News from NPR

Transcript

VIVIANA HURTADO, HOST:

This is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. I'm Viviana Hurtado. Michel Martin is away. All summer long, we're talking to some of the country's most popular entertainers who are funny, really funny. They have brought their unique comedy styles to film, TV standup and more. It's our Make Me Laugh summer series.

The Supreme Court upheld President Obama's signature health care law, the Affordable Care Act. Guest host Viviana Hurtado takes a closer look at the court's historic decision with NPR's Senior Washington Editor Ron Elving, Dr. Kavita Patel of the Brookings Institution, and Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute.

Violence against women in Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala has reached crisis proportions, according to a report by the Nobel Women's Initiative. The group's delegation spent ten days documenting homicides, disappearances, and attacks of sexual violence. Laura Carlsen wrote the report and discusses the findings with guest host Viviana Hurtado.

Transcript

VIVIANA HURTADO, HOST:

This is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. I'm Viviana Hurtado. Michel Martin is away. Coming up, a recent report looks at violence against women in Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. We'll take a look at the findings and how some victims are actually challenging this violence.

Transcript

VIVIANA HURTADO, HOST:

And now it's time for the occasional series we call In Year Ear. That's when guests of our program tell us what songs they listen to for a little inspiration.

Today we get the personal playlist of Tia Mowry. She is the star of the BET sitcom "The Game." She joined us recently to talk about her book "Oh Baby! Pregnancy Tales and Advice from One Hot Mama to Another." And here's what's playing in Tia Mowry's ear.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FOR YOU")

KENNY LATIMORE: (Singing) Ooh. Ooh.

The entire health care sphere has been bracing for what might happen and all the chaos that might ensue from what the court might do, but the ruling doesn't change much about the Affordable Care Act.

There was a lot of speculation about how the Supreme Court would decide, but almost every prognostication was wrong: from who the swing vote would be (it was Chief Justice John Roberts, who wrote the opinion), to what the basis for the opinion would be (it wasn't the Commerce Clause).

The law was upheld thanks to Chief Justice John Roberts, who sided with the court's more liberal wing, on a very narrow grounds: Instead of saying Congress has the authority to regulate interstate commerce, they said Congress has the authority to levy taxes. And the penalty for people who do not have health care is a tax and therefore constitutional.

Renee Montagne and Linda Wertheimer has the latest on the Supreme Court's ruling on the Affordable Care Act. The court ruled that the law — with its "individual mandate," or requirement that virtually all Americans buy health insurance — is constitutional.