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Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi visited Ukraine to imagine how the company might eventually operate after peace is established, and the economic opportunities that might create.

Americans long to travel like they did pre-pandemic. Travel blogger Gabby Beckford has been visiting other places, and shares her experience of what it's been like.

Throughout November, hundreds of people are lining up to peer through the telescope at Lowell Observatory in northern Arizona. What they'll see: Mars in close opposition with the Earth. This is the nearest the red planet has been to Earth since 2003. If you miss it this month, you'll have to wait until 2018 for such an incredible view. Sadie Babits has this postcard from the observatory.

To marks California's 150th anniversary as a state , Bob looks back at the early years of the Gold Rush. The Gold Rush "jump-started" California, made it grow faster than anyone could have expected. We learn how disappointing those early years were for many of the people who went west. This story features commentary from historian Kevin Starr, and dramatic readings from diaries and other documents of the time. (8:15) Kevin Starr is the state librarian of California and author of 8 books about the state, including Americans and the California Dream: 1850--1915 by Oxford University Press (Trade); ISBN: 01950

Janet Heimlich reports from Austin that 35-year-old Roy Criner was released from a Texas prison today after serving ten years for a rape he didn't commit. DNA evidence that surfaced three years ago suggested that Criner was innocent and he'll receive a pardon from Governor George W. Bush as soon as the paperwork is completed. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals declined to grant Criner a new trial three years ago, despite the fresh evidence, arguing that he still could have committed the crime.

Linda speaks with Rex Gephart, head of the Los Angeles MTA's "Metro Rapid" program, which aims to reduce bus travel times by 25 percent. As part of the plan, the MTA has equipped two of its major bus lines with a new device that hold a green lights for approaching buses. Gephart says ridership has increased significantly on the lines being tested. He says L.A. is the first city in the U.S. to implement so-called "signal priority" so extensively.

President Clinton was in Atlanta today, to commemorate the birthday of Martine Luther King, Junior. We hear remarks the President made at The Reverend Doctor King's former pulpit at the Ebenezer Baptist Church. (1:30) 11. LETTER FROM THE BIRMINGHAM JAIL - On this observance of the birthday of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., we hear an excerpt of a letter written by King while he was imprisoned in Birmingham, Alabama in 1963. He is responding to a letter written by several white clergymen who criticized King's acts of civil disobedience and suggested his civil rights agenda could best be achieved in the courts. The exceprt is read by actor Wilson Cain III.

Daniel talks with Film Director Spike Lee. Lee's new movie opened this week nationwide and it's about a group of Black men who travel by Bus to the Million Man March, which was held last year in Washington D.C. The characters in the film represent, what Lee says, are all aspects of the Black community. He says it's not what you would usually see in a Hollywood film. Also, the film was financed by donations from 15 Black men. Lee turned down money offers from big studios and when the film was done, he sold the film to Columbia for a profit.

Noah Adams speaks with Randy Rosetta, a sports writer for the Avalanche-Journal in Lubbock, Texas about the controversy over Lubbock's Texas Tech University's decision to make Bobby Knight the school's basketball coach. Coach Knight was forced out of Indiana University after many years of success because his angry outbursts and less than civil behavior had made him a liability for that university. Mr. Rosetta says the prospect of coach Knight's coming to Texas Tech is welcome by many people, particularly those under 35. But a Texas Tech professor has started a petition drive among the school's faculty recommending that the administration not hire coach Knight

Michael Montgomery of American Radio Works reports that since NATO-led peacekeepers moved into Kosovo nearly two years ago, hundreds of Serbs and other minorities have been killed. Many others have disappeared and are feared dead. The majority ethnic Albanians are reluctant to give information about missing Serbs. They harbor anger over the killings and destruction wrought by Serbian forces during the Kosovo war, and they fear reprisals by other Kosovars. International officials say the disappearances seem to be part of a campaign to discourage displaced Serbs from returning to Kosovo, and to drive out those who remain out in the province.

NPR's Larry Abramson reports on the 15-year journey of the world's first true space station. Russian cosmonauts as well as politicians recall Mir with fondness: it provided truly new scientific information about long-duration space flight's effects on humans, as well a politically valuable comeback for the Soviet Union after the U.S. pulled ahead in the space race. Mir outlived its expected life span, and recently the aging orbiter has experienced a series of mishaps and accidents. Russia will "de-orbit" the craft this week and bring it back to a fiery grave somewhere, hopefully, in the Pacific Ocean.

