Here and Now

Walter Dean Myers, the award-winning children’s book author and former ambassador for young people’s literature, died this week at the age of 76.

He was a longtime advocate of children’s reading. Earlier this year, he appeared on Here & Now with his son Christopher to discuss the lack of characters of color in children’s literature.

Our homes are becoming more and more connected. Thermostats, televisions, lights and appliances can all be controlled remotely by our smartphones, tablets and computers, with smart-home software.

But Gunter Ollman, chief technology officer of tech security firm IOActive, tells Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson that technology has not caught up to current security measures, and all this connectivity is leaving us vulnerable to hacking.

The German Parliament voted today to set the country’s first national minimum wage, 8.5 euros, which is $11.60 per hour. The new minimum wage will be phased in starting next year.

Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government supported the move at the insistence of her government coalition partners, the center-left Social Democrats. The minimum wage passed over arguments that it would hurt Germany’s economy, which is Europe’s largest.

The Fourth of July is almost upon us, and for many people that means two things: fireworks and grilling. Here & Now resident chef Kathy Gunst may not have pointers on the pyrotechnics, but she sure knows her way around a grill. Kathy’s special ingredient for burgers? Bacon. Lots and lots of bacon. She also shares recipes for a goat cheese crostada, vegetable kebabs, potato salad (with bacon or without) and corn relish:

There’s a dramatic recovery underway in the forests of New England. Red spruce, a tree that researchers once thought was doomed because of acid rain, is now growing faster than ever.

And it’s not the only tree growing like gangbusters. The story of the red spruce hints that with a changing climate, there will be species that are winners as well as losers.

From the Here & Now Contributors Network, Sam Evans-Brown of New Hampshire Public Radio reports.

Harley Davidson is known for the size of its motorcycles and their distinctive growl. But the bike maker may soon be offering a model that’s a lot quieter.

There’s no shifting and no clutch on the LiveWire, and the motorcycle weighs only about 450 pounds, compared to the 700 to 800 pounds for a more typical Harley.

From the Here & Now Contributors Network, Latoya Dennis of WUWM reports from Milwaukee on the LiveWire, Harley’s possible foray into the electric motorcycle market.

Today in Brazil, it’s do or die, one and done, all or nothing — and any other sports cliche you can think of to describe the winner-take-all World Cup match between the U.S. and Belgium.

Doug Tribou of NPR’s Only A Game tells Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson that while Belgium is the favorite, the “Red Devils” are pretty banged up and some of their key players may not take to the pitch. Meanwhile, U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann says his team will be going on the attack.

July 4th is a day to celebrate the birth of a nation with parades, picnics and in many communities, fireworks.

People in the pyrotechnic business say their job is to entertain people. But the splendor and thrill of a magnificent fireworks display can come with a price.

Last month, a longtime seasonal employee of Entertainment Fireworks, Inc., one of the largest fireworks companies in the Northwest, was killed in an on-the-job explosion and fire.

Today the U.S. Supreme Court left in place lower court rulings in favor of businesses that objected to covering all forms of birth control mandated for coverage in the Affordable Care Act.

It’s a strong indication that the court’s ruling yesterday extending religious rights to “closely held” companies, applies broadly to all forms of birth control covered by the mandate, rather than just the four types objected to by Hobby Lobby and Conestoga.

Comic fans will have more on their mind this summer than whether the beloved, freckle-faced Archie Andrews should chose between Betty or Veronica.

It’s being billed as a revolution in television — a TV with four times the definition of standard high definition television (HDTV), which is also known as 1080p television (a resolution of 1920 pixels wide by 1080 pixels high).

These new “Ultra HD 4K” TVs have been on sale for about a year, ranging in price from about $1,000 to over $20,000 for the biggest, fanciest models. But is there content available for these new televisions? And can cable companies transmit that much data?

In France, the far right Front National party, under its leader Marine Le Pen, finished on top in the recent European elections. The French prime minister called it a political earthquake, with the ruling Socialist Party pushed into third place. So why did it happen?

The BBC’s Christian Fraser traveled into the French countryside to find out why voters have turned against their main parties.

Think for a second. Say there is a rapture — a Bibilical event in which people around you

disappear.

What would you do? Wouldn’t you wonder a little, “Well, why not me?”

In Tom Perrotta‘s novel “The Leftovers,” there are hellish questions on Earth after millions are whisked off to heaven.

And now, “The Leftovers” is an HBO series. Perrotta isn’t new to having his work adapted to the screen. Previously, Perrotta’s novels “Election” and “Little Children” were adapted into Academy Award nominated films.

After 31 years in space, ISEE-3 is finally coming home.

The International Sun-Earth Explorer 3 was a humble satellite launched in the late 1970s to monitor solar winds – until Robert Farquhar commandeered and reprogrammed it to help the United States become the first country to encounter a comet.

Now, a team of scientists have come together in an unofficial effort to awaken the sleeping spacecraft and return it to its original spot — and function — by combining old technology with new.

