WAMU 88.5 : BackStory

BackStory: Independence Daze

In the early days of our nation, July Fourth wasn't an official holiday. In fact, it wasn't until 1938 that it became a paid day-off. We'll discuss how the Fourth became an important holiday in America. Plus, early Independence Day festivities and Frederick Douglass' 1852 Independence Day speech.

For more information, visit the BackStory Radio website

WAMU 88.5

Art Beat With Lauren Landau, October 7

You can explore one calligrapher's modern take on Korean handwriting, or see two shows that require a little help from the audience.

NPR

Fairfax Schools Pull All-Beef Burgers From Menu, Citing Complaints

Students in a Virginia school system are now eating hamburgers with additives in them, after officials heeded their complaints about the appearance and taste of all-beef burgers it had been serving. The burgers that are now being served include a reported 26 ingredients.

NPR

No End In Sight: Shutdown Showdown Enters Week Two

Hundreds of thousands of Defense Department civilian employees will go back to work on Monday, but many government operations remain suspended.

NPR

Wanted: A New Generation Of High-Tech Aviation Workers

Millions of U.S. factory jobs have been lost in the past decade. Now, in North Carolina, high school students are being encouraged to think about taking manufacturing jobs. But this isn't the furniture-making or textile labor of generations past — it's a new kind of highly technical work in aviation.

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