NPR News

The Treasury Department's inspector general, who faulted the IRS for flagging conservative groups for extra scrutiny, is now investigating how the agency is monitoring the political activities of tax-exempt groups. These so-called social welfare organizations are not supposed to be primarily about politics, although many seem to be.

The Boy Scouts of America votes in Texas this week on whether to change its century old membership policy. The proposal is to open up the scouts to allow gay youth to join and continue to ban on adults who are gay. About 1,400 voting members will decide.

In New York, a judge has dealt a setback to Airbnb, the popular website for short term apartment rentals. The judge ruled an Airbnb user violated a New York City law when he rented a room to a visitor from out of town. The judge's decision casts doubt on New Yorkers' ability to make use of the site legally.

David Greene talks to Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin about the cleanup and recovery efforts in her state after Monday's tornado that devastated the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore.

In Orlando, Fla., early Wednesday "an FBI agent was involved in a deadly shooting connected to the Boston Marathon bombing case," NBC News is reporting. A man who was being questioned by the agent is dead. NPR's Dina Temple-Raston and Carrie Johnson have also confirmed the news.

Just how firm the man's alleged connection to the marathon case is, though, remains unclear.

On the show Tuesday, we told you about some scientists in Canada whose research crops were destroyed by "Canadian geese." Listeners said we got the name wrong and they explained why.

Out of gas, a drummer in Baltimore, Md., pulled off onto the side of the interstate to wait for help. While waiting, he pulled out his drum kit and practiced. The highway department came with some gas.

The latest episode of Q2 Spaces takes us to Washington state's Puget Sound and the small sailboat where musician, composer and producer Jherek Bischoff was raised — and to his Seattle apartment, where he surrounds himself with instruments and not much else.

The next mayor of Los Angeles will be City Councilman Eric Garcetti.

In a race in which the two top contenders were both Democrats, the 42-year-old Garcetti has opened a 7- to 8-percentage-point lead over City Controller Wendy Greuel as Tuesday's votes are being counted.

The daily lowdown on books, publishing, and the occasional author behaving badly.

The news Wednesday from Moore, Okla., much of which was destroyed by a massive tornado Monday, begins with word that officials doubt they will find any more survivors or bodies under the hundreds of homes, businesses and other buildings that were leveled.

Moore Fire Chief Gary Bird put it this way Tuesday: After searches of all damaged buildings, "I'm 98 percent sure we're good."

Apple was criticized in a Senate committee hearing Tuesday for using complex accounting to minimize the corporate taxes it pays. One key piece of the company's tax strategy: It funnels lots of its profits through subsidiaries in Ireland.

Offering low corporate tax rates has been a fundamental part of Ireland's economic strategy for decades — a way to get foreign companies to set up operations in the country.

If you have a savings account you probably already know this: Your money there is losing value to inflation. Yields are so low that returns are not even keeping up with the cost of living.

I've been watching some of my own savings dwindle. And that prompted me to take up a challenge: I'm taking $5,000 from personal savings and putting it to work. I'm not a financial whiz, pundit or any kind of guru.

The most unforgiving criticism in sport is directed at any athlete who fans believe is celebrated too excessively above his true talent level — especially those stars who are gloried because they're such pretty people.

When Randy Keller moved from Texas to the Oklahoma City area seven years ago, he couldn't find the house he was looking for.

"I was moving from Texas, where there are also a lot of tornadoes," says the professor of geology and geophysics at the University of Oklahoma who experienced the 1970 tornado in Lubbock, Texas. "But I just couldn't find one."