The Chicago Cubs have not appeared in a World Series since 1945, when, legend has it, tavern owner Billy Sianis placed a curse on the team in retaliation for refusing stadium entry to his goat.

Going into Wednesday night's potentially decisive Game 4 of the National League Championship Series trailing ...

In a message to employees that was posted online, ESPN CEO John Skipper announced that the company would be making "organizational changes" that include the "elimination of a number of positions, impacting friends and colleagues across the organization."

A source at ESPN confirmed to NPR that the number of ...

Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has told House Republicans he will "gladly serve" as House speaker under several conditions, one of which is that the divided party must unite behind his candidacy.

He said his party has until Friday to let him know whether they will support him.

In a press ...

Earlier this month, a self-described former escort named Katina Powell published a book, Breaking Cardinal Rules, that alleges a former University of Louisville assistant coach, Andre McGee, paid her to provide strippers at dorm room parties for basketball players and recruits from 2010-2014. Though the allegations generated enough buzz to ...

New research about sunscreen's damaging effects on coral reefs suggests that you might want to think twice before slathering it on.

Reports about the harmful environmental effects of certain chemicals in the water have been circulated for years, but according to the authors of a new study released Tuesday, ...

South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius has been released from prison nearly a year after he was jailed for killing his girlfriend in 2013.

He will spend the remainder of his five-year sentence under house arrest.

NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton reports for the Newscast unit:

"Oscar Pistorius's release on parole a ...

Few images can put life's trivialities into perspective quite like the sight of our planet in the interminable blackness of space.

And at the very least, it's a cool view.

On Monday, NASA announced that this view will be available every day on a new website dedicated to publishing ...

Updated 3:45 p.m. ET:

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld the main parts of gun control laws passed in New York and Connecticut after the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

The laws ban certain semiautomatic weapons and high-capacity magazines.

New York ...

The U.S. government is backing away from Arctic offshore oil and gas drilling on two fronts.

On Friday, the Department of the Interior announced the cancellation of two potential lease sales off the Alaskan coast in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. The Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement also denied ...

Joining Texas and Virginia, Maryland will phase out the sale of license plates featuring the Confederate battle flag, following a ruling by a federal judge.

Reuters reports that "U.S. District Judge Marvin Garbis issued the order on Thursday, lifting a 1997 injunction at Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh's request." ...

#NPRreads is a weekly feature on Twitter and on The Two-Way. The premise is simple: Correspondents, editors and producers from our newsroom share the pieces that have kept them reading, using the #NPRreads hashtag. On Fridays, we highlight some of the best stories.

This week, we bring you three ...

Catching a touchdown pass is impressive.

Hauling in a 50-yard throw while under smothering defensive coverage by pinning the ball to the defender's back as you tumble to the ground? That's something else.

"Utterly incredible," was how one commentator described Stanford wide receiver Francis Owusu's catch during the Thursday night ...

"Homeland is racist."

"There is no Homeland."

"Homeland is not a series."

For the observant Arabic speakers watching last Sunday's episode of Homeland, these are some of the messages they may have noticed scrawled on the walls behind main character Carrie Mathison. For the rest of the TV audience, well, ...

Nevada regulators have ordered daily fantasy sports sites like FanDuel and DraftKings to shut down, saying the businesses can't operate in the state without a gambling license.

The sites, which claim they operate under a skill-based wagering model — not chance-based — and therefore should not be subject to gambling ...

Ken Taylor, the Canadian ambassador to Iran who concealed a group of Americans at his home during the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis, died Thursday. He was 81. Taylor's wife, Pat, told The Associated Press that he had colon cancer.

Canada's Prime Minister Stephen Harper noted Taylor's death.

"It is ...

On Thursday, German authorities issued a mandatory recall of all Volkswagen diesel cars outfitted with emissions-cheating software.

Shortly after the German Federal Motor Transport Authority ordered the recall of 2.4 million diesel cars in Germany, Volkswagen announced it would be recalling 8.5 million cars across Europe.

According to The ...

Overturning a 136-year-old ban, the Los Angeles City Council voted on Wednesday to legalize urban beekeeping.

Once the ordinance is signed by the mayor, Los Angeles will join cities including New York, San Francisco and Washington in allowing beekeeping. There is even a beehive on the White House grounds.

Less than a month after an emissions cheating scandal rocked Volkswagen, the German car company is dealing with fresh scrutiny regarding its diesel emissions software.

Volkswagen has told U.S. regulators that its 2016 diesel car models contain emissions software "that would potentially help their exhaust systems run cleaner during government ...

After a 15-month probe, investigators with the Dutch Safety Board have concluded that a Russian Buk missile took down Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 in eastern Ukraine last year.

The crash in July 2014 killed all 298 people on board, most of whom were from the Netherlands.

Safety board Chairman ...

Iran's Parliament voted Tuesday to support the implementation of the nuclear deal struck by world powers in Vienna in July.

The deal, called the Joint Comprehensive Plan Of Action, would limit Iran's nuclear development in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. It must still be reviewed by a ...