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RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Earlier this year, NASA wrote a little blog post that noted a big change which has gotten some folks pretty stressed out. For those of you out there who pay attention to astrology, NASA has some knowledge to drop on your crystal ball. It seems that when the ancient Babylonians made the Zodiac over 3,000 years ago there were actually 13 constellations. But since they had a 12-month calendar, they ditched the last one to keep things organized.</s>RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: NASA also pointed out that the Earth's axis no longer even points in the same direction as when those constellations were drawn. This means that the signs as we know them all have different date ranges. So all you fussy Virgos - some of you are actually generous Leos. So stop stressing about everything, you have no excuse.</s>RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: But wait, you might be asking, what does NASA have to do with astrology? Nothing, says the agency. It released a statement saying, quote, "we didn't change any zodiac signs. We did the math. NASA studies astronomy, not astrology." In other words, no one at NASA cares if you just went from Scorpio to Sagittarius. Seriously, Mercury must be in retrograde.

If you rely on an insight from your daily horoscopes, you may have been looking at the wrong sign this whole time.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. This happens to many people who get a chance to be on TV. Michelle Obama turned up on the Grammys telecast. And afterwards, she says she received a text message from her mom, who said the former first lady had failed to tell her she'd be on TV. Mrs. Obama said she thought she had, but her mom was having none of that. In a deft bit of motherly guilting, Marian Robinson wrote her daughter, I saw it because someone else called me.

Former first lady Michelle Obama was on the Grammy Awards over the weekend. Marian Robinson texted her daughter: "I saw it, because (someone else) called me."

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep with congratulations to the Maine Moose Festival. They set a world record as more than 1,000 people made moose calls. Let's listen.</s>UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: One.</s>UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Imitating moose).</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Didn't know moose had an air horn - but here's the peak.</s>UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Imitating moose).</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: One grammatical note - the plural of moose is moose. So we're hearing more than 1,000 person all making moose call.

Congratulations to the Maine Moose Festival. They announced that they had set a world record when more than 1,000 people made moose calls.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. Autumn Lampkins was like many new moms. Months after giving birth in 2014, she had to work. She got a job at Kentucky Fried Chicken in Delaware that required a 10-hour shift. Lampkins needed to pump breast milk, but her employer limited her breaks and eventually demoted her. Now she has a potential college fund for the kid because she sued and won $1.5 million. That could buy a quarter-million two-piece chicken meals. It's MORNING EDITION.

Attorneys for Autumn Lampkins says the Delaware mom wanted time to pump breast milk, but a KFC restaurant limited her breaks and eventually demoted her. She's been awarded $1.5 million.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Good morning, I'm Rachel Martin. Happy Galentine's Day - nope, not Valentine's, Galentine's. It's the holiday invented by Amy Poehler's character on the show "Parks And Rec." And now many people celebrate Galentine's in real life. On February 13, you're supposed to grab brunch with your girlfriends. Here's how Leslie Knope put it.</s>AMY POEHLER: (As Leslie Knope) Ladies celebrating ladies - it's like Lilith Fair, minus the angst, plus frittatas.</s>RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: So raise a glass to the gals in your life who keep you laughing and loving.

Happy Galentines Day! It's the holiday invented by Amy Poehler's character on TV's Parks and Recreation. Many people celebrate Galentines in real life. On Feb. 13, celebrate with your girlfriends.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Here on WEEKEND EDITION Sunday, we always like to celebrate. So we're particularly glad you're with us this holiday weekend.</s>BEYONCE: (Singing) May the last one burn into flames.</s>RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Nope - not talking about Labor Day.</s>BEYONCE: (Singing) Freedom, freedom, I can't move. Freedom, cut me loose.</s>RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Today is the queen's birthday. Queen Bey, Beyonce Knowles, is turning 35.</s>BEYONCE: (Singing) I break chains all by myself - won't let my freedom rot in hell. Hey, I'm going to keep running 'cause a winner don't quit on themselves.</s>RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Bey Day, as it's known, is an unofficial holiday for the BeyHive, her legions of fans. Some clubs celebrated last night with themed drinks, an all-Beyonce playlist and "Lemonade" on the monitors. Last year, fans started a White House petition to declare September 4 a national holiday.</s>RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: It didn't quite meet the requirements, but you can still find it online. The petition suggests fans can celebrate in many ways, including, quote, "reminding those around them that they woke up like this."</s>BEYONCE: (Singing) I'm going to riot, I'm going to riot through your borders. Call me bulletproof.</s>RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: I know I did.</s>BEYONCE: (Singing) Lord, forgive me. I've been running, running blind in truth. I'm going to wade. I'm a wave through your shallow love. Tell the deep I'm new. I'm telling these tears, go and fall away, fall away.

Today is the Queen's birthday — Queen B, that is. Beyonce's birthday has become a moment of celebration for people across the country, and last night, many people danced the night away.

DAVID GREENE, HOST: Good morning. I'm David Greene. A county courthouse in Oklahoma had to be temporarily shut down this week because of bedbugs. And it is clear how they got there. The Rogers County Sheriff Scott Walton told NBC2 in Tulsa that a lawyer walked into a courtroom with bedbugs literally falling from his clothing. No mention of whether the lawyer was creating this chaos intentionally, though the sheriff did say the lawyer shook his jacket over prosecutors' files.

Someone in a courthouse in Oklahoma noticed bed bugs crawling on one of the lawyers present.

DAVID GREENE, HOST: Good morning, I'm David Greene. Isn't it bad enough if your community has to poke fun at itself by planning a Worst Day of the Year Bike Ride? Portland, Ore., holds this annual event in February, when, most years, it is awfully cold and wet. Can't get any worse, right? - well, until the worst day of the year has to be postponed because of ice. The Oregonian reports this Sunday's ride will move to February 24, when organizers are promising a better Worst Day ride.

The Oregonian reports that because of bad weather, this Sunday's Worst Day of the Year bike ride will move to Feb. 24, when organizers are promising a better Worst Day ride.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. Many viewers called Sunday's Super Bowl dull. The two teams combined for only 16 points, and the Patriots won, as usual. That's unlike last year when the teams combined for 74 points, and the Patriots lost. And now we know this year's TV ratings are down to about 100 million viewers. But if you do the math and count it as TV viewers per point scored, this year's game was a big success. It's MORNING EDITION.

The two teams combined for 16 points, and the Patriots won. That's unlike last year when the teams combined for 74 points, and the Patriots lost. TV ratings were down to about 100 million viewers.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep. The partial government shutdown is over for now, but its effects are still felt at Point Reyes National Seashore. Federal workers furloughed included those who would have kept the elephant seals away from a popular beach there. The giant seals overran the California beach. And now that they have it, the feds will let them stay awhile. The LA Times published a picture of a male elephant seal mating with a female, amid orange traffic cones in the parking lot.

The partial government shutdown is over, for now, but its effects are still felt at Point Reyes National Seashore. The workers furloughed included those who would have kept elephant seals away.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Alphabet, the parent company of Google, reported more than $30 billion in revenue last quarter that beat Wall Street expectations. Like Facebook, Google is making a lot of money, regardless of criticism over its privacy policies and its role as a conduit for false information. NPR's Laura Sydell reports.</s>LAURA SYDELL, BYLINE: It's hard to avoid Google if you're looking for anything on the Web. It's a hub for advertisers to reach consumers. Well, revenue for the holiday quarter was up 22 percent over last year for Alphabet, its parent company, and most of that money came from ads. But Google has also been in the crosshairs of consumer and legislative anger over fake news and privacy breaches. In October and December, Google announced that the user data of millions of people had been exposed. In December, Google CEO Sundar Pichai was grilled by Congress on these issues. Last month, Google was fined some $57 million in France for violations of European privacy laws. During the earnings call yesterday, Pichai stressed Google's growing commitment to user protection.</s>SUNDAR PICHAI: We feel a deep sense of responsibility to do the right thing and are continuing to build privacy and security into the core of our products, keeping users' data safe and secure with the industry's best security systems, and giving people better and clearer controls.</s>LAURA SYDELL, BYLINE: Pichai promised that new features would be rolled out in the coming year to safeguard data, though he didn't offer any details. But analysts weren't totally satisfied with Alphabet's results. The company is spending more. One area in particular is cloud computing. It's been trailing both Amazon and Microsoft, and now it's spending to catch up. Still, in many ways, Alphabet is a bellwether company for the health of the tech industry. Its largely positive results indicate that angry lawmakers and users haven't hurt the bottom line. Laura Sydell, NPR News.

Alphabet, parent company of Google, reported strong revenue in the last quarter — mostly from advertising. Analysts weren't totally satisfied with the results. They say the company is spending more.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. A town in Germany voted against progress. Voters do not want their streets named. Hilgermissen was formed from several old villages, and no street has a name. Your home address is just a number plus the name of your old village. Authorities want to change that as the city grows, but the measure to name streets was defeated 60 to 40 percent. If there were more voters in favor, they apparently didn't know the address of the polling place. It's MORNING EDITION.

Hilgermissen was formed from several old villages, and no street has a name. A home address is a number, plus the name of the old village. As the town grows, officials would like to change that.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. It's common to discover a sinkhole in Florida. What was in this hole is not. Pembroke Pines utility crews responded to a hole in a road, and a worker discovered a power cord in that hole. The FBI determined the sinkhole had exposed a tunnel 2-to-3-feet-wide. The entrance began in some woods which had a winch, generator and digging tools. And the tunnel was pointing toward a nearby bank for an apparent robbery attempt.

A utility crew found a power cord in the sink hole, which then led police to investigate an exposed tunnel. The tunnel was pointing toward a bank, in what may have been a planned robbery.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Good morning, I'm Rachel Martin. And I will admit to you, sometimes I procrastinate. It can be especially hard if you're working from home and there's no one there to hold your feet to the fire, which is where this thing called Focusmate comes in. The program pairs you up with another procrastinator online for 50-minute virtual working sessions. According to The Boston Globe, you just introduce yourself, state your goals and then get to work on your respective stuff. Productive? Maybe. Creepy? Absolutely.

