Government & Politics

Even recycling your old TVs and computers doesn't mean you're doing the right thing -- trashing certain items may mean major heath and environmental problems. Jim Puckett of the Basal Action Network talks about the best ways to ensure your electronics are being recycled correctly.

More and more state and local governments have approved casino gambling in order to generate new jobs and tax revenue. But does it work? Economist Richard McGowan outlines why states are turning to gambling to solve their fiscal crises -- and now upping the ante even more.

When property taxes go unpaid, the debt gets sold -- sometimes resulting in a bidding frenzy between America's largest banks and hedge funds. Investigative reporter Fred Schulte says unpaid tax bills as low as $300 have resulted in homeowners losing their properties.

Richard Holbrooke, an American diplomat who engineered the 1995 Dayton Accords that ended the war in the Balkans, died on Monday. He was 69. In 1998, Holbrook spoke to Terry Gross about his 13-hour negotiation with two indicted war criminals who led the Bosnian Serbs.

Speaking Tuesday on Fox news, Sen. Joe Lieberman suggested that The New York Times' should be investigated for publishing leaked diplomatic cables. The New York Times' chief Washington correspondent, David Sanger, responds -- and explains what the documents reveal about foreign diplomacy.

A study of five U.S. allies who ended bans on gays openly serving in their militaries showed that the wide-scale disruptions feared by opponents had never materialized, says historian and study author Nathaniel Frank. He discusses his finding and what they suggest for efforts to end the Pentagon's "don't ask, don't tell" policy.

New York Times reporter Adam Liptak wrote recently that the Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts has become the most conservative court in living memory. Liptak discusses several recent decisions that have been unusually long -- but also vague and opaque.

Laura Hillenbrand -- the award-winning author of Seabiscuit -- has returned in fighting form with her latest nonfiction biography, Unbroken. The story of a pilot who survived a crash against all odds speaks to the indefatigable human spirit and our collective will to overcome.

"You can no longer talk about what black America thinks or feels," says Pulitzer Prize--winning columnist Eugene Robinson. His new book, Disintegration: The Splintering of Black America, describes how African-American communities are becoming increasingly disconnected from one another.

Dexter Filkins recently broke the story that top Afghan officials have been receiving bags of cash from Iran. The New York Times foreign correspondent tells Terry Gross that the situation in Afghanistan is becoming increasingly dire for both soldiers and journalists.

Before it was called PTSD, soldiers traumatized in war were described as "shell-shocked" or "battle-fatigued." The new HBO documentary Wartorn, directed by Ellen Goosenberg Kent and Jon Alpert, chronicles the history of PTSD on the American battlefield from the Civil War to the present.

The rate of Army suicides has doubled since 2004. But treating suicidal soldiers is difficult because many don't seek help. Psychologist Craig Bryan, who works with returning vets, discusses the combat stresses that lead to PTSD and suicide -- and what the military is doing to help.

As a crusading attorney general, Eliot Spitzer made powerful enemies -- before a sex scandal ended his political career. Filmmaker Alex Gibney explores the many adversaries Spitzer made on Wall Street in Client 9, a new documentary about the former governor's downfall.

Vanity Fair political writer Todd Purdum walks us through what the new Republican House majority means for Congress and the White House -- and explores why presumptive House Speaker John Boehner might have an even tougher fight ahead.

Dinaw Mengestu's How to Read the Air is an unsentimental meditation on the immigrant experience and the illusory idea of asylum. With lyrical prose, he reassesses the by-your-bootstraps mythology associated with American mobility.

In the Oct. 18 issue of The New Yorker, historian Sean Wilentz argues that the rhetoric expressed by both Glenn Beck and the Tea Party is nothing new -- and is rooted in an extremist ideology that has been around since the Cold War.

The AK-47 was created by the Soviets after World War II and changed the way war is fought. Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent C.J. Chivers explains how the gun became the weapon of choice for insurgents, terrorists and child soldiers.

Abraham Lincoln always thought slavery was unjust — but struggled with what to do once slavery ended. Historian Eric Foner traces how Lincoln's thoughts about slavery — and freed slaves — mirrored America's own transformation in The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery.

As campaign finance experts tell Fresh Air's Terry Gross, the Supreme Court's lifting of restrictions has led many interest groups to dramatically increase the number of ads they're airing.

In an interview with Terry Gross, taped in front of a live audience in New York City, the Daily Show host deconstructs his upcoming "Rally to Restore Sanity" on the National Mall and explains how The Daily Show comes up with material.