Transcript

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

The IRS has admitted to targeting conservative groups seeking tax exempt status. And yesterday at a House hearing the IRS director of exempt organizations said, quote: "I have not done anything wrong." She then declined to testify. Lois Lerner's brief appearance at the committee was just the beginning of a stormy, five-hour session filled with angry outbursts and allegations of political motives.

NPR's Peter Overby reports.

PETER OVERBY, BYLINE: Lois Lerner did read a statement that she had done her job properly.

Prison is a tough place, but Congress made an exception nearly 30 years ago, giving terminally ill inmates and prisoners with extraordinary family circumstances an early way out. It's called compassionate release.

But a recent investigation found that many federal inmates actually die while their requests drift through the system.

One of them was Clarence Allen Rice.

NPR continues its conversations about The Race Card Project, where NPR Host/Special Correspondent Michele Norris asks people to send in six-word stories about race and culture. The submissions are personal, provocative and often quite candid.

A lot of things make San Francisco a unique city -- and one is the sheer number of dogs.  There are more dogs than there are children.  Something like 120,000 canines inhabit this metropolis, and thousands of those dogs are dropped off at local shelters each year.  Lost, abandoned, orphaned or mistreated by former owners.

The pound, the shelter, animal control... Whatever you call it, pop culture America has decided it’s a horrible place.

A special co-hosted-by-Glynn-Washington edition of Crosscurrents! What happens when you call 911? Meet Oakland's first responders; San Quentin Radio Project: When victims and offenders talk; What we can learn from wild animals and the people trying to save them; and Give Me Shelter, San Francisco!

A year ago, KALW’s Ali Budner met Sharena Thomas and her friend Lesley Phillips, two women from East Oakland who say the 911 emergency response system in their neighborhood is broken.

In trying to find a possible solution, they co-founded group called The People’s Community Medics. Its goal is to train citizens in basic first aid so they can help people as they wait for emergency responders.

Things to do by day, all night long, in theaters, museums, on bicycles, at festivals, and parks. Here’s your Arts/Culture/Weekend for Memorial Day weekend:

THURSDAY

There's an inside joke around KALW News: that when you can’t come up with a conclusion, you should just end your story with, "the future is uncertain." And in a way, that's the theme of Jon Mooallem’s new book. It’s called Wild Ones: A sometimes dismaying, weirdly reassuring story about looking at people looking at animals in America. The book looks at three different endangered species – polar bears, Lange's metalmark butterflies, and whooping cranes. But it's less about the animals than the people trying to save them.

Mooallem is a frequent contributor to the New York Times Magazine and Pop-Up magazine here in San Francisco; he's also appeared on This American Life and the Colbert Report. He spoke with KALW's Casey Miner about how he got started looking at animals – and people. 

JON MOOALLEM: I think it's sort of miraculous that we're doing anything, you know I don't see grizzly bears trying to preserve other species.