Focusmate pairs you with another procrastinator for 50-minute "virtual co-working" sessions. While it may sound creepy, the Boston Globe reports some people swear by it.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep with a story of a hardcore dog rescue. A woman was running in a marathon in Thailand when she saw runners step over something - a puppy, which seemed lost. She picked it up and carried it all the remaining 19 miles of the marathon. There's video of this. She seems a little tired, but she triumphantly holds up the puppy in one palm while running. She has since adopted the dog and named it in honor of the marathon where they met.

The woman saw other runners stepping over something. It was a puppy that seemed lost. She picked it up and carried it all the way to the finish line. She has since adopted the dog.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Good morning. I'm Rachel Martin. A 911 dispatcher named Antonia Bundy took a call earlier this month from a boy who sounded frustrated and sad.</s>UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: I had a really bad day, and I don't know.</s>ANTONIA BUNDY: What happened at school that made you have a bad day?</s>UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: I just have tons of homework.</s>RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Which is not a reason to call 911. But Bundy wasn't busy, so she helped the young man work through what clearly felt to him like a math emergency. It's MORNING EDITION.

Antonia Bundy, a 911 dispatcher, took a call earlier this month from a boy who sounded sad. Bundy wasn't busy so she helped the young caller work through what to him was a math emergency.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. Cross Scott did the right thing. He saw a driver in distress, pulled over to help and found the woman had no pulse. But he did not know CPR. Luckily, he did know Season Five of the TV show "The Office." In one episode, employees are told to press a victim's chest in time to the beat of "Stayin' Alive." The Washington Post reports Mr. Scott did this until the woman woke up. The Bee Gees and "The Office" saved a life. It's MORNING EDITION.

Cross Scott didn't know CPR, but he did know Season 5 of The Office. In one episode, employees are told to press a victim's chest in time to the beat of 'Stayin' Alive." The woman resumed breathing.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Near the end of 2014, after months of escalating tensions over police killings of young black men, President Obama formed the White House Task Force on 21st Century Policing. Laurie Robinson co-chaired that task force.</s>LAURIE ROBINSON: I absorbed all three events as tremendous tragedies that shattered the families, shattered the communities and actually America as a community. But I think what we have learned since Ferguson, as America has struggled with these problems, is that they are problems of American communities.</s>RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: In 2015, the task force issued a final report listing its recommendations - build community trust, encourage police transparency and accountability. There are about 18,000 American police departments. Robinson says that makes widespread reform difficult. But...</s>LAURIE ROBINSON: Some 50,000 officers have been given training on key task force themes, like this fair and impartial policing and on procedural justice. And nearly 5,000 law enforcement personnel, according to the Justice Department, have been trained on the task force report.</s>RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Robinson says this past week's shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota show there's still a long ways to go. And yesterday, President Obama said if anything good can come out of these tragedies, he hopes that, quote, "communities around the country take a look and say - how can we implement these recommendations?"

In 2015, the White House Task Force on 21st Century Policing recommended many reforms. Laurie Robinson, who co-chaired that task force tells Rachel Martin that reform requires long-term commitment.

ALEX CHADWICK, host: One of the pioneers of the post-World War II American art movement is dead. Robert Rauschenberg was 82. His gallery says he died yesterday. His early works mixed ordinary objects with paint. He called them combines. One of the most famous is "Bed." The artist was too broke to buy a canvas. He took the quilt off his bed and he painted it.</s>MADELEINE BRAND, host: Robert Rauschenberg was a native of Port Arthur, Texas. He went to Black Mountain College in North Carolina. He studied painting under the famous Bauhaus master Josef Albers. Rauschenberg said that his teacher's controlled and disciplined approach to art inspired the young artist to do the exact opposite.</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: Here he is, recalling his early approach to art. This is at a symposium in Los Angeles seven years ago.</s>Mr. ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG (American Artist): I couldn't paint with a brush. I just loved painting so much that I painted with my hands only. And the paintings both looked like it and all of my clothes did.</s>MADELEINE BRAND, host: Robert Rauschenberg said he wanted to work in the gap between art and life. As his career developed, he worked in that gap in most every way imaginable, collaborating with dancer Twyla Tharp and the musician David Burne.</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: He built a studio at his home on Captiva Island, Florida and he continued working until the end. Here he is again at that Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art Symposium.</s>Mr. ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG (American Artist): The only unhappy days that I seriously have, other than, you know, monumental tragedies, is, like, when I can't work, damn it.</s>MADELEINE BRAND, host: Artist Robert Rauschenberg. He died yesterday at the age of 82.</s>MADELEINE BRAND, host: Stay with us. NPR's Day to Day continues.

The artist, famous for using found objects in his work, was 82. His most famous work, "Bed," was painted on a quilt using paint, toothpaste and fingernail polish.

ALEX CHADWICK, host: OK, back to the family-friendly part of the show including the First Family. Presidential daughter Jenna Bush is getting married tomorrow at the Bush ranch in Crawford,</s>MADELEINE BRAND, host: And the First Family has invited about 200 guests in a private, outdoor ceremony. No press allowed, although the White House will probably release a few photos after the event.</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: First lady Laura Bush and the president's mother, former first lady Barbara Bush have been handling most of the details. Mr. Bush did find a little time to joke about his role in the wedding.</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: President GEORGE W. BUSH: I had to face some very difficult spending decisions, and I've had to conduct sensitive diplomacy. That's called planning for a wedding.</s>MADELEINE BRAND, host: Jenna Bush is 26 years old. She's marrying her long-time boyfriend, Henry Hager, and today is his 30th birthday.</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: Tonight, friends and family are invited for a rehearsal dinner and tomorrow, the Bushes will host a traditional Texas barbecue lunch before the ceremony.</s>MADELEINE BRAND, host: Jenna Bush will wear a gown designed by Oscar de la Renta, her mother's favorite designer, and the newlyweds plan to live in Baltimore where Jenna will work as a schoolteacher.</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: NPR's Day to Day continues.

The president's daugher is getting married this weekend at the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas. The ceremony will begin with a traditional BBQ.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Good morning. I'm Rachel Martin. Last weekend, NFL player Dee Ford of the Kansas City Chiefs was getting all kinds of angry tweets. He was hit with a late penalty, and his team lost to the Patriots. The thing is Dee Ford is not on Twitter, but a 47-year-old English woman also named Dee Ford is, so she's the one who got the Twitter rage. It's been happening for years, so the two Dee Fords have become friends. British Dee Ford said some of the tweets are quite nasty, and she is glad football Dee Ford doesn't have to see them.

Dee Ford was getting angry tweets when the Kansas City Chiefs' player drew a late penalty against the Patriots and his team lost. A woman named Dee Ford is on Twitter, she gets tweets meant for him.

DAVID GREENE, HOST: Good morning. I'm David Greene with some advice I had thought was unnecessary. If you're at the petting zoo, no, you can't take the animals. A woman was reportedly arrested for trying to kidnap a kangaroo from the Peaceable Kingdom Petting Zoo in Pennsylvania. CBS3 reports police discovered her trying to squeeze the animal into a Honda and drive it to Florida. She reportedly said the kangaroo was hers, but a court made her surrender it. Can we assume it wasn't a kangaroo court?

A woman reportedly was arrested for trying to kidnap a kangaroo from a Pennsylvania petting zoo. CBS3 reports police discovered her trying to squeeze the animal into a Honda and drive it to Florida.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. A company is helping Britain prepare for the worst, selling a Brexit Box - food rations for 30 days in case Brexit causes chaos. The meals are described as British favorites - chicken tikka, chili con carne, macaroni and cheese, chicken fajitas. Yes, Britain's voted against foreign influence. And if they are alone at last, they will eat foods associated with India, Italy and Mexico. Apparently, 30 days of bangers and mash will not do.

One company is helping people in Britain prepare for challenging times. It is selling food rations for 30 days in case Brexit causes chaos. The meals are described as British favorites.

DAVID GREENE, HOST: Good morning. I'm David Greene, and I am not a robot. NPR is not going the way of a Japanese hotel that began replacing people with robots. The trouble was, they weren't really doing their jobs. The concierge robot couldn't answer basic questions about places to visit. Bellhop robots were running into each other in hallways. The website The Verge reports more than a hundred robots were laid off because they were adding to the workload of the humans they were meant to be replacing. You're listening to MORNING EDITION.

The website The Verge reports the concierge robots couldn't answer questions about places to visit. Bellhop robots were running into each other in hallways.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Good morning, I'm Rachel Martin. For 31 years, the town of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, had one big claim to fame. It was home to the tallest moose statue in the world - until 2015, when Norway stole the title with a moose statue of their own. The Norwegian moose is less than a foot taller than Mac the moose.</s>RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: So the city of Moose Jaw is considering how to make him taller, maybe ice skates or just making his antlers bigger. The mayor of Moose Jaw said Canada's national pride is on the line, and we can't lose it to Norway over a moose. It's MORNING EDITION.

For 31 years, the town of Moose Jaw in Saskatchewan Province was home to the tallest moose statue. Until 2015, when Norway stole the title. Moose Jaw is considering how to make its statue taller.

DAVID GREENE, HOST: Good morning. I'm David Greene with news you're going to hate me for because - welcome to the rest of your day.</s>DAVID GREENE, HOST: I know we report on this Toto song a lot. But come on. It's worth it. According to CNN, there's a new art installation out in the Namibian desert. It is six speakers playing "Africa" in Africa. They're powered by the sun, so the song is on an endless loop - just like in your head.</s>TOTO: (Singing) I hear the drums echoing...

There's a new art installation in the Namibian desert, according to CNN. It's six speakers, playing "Africa" — in Africa. The speakers are powered by the sun — so the song is on an endless loop.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. It must be embarrassing to call the fire department for a cat stuck up a tree. But in southern England, it was necessary because a person was also stuck. The BBC reports Maria Parry searched for her cat for three days and found it stuck up a tree. She climbed up the tree to comfort it and realized she was too terrified to climb down. Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service brought a ladder to save the woman and also the cat, named Harry, who's fine.

The BBC reports that Maria Parry searched for her cat for three days before finding it. She climbed up the tree to comfort the cat and realized she was too terrified to climb down.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep with congratulations to Arizona, which is buying back its own state capitol building. During the Great Recession, the state sold the capitol and other buildings to raise money. Think of the math. The state raised $700 million in the short term, then it leased the buildings back, promising rent payments projected to total far more than the sale price - free enterprise. A decade later, the state is borrowing money to buy the capitol back.

