Mar 11th, 2010 · The Department of Transportation announced Thursday that the number of people killed in highway crashes last year was the lowest since 1954. Factoring in the number of miles traveled, it was the lowest fatality rate ever.
Nov 19th, 2009 · The U.S. Postal Service is dropping a popular national program begun in 1954 in the small Alaska town of North Pole, where volunteers open and respond to thousands of letters addressed to Santa each year. Replies come with North Pole postmarks.
Aug 30th, 2007 · Since the very first jazz festival -- at Newport, R.I., in 1954 -- the events have been high-profile showcases for musicians. But they can also be important economic engines for the communities that host them.
Aug 26th, 2007 · In last week's profile of Les Paul, we reported that his hits with Mary Ford employed a multi-track recording technique that Paul pioneered. Listener Joe Zannieri sets us straight on that. He writes, "The 'new sound' hit records Les made with Mary between 1948 and 1954 were made using multiple overdubs."
Aug 24th, 2007 · All week, forecasters have been warning about the possibility of a phenomenon known as seiches along Lake Michigan. They are a common occurrence on the Great Lakes -- continuous oscillations that shift the water level, usually minutely. But in extreme cases, they can cause a huge water level drop-off -- like in July 1995, when a seiche in Lake Superior caused the water to rise and fall in the lake by 3 feet in 15 minutes, or in June 1954, when a 10-foot seiche hit Chicago's lakefront, sweeping away eight fishermen who drowned. Dr. Stephen Bortone, the director of Minnesota Sea Grant, part of the University of Minnesota, talks with Robert Siegel.
Aug 6th, 2007 · Oliver Hill, a civil rights lawyer who was at the front of desegregating public schools, has died at age 100. In 1954, he was part of a series of lawsuits against racially segregated public schools that became the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision.
Jun 30th, 2007 · This week, the Supreme Court issued a ruling that bans the use of race as a factor in assigning students to public schools. It is the end of an era. Since 1954, schools across the country have been under court orders to desegregate. To mark this historic moment, we look back on the story of Richard McElrath. He was a young, black teacher in Charlotte, N.C., when the schools there desegregated.
Jun 29th, 2007 · Justices on both sides of the Supreme Court decision cited the landmark 1954 school desegregation case Brown v. Board of Education. But they came to very different conclusions. The history and legacy of the Brown case is discussed.