Evening Edition: Meet the man who spent 12 years trapped inside his body watching ‘Barney’ reruns

The most important stories of the day  •  Tue., Jan. 13, 2015 View in your Web browser

Investigation begins into deadly Metro incident that killed 1, injured dozens The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating a malfunction called electrical arcing that apparently caused a Metro train to abruptly stop in a tunnel Monday and fill with smoke, killing one passenger and sending more than 80 others to the hospital.  Read full article »

Meet the man who spent 12 years trapped inside his body watching ‘Barney’ reruns

"Lynchian," according to David Foster Wallace, "refers to a particular kind of irony where the very macabre and the very mundane combine in such a way as to reveal the former's perpetual containment within the latter."  Read full article »

France widens probe into terror cell as mourners gather in Paris and Jerusalem

PARIS — The investigations into last week’s terrorist attacks in Paris broadened Tuesday, with authorities casting a wider net for suspects and seeking clues on the funding networks of the Islamist gunmen and other presumed allies.  Read full article »

Huckabee: How could the Obamas let their daughters listen to Beyonce?

Mike Huckabee is doubling down on his recent criticism of Beyonce Knowles, knocking the president and first lady for allowing their two daughters to listen to her music.In an interview with People Magazine published Tuesday, the former Arkansas governor took aim at President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, saying they “are excellent and exemplary parents in many ways” but insisting Beyonce's music is not appropriate for the two first daughters.  Read full article »

Meet the shadowy figure recruiting for the Islamic State in Afghanistan

Several reports in the last few days suggest that the Islamic State is now recruiting in southern Afghanistan, the spiritual heart of the Taliban and the site of fierce combat between U.S. troops and insurgents in recent years. At the center of it: a former Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detainee who led a Taliban unit before the U.S. sent forces into the country in 2001.  Read full article »

‘Parks and Recreation’ has boosted cast’s careers

“Parks and Recreation” premiered on NBC on April 9, 2009. Can you remember this distant past? It was a time before emoji and Instagram, a time before Blue Ivy and the McConaissance. Taylor Swift was still a country star; Lorde was still a 12-year-old. It was into this dark age that the relentless beam of sunshine that is city servant Leslie Knope first brightened our lives. After a not-quite-there debut season, “Parks” found its heartfelt, hilarious groove. Despite the show’s dwindling ratings, it has hung on as a cult favorite, and the intervening years have been pretty incredible for just about everybody in Pawnee. The entire cast has benefited from the “Parks” bump, but some have experienced more popularity growth than others. As the final season begins Tuesday, we’ve assigned a 1-10 rating to determine just how good has “Parks” been to this lovable crew and find out who got the biggest bump of all.   Read full article »

Former highest-ranking U.S. cardinal blames ‘feminization’ for the Catholic Church’s problems

Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke is a man with a lot of enemies. The former archbishop of St. Louis, who once said supporters of abortion rights shouldn’t receive communion, became the highest-ranking American in the Vatican during the tenure of former Pope Benedict on the strength of unabashed conservatism. But as soon as Pope Francis arrived on the scene, that same conservatism turned divisive when Burke criticized Francis’s progressive policies.  Read full article »