During the Great Recession, the state sold its capitol and other buildings in a sale-lease-back deal to raise money. Nearly a decade later, the state has a plan to reclaim the buildings.

DAVID GREENE, HOST: Good morning. I'm David Greene with a way to vent your anger. There's a company called Smash in Beijing. Reuters reports you can pay 23 bucks to enter a room and release your pent-up anger by smashing things - TVs, computers, old radios, furniture. One customer brought her wedding photos to destroy. Staff will blare whatever music you like. I think I'd go with Def Leppard. The only rule at Smash seems to be that you can't smash other people, which is a really good rule. It's MORNING EDITION.

Reuters reports you can pay $23 to enter a room and release your pent-up feelings by smashing things: TVs, computers, old radios, furniture, etc. One customer brought wedding photos to destroy.

ALEX CHADWICK, host: From the studios of NPR West, this is Day to Day. I'm Alex Chadwick.</s>MADELEINE BRAND, host: I'm Madeleine Brand, coming up the debate over the debate, outrage over ABC's moderators at this week's Democratic debate and the defense from ABC's Jake Tapper.</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: First story, Pope Benedict XVI spoke at the United Nations this morning. His theme was human rights and how one country's actions can affect the world community.</s>MADELEINE BRAND, host: He said war and environmental degradation compromise human dignity and diminish the common good. Here he is speaking through a translator.</s>POPE BENEDICT: (Through Translator) Each state has the overarching duty to protect its population against serious and repeated violations of human rights as well as the consequences of humanitarian crises due to natural causes or resulting from man's activities.</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: Among those human rights, the Pope said, are peace and religious freedom.

Pope Benedict XVI told U.N. delegates that strengthening human rights is the key to solving the world's problems Friday.

Mr. MARTY KAPLAN (Director of the Norman Lear Center, University of Southern California): Where's the league of women voters when we need them?</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: Day to Day contributor, Marty Kaplan, a former Democratic speech writer. It is time to rest control of the presidential debate from the networks, he says and give it back to the people.</s>Mr. MARTY KAPLAN (Director of the Norman Lear Center, University of Southern California): The networks and the national press love their (unintelligible), their gates, their controversies, their heat. They, alas, are not the grown-ups in the political process. The grown-ups are the voters, who lamely in the mind of the political class, are troubled by the war, the economy, and boring stuff like that. The first 10 people in a phone book, could do a better job of asking candidates questions that voters care about. There is no freaking reason in the world, to grant the networks a rotating monopoly on staffing, and broadcasting these debates. The whole media-political system we now suffer from, is tilted entirely toward trivial combat, pathetic niggling over words, ridiculous sideshows, and inside baseball. Now that we know how awful it can be, are we really powerless to stop it from continuing to waste our time, and turning our political process into a third-rate version of a condescending reality show? Sorry. I just got to get a grip on this bitter thing.</s>ALEX CHADWICK, host: Marty Kaplan, Director of the Norman Lear Center at the University of Southern California. These remarks first appeared on his blog, at The Huffington Post.

Commentator Marty Kaplan of the Huffington Post says it's time to give control of presidential debates back to the voters. He says he misses the League of Women Voters.

DAVID GREENE, HOST: Good morning. I'm David Greene. BuzzFeed is reporting on a freaky moment at a tech conference. A representative from Qualcomm was saying that smart speakers can recommend hotels and restaurants.</s>ALEXA: No, that's not true.</s>DAVID GREENE, HOST: It is not clear why Alexa chimed in there. And is this really funny? I mean, I've been scared of technology since HAL's voice in "2001: A Space Odyssey." Let's just end this segment.</s>DOUGLAS RAIN: (As HAL) I'm sorry, Dave. I'm afraid I can't do that.</s>DAVID GREENE, HOST: Oh, God.

The Qualcomm representative was saying smart speakers can recommend hotels and restaurants while people are driving. Alexa said, "That's not true." It's not clear why Alexa chimed in at that point.

DAVID GREENE, HOST: Good morning. I'm David Greene. A woman in Oklahoma was using the dating app Bumble bragging about killing a deer. It was an illegal kill, which might not have mattered much except the guy chatting with her is a game warden. According to the Oklahoma Game Wardens Facebook page, they went to the woman's house to catch her. The wardens flashed a little sense of humor, using the hashtag #DateNight. The woman paid fines and might not be going on any hunting dates anytime soon. You're listening to MORNING EDITION.

At the time she mentioned killing a deer, the Oklahoma woman was on the dating app Bumble. The guy chatting with her about the illegal deer kill just happened to be a game warden.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep. A German woman rides a commuter train each day. This gives her time for knitting, so she's been knitting a scarf with different bands of color depending on how much the train is delayed. Dark grey means it's only up to five minutes late, pink for up to 30 minutes and red for the many days the train is delayed by more than half an hour. One section of the scarf is just solid red where the train was late daily for weeks. It's MORNING EDITION.

The woman knits in different bands of color depending on when the train arrives. Dark gray means the train is up to five minutes late. Red means the train is delayed by more than 30 minutes.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: There's a little something special to celebrate this Memorial Day weekend if you happen to be in New York City. Manhattanhenge, it's called. For two days, twice a year, on either side of the summer solstice, the setting sun perfectly aligns with the city's numbered streets. Those blocks, running east to west on Manhattan's grid, form a corridor, inducing a sunset that bathes the buildings in warm, amber light.</s>RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: One astrophysicist told The New York Times the phenomenon has a lot to do with how the city was constructed two centuries ago. Jackie Faherty says, in the 1800s, when they made these 90 degree angles, they created a bullseye for the sun to hit. And you may have a henge in your town, too. Chicago, Philly, Boston, Toronto and Montreal all produce henges when the timing is right.</s>SPINAL TAP: (Singing) Stonehenge, where the demons dwell, where the banshees live and they do live well. Stonehenge, where a man's a man and the children dance to the pipes of Pan.

Manhattanhenge is the name for the solar phenomena that occurs this weekend in New York City when the setting sun perfectly aligns with the numbered streets running east and west on the city's grid.

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST: An office worker in Britain has called attention to a double standard. Last week, a London receptionist launched a petition to force her company to change its dress code. Back in December, Nicola Thorp, working as a temp, was sent home for wearing a pair of flats instead of the 2-to-4-inch heels required by her employer, the temp agency Portico.</s>LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST: It is still legal in the U.K. for a company to require female staff members to wear high heels. Thorp's petition called for the rule to be changed. Her complaint struck a chord and quickly gained more than 100,000 signatures, according to the Guardian newspaper - so many signatures, in fact, that the government is now required to respond.</s>LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST: Hoping to duck charges of sexism, Portico has now changed its policy and said that its female employees may wear flats. Score one for sensible shoes.</s>TRAFFIC: (Singing) And the thing that you're hearing is only the sound of the low spark of high-heeled boys.

A British woman who was sent home from work for not wearing high heels has launched a petition asking that it be illegal for a company to require women to wear them.

MADELEINE BRAND, host: This is Day to Day, I'm Madeleine Brand.</s>ALEX COHEN, host: And I'm Alex Cohen. General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker are on Capitol Hill today talking about the status of U.S. troops in Iraq. Ambassador Crocker told law makers that the U.S. needs to stick to its current policy or risk failure.</s>Ambassador RYAN CROCKER (U.S. Ambassador to Iraq): Our current course is hard, but it is working. Progress is real, although still fragile. We need to stay with it.</s>ALEX COHEN, host: Some senators were skeptical. We'll have more on today's testimony by Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus from NPR's Tom Bowman later on in the program.

U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, gave a status report to Congress on Tuesday. We read between the lines.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. Everybody knows elephants are cute, but they also want what they want. Video from Sri Lanka shows a woman visiting an elephant rescue center. An elephant reaches its trunk out of its pen, seems to give her a hug. But...</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Oh, my God.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: (Laughter).</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: ...It's actually deftly stealing her purse. In a tug of war, the woman did manage to retrieve her phone. The elephant got the purse and what it really wanted - the mangoes inside.

An elephant reaches its trunk out of its pen and steals a woman's purse. In a tug of war, the woman manages to retrieve her phone. The elephant got the purse and the mangoes inside.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Good morning. I'm Rachel Martin with an update on the rescued cow. We reported yesterday that a cow was bound for the slaughterhouse when it slipped out of a truck and wandered around a New Jersey highway until it was caught. She was then taken to a shelter. And on this New Year's Day, we can give you more news. The shelter says the cow, named Brianna, has become a mother. The calf is a girl, appropriately named Winter, and Winter seems completely unaffected by her mother's tumble off a truck. It's MORNING EDITION.

We reported that a cow bound for the slaughterhouse slipped out of a truck, and wandered along a New Jersey highway until it was caught. After taken to an animal shelter, the cow gave birth.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Good morning. I'm Rachel Martin. The woman believed to be the oldest person who ever lived maybe wasn't. Two researchers now suggest Jeanne Calment of France may not have been 122 years old when she died in 1997. Instead, they hypothesize it was actually her 99-year-old daughter who had assumed her identity after she died. The French researcher who helped validate Calment's age, Jean-Marie Robine, says the new theory is false. Do you have any idea how many people would have needed to lie? It's MORNING EDITION.

Researchers suggest Jeanne Calment may not have been 122 years old when she died in 1997. Instead, they hypothesize it was her 99-year-old daughter who had assumed her identity after she died.

NOEL KING, HOST: Good morning. I'm Noel King. High school can feel overwhelming, and college is hours of hitting the books. So imagine doing both at the same time. When Braxton Moral of Kansas was in third grade, his teacher told his parents that he was really, really gifted. In middle school, he started taking college classes online. Now at 16, he's on track to collect his high school diploma in May and pick up his undergrad degree a few days later from Harvard. It's MORNING EDITION.

When Braxton Moral of Kansas was in third grade, his teacher told his parents that he was "really, really gifted." In May he'll graduate high school and days later pick up his undergraduate degree.

FARAI CHIDEYA, host: And we close the show today with a pair of remembrances.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: First, Dr. Asa Hilliard, a professor of urban education at Georgia State University. He was in Egypt, guiding students on foreign exchange trip when he died.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: Hilliard was a founding member of the National Black Child Development Institute, and he worked tirelessly to level the playing field for black students. He encouraged colleges and universities to revise standardized admission tests or stop using them altogether because of cultural bias. And he encouraged all students, black or white, to broaden their horizons and learn more about African cultures. When he died, Hilliard was doing just that, leading a student tour through Egypt.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: A spokesperson for Georgia State University says, though an official autopsy has not been done, Hilliard may have died of malaria. He was 73-years-old.

