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Minton Sparks is a poet, storyteller and performance artist rolled into one, and her new recording, Sin Sick, offers tales tall and small, dark and whimsical, drawing on characters from her native Tennessee and the South.

Bill Gates founded Microsoft on the dream of putting a computer in every home and office. He says he built his company on the belief that technology, creativity and intelligence can change the world.

Stories about African-American families rarely shed light on the abiding affection between a father and his children. But Bridgett Davis' debut novel, Shifting Through Neutral, paints a child's view of a marriage falling apart.

NASA releases plans for a new spacecraft that would replace the space shuttle. The vehicle is part of a system that will be capable of putting astronauts on the moon by 2018, laying the groundwork for space travel to Mars. NASA says the new system is designed to be 10 times safer than the space shuttle.

Public schools in New Orleans were devastated, as were the region's Catholic schools. And the Baton Rouge Catholic school system is struggling to accommodate evacuee families in this heavily Catholic region.

Mayor Ray Nagin suspends his ambitious plan to reopen parts of New Orleans. He said he was concerned about the threat from Tropical Storm Rita, now moving west toward the Gulf of Mexico. The mayor was also under pressure from federal officials who say the city is still unsafe.

Google.com, the top Internet search engine, has a new legal battle on its hands -- this one from angry writers. Noah Adams talks with Day to Day technology contributor Xeni Jardin about a lawsuit that claims that Google's effort to make books searchable and findable on the Internet violates copyright law.

The Senate Judiciary Committee concluded its questioning of Chief Justice nominee John Roberts last week, and his confirmation seems almost certain. Alex Chadwick talks with Slate contributor Dahlia Lithwick about how Roberts' smooth performance may pave the way for future Supreme Court nominees.

Robert Siegel talks to two teachers about how they dealt with bringing the spirit of Section 111 of Title I, Division J, of the Fiscal Year 2005 Consolidated Appropriations Act (Pub. L. 108-447) into the classroom. The law was enacted on Dec. 8, 2004, and requires the head of each Federal agency or department each year to provide each new employee of the agency or department with educational and training materials concerning the U.S. Constitution as part of the orientation materials provided to the new employee; and provide educational and training materials concerning the Constitution to each employee of the agency or department each year.

Millions of Afghans vote for a new parliament despite the surge of violence in the weeks leading to the election. There were reportedly several dozen Taliban attacks in the country's south and east, and two rockets landed near an election center in Kabul. But officials said the election overall was remarkably peaceful.

Alan Cheuse reviews E. L. Doctorow's latest novel, The March. It chronicles Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman's devastating march through Georgia and the Carolinas during the Civil War.

Farai Chideya talks with Stevie Wonder about his first album in 10 years, A Time to Love. The CD features duets with gospel singer Kim Burrell, soul diva India.Arie, Wonder's own daughter Aisha Morris and a galaxy of stars backing him up in the studio.

Scallop season has started in the tiny port town of Port en Bessin, Normandy. France is the world's largest consumer of scallops, giving local fishermen a lucrative domestic market. But a dispute over the naming of imported scallops has many fishermen from Normandy crying foul.

Alex Chadwick speaks to Slate political blogger Mickey Kaus about New York Times reporter Judith Miller, one of the key players in the investigation into who leaked the name of CIA operative Valerie Plame to the media. She has testified before a grand jury investigating the leak, but has been less than forthcoming to her fellow journalists at The New York Times.

At least 20,000 people were killed by a 7.6-magnitude earthquake along the Pakistan-Indian border on Saturday. Pakistani Kashmir was hardest hit. Robert Siegel talks with NPR's Philip Reeves about the latest developments.

Retired teacher and USA Weekend reader Nancy Yucius believes in living life so as to have no regrets. It's a lesson she learned from her mother and one Yucius is holding on to even more now that she is battling colon cancer.

One feature of Havana, Cuba, eclipses all others: a miles-long sea wall called the Malecon. At any given moment, there are hundreds of people gathered there. NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro took a walk down the Malecon and talked to Cubans about life and love in Havana.

A proposal to build a casino among the aging blast furnaces of a former Bethlehem Steel plant is dividing the community of Bethlehem, Pa. Opponents say the development will spoil the character of the place; supporters say it will bring much-needed jobs.

Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald could announce grand jury indictments in the leak of CIA operative Valerie Plame's identity as early as Wednesday. The probe's likely targets could include some of the most powerful advisors in the Bush White House. Noah Adams discusses the political and legal ramifications with Slate political correspondent John Dickerson.

A need for foreign workers in Iraq -- and the flood of American dollars into the country -- have created a labor network that critics call misleading, illegal and even dangerous. Chicago Tribune correspondent Cam Simpson retraced the fatal journey of 12 men from Nepal.

Israeli and U.S. citizen Robert J. Aumann and American Thomas C. Schelling win the 2005 Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for their work on game theories that help explain economic conflicts, including trade and price wars.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice begins a weeklong visit to Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan. She is seeking assurances that the United States will have access to military bases in the region. Neighboring Uzbekistan has ordered U.S. troops out of a base used for operations in Afghanistan.

Rosa Lee Parks became a symbol of the civil rights movement when she was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus to a white man. Her arrest in 1955 triggered a long bus boycott and ultimately challenged the Jim Crow laws of the South. She was 92.

Ceasefire is a new musical collaboration between a young Christian rapper and an elderly Muslim singer and bandleader, both from Sudan: Emmanuel Jal and Abdel Gadir Salim. Banning Eyre has this review.

The White Sox are one game away from their first World Series victory since 1917. The organist for the White Sox and Alan Schwarz, a writer for Baseball America talk about the commanding Sox lead in the World Series.