Independence Day

By Carrie PinkardThe United States of America is turning 243 years old this year, which means it’s time to celebrate.All around the Tampa Bay area there…

The Fourth of July is a holiday notorious for increased drunk driving accidents, so AAA and Budweiser are teaming up to get people home for free if…

While Independence Day fireworks come with lots of bright colors and loud noises that wow humans, they also can create an unsafe environment for…

When celebrating Independence Day, experts say you should keep guns off the list.There will be lots of fireworks being shot into the sky on the Fourth of…

This year has been anything but routine in Boston, after the deadly marathon bombings and the chaotic manhunt. But tonight, the traditional July Fourth show will go on as the Boston Pops performs amid bursts of fireworks. While the music and pyrotechnics will be familiar, the scene and mood are different.

Jazz has become a point of pride for Americans: a homegrown art form forged from folk traditions. Still, the black jazz pioneers who lived through eras of discrimination have a complicated sense of pride in the U.S. Hear five improvised takes on American patriotic songs, from the reverent to the ironic.

It's simple, we just want to wish you a happy holiday weekend from NPR, wherever your taste buds take you.

We ask visitors on the National Mall about independence and they tell us about the freedoms that are the most important to them.

Francis Scott Key wrote the words to the ballad after witnessing the Battle for Baltimore in 1814. According to author Steve Vogel, after it was published, Key's composition took the country by storm. But it didn't become the national anthem until more than 100 years later.

If you're celebrating the Fourth of July with a beer in hand, you're not alone. A new ranking released today by the Beer Institute places Florida at…