We remember Professor Asa Hilliard, a tireless advocate for culturally sensitive college admissions testing and teacher training.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: If you're worried that this political season is causing your hair to turn prematurely gray, well, raucous debate language notwithstanding, that might not be the reason - because just last week, scientists identified the first gene for gray hair. The gene is called IRF4 and researchers say it's responsible for light hair color in people of European origin. This is the first time that they've linked it to gray hair. So, blondes might have more fun, but they're going to go gray a little faster. The good news for salon junkies is that therapies might now come along that can prevent grays from sprouting at all, and you can save on that base color. Plus, scientists identified a couple other hairy variants - the balding gene, curly heads and, if Ernie wants Bert to do more personal grooming above the eyes, Bert can blame it on his DNA because there's also a gene for unibrows.

Think you've gone gray from stress? Scientists say they've identified the first gene for gray hair. It accounts for about 30 percent of grays, mostly in lighter colored hair.

SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST: Now we turn to the government shutdown. We're on Day 23, making it the longest in American history. Today, we're going to hear from Kami of Texas. She's asking that we don't use her last name because of the nature of her husband's job. He's an essential federal employee and is currently working without pay.</s>KAMI: We've used whatever we had in our bank account to pay our last mortgage payment and our last car payment and our last utilities payment and, of course, to go to the grocery store and stuff. So we're just - it's the stress right now. In the week after the shutdown started, I had to have an HVAC repair person come out because our heater quit working, and that was $500 we didn't see having to spend. So hopefully, nothing like that will come up again while this is going on.</s>KAMI: A couple days ago, we sent off paperwork to borrow some out of his retirement to cover ourselves since we don't know when this shutdown will end. We will be penalized. In the past, I believe they've offered a penalty-free withdrawal. We haven't seen that letter come across yet. And we're withdrawing 11,000 at this point. I work for our local school district, and my income alone cannot support our entire family.</s>KAMI: Our kids - we have an older son who understands what's going on. We have a younger son who doesn't really understand. And, unfortunately, he's overheard me on the phone leaving messages for members of Congress. And he twisted what I said in his head, and he was worried that he mentioned to a friend of mine that we weren't going to have food to eat. And that made me more upset. So we just really need a resolution.</s>SARAH MCCAMMON, HOST: That was Kami talking about how the government shutdown was affecting her family.

During the longest government shutdown in history, essential federal employees are still working without pay. We hear how one family has been affected.

DAVID GREENE, HOST: Good morning. I'm David Greene. After pitcher Brady Singer signed with the Kansas City Royals, he wrote his parents a letter this holiday. He posted video of them reading it.</s>JACQUELYN SINGER: I love you, Mom and Dad.</s>DAVID GREENE, HOST: The Kansas City Star reports Singer used his $4 million signing bonus to thank mom and dad for their support and all the travel to games.</s>JACQUELYN SINGER: I am paying off the loan from the bank. Also, I paid off all your debt, as well. What?</s>DAVID GREENE, HOST: You're listening to MORNING EDITION.

Brady Singer recently joined the Kansas City Royals and received a $4.25 million signing bonus. He wrote his parents a holiday letter and told them he would be paying off all their debts.

DAVID GREENE, HOST: Good morning. I'm David Greene. The North Pole is in international waters. But now Canada is arguing its most famous resident is definitely Canadian. A Canadian tax official tells CTV News that Santa reports an income, including in the form of cookies and carrots. Santa files expenses for a lot of single-day travel. A Canadian immigration official pointed to Santa and Mrs. Claus' outfits as further proof, telling the news outlet that red and white sure is patriotic.

The North Pole is in international waters but now Canada is arguing that Santa Claus is definitely Canadian. CTV News reports various Canadian government departments and agencies cite proof.

NOEL KING, HOST: Good morning. I'm Noel King. New York Jets rookie quarterback Sam Darnold went undercover dressed in a red-and-white suit and a beard at a New Jersey mall last week. Kids asked him to bring them puppies and skateboards.</s>NOEL KING, HOST: And then, eek, two young football fans asked him for Saquon Barkley jerseys. Barkley plays for the Giants. Darnold slumped a little and asked one kid kind of sadly, Saquon?</s>NOEL KING, HOST: But when he revealed his true identity, a bunch of young Jets fans went nuts, and he seemed to cheer up.

Last week in New Jersey, quarterback Sam Darnold went undercover as a mall Santa. Kids asked for toys and pets. One young fan asked for a Saquon Barkley jersey. Barkley plays for the New York Giants.

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST: We're going to start the program discussing the partial shutdown of the federal government, which is entering its third week. It's now tied for the third longest in history, with the president demanding billions for the border wall he once said Mexico would pay for and Democrats refusing. There is little hope for an end to the shutdown soon. President Trump said today that federal workers will, quote, "make an adjustment because they want to see the border taken care of" - unquote. Throughout the program today, we're going to hear from some of those federal workers and also people who rely on federal services.</s>GABRIELLE LOPEZ: My name is Gabrielle Lopez (ph). I work for a technology company over in Pennsylvania. The shutdown has been really, really stressful for me. I've recently finished college, and I'm trying to enroll in an income-driven repayment plan. But that requires information from the IRS. Obviously, I can't get that. So, in the meantime, the interest is just rising and rising.</s>GABRIELLE LOPEZ: This is also putting a damper on me trying to purchase my first home. I'm looking to see if I can find maybe a part-time job to try to make up the interest because I need to have that debt to income ratio at a certain level before I can purchase my first home. I thought, you know, I graduated. I'm going to get my first house early and do what I have been told will make me successful. Now I feel kind of deflated, like everything I've been told, everything that I'm supposed to do still equals out to the wrong thing.</s>GABRIELLE LOPEZ: So now I'm just at this point where I'm checking every day to see, when are they open? When are they open? I'm feeling really uncertain. I feel like I'm a huge planner, and, like, I make plans about planning. And I feel like I've followed my plan. I've graduated and have my savings together and did all the research to figure out housing loans, and now I'm being punished.

We asked listeners across the country to share stories of how the shutdown is affecting them. Gabrielle Lopez talks about how her student debt has been affected by the shutdown.

NEAL CONAN, host: Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, died yesterday at the age of 71. After a long struggle with cancer, she died at a hospital in Nairobi. After leaving her home in rural Kenya to study in America, she returned to serve in government and in parliament. She's perhaps best known as the founder of Kenya's Green Belt Movement, which targets deforestation, poverty and the status of women. She was kind enough to join us a couple of times on this program, most recently in 2009 to discuss her book, "The Challenge for Africa."</s>WANGARI MAATHAI: We cannot change history, but we can manage what we have. And one way is to understand that as diverse as we are in the superficial state - which I call the micro-nation - it's up to us now to negotiate with each other as politicians to understand how we can move these micro-nationalities as a united people, and not to use these micro-nationalities as blocks with which we play politics. And we see that time and time again, people wanting to get in power and using their micro-nationality as an excuse, and especially if that micro-nationality has a huge number. This is really failure of the African leadership, and I'm urging that it is us, the Africans, who have to deal with that and persuade our people to work together so that we can move forward instead of engaging in petty wars that take us nowhere.</s>NEAL CONAN, host: Nobel Peace Prize-winner Wangari Maathai, who died yesterday at the age of 71. If you'd like, you can hear more of our conversations with her on our website. Go to npr.org and click on TALK OF THE NATION.

Wangari Maathai, the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, died of cancer Sunday at the age of 71. Maathai inspired a generation of women and founded Kenya's Green Belt Movement, which targets deforestation, poverty and the status of women. Listen to two previous Talk of the Nation interviews with Wangari Maathai.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. There's an old saying about who wears the pants in the family. And the answer now includes female Mormon missionaries. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints updated its dress code for missionaries.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Women are still supposed to wear skirts and dresses to worship. But women at more than 400 missions worldwide may wear dress slacks at other times. It's seen as a way to ward off mosquitoes. And the Mormons say it also helps when riding bicycles.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints updated its dress code for missionaries. Women must still wear skirts and dresses to worship, but they may wear dress slacks at other times.

NOEL KING, HOST: Good morning. I'm Noel King.</s>NOEL KING, HOST: Vacation selfies apparently aren't enough for one British family. A posting recently appeared on a job website for photographers. The gig - shoot the family's travels in Monaco, Abu Dhabi and Rio, among other places. But the family, who wants to stay anonymous, said rookies need not apply. They want at least five years of experience. It pays $100,000 for the year, plus travel, accommodation, food and a month vacation.

The family posted the job on a website for photographers. The assignment is to shoot the family's travels to Monaco, Rio and other stops. The pay is $100,000. Five years of experience is required.

DAVID GREENE, HOST: Good morning. I'm David Greene. Police in Green Bay, Wis., have put cardboard cutouts of their police chief, Andrew Smith, in stores. He looks stern, holding a message - win a free ride in a police car by shoplifting from this store. Well, somebody was so intimidated by the chief that they walked off with the chief. They stole one of these cutouts. That's according to the Green Bay Press-Gazette, which says that Smith is proud that overall, shoplifting has gone down by 5 percent. It's MORNING EDITION.

The life-size replica of the Green Bay police chief was warning against shoplifting, according to the Green Bay Press Gazette. Chief Andrew Smith says over all, shoplifting is down 5 percent.

DAVID GREENE, HOST: Good morning. I'm David Greene. Thank goodness Marion Wischnewski uses the parental lock on her Alexa device because Rocco has been placing some orders. He's asked Alexa to deliver fruit, light bulbs, a kite. Rocco is not a child. He is Marion's African gray parrot. She adopted him after he was essentially kicked out of an animal sanctuary for cursing too much. Marion told The Times of London, in addition to ordering things, the parrot has Alexa play him love songs. She says Rocco loves to dance. You're listening to MORNING EDITION.