Ukraine’s new president, Petro Poroshenko, has signed a historic trade and economic agreement with the European Union. This comes just seven months after former leader Viktor Yanukovych rejected a trade deal with the EU, sparking protests that toppled his government.

Germany has beaten the United States at the World Cup, but the U.S. team is still advancing.

Thomas Mueller scored his fourth goal of the tournament to lead Germany to the 1-0 win. Still, the U.S. moves on to the knockout stage despite the loss, as Portugal beat Ghana, 2-1.

Both teams knew before kickoff that a draw would see them through, but neither held back.

NPR’s Russell Lewis watched the game at Arena Pernambuco in Recife, Brazil, and joins Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson with details.

It’s officially summer. For many people, including Here & Now’s resident chef Kathy Gunst, that means fish. And not just any fish — summer fish, including lobsters, clams and summer flounder.

As she tells host Jeremy Hobson, she’s also always thinking about sustainable fish — “seafood caught or farmed in ways that ensure a supply of seafood long into the future.” (More info on making sustainable seafood choices here.)

The United States reached the knockout stage of consecutive World Cups for the first time, just not the way the Americans wanted.

Germany beat the U.S. 1-0 Thursday in soggy Recife on Thomas Mueller’s 55th-minute goal to win Group G, but the Americans held onto second place when Portugal defeated Ghana 2-1 in a game played simultaneously in Brasilia.

Rosanne Cash, musician and daughter of country music legend Johnny Cash, is urging Congress to do more to protect intellectual property rights in the digital age.

She testified before a House Judiciary subcommittee yesterday in support of the Respect Act, which would compensate artists for digital performances of songs recorded before 1972. Right now, there is no federal copyright protection for those recordings.

Reverend Frank Schaefer says his reinstatement by the Methodist Church “brings a lot of hope” to the LGBTQ community in the Methodist Church.

Reverend Schaefer was defrocked last November for officiating his son’s same-sex wedding, after saying that he would not let Church doctrine stop him from officiating same-sex weddings in the future, if asked.

He has now been fully re-instated and assigned to a new congregation, but the decision has deepened the divide over same-sex and gender issues in the Methodist Church.

Neil Gaiman has won a wide following with novels like “American Gods,” “The Ocean at the End of the Lane” and “Coraline,” and he’s read his works aloud numerous times.

The U.S. economy has shrank at an annual rate of 2.9 percent in the first quarter of this year, according to the Commerce Department. This is the fastest rate of decline since the recession ended five years ago.

Joe Weisenthal of the Business Insider joins Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson to discuss the forces behind the decline and what we can expect for the future.

John Waters has never been afraid of taking risks. His films have depicted everything from convicted criminals to coprophagia, and he’s often been in the news for his controversial opinions.

The Commerce Department is reporting that new home sales soared in May to their highest level since the financial market crisis six years ago. That follows a report yesterday that sales of existing homes also rose sharply last month.

But even with the gains, sales of both new and existing homes are running well below what economists consider healthy. So where are we on the housing market?

Chris Low, chief economist at FTN Financial joins Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson to discuss the housing market.

Sports correspondent Tom Perrotta, writes that “women’s tennis has finally found its future.” And it’s beyond the hands of Maria Sharapova, or Serena and Venus Williams.

American Sloane Stevens, 21, lost on day one of Wimbledon yesterday, but 18-year-old Taylor Townsend plays today. They’re both up-and-coming players to watch, along with 20-year-old Canadian Eugenie Bouchard, who also plays today.

Even if you’re not familiar with the musical instrument called the theremin, chances are you’ve heard its ghostly sound. The theremin is unique because of how it’s played: you make music without touching it. Theremin player Jon Bernhardt discusses the instrument and plays some music for Here & Now’s Sacha Pfeiffer.

There were 30 seconds left to play and the United States team was beating Portugal 2 to 1. The majority pro-American crowd of more than 40,000 at last night’s World Cup game in Brazil were ready to party, but it wasn’t to be.

Portugal scored with less than half a minute to go, and now the U.S. looks ahead to Thursday evening’s game against Germany to determine its World Cup future.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors is wrapping up its annual meeting in Dallas, Texas. The annual conference covers urban policies ranging including climate change, education, same-sex marriage, inequality and economic growth.

Raising the minimum wage was much discussed, because Seattle recently raised its minimum wage to $15 an hour.

President Obama laid out his plan to help Iraq today, including sending up to 300 military advisers to the country to train local military, and sending Secretary of State John Kerry to the region. But the president said several times that there would be no more U.S. combat troops in Iraq.

Here & Now’s Robin Young and Jeremy Hobson speak with Rick Klein, political director for ABC News, and Robert Scales, retired U.S. Army major general and former commandant of the U.S. Army War College.

More than 100,000 Cambodians have fled Thailand in recent days. They’re apparently leaving because they fear Thailand’s new military rulers are about to crack down on migrant workers in Thailand. Many of those workers are Cambodians.

The new military rulers deny they are about to crackdown on those workers, but there’s no denying they are suppressing any resistance to their rule. This is part of the fallout from last month’s coup, which ousted the former government of Yingluck Shinawatra.