NPR News

People in Japan are describing the earthquake and tsunami that rolled under and over eastern Japan as the gravest disaster since World War II. Television and newspapers are full of images of urban devastation, grieving survivors and smoking nuclear power plants. Editorials are calling for everyone to pull together to put the country back on its feet.

And who better to cheer up a weary nation than one of the country's pre-eminent baseball teams?

Over the years, conservatives have often tried to eliminate money for public broadcasting — without succeeding.

In 1995, for instance, congressional Republicans tried to zero out funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Within a few years, its budget was bigger than ever.

This year Congress gave $430 million to CPB, most of which was funneled to public TV and radio stations. And Republicans are once again calling for funding to be eliminated.

Hailed as heroes, the workers at Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi power plant have been battling to prevent a nuclear meltdown since a massive quake and tsunami crippled the facility on March 11. Now, Japanese nuclear safety officials and the Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the devastated plant, have begun releasing images that bring home in a visceral way the challenges these workers face — including the very basic obstacle of working in the dark.

Starting next month, seniors getting health care in their homes will have to see a doctor to make sure they actually need the service. Otherwise Medicare won't pay.

Sounds logical, right?

Not so, says a coalition of health providers and consumer groups that complains the rule is overly burdensome on seniors and doctors.

If you haven't heard about the anti-Asian video rant that exploded on to the Web, only to be followed by one of the best video responses you'll ever imagine, then our headline probably doesn't mean anything to you.

Trust us, the story is well worth checking out, as Dave Pell did over at the All Tech Considered blog earlier this week.