Rocco has asked Alexa to deliver fruit, light-bulbs and a kite. Rocco is Marion Wischnewski's African grey parrot. He was adopted by Marion after he cursed too much at an animal sanctuary.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: An update now on Rhodes Must Fall - that's the student protest movement at Oxford University calling for a statue of Cecil Rhodes to come down. Rhodes endowed the Rhodes Scholarship but also laid the groundwork for apartheid in South Africa. Last week, I spoke with Tadiwa Madenga, a campaign organizer.</s>TADIWA MADENGA: You can remove the statue. You can put it in a museum where you can continue to discuss and debate, but where it is at the entrance of Oriel College, at the very highest position above kings and provosts, is just ridiculous.</s>RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Well, Oxford's Oriel College said this past week that the statute will stay where it is and will be accompanied by what it calls a, quote, "clear historical context to explain why it is there." The college went on to state, quote, "recent debate has underlined that the continuing presence of these historical artifacts is an important reminder of the complexity of history and of legacies of colonialism still felt today."

Rachel Martin has an update on last week's story from Oxford University, where students called for a controversial statue to be removed.

FARAI CHIDEYA, host: From NPR News, this is NEWS & NOTES. I am Farai Chideya.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: On today's show, Chairman Julian Bond on the future of the NAACP.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: And surviving the heat wave out west.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: But first, let's kick things off with headlines. Today we start in Douglasville, Georgia. Yesterday, Reverend Al Sharpton led a rally for 21-year-old Genarlow Wilson. Wilson is serving a 10-year prison sentence for having consensual oral sex four years ago with a 15-year-old girl. He was 17. Last month, a Georgia County judge stated that Wilson should be freed. The state's attorney general appealed. The Georgia Supreme Court plans to hear Wilson's latest appeal in October.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: And here's a gift for President Bush who turns 61 today. A federal judge threw out a lawsuit suing Mr. Bush for his domestic surveillance program. But it wasn't all roses for the president. New Mexico Senator Pete Domenici joined the growing number of Republicans critical of the Iraq war. Yesterday, Domenici said he supported a new war strategy. He wants to move troops out of combat and eventually, out of Iraq. He suggested, though, that the Iraqi government, not the United States, has failed to gain control over the conflict.

Host Farai Chideya runs through the day's headlines, including a rally for the release of a young sex offender, and President Bush wins a lawsuit but loses Republican support for the Iraq war.

FARAI CHIDEYA, host: From NPR News, this is NEWS & NOTES. I'm Farai Chideya.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: On today's show, we start this month's religion series. We take the historic look at faith in black America. And actor Blair Underwood has a new erotic mystery novel, "Casanegra." He and co-writer Steven Barnes and Tananarive Due join us later.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: But first, let's kick things off with headlines. Today, we start with Illinois Senator Barack Obama. He is breaking records. The senator reported yesterday he raised at least $32.5 million for his presidential campaign from April to June. That's more than any Democratic White House candidate has ever raised.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: And in Mississippi, a new civil rights ruling. On Friday, a federal judge said that mostly black county violated the rights of white voters. Prosecutors say it's the first lawsuit that has used the 1965 Voting Rights Act on behalf of whites.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: The Justice Department had accused NAACP Democratic party leaders of blocking whites from local elections. But the party's leader, Ike Brown, argued he was trying to keep Republicans from voting in Democratic primaries. Judge Tom S. Lee has ordered attorneys on both sides to file briefs suggesting how to end the discrimination.

Host Farai Chideya runs through the day's headlines, including Ill. Sen. Barack Obama's record-breaking fundraising efforts.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Good morning. I'm Rachel Martin. It's the time of year when maybe your colleagues start wearing Santa hats or putting tinsel on their cubicles to liven up the workplace. I assure you, though, it's nothing like what Jack Makepeace has done in his office. The 24-year-old Brit turned his cubicle into a winter wonderland - an ice castle guarded by penguins, complete with a drawbridge. He sits inside the castle to do work and just turns on the log fire screen saver if, you know, the ice castle makes him cold.

Jack Makepeace, 24, turned his workspace into an elaborate ice castle guarded by penguins complete with a drawbridge. He sits inside the castle to do work and turns on the log fire screensaver.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. This can happen to anybody, right? A man got caught on the armrest of an airplane. It's not clear how, but his pinky got stuck, stuck for nearly an hour on the American Airlines flight operated by SkyWest. He's now suing, saying his pinky injury keeps him from driving or playing with his kids. SkyWest admits Stephen Keys bruised his finger and they look forward to, quote, "swiftly resolving this matter."

It's not clear how his finger reportedly got stuck in an armrest of an American Airlines flight for nearly an hour, but he's now suing the airline and the company that operates it.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Good morning. I'm Rachel Martin. Nine years ago, Paula Stanton accidentally flushed her diamond-and-gold wedding ring down the toilet while cleaning the bathroom. She thought it was gone forever, but luckily, years later, she mentioned it to a city worker named Ted Gogol. Ted was working near a manhole close to Paula's house, and he saw something shiny in the mud. Sure enough, it was the ring. Paula was ecstatic. The ring from the toilet is now back on her finger after being cleaned with peroxide - lots of peroxide. It's MORNING EDITION.

Paula Stanton accidentally flushed her diamond wedding ring while cleaning the bathroom. She mentioned it to a city worker, Ted Gogol, who was doing work near her home when he found the ring.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Good morning. I'm Rachel Martin. What's the secret to a long life? Andrew Slavonic of Pennsylvania says it's pretty simple. One Coors Light a day. He should know. The World War II vet turned 101 years old this year. Slavonic and his son Bob talked about his ritual on Fox News where he said every day at 4 p.m., he cracks open a cold one. When the beer company heard, they invited Slavonic and his son out to tour the brewery. Flights on them. Here's to many more birthdays, Andrew. Cheers. It's MORNING EDITION.

Andrew Slavonic, a WW II veteran from Pennsylvania, turned 101 years old this year. He told Fox News that every day around 4 p.m., he and his son crack open a cold one.

TONY COX, host: From NPR News, this is NEWS & NOTES. I'm Tony Cox in for Farai Chideya.</s>TONY COX, host: We're going to take you around the world in today's show, starting here at home with some tough questions for Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson. We'll then head to West Africa with NPR's Ofeibea Quist-Arcton. And wrap things up in New York's Grand Central Station with this week's installment of StoryCorp Griot.</s>TONY COX, host: But first, let's look at some headlines. Enrollment for black college students in the South is up. That's according to a new study from the Southern Regional Education Board.</s>TONY COX, host: In a survey of 16 states, researchers found for the first time that the number of African-Americans in or heading to college is actually on par with the region's overall population. But statistics can be misleading. Part of the reason for the bump is simple math. Blacks' share of the population has declined making it easier to reach those new benchmarks.</s>TONY COX, host: Also in the South, some new home sales dropped more than seven percent last month according to the Commerce Department. Nationwide, new home sales logged the fourth drop in just five months. The median home price was also down about one percent compared to a year ago at just over $236,000. Now, that may be good news for folks looking to buy a home, but not good for anyone looking to sell.

NPR's Tony Cox runs through the day's headlines, including a hike in black college enrollment throughout the South and a dip in the sale of new homes.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. The Fearless Girl is moving. An artist created the statue of the tough kid - elbows out, hands on hips - and placed her to confront a famous sculpture of a bull in lower Manhattan. She was popular. She drew crowds. But the sculptor of the bull objected. His creation was supposed to symbolize prosperity - a bull market - not danger. So the girl was moved a few blocks to a new location, and she will now face down the entire New York Stock Exchange. It's MORNING EDITION.

"Fearless Girl" is on the move. The sculpture, which once stared down the "Charging Bull" statue, has officially moved a few blocks over to face an even bigger beast, the New York Stock Exchange.

TONY COX, host: From NPR News, this is NEWS & NOTES. I'm Tony Cox, in for Farai Chideya.</s>TONY COX, host: Welcome to the first day of summer.</s>TONY COX, host: Coming up, we've got a quite a show for you today, including Senator Chris Dodd on a bill he hoped will help solve some longstanding Civil Rights era murders. And we've got Dr. Ro kicking off summer with some healthy heart eating tips.</s>TONY COX, host: But first, let's go to the headlines.</s>TONY COX, host: Today we start in New Orleans where the Army Corps of Engineers says some neighborhoods could still see as much as eight feet of flooding if another big storm hits. Among the hardest hit would be parts of the city's northern Gentilly and Lakeview neighborhoods.</s>TONY COX, host: With that said, the Corps insist New Orleans, on a whole, is far better prepared for a one in 400 chance of storm, like Katrina, than it was two years ago. And that, they say, is because of improvements the Corps has made to the Big Easy's dated levee system.</s>TONY COX, host: Our second headline takes us to Washington, D.C. where the head of the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division testifies today.</s>TONY COX, host: Wan Kim is set to answer questions from the Senate Judiciary Committee about reports that his department's become increasingly politicized.</s>TONY COX, host: The Washington Post also ran a piece today on the man Kim replaced, Bradley Schlozman. You may remember, he testified before the same committee earlier this month and admitted that he had boasted about hiring Republican lawyers.</s>TONY COX, host: Now, the Post reports that at least three minority women lawyers were transferred out of the division because Schlozman questioned their political loyalties.</s>TONY COX, host: Today he denies taking any improper action against any division attorney.

NPR's Tony Cox runs through the day's headlines of news affecting black life and culture. Thursday's headlines include a levee update from the Army Corps of Engineers in New Orleans and testimony from Wan Kim, head of the embattled Civil Rights Division in the U.S. Department of Justice.

CARRIE KAHN, HOST: And now a correction and clarification. In last week's public service announcement about holiday injuries, one of our warnings didn't go far enough. We told you not to put your hand in a jammed snow blower that's running to clear it out. But we should have added, even if the snow blower is turned off, you should never reach in and use your hand to clear a jam. The blades might still spin and cause serious injury. Instead, to free the blades, use an old broomstick or something else that you don't mind getting damaged. Happy, healthy New Year's to all of you.

Last week, Weekend Edition issued a PSA to prevent holiday injuries. But we failed to note that you should never, ever stick your hand in a snowblower — even if it's off. Carrie Kahn has a correction.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: This past week, a Canadian man pleaded guilty to smuggling charges in the U.S. He was caught at a border checkpoint between Detroit and Windsor. Your basic, run-of-the-mill border crime, right? Sure, if smuggling 51 live turtles in your pants is run-of-the-mill. Last fall, Kai Xu was subjected to an inspection at the Canadian border after guards got a tip from U.S. agents. These agents had been following Mr. Xu after he received a suspicious package, and they noticed that his legs looked funny. They had weird-looking bulges under his sweat pants. When guards searched him at the border, they found 41 turtles taped to his legs - 10 more between his legs. You heard that right. Some of the turtles he was attempting to transport might fetch up to $800 each. Turtles in his pants... Nothing more to say really.

