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StoryCorps
1:20 am
Fri May 31, 2013

Cherishing The Gift Of Friendship Through A Cancer Bout

Credit StoryCorps
Peter Obetz (left) and Jeff Jarrett met in 1998 and are still close friends. Peter was diagnosed with stage IV esophageal cancer in 2004. He was declared cancer-free in 2009. They visited StoryCorps in Kansas City, Mo.
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Originally published on Fri May 31, 2013 7:34 am

In 2004, Peter Obetz was in the middle of a divorce when he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer.

"Food would get stuck down my throat, and it got worse and worse, so I met with my doctor. I had a tumor on my esophagus wall," says Peter, 48, during a visit to StoryCorps in Kansas City, Mo.

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Poisoned Places: Toxic Air, Neglected Communities
5:23 pm
Thu May 30, 2013

Baton Rouge's Corroded, Overpolluting Neighbor: Exxon Mobil

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Credit John W. Poole / NPR
An evening view of the Exxon Mobil oil refinery complex in Baton Rouge, La.
Credit John W. Poole / NPR
Tonga Nolan is an attorney who lives in the Standard Heights neighborhood and is active with the Louisiana Bucket Brigade, which monitors air quality around the Baton Rouge Exxon Mobil facility.
Credit John W. Poole / NPR
Larry Alexander lives a few hundred yards from Exxon Mobil. Many of the lots around his house are vacant because Exxon bought out his neighbors over the years.
Credit John W. Poole / NPR
Anna Hrybyk (left) talks with Standard Heights neighborhood residents Terrica Hardnett (middle) and Terrell Sylvas about the current state of the EPA's investigation into the Exxon Mobil plant.
Credit John W. Poole / NPR
Tonga Nolan shows a folder of pictures from the EPA investigation into the plant, which found rusted pipes and leaks in many areas.
Credit John W. Poole / NPR
Exxon Mobil is one of several companies with operations clustered together in the same part of Baton Rouge. These plants hold their products in hundreds of large tanks like this one. Scientists have found that these tanks can be a big source of toxic pollution; when the tanks get old, they can leak fumes, especially through tops that no longer fit well.
Credit John W. Poole / NPR
An evening view of the Exxon Mobil oil refinery and petrochemical complex in Baton Rouge, La.
Credit John W. Poole / NPR
This composite image from the top of the Louisiana state capitol building shows the Exxon Mobil complex in Baton Rouge.
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Originally published on Fri May 31, 2013 11:17 am

If you stand in front of Almena and Sidney Poray's house in Baton Rouge, La., and look straight down the street, past the other houses and the shade trees, you see more than a dozen plumes of exhaust in various hues of gray and white.

"That's something you see every day, the same thing if not more," says Almena Poray. "Sometimes it's a darker gray; sometimes it's a black smoke coming out."

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World Cafe
4:02 pm
Thu May 30, 2013

Latin Roots: Canto Cardenche, The Sound Of Sorrow

Credit courtesy of the artist
Los Cardencheros De Sapioriz, a group that keeps the canto cardenche tradition alive.
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By Jasmine Garsd

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All Tech Considered
4:00 pm
Thu May 30, 2013

Online College Courses Get A Big Boost, But Doubts Persist

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The University of Tennessee became one of 10 state university systems teaming up with Coursera, a for-profit tech company.
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Originally published on Thu May 30, 2013 5:01 pm

From New Mexico to New York, 10 state university systems have announced they are joining the ranks of elite institutions embracing the massive open online course, or MOOC, system.

On Thursday, they unveiled a landmark partnership with Coursera, a for-profit tech company with 3.5 million registered students. It's the biggest effort to catapult degree-granting institutions into the world of global education.

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Remembering Heroes Of The Second World War
3:59 pm
Thu May 30, 2013

Public Servant Herman Boudreau, Heroic Under Enemy Fire

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Credit Courtesy of the Boudreau family
Herman Boudreau served in the U.S. Army in World War II, then rose to the rank of command sergeant major in the Maine Army National Guard.
Credit Courtesy of the Boudreau family
Herman Boudreau, one year before his death. He died in April at the age of 93.
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By NPR Staff

Originally published on Thu May 30, 2013 4:51 pm

When Herman Boudreau joined the U.S. Army in 1941, he set in motion a lifetime of public service. Boudreau, who died in April at age 93, served in the Army in New Zealand and the South Pacific during World War II.

He spent more than two years fighting the Japanese, and years later shared many of his war experiences with his daughter, Nancie Smith. In one incident, she says, he had to secure an airfield while removing the last Japanese resistance on three occupied islands.

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