NPR's Mary Kay Magistad reports on tension between longtime Taiwanese residents and those who came from mainland some 50 years ago. Rising Taiwanese nationalism has become an issue in an election that will give an indication of whether Taiwan is heading toward independence. (8:15) -b- 7. SEA LION SHOOTING -- Jennie Schmidt of member station KPLU reports on the impending shooting of recidivist sea lions in Seattle. It's the same group that returns year after year to shipping locks in Puget Sound where steelhead trout swim upriver to spawn. There aren't many trout left, and wildlife biologists, having failed to dissuade the hungry sea lions, now want to shoot them.

NPR's Brooke Gladstone reports on how public service announcements since WWI have chronicled the evolution of the American psyche. The simplistic messages of decades past gave way to more complicated ideas and even imitators. But p-s-a's show no signs of disappearing and they're still hard to do well. (12:30) 2D 15. ETHICS AND MEANING - There was a summit in Washington this week to discuss the politics of meaning, a new political movement offering progressives/liberals a way to 'reclaim' the family values issue which has been monopolized by the right. They held a Summit on Ethics and Meaning and proposed a "Covenant with American Families", their answer to the Christian Coalition's Contract with American Families. Lynn Neary reports.

Today is the one hundred and twenty second annual Kentucky Derby race. The race has changed dramatically since its beginnings in 1875. Perhaps the most surprising change is the demographics of the jockeys. Horse racing was once dominated by African Americans. In fact, the first Kentucky Derby included 14 black jockeys in a 15 jockey lineup. And some of the longest standing jockey records are held by early African American jockeys. Daniel talks with author Jo Cavallo (kuh-VAHL-lo) about the history of African American jockeys who have been almost completely forgotten. Cavallo wrote an article on the topic in the spring issue of American Legacy magazine called "The Day of the Black Jockey."

protesters and access to clinics where abortions are available. Yesterday, the Court ruled that such clinics are entitled to maintain a 15-foot buffer zone around their entrances to protect the free access of patients and staff members. But the Justices struck down 'floating buffer zones,' which protect the space around patients and staff members going in and out of those clinics.

The Supreme Court is considering whether to relax its barriers to some public aid for parochial schools. Today's cases involve federally-funded remedial classes taught by public school teachers for low-income students, regardless of what schools they attend. Twelve years ago, the court ruled that, to maintain the separation of church and state, the classes for parochial school students had to be taught outside their school buildings. The classes often take place in mobile classrooms parked outside the schools. New York City is arguing that this system places an unfair financial burden on the city, and the Clinton administration is backing the city's position. The court's ruling might also have an impact on school prayer and tuition voucher cases. NPR's Nina Totenberg reports.

In the second of our four-part series on managed health care, NPR's Patricia Neighmond takes a look at how a group of doctors in Southern California has banded together to take back control over medical decision-making from insurance companies. The doctors' new group practice grew out of frustration with a payment system that was permitting HMOs and other insurance companies to make decisions about when and how a patient would receive medical care. Analysts say the group is a model for other doctors who want to practice cost-efficient medicine and provide patients with top-quality care.

Charles de Ledesma reviews the new CD from Peter Gabriel. It's called "Ovo", and it's essentally the soundtrack he wrote for a show in London's Millenium Dome earlier this year. It has the trademark sound of the acclaimed singer -- distinctive yearning vocals, rich production, and world music influences. Ledesma says the CD lacks an overall structure or narrative -- the themes of the Millenium Dome shows don't quite come through -- but the wonderful sound of the songs more than makes up for it. (3:45) The album is on Real World Music; it is currently for sale as an import, but available in most music stores and on websites that sell popular music CDs.

The 2026 World Cup is playing out in communities across the country. Journalists from NPR and its member stations are in your city — capturing the excitement and asking the important questions.

In this week's StoryCorps, we hear about a couple who met in high school and got married later in life.

In New York, a young group of community organizers recently pulled together a week-long celebration of Mexican restaurants. They stress it's about the workers as much as the food.

For more than a dozen years, Steve Lukather has been the lead guitarist in Ringo Starr and the All Starr Band. And, he says, it’s the gig that has probably meant the most to him.

Spring is starting to come forth across the country... slowly in some places, too quick in others. Debbie Elliott discusses changes in the season with Bruce Stutz, author of the new book Chasing Spring: An American Journey Through a Changing Season.

NPR's Steve Inskeep talks with Jonah Goldberg, editor-in-chief of The Dispatch, about Nikki Haley's path forward following a weekend loss to Donald Trump in the South Carolina Republican primary.

Venezuelan opponents and U.S. officials were predicting his demise years ago. But Nicolás Maduro and his Socialist Party remain firmly in power.