Carsen and Ott EduChat

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1670690364 
1329177600

It’s week two of the 2012 legislative session in Alabama and job creation and budget shortfalls continue to take center stage. Officials predict a budget gap in the many hundreds of millions of dollars – meaning cutbacks, possible layoffs, and other belt-tightening measures. WBHM’s Dan Carsen of the Southern Education Desk tells Tanya Ott that the budget crisis in non-education departments could pit the Education Trust Fund against everything else.

 

Author Sophie Kinsella, who penned the ‘Shopaholic’ books, has died at 55

The author, whose real name was Madeleine Sophie Wickham, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer in late 2022.

The fight to beat neglected tropical diseases was going well. 2025 could change that

The campaign to prevent and treat these diseases has seen great success thanks to a USAID program. Now that program is gone.

Greetings from Andhra Pradesh, India, where a fragrant food stand feeds working women

Far-Flung Postcards is a weekly series in which NPR's international team shares moments from their lives and work around the world.

Machado’s daughter accepts Nobel Peace Prize in Venezuelan opposition leader’s absence

Machado — who has been in hiding for nearly a year — was still expected in Oslo later in the day.

How the Alabama Ballet makes Christmas magic with Balanchine’s Nutcracker

The Alabama Ballet is one of only eight companies in the world licensed to perform George Balanchine’s choreography for the Nutcracker. Balanchine’s production in 1954 first popularized the ballet as a Christmas holiday tradition across the country.

Education Department recalls fired attorneys amid civil rights complaint backlog

The department said recalling these fired staffers would "bolster and refocus" civil rights enforcement "in a way that serves and benefits parents, students, and families."

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