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Karen Grigsby Bates tours the San Fernando Valley suburb of Los Angeles with Day to Day commentator and mystery writer Marcos McPeek Villatoro to talk about his latest book, A Venom Beneath the Skin.

Discovery and a crew of seven astronauts blast off for the international space station. An earlier attempt was scrubbed two weeks ago because of a faulty fuel gauge. Hear special coverage of the first shuttle launch since the Columbia disaster two and a half years ago.

Fernando Meirelles, director of the Brazilian film City of God, joins us to talk about his latest movie The Constant Gardener. Based on the John Le Carre novel, the movie tells a story of love, betrayal and big pharmaceutical companies set in East Africa.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says he will support legislation to expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Frist (R-TN) is calling for President Bush to modify his stem cell policy, which puts strict limits on their use.

The House votes in favor of the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA). Thursday's early morning vote is a victory for the Bush administration. House Republicans had trouble keeping rank-and-file members from defecting as many Democrats opposed the accord.

Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, tells Steve Inskeep about audits of billions of dollars worth of contracts overseen by the U.S. government. Bowen says the rebuilding work is on track, though his office continues to uncover fraud in spending.

Lake sturgeon used to be common in rivers and lakes from Minnesota to Louisiana. Now the species is near extinction. Scientists are implanting radio transmitters to see how they can help save them.

Pennsylvania's highest court is weighing a challenge to a state law that expanded mail-in voting. The challenge was put forth in part by 11 Republican lawmakers who voted for the law.

The Supreme Court's conservative majority sided with Senator Ted Cruz, agreeing that a federal ban on outsiders repaying a candidate's campaign loan to himself violates the guarantee of free speech.

Monday marks the 25th anniversary of the first report of AIDS. But only recently have scientists come to conclusions about where HIV came from. The current thinking is that the colonial horrors of mid-20th-century Africa allowed the virus to jump from chimpanzees to humans and become established in human populations around 1930. But there is still uncertainty as to why AIDS was first discovered in Los Angeles and New York, and not Cameroon, where scientists say it surely started.

Ed Gordon talks with Marc Morial, National Urban League president and CEO, and Bruce Gordon, president and CEO of the NAACP. They discuss recent projects their groups are working on, including a college conference for black executives and a new AIDS prevention program.

Lawyers for al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui question a psychologist about the confessed terrorist's mental state. Moussaoui's defense team is trying to repair damage done by their client last week, when he told the jury weighing the death penalty that he would attack America if he could.

A North Carolina state commission releases a report detailing a 107-year-old race riot in the city of Wilmington and its aftermath. On Nov. 10, 1898, a mob of white supremacists overthrew the city's elected officeholders and launched an attack on the city's black community, killing several people.

Leesburg, Fla., has lost a landmark. Out on Highway 27, Dr. Fergie's colorful fruit stand, an eyecatcher for decades, has been dismantled. Proprietor Donald Ferguson, 56, was killed in an October traffic accident.

With less than a month before the hearings for Supreme Court Nominee Samuel Alito, some political activists take issue with the Congressional Black Caucus for urging senators to oppose the nomination. Ed Gordon continues the discussion with columnist and radio talk show host Mychal Massie, a national advisory council member of Project 21 -- a conservative advocacy organization involved in judicial issues.

Bullfight fans in Southern France celebrate a centuries-old version of the sport that is not meant to be a battle to the death. Proponents hope to keep younger people interested and involved.

In a rare holiday week session, the Senate continues debate on a budget reconciliation bill and defense appropriations legislation. The House of Representatives adjourned early Monday after passing a series of spending cuts and a provision for drilling in the Arctic refuge.

Two 20-year-old Duke University lacrosse players were arrested early Tuesday on charges of raping and kidnapping a stripper hired to dance at an off-campus party.

What happens when you mix corn with music? We learn the result in What's in a Song, our occasional feature from the Western Folklife Center about a song and its history.

Exxon Mobil's reports fourth-quarter profits of $10.7 billion, up 27 percent over the same quarter in 2004. It's a company record and one of the largest quarterly profits in U.S. history. The company's robust earnings have attracted strong criticism and calls for a windfall profits tax.

As lawmakers ask for more information from the Bush administration on progress in Iraq, Sen. John Warner (R-VA) suggests that President Bush should follow the lead of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and hold "fireside chats" with Americans.

A visit to communities in West Virginia that were devastated by flash floods in 2001 offers a glimpse into what Gulf Coast residents can expect as they struggle to recover from the destruction of Hurricane Katrina.

Jurors in a federal case involving the painkiller Vioxx hear a Cleveland Clinic physician accuse drugmaker Merck of scientific misconduct. The suit was brought by a woman whose husband died of a heart attack after taking Vioxx.

Gordon Chambers talks about his new album Introducing... Gordon Chambers.

David Wolman's new book, A Left Hand Turn Around the World, explores the scientific factors that lead to 10 percent of the human race being left-handed. Wolman tells Madeleine Brand about the book.