NPR News

In Rhode Island, the Providence school board has sent termination notices to every teacher in the financially troubled city, sparking outrage in the teachers' union.

The city's mayor says the firing of more than 1,900 teachers, which takes effect at the end of the year, is meant to give budget officials "maximum flexibility" in addressing its deficit.

We've been hunting around the Internet and the photo wire services all day today, searching for that single distinctive shot of Discovery's final launch. Here it is, captured by reddit user @Crooooow, on a flight from Florida to Chicago. Copyright 2011 National Public Radio.

Raymond Davis, a security contractor for the CIA who last month killed two men in Lahore, Pakistan, in what he says was a case of self defense, today refused to sign the charges leveled against him and asserted his right to diplomatic immunity, NPR's Julie McCarthy reports from Islamabad.

The court adjourned to March 3. The case has sparked anti-American protests in Pakistan, and there was heavy security around the building where Davis' hearing was held.

After six studio albums, Cake leader singer John McCrea's vocals and wordplay are a recognizable trademark. The band returned this year with its latest collection, Showroom of Compassion, which was recorded using solar power and wrapped in recyclables. Hitting the No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for a week, Showroom of Compassion was released in January.

My great passion is for nature books, books about animals, their habits and habitats. Lately, that passion — which is no way misanthropic, or, well, only partly so — has focused on books about animals eating people, rather than vice versa.

The Devil's Teeth: A True Story Of Obsession And Survival Among America's Great White Sharks