WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

Russia has one of the highest rates of abortion in the world: 53.7 abortions per 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 44, according to recent UN statistics. In recent years, Russian leaders, worried about the country's declining population, have increasingly begun to view abortion as a threat to national security.

Dickie, the general director of the Chicago Opera Theater, is charming, passionate and funny. I don't like to think too much about the fact that this is his last season here.

In 1988, Lee Blessing wrote a landmark play called A Walk in the Woods. The story centers on two Cold War arms negotiators, one American and one Soviet, who are locked in a standstill at the bargaining table.