Gil Scott-Heron, credited with inspiring rap, dies

Gil Scott-Heron, a U.S. poet and songwriter credited with helping inspire the development of rap music, has died at age 62, according to media reports on Saturday. Scott-Heron died on Friday at a New York hospital, National Public Radio said, citing his book publisher. He fell ill after returning from a trip to Europe, news reports said. The Chicago-born artist was called the "Godfather of Rap", a term he disliked, for his groundbreaking spoken-word performances set to music, including

"The Revolution Will Not be Televised" in the early 1970s. He recorded more than a dozen albums and was hailed as an important influence by hip-hop performers such as Kanye West. Considered a voice of African-American activism, Scott-Heron was also a musical critic of apartheid and nuclear power. After serving a prison sentence for drug possession, Scott-Heron released an acclaimed album last year, "I'm New Here".

House to vote on bill that would stop NPR funding

The House of Representatives has scheduled a vote Thursday on a bill that would bar federal funding for National Public Radio.

The move to pull funds from the public broadcasting outlet comes after a conservative activist secretly taped an NPR executive criticizing Tea Party supporters and saying NPR would be better off without federal money.

On Tuesday, the House voted to cut $50 million from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which helps support NPR. It's part of a larger bill to keep the government running for the next three weeks.

Separately, the House voted last month to zero out all federal funding for the CPB as part of its bill to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year. But that bill failed to pass the Senate and Senate Democrats are unlikely to include the NPR provision in any compromise measure they are negotiating with House Republicans.

The embarrassing video has re-energized GOP efforts to cut off funding for NPR.

Colorado Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn, who unsuccessfully tried to strip federal funding for NPR last year, introduced the new standalone bill Tuesday. It would bar any of NPR's affiliate radio stations across the country from using any federal funds to purchase any programming from NPR.

According to NPR's website, it provides content to 900 independent stations, reaching 27.2 million listeners every week.

Oregon Democratic Rep Earl Blumenauer circulated a letter to House members Tuesday citing press reports that he said demonstrated the conservative activist who set up the taping, James O'Keefe, "deceptively edited" the video to target NPR.

Blumenauer urged House members to oppose any cuts to NPR funding.

"Every month, more than 170 million Americans tune in to public broadcasting for information about their communities, and recent polling shows that Americans consider federal investment in public broadcasting to be second only to money for our troops as the best use of taxpayer dollars."