Bringing Baby to Work

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ALISON STEWART, host:

Welcome back to the BRYANT PARK PROJECT from NPR News.

You know, we're very Web friendly around here. And one of the things we do every morning is actually kind of fun. Early in the morning, all these e-mails start flying back and forth between the staff. What people have found the most e-mailed, the most blogged, the most commented stories at news sites all around the inter-Webs. So we pick out just a few of them to bring you a critical mass news we call The Most.

(Soundbite of music)

STEWART: We also - it's a time for the hosts, myself and Dan Holloway, to kick back for a minute and make the staff do more work.

DAN PASHMAN: You know, Ali, when you are in emotions, we send the most to 27 minutes…

STEWART: Yeah.

PASHMAN: …well, all of are skeptical…

STEWART: The entire E block is the most.

(Soundbite of laughter)

STEWART: Dan Pashman, and you know the voice. Okay, where is your most from, Dan?

PASHMAN: This is from livescience.com. Most e-mailed, naps may boost memory. This is a study that says that taking a little nap in the afternoon - and there are other sites that suggested that sleeping helps to - is it can consolidate your memory. It helps in learning. Well, the - they did this study. I'm all interested in how they actually figure this thing out. They gave people a complex series of finger-tapping maneuvers to memorize. And then some of the group got to go take a nap and some of the other groups just stayed awake.

And then later on that night, they tested them, and the people who had napped were better at remembering the complex sequence of thing they're tapping. And so they said that the results suggest that it's possible to speed up memory consolidation by sleeping. In the future, they may be able to do it artificially.

STEWART: That's all good news for us.

PASHMAN: Right. Yeah. And eventually, we will not sleep.

STEWART: That will never happen in our world.

(Soundbite of laughter)

STEWART: Never. Any time can be nap time.

Trisha McKinney, our editor, is in the control room with her most. Where did you get this from, Trisha?

TRISHA McKINNEY: You know, I got it at my old friend, Google Trends. It's always interesting to see what people are searching on the old Googler. And the number two most searched name on Google is Gary Zerola. And it turns out that he's a guy who was once on People magazine's list of America's most eligible bachelors. He was once up to be the "Bachelor" on that reality show.

STEWART: Yeah.

McKINNEY: But right now, he's awaiting trial. He's on trial - back-to-back trials starting today in Boston on charges that he raped two 19-year-olds; one in 2004 and one in 2006. So, you know, he, of course, says he didn't do it.

STEWART: The reality show vetting department, I think, might be getting a visit from a lawyer.

McKINNEY: Well, I mean, you know?

STEWART: And tell me…

McKINNEY: I don't think he got - he wasn't the "Bachelor."

PASHMAN: Oh…

STEWART: It was an odd…

PASHMAN: …(unintelligible).

McKINNEY: He was in the running to become the bachelor.

STEWART: Got you.

McKINNEY: He was an attorney.

STEWART: he's a great guy.

McKINNEY: He's, of course, lost his license because of all of this, but you know, he denies the allegations. So, they're pretty heinous and…

STEWART: Ow.

McKINNEY: Yeah, people are Googling his name today.

STEWART: No doubt.

Our executive producer, as if she hasn't have enough to do, is also our supervising producer today, and we're making her take part in The Most.

SHARON HOFFMAN: Buenos Dias.

(Soundbite of laughter)

STEWART: Hi, Sharon.

HOFFMAN: I will try to remember this even though I hadn't had my nap yet.

(Soundbite of laughter)

HOFFMAN: One of the most e-mailed stories on MSNBC.com is town abuzz over mayor's racy MySpace page. You know, in small towns, often the - if you become mayor, you still keep your day job. In the case of Arlington, Oregon Mayor Carmen Kontur-Gronquist, had her day job as fire department executive secretary. She also seems to have kept her day hobby, which is to pose on the fire engine…

STEWART: Oh, my.

HOFFMAN: …clad only in a black bra and panties. And she had photos of same posted all over her MySpace page. And the town was not happy about this. And so, her answer to this was to - not to take the photos down, actually.

(Soundbite of laughter)

HOFFMAN: But to restrict access just to her friends, which, of course, raises the question of how you become the mayor's friend.

STEWART: Yeah.

HOFFMAN: And wants it takes to qualify to get access to these pics. But she says that's her personal life. It had nothing to do with my mayor's position. Insert joke here.

STEWART: Wow.

HOLLOWAY: Wow.

(Soundbite of laughter)

STEWART: Wow. I just want to start a whole TV show called What Were They Thinking.

PASHMAN: What are those mayors thinking?

STEWART: Just what were they thinking, just go interview this mayor. It would just - hmm - that's something.

HOFFMAN: Yeah.

STEWART: Lauren Spohrer…

LAUREN SPOHRER: Hi.

STEWART: …our producer on loan from Columbia Journalism School for a couple of weeks.

SPOHRER: Creative Writing School, actually.

STEWART: Creative Writing - oh, I'm sorry. So that (unintelligible), Creative Writing.

SPOHRER: It's cool. It's more confusing to say journalism.

(Soundbite of laughter)

STEWART: I don't know about that. But anyway, go ahead, Lauren. I'm sorry.

SPOHRER: I have a mostly most from The L.A. Times. And it's quite an interesting story. It's starts off saying that the pronouns for abortion shouldn't be I, or she, but we, meaning men have the abortions too. But as you read on, you see that there's a Christian activist behind this. And he - at one point, the reporter writes that he's using men's tears to make a case against abortion. He offers workshops to men. They're called Medicating the Pain of Lost Fatherhood and Forgiveness Therapy for Post-Abortion Men. And, you know, so he's a Christian activist and he's organizing a big father section to protest of the 35th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. And he wants hundreds and hundreds of men to say I regret my abortion, which another protest angle.

STEWART: And that's the most where again?

SPOHRER: At the L.A. Times, most e-mails.

STEWART: L.A. Times.

My most is from the Seattle Times and it's the headline. I can understand why. Teen's iPod leads to family fight. Mom's arrest in Kingston. Yeah. So, there is this teenage boy. He really wanted to download a song. His dad was in his computer. His dad said, hey you got to wait. This kid was impatient. Dad left the room for a minute. Kid jumped on the computer, started downloading. Dad came back, got mad, said, hey, you're going to give me your iPod. The kid then proceeded to bite him and kick his dad in the groin.

PASHMAN: Yes.

STEWART: Mom entered the fray. She punched her husband in the face several times. Scooped up the teen and left. This is all according to sheriff's deputy. The woman told her - she told the deputy she thought the father had been too strict with their son and should've taken the iPod away. So, the woman was arrested. She is in the Kitsap County jail on fourth degree assault. All over…

HOFFMAN: (Unintelligible) next Tuesday.

STEWART: I know, there's a Fox Reality for next Tuesday. All over a Kanye West download. Yup, (unintelligible) Kanye. I don't know, for sure.

Hey, that does it for The Most. If you want to read more about these stories, you can go to our blog, npr.org/bryantpark.

Thanks, everybody.

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