NPR News

If you were watching news coverage on Monday, before a monster EF-4 tornado barreled through Moore, Okla., you probably heard the term "tornado emergency."

The warning is used rarely by forecasters to flag the deadliest of situations.

Closing arguments have wrapped up in a lawsuit challenging the New York Police Department's stop-and-frisk policy. Plaintiffs say the majority of the stops involved black and Hispanic men. But New York City says there's no racial motivation whatsoever. Host Michel Martin asks the tricky question: how exactly do you prove racial profiling?

Pakistanis have coped with — even rioted — over the country's frequent power cuts. Now, the government is feeling the impact, too. The country's caretaker prime minister has banned air conditioners in government offices and instituted a dress code for civil servants. Among his recommendations: no socks.

Rebellious athletes, drained budgets, dysfunctional management and a string of embarrassing scandals forced a major reorganization of U.S. Speedskating over the weekend.

The group governs a sport that has produced 85 Winter Olympic medals for the United States — more than any other sport. But persistent turmoil threatened continued success in the next Games, just nine months away in Sochi, Russia.

The changes leave USS with a smaller board and without numerous committees that have permitted parochial interests to meddle in the governance of the sport.

[Caution: contains pretty abundant spoilers about the Star Trek universe, but only fairly nonspecific ones about the new film.]