voters have turned against their main parties.