Howard Berkes archive

November 2, 2009 Google Voice, the phone management service offered by Google, is blocking customers' calls to about 100 phone numbers that were generating excessive long distance fees in the Midwest. Lawmakers and AT&T have cried foul, and the dispute is renewing focus on a controversial practice that lets some phone companies charge inflated fees.

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On Morning EditionPlaylist

October 26, 2009 Three weeks after Chicago's first-round rejection in the bidding for the 2016 Summer Games, Olympic athletes and sports executives are demanding major change in the U.S. Olympic Committee. At stake, some say, is support for American athletes and the quest to host Olympic Games in the United States.

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On Morning EditionPlaylist

October 24, 2009 Everett Ruess, a legendary Utah explorer, writer and artist, has been missing for 75 years. Earlier this year, it seemed the cold case had been solved when human remains found in the Utah desert apparently tested positive as his. But doubts lingered, and now the mystery of the missing artist lives again.

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On Weekend Edition SaturdayPlaylist

October 7, 2009 The acting CEO of the U.S. Olympic Committee has stepped down five days after Chicago's stunning first-round elimination in the bidding for the 2016 Olympics. Stephanie Streeter took the helm of the USOC just seven months ago; she was the group's fifth CEO in nine years.

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On All Things ConsideredPlaylist

October 3, 2009 The Windy City's political talents were offset by new rules meant to protect International Olympic Committee voters from the sort of influence peddling that might have worked in the past.

Summary

• Obama's Olympic Oops! Or, When To Lie Low
• Rio De Janeiro Named Host Of 2016 Olympics

October 1, 2009 Six years after being rescued, 21-year-old Elizabeth Smart for the first time publicly described the nine months in which she says she was held as a plural wife and sexually assaulted by Brian David Mitchell. The itinerant preacher has been declared mentally incompetent by a state court.

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On All Things ConsideredPlaylist

• Timeline: Elizabeth Smart's Abduction And Its Aftermath

October 1, 2009 The Obama administration says Chicago winning its bid for the 2016 Olympics would be good for the city's economy. The same argument has been made by many Olympic bidders — but the proof is sketchy.

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On Morning EditionPlaylist

• In Chicago, Some Protest Against Olympic Bid

September 25, 2009 Prosecutors asked a federal judge to allow Smart to testify in the competency hearing of the itinerant street preacher who allegedly forced her at knife point from her bedroom in 2002 and held her for nine months as a second wife. Ed Smart says his daughter's testimony will help show Brian David Mitchell is sane.

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September 24, 2009 Bode Miller announced his skiing and Olympic plans at a news conference in Los Angeles on Thursday. Miller quit the U.S. Ski Team two years ago and formed his own ski training team.

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On All Things ConsideredPlaylist

September 11, 2009 Shannon Bahrke and Michelle Roark are turning heads at the U.S. Olympic Media Summit in Chicago. The moguls ski champs aim to be business moguls off the slopes: Bahrke is taking a turn at coffee-roasting, while Roark is turning out "Phi-nomenal" perfumes.

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September 2, 2009 An International Olympic Committee report released Wednesday boils Chicago's drive for the 2016 Summer Olympics down to a simple and familiar point: Show us the money.

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September 1, 2009 With thousands of homes threatened in six states, the nation's wildfire response system has kicked into a higher level of alert and preparedness — even though it has been a relatively mild year for the blazes.

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• Weather Aids Crews Battling California Wildfire