A Canadian college student was caught at a border checkpoint with more than 50 live turtles in his pants and has pleaded guilty to six smuggling charges in the U.S.

FARAI CHIDEYA, host: From NPR News, this is NEWS & NOTES. I'm Farai Chideya.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: Coming up, we've got our weekly look at politics, including the New York mayor's jump from the Republican Party. A special Roundtable on homophobia in hip-hop is also coming up.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: But first, let's kick things off with headlines. Today, we start in South Africa. A story in today's Washington Post says the AIDS crisis there is getting worse and not better - that's despite more medicine, antiretroviral drugs, specifically - than ever before. The problem, says The Post, is that for every patient who started taking the drugs last year, five more South Africans have gotten the disease. You do the math.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: And it's not just South Africa's problem. The numbers are the same throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Why? More time is being dedicated to treatment but less to education. We'll see if this imbalance continues while infections skyrocket.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: Our next headline takes us to the airwaves. You've got two big companies playing in the same wading pool - XM Radio and Sirius Satellite Radio. They've said they want to merge but the Federal Communications Commission is mulling it over. Now, the preachers and congregations want their say. The second district of the AME Church has 150,000 members. It wants the FCC to okay the merger. Why? Right Reverend Adam J. Richardson Jr., bishop of the second district, says, quote, "while African-American music and culture have moved more into the mainstream in the last decade, our community still remains neglected by major media companies," end quote.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: Reverend Richardson hopes the new hybrid company would offer more options for black listeners, from gospel to sports and news. The AME Second District covers Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, and the District of Columbia.

Host Farai Chideya runs through the day's headlines of news affecting black life and culture. Wednesday's headlines include a report on AIDS setbacks in South Africa and the Second District of the AME Church announcing their support of a merger between XM and Sirius Satellite Radio.

FARAI CHIDEYA, host: From NPR News, this is NEWS & NOTES. I'm Farai Chideya.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: Coming up, we've got a look at the week's top entertainment stories with Newsweek's Allison Samuels. And later, a bittersweet snapshot just in time for Father's Day.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: But first, let's kick things off with headlines. Today we start in a neighborhood near you, new for closure numbers came out yesterday from the Mortgage Bankers Association. Subprime for closures hit an all-time high for the first quarter of the year. Nearly one-in-five subprime loans was either delinquent by, at least a month, or in for closure. Analysts warn we may not have seen the worst. NEWS & NOTES will bring you more on this next week in out economics segment.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: And out second headline takes us to at least one person who doesn't have to worry about losing her house. Oprah Winfrey landed in the top slot of Forbes magazine's celebrity 100 power list. Winfrey apparently earned worth of $250 million in the last 12 months - whew - and she's showing no sign of slowing. An African-American scored not only the top spot but runner-up too, that was golf entrepreneur Tiger Woods, who racked up a $100 million.

Farai Chideya runs through the day's headlines of news affecting black life and culture. Friday's headlines include a rise in subprime loan foreclosures and Oprah Winfrey topping a new Forbes magazine celebrity power list.

FARAI CHIDEYA, host: From NPR News, this is NEWS & NOTES. I'm Farai Chideya.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: Coming up, we look at the war crimes trial of former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor, and former Cosby kid, Malcolm-Jamal Warner, has a surprising one-man show.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: But first, let's kick things off with headlines. Today, we start by taking a trip through time. Forty years ago today, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down all state laws prohibiting interracial marriage. The case was brought by a couple in Virginia - the Lovings. Mildred was black; Richard was white. They had married in Washington, D.C. because Virginia forbade it. But when they returned home, they were quickly arrested. They got out of jail all right. But the couple had to agree to leave the state and their families for 25 years. Then they embarked on a landmark legal case. After nearly 10 years, the Lovings finally won the right to live in their native Virginia together.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: Our next headline takes us to Durham, North Carolina. There, District Attorney Michael Nifong begins his disciplinary hearing. Remember he was the DA involved in the alleged rape case involving members of the Duke lacrosse team. That case eventually fell apart and the players were cleared of any wrongdoing. Nifong landed himself in hot water. He is now being charged with withholding evidence, making false statements to the court, and making inflammatory comments outside the court. He is not being prosecuted, but Nifong could find himself disbarred, that is lose his legal license.

Farai Chideya scans the day's headlines for news affecting black life and culture. Tuesday's headlines include the 40th anniversary of the Supreme Court case that legalized interracial marriage, and the disciplinary hearing for disgraced Durham district attorney Michael Nifong.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. The late Elvis Presley is telling residents of a German town to walk or don't walk. The town where Elvis was stationed while in the Army has installed new traffic signals. You know those figures of a person that say walk and don't walk. Well, some are Elvis-shaped. He stands at a microphone for don't walk. He's dancing for walk. Elvis has left the building but still says when to leave the corner.

Residents of a small German town are looking at an image of Elvis Presley dancing or standing at a microphone to signal for them to walk or not to walk.

FARAI CHIDEYA, host: From NPR News, this is NEWS & NOTES. I'm Farai Chideya.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: Coming up, we've got rapper producer Da Brat on Celebrity Fit Club. And "Good Times" actor John Amos has a new project about the trans-Atlantic slave trade. But, first, let's kick things off with headlines.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: Today, we start in Baltimore, home of the NAACP and, incidentally, my hometown. You may remember the group's last president and CEO, Bruce Gordon, resigned suddenly in March. Now, the group appears to be in a financial tailspin. They've just announced their trimming staff at their Baltimore headquarters by 40 percent, and then temporarily closing all seven of their regional offices.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: The move follows three consecutive annual budget shortfalls. Yesterday, Bruce Gordon told the Baltimore Sun that the NAACP's board is to blame in part for the group's recent lackluster fundraising. But Chairman Julian Bond blamed Gordon. Bond told the Sun that when Gordon left he spoke critically of the NAACP to the press, and, quote, "what he said really poisoned the well that we drink from," end quote. The NAACP is one of America's oldest and best-known civil rights organizations. In 2009, it will celebrate its 100th anniversary.

Farai Chideya scans the day's headlines for news affecting black life and culture. Thursday's roundup includes a look at financial trouble at the NAACP.

DAVID GREENE, HOST: Good morning. I'm David Greene. A substitute teacher in New Jersey won't be returning to work. NJ.com reports she told first-graders that Santa Claus is not real. This led to a discussion in the class about the Easter Bunny, the tooth fairy, The Elf on the Shelf. She said they're fake, too. The principal of the school said she showed poor judgment.</s>DAVID GREENE, HOST: Now, we've had an unofficial policy on our program to never question Santa's existence on the air because - well, because.

The teacher won't be returning to work after she told first graders that Santa Claus was not real, according to NJ.com. The school's principal says the substitute showed poor judgement.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. Give Dane Best credit for civic engagement. He is 9 years old, a resident of Severance, Colo., and he argued before the town board against a century-old ban on throwing snowballs. The law bans throwing rocks or other missiles, and there is no right to bear snowballs. Mr. Best organized a letter-writing campaign and called the law outdated. The Greeley Tribune says he's now free to keep a promise to pelt his little brother. It's MORNING EDITION.

The century-old law in Severance banned throwing rocks or other "missiles." Nine-year-old Dane Best organized a letter writing campaign, and called the law "outdated."

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Good morning. I'm Rachel Martin. Be honest. Have you ever lied about your age - maybe just, you know, rounded up or down as suited your particular need? A Dutchman named Emile Ratelband wanted to change his age by more than a rounding error. He is a 69-year-old single man who believes he'd get better results on dating apps if he were 20 years younger. So he filed a lawsuit to officially change his age to 49. The court rejected his argument but said he's more than welcome to feel 20 years younger and act accordingly. It's MORNING EDITION.

Emile Ratelband wanted to change his age by 20 years. He believes he would get better results on dating apps if he were younger. He plans to appeal his case.

FARAI CHIDEYA, host: From NPR News, this is NEWS & NOTES. I'm Farai Chideya.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: Well, have you ever wanted to know how to blog? The geeks are here to rescue you. And I happen to be one of those geeks talking to two of my colleagues coming up about that and cheap or free technology - how to get it. We also speak with Adam Beach, the star of "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee."</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: But first let's kick things off with headlines. Today, we start in Washington, where Congress quietly passed the first hike in the minimum wage in a decade. It will go up more than $2 over the next two years from $5.15 an hour to $7.25 an hour. Democrats attached the hike to the new funding bill for Iraq and Afghanistan.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: This was a bitter pill for both sides of the aisle. Democrats had to give up on a push for a troop withdrawal deadline, and Republicans, including the president, have resisted a minimum wage hike for years. Roughly five and a half million workers currently earn less than $7.25 an hour.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: And since we'll be talking about the Black Blogosphere a little bit later, we thought we'd pull this tech headline from today's Washington Post. It reports that venture capitalist Fred Wilson declared bankruptcy. No, that's not financial bankruptcy. He is doing just fine in that department. We are talking email bankruptcy.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: Wilson is not alone, according to the Post. A growing number of Americans are feeling too connected to the world. Their mailboxes pile up with unanswered emails, the guilt builds up, movers and shakers like Wilson throw up their hands, delete everything and start all over again. So the next time you send an email, some cultural analysts say you might want to put the mouse down and just pick up the phone.

Farai Chideya scans the day's headlines for news affecting black life and culture. Friday's stories include passage of the first federal minimum-wage increase in a decade, and a Washington Post story about e-mail-swamped executives declaring a light-hearted, nonfinancial bankruptcy.

