All Things Considered

For many full-time employees in the United States, the five-day work week, paid overtime and holidays are expected benefits. This wasn't always so, and many workers' benefits today are the achievements of labor unions.

Just five decades ago, unions were on the frontline of the fight for the rights and wages of the middle class. But today, unions are on the decline.

President Obama announced major changes in the country's immigration policy on Friday. NPR's Mara Liasson talks with weekends on All Things Considered host Jacki Lyden about what the changes are and the political impact they may have this election season.

Egyptians began two days of voting to elect the nation's first president since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak. The polling comes days after an Egyptian high court dissolved the country's first freely elected parliament and the election now reflects the deep divisions in the country that has been unsettled since its revolution last year.

A writer, illustrator and provocateur in the Roaring '20s, Djuna Barnes stood out.

"She was much more interested in embracing the quirky and embracing that idea that became so famous in feminist circles half a century later," Catherine Morris says, "the idea that the personal is political."

Morris is the curator of a new exhibition of Barnes' writings and illustrations called "Newspaper Fictions" at the Brooklyn Museum's Sackler Center for Feminist Art.

This April, roots-rock singer-guitarist Bonnie Raitt released her first album in seven years, Slipstream. It's classic Raitt, mixing bluesy slide-guitar riffs with her soulful voice and a pop-friendly sensibility.

The delivery system, however, is brand-new. After years of working with the majors, Raitt decided to start her own label, Redwing Records. Raitt runs Redwing with the help of a tiny staff; Slipstream is the first release in its catalog.

Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader of Myanmar, also known as Burma, spoke in Norway Saturday, formally accepting the peace prize she was awarded in 1991 while under house arrest. Her supporters portrayed the moment as a belated victory for democracy and human rights.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney was in New Hampshire on Friday, back at the farm where he launched his presidential campaign one year ago.

"In the days ahead, we'll be traveling on what are often called the backroads of America," he said. "But I think our tour is going to take us along what I'll call the backbone of America."

It was the first stop on a five-day bus tour that will take him to small towns. The former Massachusetts governor's campaign is calling it the "Every Town Counts" tour.

With summer looming, it's time to prep for your vacation (or, for many in these financially tight times, "staycation"). The good news? A trip to the beach or the pool. The bad news? You need a swimsuit.

But the fitting-room-phobic can take heart in a trend that's seized the swimsuit industry lately. It's a retro look that includes high-waisted bikini bottoms, ruffles, halters and more.

Retro Trend Echoes A Glamorous Time

A few short weeks ago, the Greek politician Alexis Tsipras was a young rebel leading Syriza, a fractious leftist coalition best known for anti-austerity protests. Now, his party could come in first in Sunday's election.

The party's possible win alarmed the German edition of the Financial Times as it posted an online appeal in Greek calling on voters to resist his demagoguery.

But Tsipras, a civil engineer who has been involved in leftist politics since his teens, says his program to roll back austerity will save the euro from its ballooning debt crisis.

Many states have done nothing to implement the health overhaul law, saying they'll wait to see how the Supreme Court rules.

Not California.

The country's most populous state got out in front first on implementing the law, and it hasn't slowed down in recent weeks as the rest of the country waits to hear from the high court.

Communities across the country reacted differently to President Obama's new immigration order.

In an interview with All Things Considered's Audie Cornish, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the administration's decision to defer the deportation of some young illegal immigrants is a part of a "strong enforcement" of immigration laws.

She said that this administration has stymied illegal border crossings and stepped up deportations of criminals.

"Strong enforcement also embodies looking at different categories differently when the facts justify that we do so," Napolitano said.

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Audie Cornish.

MELISSA BLOCK, HOST:

Second of a two-part story. Read Part 1

In some countries of Africa, there's a land rush under way as investors claim farmland, establish mega-farms and try to cash in on high prices for food and biofuels. These deals are controversial. Critics accuse investors of dispossessing subsistence farmers.