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Former Vice President Joe Biden isn't backing down from his comments recalling the "civility" of his working relationships with two segregationist lawmakers. In fact, he's saying New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker, who criticized his remarks, is the one who needs to offer an apology.

“Toy Story 4” opens in theaters Friday. It introduces a new character, Forky, made by a kid out of a discarded spork, some pipe cleaner and googly eyes, who needs to be convinced he’s a toy — not trash. Forky is voiced by Tony Hale, who played devoted and abused bag man Gary on HBO’s “Veep” and Buster Bluth on “Arrested Development.”

Here & Now‘s Jeremy Hobson talks with Hale (@MrTonyHale) about Forky and his other roles.

This story is part of American Anthem, a yearlong series on songs that rouse, unite, celebrate and call to action. Find more at NPR.org/Anthem.

Step inside Puerto Rico's Foundation for Popular Culture in Old San Juan and you'll find a well-stocked display of CDs and records for sale, organized by artist or musical style: Sylvia Rexach, Maelo Rivera, rumba, salsa. But then there's a tab that catches the eye because it names neither an artist nor a style, but rather a theme: "nostalgia."

Need a deep discovery experience? Try 1000 years of music in this playlist from NPR Classical, which explores everything from new releases to old favorites, and classics from the dawn of the recording era. Our mantra: Bach, Beethoven, before and beyond.

It all started on a Tuesday night, when I came home from work to an unmistakable absence. My brown-and-white pit bull mix, Maizey, wasn't at the top of the stairs to greet me. Instead she was in her bed, shaky and confused.

When I tried to get her up, she stumbled, nearly falling over while standing still. Walking to the vet, she leaped like a puppy chasing imaginary balls.

Later, at the 24-hour veterinary clinic in San Francisco's Mission District, the staff ran some tests and determined Maizey was in no immediate danger.

Gary and Celeste Havener live 40 miles outside of Laramie in southeast Wyoming. They spend a lot of their time growing vegetables and riding horses across the prairie.

A few weeks ago, Celeste fell off her horse.

"[I] had a very ungraceful dismount and tweaked my knee pretty good," Celeste says.

Americans are less interested in NASA sending humans to the moon or Mars than they are in the U.S. space agency focusing on potential asteroid impacts and using robots for space exploration. That's according to a poll by The Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research released Thursday, one month before the 50th anniversary of the first walk on the moon.

Filipe and Mireille took their four young children and fled violent militias and civil unrest in the Democratic Republic of Congo nearly five months ago.

They flew to Ecuador, then traveled on foot across Central America to reach the U.S.-Mexico border, where they waited for weeks in a long line of asylum seekers before being allowed to cross and make the last leg of their journey.

Finally, they reached their destination: A makeshift emergency shelter in Portland, Maine — a converted minor-league sports arena now filled with cots. Filipe describes it as "paradise."

House Judiciary Committee heard testimony about government reparations for African Americans. For the first time in more than a decade the House held a hearing related to reparations legislation, which was first introduced 30 years ago.

A Triad City Beat investigative piece reveals troubling accusations against United Youth Care Services (UYCS), an agency that provides substance abuse treatment tied to housing for those enrolled in Medicaid.

When President Jimmy Carter declared June Black Music Month, the White House hosted performers ranging from gospel singer Aundre Crouch to disco star Evelyn Champagne King. But the holiday was masterminded by the Black Music Association, a group of record executives, who were focused more on mobilizing the economic power of black music than celebrating its artists. Things have changed since then.

Wade in the Water is a 26-part series, originally released in 1994, that celebrates African American sacred music and traditions.. Listen to the episodes on NPR.org and NPR One.

Updated at 11:24 a.m. ET

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that a 40-foot World War I memorial cross can stay on public land at a Maryland intersection.

Aaron David Miller (@aarondmiller2), a distinguished fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and a former State Department adviser and Middle East negotiator, is the author of The End of Greatness: Why America Can't Have (and Doesn't Want) Another Great President.

Richard Sokolsky, currently a nonresident senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, worked in the State Department for six different administrations and was a member of the secretary of state's Office of Policy Planning from 2005-2015.

A mix-up and a bad photo contributed to a gunman shooting retired Red Sox player David Ortiz by mistake, instead of his intended target in Santo Domingo, Dominican officials announced Wednesday.

Surveillance video from the evening of June 9 shows a man approaching Ortiz, a legend in his native Dominican Republic, and shooting him in the back at close range as Ortiz sat at a bar's outdoor table in the country's capital.

The United States doesn't have to beat Sweden in the last game of the group stage of the Women's World Cup on Thursday. The Americans are already through to the next round, as are the Swedes.

But in another sense, the U.S. women's national team does have to beat Sweden today in Le Havre, France — if they want to show they are the best in the world. The game starts at 3 p.m. ET and will be televised on Fox and Telemundo.

When Athletic Brewing Co. offered its nonalcoholic limited-edition Double Hop IPA for sale online last week, it sold out in 32 seconds.

"We've actually been totally overwhelmed and shocked by how strong the nationwide online demand is," says Bill Shufelt, co-founder of Athletic Brewing Co., which produces only nonalcoholic brews.

Gun advocates in New Zealand are angry over a government plan aimed at buying back now-illegal firearms and magazines that were outlawed after a mass shooting in March that killed dozens of worshipers at two mosques in Christchurch.

Details of the plan were released on Thursday at a news conference in the capital, Wellington, after the country's gun laws were amended in April to ban most military-style semi-automatics, magazines that hold more than five rounds of ammunition, and gun parts, such as special sights and silencers.