Eyder Peralta

Eleven of 12 former public school employees in Atlanta were found guilty of racketeering in what is thought to be the biggest cheating scandal in American education, NPR member station WABE reports.

One defendant, teacher Dessa Curb, was acquitted of all charges, according to WSB-TV's Richard Elliot.

President Obama commuted the sentence of 22 federal prisoners who were serving time for drug-related crimes.

Obama has done this in the past, saying that under current laws those inmates would have already been released.

Today, however, his senior advisor, Valerie Jarrett, tweeted a picture of the letter ...

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has issued subpoenas to two Secret Service agents, setting up a confrontation with the embattled agency.

The subpoenas are linked to an investigation into an incident in March, when two potentially drunk Secret Service agents appeared to bobble the investigation into a ...

Despite criticism and protests, Arkansas legislators passed a religious freedom bill on Tuesday that is similar to the one passed by Indiana.

NBC News reports:

"Protesters gathered outside the governor's mansion in Little Rock on Tuesday morning. A final vote in the state House could come later in ...

Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan has called his rival to congratulate him on his victory.

The AP reports that opposition presidential candidate Muhammadu Buhari's campaign said Jonathan made the call on Tuesday, after partial election results showed Buhari leading by close to 3 million votes.

The AP reports:

"An ...

A trial about who owns a 840-pound emerald will continue despite international protest.

The ownership of the Bahia Emerald, as the massive rock is known, has been hotly contested for years. But in September, the stone became the subject of international controversy, when Brazil said all the ownership questions were ...

The largest pharmacist association in the country has voted to discourage its members from participating in executions.

The move could make executions harder for states that have been ordering their drugs from compounding pharmacies. As we've reported, some states like Texas turned to the pharmacies after big pharmaceutical companies ...

The country's largest death row has run out of room.

As NPR member station KCRW reports, that's because a legal fight has meant that the state has not put an inmate to death in nearly a decade, leaving more than 750 of them on death row in the state.

...

After presenting emotional testimony about the the physical damage one of the bombs inflicted on 8-year-old Martin Richard, the prosecution rested in its case against admitted Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

NPR's Tovia Smith is inside the court room and she's been Tweeting about the trial. She reports:

After that ...

A California jury has ruled against Ellen Pao by finding that Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers did not discriminate against her because of her gender nor did the venture capital firm deny her a promotion because of her gender.

Pao's lawsuit was the highest-profile gender discrimination case to come out ...

For decades, Carlos Varela has doled out incisive criticism of the Cuban government. On our recent visit to Havana, he sang a song he says reflects the mood of the country at this historic moment.

An Alabama police officer has been indicted on one charge of using unreasonable force against an Indian man in February.

A federal grand jury decided there was enough evidence to bring charges against Officer Eric Parker.

"Parker's actions deprived the man in Madison of his right under the U.S. Constitution ...

One of the revolution's core promises was an egalitarian society. But as Cuba opens up, one of the unintended consequences may be more inequality.

In December, Tania Bruguera planned a performance at Revolution Square. She ended up in jail and had her passport taken. Now she returns to the scene of her alleged crime. This time for an interview.

Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl has been charged with desertion and misbehavior before the enemy.

Bergdahl was captured by the Taliban in 2009, after he walked off his military outpost in southeastern Afghanistan. In a controversial move and five years after his capture, the Obama administration cut a deal with the ...

A significant disagreement between the United States and Israel was on full, public display at the White House on Tuesday.

During a news conference, President Obama said he took Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his word that there would not be a two-state solution in the Middle East as ...

President Obama says the U.S. will slow the drawdown of American troops from Afghanistan.

In a joint news conference with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Tuesday, Obama said the U.S. will maintain about 9,800 troops through the end of 2015, instead of cutting the U.S. force to 5,500 as planned.

...

Cuban baseball has been struggling. A lack of money means facilities are in disrepair. Defections mean some of the best players have left. But new relations with the U.S. may mean new opportunities.

Mo'ne Davis, the Little League phenom who broke gender barriers last year, is proving that she is a class act off the field, too.

According to ESPN, she has decided to take the high road, after Joey Casselberry, a junior first baseman for Bloomsburg (Pa.) University, sent an ...

Without a doubt, the Internet in Cuba is tough. The politics are thorny; getting it is difficult. But there are signs that change is on the horizon.