FARAI CHIDEYA, host: From NPR News, this is NEWS & NOTES. I'm Farai Chideya.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: Coming up, we have sex and sexuality on HBCU campuses, that's historically black colleges and universities. Also we go take a drive down "Bible Road" with photographer Sam Fentress. But first, let's kick things off with headlines.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: Today, we start with Louisiana. The legislature there is struggling with an age-old problem. Black residents want more black judges in their district courts. But because the elections for judges are district-wide, black candidates rarely get elected.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: So the state house passed a bill that would create a majority minority judicial district. That would mean at least one African-American judge would likely get elected in a district that's only had white judges up to this point. So there's just one problem with the new subdistrict. It would be too small to be considered representative by constitutional standards. Looks like it's time to go back to the drawing board. Still, majority-minority subdistricts are nothing new to Louisiana. Similar efforts are up and running in Jefferson and East Baton Rouge parishes.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: And in national news, the Pew Research Center just released a poll of American Muslims. Three quarters said the use of suicide bombings is never justified. But the most surprising news came from African-American Muslims. Native-born blacks make up one-in-five American Muslims. They're also far more likely than immigrant Muslims to say they support al-Qaida. Only a third had a very unfavorable view of the group. Nearly twice as many immigrant Muslims felt that way.

Farai Chideya scans the day's headlines for news affecting black life and culture. Wednesday's headlines include a move in Louisiana to create a new majority-minority judicial district, and the surprising findings of a new poll of African-American Muslims.

DAVID GREENE, HOST: Good morning. I'm David Greene. You don't hear this every day - Santa Claus caused a massive traffic jam in England. No, kids, not actual Santa. The real St. Nick would never be so careless. This was a giant inflatable Santa. We're talking, like, four times the size of most vehicles. It floated away from someone's house and fell across the road, causing, in the words of the BBC, a ho, ho, ho hold up. One person tweeted (reading) this is why Christmas shouldn't start in November - hashtag #humbug. It's MORNING EDITION.

The giant inflatable Santa was four times the size of most vehicles. It floated away from someone's house and fell across the road causing, in the words of the BBC, a ho-ho-holdup.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Good morning. I'm Rachel Martin. Dan Dotson, who operates his own auction house and stars in "Storage Wars" on A&E, recently recounted a crazy story about found money. Apparently, Dotson had auctioned off a storage unit for $500. The guy who bought it found a safe inside and got the surprise of a lifetime when he opened it - $7.5 million in cash. When the original owners realized their safe had been sold, they offered the man $1.2 million to return the rest of the money. Not a bad return on investment. It's MORNING EDITION.

Dan Dotson, who operates an auction house and stars in Storage Wars on A&E, auctioned off a storage unit for $500. The new owner found millions in it, and agreed to return the money for 1.2 million.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: An American who traveled to an island in the Bay of Bengal has been killed there.</s>RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: His name was John Allen Chau. He came from Vancouver, Wash. He crossed the Pacific to the Indian Ocean Region. And on the remote Andaman Islands, he tried to contact local people who live in isolation. Indian law forbids outsiders from entering.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: And local people apparently shot and killed Mr. Chau as he approached in a fishing boat. Now, in his diary, which Chau's mother shared with The Washington Post, he said he wanted to spread a Christian message and wrote in his journal, my name is John. I love you. And Jesus loves you. One of the arrows shot at him pierced his waterproof Bible.

John Allen Chau was killed last week as he tried to make his way onto a remote island off India's coast. The Sentinelese people are one of the last groups to reject contact with the outside world.

DAVID GREENE, HOST: Good morning. I'm David Greene. If you are jaywalking in China, you might be caught on camera, and your face could be plastered on a huge screen. According to the South China Morning Post, police in the city of Ningbo have been doing this to crack down on jaywalking. It happened to Dong Mingzhu - only she didn't jaywalk. Her face just went by the cameras on a bus. It was an ad for the appliance company she runs. The police say they're fixing this technology so it just targets actual people. It's MORNING EDITION.

If you're caught jaywalking in China, your photo could be put on display as punishment. Just like a woman whose face was on a bus ad when it went by the camera. Police are fixing the technology.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Stay with me now as we move from a conversation about Canadian foreign policy to the story of a Canadian who won the Internet this past week. I'm talking about Drake - and, yeah, Drake's a Canadian. And this is his new song, "Hotline Bling."</s>DRAKE: (Singing) You used to call me on my cellphone late night when you need my love.</s>RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: If you haven't heard it, you've probably seen it. The video came out online last Monday. And it's pretty simple - Drake in a puffy coat, doing some fairly mediocre dance moves in a room with walls that change color. The Internet is still going crazy, meme-ifying this thing. And that's probably exactly what Drake and his people wanted to happen. Jon Caramanica at The New York Times wrote this. Quote, "It's less a video than an open source code that easily allows Drake's image and gestures to be rewritten, drawn over, repurposed."</s>RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: And they have been. Trevor Noah joked about it on "The Daily Show." Hillary Clinton's head appeared on Drake's body. And then there's the countless looping GIFs of Drake's dance moves, including the ones set to the "Peanuts" theme. The song is really simple - lyrics about heartbreak laid over one techno riff that doesn't ever seem to change. It doesn't have to, though. Drake has left that up to everyone else.</s>DRAKE: (Singing) I know when that hotline bling, that can only mean one thing. I know when that hotline bling, that can only mean one thing. Ever since I left the city, you...

The musician Drake released a music video last week for his song "Hotline Bling." Social media is obsessed, but not just because he's Drake and he's dancing.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: We're now going to look back at the life of Olivia Hooker. She has died at the age of 103. If you don't know her name, we're going to share some of her story and one important chapter in particular. Olivia Hooker witnessed the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921.</s>OLIVIA HOOKER: It was May 31, 1921. At first, we saw a bunch of men with those big, pine torches come through the backyard.</s>RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Hooker was only 6 years old at the time. The attack on black areas of Tulsa turned into a massacre. She told her story to the Radio Diaries series earlier this year.</s>OLIVIA HOOKER: I remember our mother put us under the table. She took the longest tablecloth she had to cover four children and told us not to say a word. It was a horrifying thing for a little girl that's only 6 years old.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: White men entered that home, took an axe to the piano and then left. In the predominantly African-American middle-class neighborhood of Greenwood in Tulsa, hundreds of people were killed. More than a thousand homes and businesses, including Hooker's father's store, were destroyed.</s>OLIVIA HOOKER: I guess the most shocking thing was seeing people, to whom you had never done anything to irritate, who just took it upon themselves to destroy your property because they didn't want you to have those things. And they were teaching you a lesson. Those were all new ideas to me.</s>RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Olivia Hooker's family soon left Tulsa. She said her parents encouraged her and her siblings not to look back but to look forward. Hooker went on to become the first African-American woman to join the U.S. Coast Guard in 1945.

Olivia Hooker was one of the last surviving witnesses of the Tulsa Race Riot of 1921, and was the first African-American woman to join the U.S. Coast Guard.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: This Thanksgiving week marks the anniversary of one of history's most meaningful speeches. In November 1863, President Abraham Lincoln visited Gettysburg, Pa.</s>RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: It was during the Civil War. Union forces had defeated Confederates at Gettysburg. And Lincoln was dedicating a cemetery for the battle's dead.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: In a little over two minutes, he delivered a message to the crowd in their top hats.</s>RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: It was also a message to later generations. Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Those words are so familiar it's possible to miss what Lincoln really said. The war was being fought over slavery - the idea that not everyone should be equal. Lincoln affirmed the very purpose of the country is equality, as the Declaration of Independence says.</s>RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: The president referred to the soldiers buried near him. We here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the Earth.

This week marks 155 years since Abraham Lincoln delivered the famously short Gettysburg Address in 1863.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. Years ago, my brother was enraged by drivers who blew through a stop sign in front of his house, so he set up a camera to document them. Same thing happened in the Italian village of Acquetico. Residents complained of speeding cars, so the mayor set up a camera. And in two weeks, it recorded more than 58,000 violations. In a town with a speed limit equaling 31 mph, the worst offender was driving 84.

After just two weeks, Acquetico's cameras caught more than 58,000 speeding incidents, according to Italian media. That's a hefty number for a community of about 120 residents.

FARAI CHIDEYA, host: From NPR News, this is NEWS & NOTES. I'm Farai Chideya.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: If you were like me, sitting around your room at home singing, "This is for the Lover in You," well we've got something coming up for you: Howard Hewett of the group Shalamar. I know you guys don't want to hear me sing. But anyway, we've also got our yoga mom from Iraq. She has returned home in time for Mother's Day.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: First we've got a few headlines. Let's start in Rockland County, New York. A Christian minister at the county jail was suspended last month for giving anti-Islam pamphlets to inmates. They contained cartoons denouncing Mohammed and showed the conversion of Muslims to Christianity.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: Now, according to the Associated Press, the jail is hiring an imam for its Muslim prisoners. The minister remains suspended with pay, and the jail also has a priest and a rabbi on staff.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: New Jersey could soon become the first state to abolish capital punishment. According to Reuters, the New Jersey Senate's Judiciary Committee voted overwhelmingly in favor of the ban. Now it heads to the democratically controlled legislature for a full vote. If the bill passes, new sentences will top out at life without parole. In 2006, states executed 53 inmates. That's the lowest capital tally in 10 years.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: And our last headline takes us into the frontline of a modern military crisis right here in the U.S., maybe in your neighborhood. We're talking about recruitment. As the Iraq and Afghanistan wars continue, the military has offered more perks for enlisting and raised the age requirements. But still the military has extended tours of duty in Iraq in an effort to fill its needs.

Farai Chideya scans the day's headlines for news affecting black life and culture. Friday's topics include New York's Rockland County jail hiring its first imam for inmates, and whether New Jersey will abolish the death penalty.

FARAI CHIDEYA, host: From NPR News, this is NEWS & NOTES. I'm Farai Chideya.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: Coming up on the show, we have got the 10 best cities for African-Americans. Are you in suspense? You might be sitting in one of them right now. But first, we've got a few headlines. Let's start in Perry County, Alabama. According to the Birmingham News, a grand jury has indicted a 73-year-old state trooper in the shooting death of civil rights activist Jimmie Lee Jackson.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: The indictment comes a full 42 years after the crime. In February of 1965, demonstrators gathered for a nighttime civil rights rally in Marion, Alabama. The streetlights mysteriously went out. They were attacked by locals and law enforcement. Jackson was shot and died of his wounds eight days later. And former state trooper James Fowler surrendered to authorities this morning.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: The Reverend Al Sharpton and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney are going at it. At a recent debate with author Christopher Hitchens, Sharpton criticized Romney's Mormon state for its history of racial discrimination. Romney is a former Massachusetts governor. He fired back, accusing Sharpton of religious bigotry. And neither side so far has apologized.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: Cisco Systems is a titan of Silicon Valley. It's on the defensive as well. According to the San Jose Mercury News, Cisco is being investigated by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or EEOC. The Mercury News quoted a letter from the EEOC which says that Cisco demonstrated an ongoing pattern and practice of not hiring qualified minority candidates based on their race, color and national origin.</s>FARAI CHIDEYA, host: Cisco responded to the Mercury News, pointing out that more than 40 percent of its workforce self-identifies as minority. But according to Cisco's own data, less than three percent of its workers are African-American. Four of the five plaintiffs are black.

