NPR News

Andy Shallal, owner of the popular Busboys & Poets restaurants in the D.C. metro area, is much more than a restaurateur. The latest Washington Post Magazine chronicles how Shallal promotes his political interests, while creating a successful business model. Host Michel Martin speaks to Shallal.

For freshman college students, it's the end of first semester. For many first generation college kids, grades, work and money are already a struggle. In fact only 15 percent complete their degrees within 6 years. Host Michel Martin and a panel of moms and education experts discuss how parents can help their students succeed.

Host Michel Martin checks in with Michelle Rhee, the former chancellor of Washington, D.C. Public Schools. As chancellor, she made a number of controversial changes that were both applauded and denounced. A year ago, she started StudentsFirst, a group formed in response to increasing demands for a better public education system in America.

When Eleni Nikolaidou began studying the survival diets of World War II Greece a couple of years ago, she never expected to turn the research for her master's thesis into a cookbook.