Jim Zarroli

Gaza cease-fire resolutions roil U.S. local communities

Jim Zarroli

As local elected officials continue to face pressure to pass resolutions calling for an end to the fighting in Gaza, some aren't sure how or whether to take a stand at all.

Amazon-owned Goodreads makes little effort to verify users, and critics say this enables a practice known as review-bombing, in which a book is flooded with negative reviews, often from fake accounts, in an effort to bring down a its rating, sometimes for reasons having nothing to do with the book's contents.

Goodreads has a 'review bombing' problem — and wants its users to help solve it

Jim Zarroli

Posting a torrent of fake negative book reviews — sometimes before a book is out or has even been written — is a known problem on the literary social media site.

Festival in Ellenville, N.Y., celebrates resort area once known as the Borscht Belt

Jim Zarroli

NPR revisits the Borscht Belt, a place where Jewish families from New York escaped for the summer at a time when they weren't welcomed elsewhere.

Festival in the Catskills celebrates resort area once known as the Borscht Belt

Jim Zarroli

NPR revisits the Borscht Belt, a place where Jewish families from New York escaped for the summer at a time when they weren't welcomed elsewhere.

Concerns are raised about whether cannabis is safe for older users

Jim Zarroli

Many senior citizens are using cannabis to deal with chronic health conditions but experts say they should beware of potentially negative interactions with medications and other problems.

The auction featured a number of items from the office where Joan Didion worked, including two electric typewriters that sold for $5,500 and $6,000, respectively.

NPR Headlines

Writer Joan Didion's possessions sell for eye-popping prices at auction

Jim Zarroli

The late author Joan Didion was an exemplar of the New Journalism of the 1960s. Many fans traveled to Hudson, N.Y., to see some of her possessions up for auction. A pair of sunglass fetched $27,000.

Chautauqua has a strict set of zoning restrictions aimed at preserving the Victorian look of the community. Though many do, visitors don't have to attend cultural events. If they want they can bicycle, swim or play lawn games.

NPR Headlines

Chautauqua Institution re-examines security after Salman Rushdie attack

Jim Zarroli

When the author was attacked earlier this month, he was taking the stage at New York's Chautauqua Institution. The storied place in American cultural life is now rethinking how open it should be.