Farai Chideya scans the day's headlines for news affecting black life and culture. Thursday's roundup includes the indictment of a former Alabama state trooper for a Civil Rights-era murder, Rev. Al Sharpton and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney spar over Mormonism, and networking-technology maker Cisco Systems is accused of employment discrimination.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. A Romanian man did not insist on the principle finders, keepers. He's a construction worker. He bought a secondhand cupboard and inside found a metal box stuffed with euro notes. The money was the equivalent of $107,000. Rather than keep it, he insisted on finding the owner, who gratefully gave a reward. The worker won't say how much, though presumably less than $107,000.

Inside the cupboard, he found a metal box stuffed with notes worth $107,000. Rather than keep it, he insisted on finding the owner, who gratefully gave a reward.

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: Earlier today, I spoke with California Governor Jerry Brown as he prepares to leave office. And part of our conversation touched on the record-breaking fires in the state. At the same time the Wolsey Fire swept through the hills above Malibu, the Camp Fire in Northern California killed 85 people. I asked Governor Brown what he thinks needs to be done now.</s>JERRY BROWN: The fires are going to get worse. They're not going to get better. It's very simple. Drought over time takes out the humidity, and with no moisture, what is nice vegetation and pretty trees becomes kindling wood, and it just explodes. So what we can do is manage the forest better. We're not going to do that overnight. We have millions of millions of acres. That's not going to happen. We have massive grass in Southern California. You've got to deal with that.</s>JERRY BROWN: The wild lands there that are very great to hike in but as the summer heat intensifies, and then we get into the fall, the Santa Ana winds is very dangerous. So, look; the disaster plan has to increase. The management of our lands, that has to intensify. And that's going to cost, you know, if not hundreds of millions, probably billions. So - and then each person has to take responsibility and learn where they are and what they can do to reduce the vegetation, find an escape route.</s>JERRY BROWN: We're in a new abnormal, and I'm not going to give you a nice little everything's fine; just do A, B and C, and you'll be safe. No, we're in great danger, and the danger will intensify. And I'm sure that politicians will respond but probably too slowly.

California Gov. Jerry Brown explains the challenges facing his state in trying to prevent more deadly wildfires in coming years.

NOEL KING, HOST: Good morning. I'm Noel King.</s>NOEL KING, HOST: On Tuesday, as millions of Americans voted, Maria Valles Veeda De Bonilla went to an office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in Virginia and became an American citizen. De Bonilla, who is originally from El Salvador, is 106 years old. When she was born, women couldn't vote in El Salvador. She was too late to vote in the midterms, but she reportedly has an eye on the 2020 election. Next time, she said, God willing.

Americans hit the polls on Tuesday to vote, Maria Valles Veeda De Bonilla went to the Office of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in Virginia to become a U.S. citizen. She's 106 years old.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. This next story starts out badly if you're Nathan Peterman. The Buffalo Bills quarterback has been on and off the bench, and his team is 2 and 7. Bills fans set up a GoFundMe called "Nathan Peterman Please Retire." They want to raise $1 million to finance his departure, which sounds harsh. But in a way, the results so far may amount to a vote of confidence because the online effort has so far raised only $285.

Buffalo Bills fans started a fundraising page to ask quarterback Nathan Peterman to retire. They want $1 million, but so far have raised just $285.

DAVID GREENE, HOST: Good morning. I'm David Greene. Secret Service protects U.S. presidents but also visiting heads of state. So when the president of Estonia, Kersti Kaljulaid, was here, they were on duty. You know, stick close during her meetings, her meals. Oh, and her 26-mile run. President Kaljulaid was in the New York City Marathon so two agents had to run alongside her. They seemed undaunted. One agent, already training for another marathon, said, I just added 10 miles to my training day. It's MORNING EDITION.

The Secret Service protects U.S. presidents and also visiting heads of state. Estonia's President Kersti Kaljulaid was in the New York City Marathon — two agents had to run with her.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. Texas Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke did not win. Republican Senator Ted Cruz prevailed in a fierce race with turnout nearly as high as in a presidential election. But while Republicans can be satisfied, the Democrat memorably signed off. His speech to supporters included a certain adjective.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: BETO O'ROURKE: I'm so [expletive] proud of you guys.</s>STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Yeah, he said that. We could bleep the word because it is recorded, but networks that carried him live on TV could not. It's MORNING EDITION.

Republican Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas prevailed over Democratic challenger Beto O'Rourke Tuesday night. During a speech to supporters, O'Rourke dropped an f-bomb.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Good morning. I'm Rachel Martin. There's something amazing in New York's Central Park right now. It's called a mandarin duck. It's got this hot-pink beak, a purple chest and massive orange sideburns. These ducks are native to East Asia, and no one can figure out why this one is in New York. He didn't escape from a zoo, but birders are going crazy when they spot him in the park. As The New York Times put it, this duck, quote, "should not be in the middle of Manhattan, and yet against all odds he is here and he is dazzling."

A duck native to East Asia called the Mandarin Duck appeared in New York's Central Park. Birders are amazed as to how the bird got there and still roams the city.

NOEL KING, HOST: Good morning. I'm Noel King. Today, we take a moment to remember a woman who changed Thanksgiving menus for generations. In 1955, Dorcas Reilly, a supervisor at the Campbell Soup Company, put together a recipe that called for cream of mushroom soup, green beans and fried onions. That casserole became a Thanksgiving staple. Among her other creations - a tuna noodle casserole and sloppy joe super burgers. She passed away earlier this month at age 92.

Dorcas Reilly created a Thanksgiving staple, the classic American Green-Bean Casserole. Among her other creations, a "tuna-noodle casserole," and Sloppy Joe "souperburgers."

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Good morning. I'm Rachel Martin. It's been a big week for Earl Livingston of New Jersey. The 87-year-old was on his way to buy a Mega Millions lottery ticket when he fell and broke his hip. The hospital staff felt bad for him, so they invited him to join their lottery ticket pool with more than a hundred other people. He did, and all be darned if they didn't win a million dollars. Livingston apparently needs a hip replacement, but you can't stop me from saying this - it was a lucky break.

Earl Livingston from New Jersey is 87 years old. He was headed to buy a Mega Millions lottery ticket when he fell and broke his hip. Then he joined the hospital staff's winning lottery pool.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. Who knows how this happened in the 1800s? Workers in Barcelona, Spain, began building a church called the Sagrada Familia. They're still not finished. Cranes rise amid its spires. This famous church has been under construction 135 years. And all that time, workers had no building permit. At last, the Catholic Church obtained one. It's never too late, although the church is paying a penalty of $40 million. It's MORNING EDITION.

The Sagrada Familia basilica has been under construction since work began 136 years ago. The basilica has agreed to pay the city about $41 million to settle the permit dispute.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Good morning, I'm Steve Inskeep. Should you have engine trouble in your car, you should calmly pull over. And the same applies to planes. Ryan Monroe (ph) is a flight instructor who was teaching a student to fly when the plane lost power. The instructor took over for the involuntary descent and smoothly merged into traffic on a freeway near San Diego. Passengers of a car captured the perfect landing on video, although their amazed profanity means we cannot play you the sound. It's MORNING EDITION.

Ryan Munro was teaching a student to fly when the plane lost power. He took over and smoothly merged into traffic on a freeway near San Diego. Passengers of a car captured the landing on video.

DAVID GREENE, HOST: Good morning. I'm David Greene with a story about the importance of return customers. The BBC is reporting on a group of men who were about to rob a shop in Belgium until the quick-thinking owner said, hey, come back at the end of the day. I'm going to have more money then. The guys left. The owner told police to show up later. They were skeptical, but they came, and when the thieves returned in the evening, they arrested them. Maybe the owner should have asked the guys to fill out a customer survey or something. You're listening to MORNING EDITION.

A store owner in Belgium asked robbers to come back later when he would have more money. He also told the police, who were there when they did come back.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: A year in Hawaii may sound like a dream come true, but don't be jealous of the NASA scientists who started a year-long rotation there Friday. Their mission will allow for no lounging on Waikiki or sipping of Mai Tais. The NASA team has hunkered down in a special dome near a volcano to simulate what it would be like to live on Mars. They can leave the dome from time to time, but sadly not to catch some rays because they have to wear spacesuits. And while tourists nearby may be enjoying luau spreads of fresh seafood and pork, the NASA crew will dine on delicacies like powdered cheese and cans of tuna. Hopefully, NASA protocols allow for hot sauce.

NPR's Rachel Martin reports on a year-long NASA mission to Hawaii.

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep. Had the criminal gotten away with his crime, he might've suffered from a limp. The man allegedly broke into a shoe store in Roanoke, Va., and took seven shoes out of the display window where only right shoes were displayed - awkward for walking. Getting off on the wrong foot, the thief dropped a backpack containing these shoes. Inside it, police found the suspect's student ID and a sweatshirt with the prophetic words call my lawyer.

Only right shoes were displayed. Police say they found a backpack with seven shoes inside along with the suspect's student ID and a sweatshirt with the prophetic words: Call My Lawyer.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST: Good morning. I'm Rachel Martin. It's hard to find the perfect gift. Even harder when the giftee is a Nobel Prize winner. I mean, how do you top the most prestigious award in the world, right? The University of Missouri was struggling to figure out how to honor one of its faculty members, George P. Smith, who shared the Nobel in chemistry this year. Other schools designate parking spots, but Smith bikes to school. So yes, to honor their very first Nobel Prize winner, Professor Smith will get his very own spot and a bike rack.

The University of Missouri was deciding how to honor George Smith, who shared the 2018 Nobel in chemistry. Some schools designate parking spots but Smith bikes. He now has his own spot in a bike rack.