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After 40 years of working in politics, pundit Mark Shields has seen the best and worst of our democracy. But he still believes good politics and courageous politicians can benefit our society.

Civilian truck drivers who haul freight between military bases in Iraq find themselves on the war's frontlines. The constant exposure to violence puts them at risk for post-traumatic stress disorder. And some complain they're forgotten once they return home.

An instructional DVD/CD set called The Zen of Screaming targets a very specific clientele: singers who literally scream for a living. Voice coach Melissa Cross talks to Robert Siegel about a method she has developed to help vocalists belt out their lyrics -- without ruining their voices.

Convicted sniper Lee Boyd Malvo is cross-examined by his former partner and mentor John Allen Muhammad, who is on trial in Maryland on six murder charges. Malvo discussed his role in the sniper shootings that terrorized the Washington, D.C., area four years ago. Muhammad is acting as his own attorney.

Guitarist and singer Ali Farka Toure of Mali died March 7 at the age of 66. Farka Toure was a booster of Mali's march toward independence.

The apparent decision by Dubai Ports World to transfer ownership of its rights to U.S. port operations culminated a three-week long firestorm over the deal that took the White House by surprise. When the country learned of the deal, mostly through news reports and talk shows, the reaction was overwhelmingly negative.

Big Love, the HBO drama about a polygamist family of a husband, three wives and seven children, premieres this weekend. Howard Berkes recently sat down with a group of real-life polygamists in Arizona to watch the first episode -- and says their reactions were surprisingly varied.

Georgia lawmakers are expected to pass a bill authorizing a Bible literacy class in public high schools. The class, "History and Literature of the Old and New Testament," will be taught with the Bible as the text. The bill does not require that schools teach the course, or that students take it. Emily Kopp of Georgia Public Broadcasting reports.

The FBI says it has positively identified the remains of Thomas Fox, a peace activist from Virginia who was taken hostage in November in Iraq. The fate of three of Fox's colleagues is not known. Fox was helping families of prisoners held by U.S. forces when he was abducted.

Paul Tagliabue is retiring as NFL commissioner after more than 16 years on the job. Tagliabue will stay on with the NFL as a senior executive and a consultant through 2008.

The inaugural World Baseball Classic comes to an end tonight in San Diego when Japan faces Cuba. Team Cuba advanced with a 3-1 win over the Dominican Republic and Japan blasted South Korea 6-0. Sports Illustrated writer Tom Verducci talks with Robert Siegel.

Scientists recently discovered a freshly laid bald eagle egg on an island off the southern California coast. If a chick emerges a few weeks from now, it would be the first successful bald eagle nesting on the northern Channel Islands in more than 50 years.

Young black men in America have rarely had it easy -- but recent studies by researchers at Columbia, Princeton, Harvard and other institutions indicate the past few years have brought even more new challenges for African-American men. Farai Chideya discusses the issue with Columbia University professor Ronald Mincy and Tawnya McCrary, an advocate for the disadvantaged in Indianapolis, Ind.

The relationship between champion boxer Muhammad Ali and TV sports personality Howard Cosell made for some of the best theater in American sports. Sportswriter David Kindred to write Sound and Fury: Two Powerful Lives, One Fateful Friendship.

Hodge-podge is a word that comes from a rotten pot. It's derived from a term for mixed-up Scottish stew. Hodge-podge is also another in a long line of english reduplications, like the word honky-tonk.

American combat deaths in Iraq have been declining since late last year. Iraqi security forces now appear to be bearing the brunt of violence in the country. The decline was especially significant in February, when 55 American service personnel were killed, compared to 96 in October. More than 2,300 American military personnel have died supporting operations in Iraq.

"She would go to Tops for us all the time, actually," Moyer told NPR. "We don't really have family in the area, so it was just a great help that she could do something for us like that."

The Pentagon issues a new rule that will prevent certain evidence from being used in military trials of suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay. The rule bars the use of any evidence created under conditions of torture.

The Senate begins debate on overhauling the nation's immigration laws. Senators will consider a measure passed on Monday by the Senate Judiciary Committee that would clear the way for 11 million illegal immigrants to seek U.S. citizenship. It would create a guest worker program, something President Bush supports and the House of Representatives has rejected.

U.S. and British troops free three Christian peace activists in rural Iraq without firing a shot, ending a four-month hostage drama in which a fourth activist in the group, American Tom Fox, was shot to death and dumped on a Baghdad street.

Poet Frank X Walker believes artists aren't the only creative people. He says barbers, cooks, janitors and kids enrich the world with their creativity as much as the painters, sculptors and writers.

Emergency aid is arriving in Indonesia to help areas devastated by this weekend's earthquake. The Indonesian government estimates that more than 5,000 people died in the quake. Alex Chadwick speaks with Barry Came, a spokesman for the United Nations World Food Program, about relief efforts in Yogyakarta, near the epicenter of Saturday's quake.

Swarms of French demonstrators take to the streets in protest of a new law that would make it easier to fire workers younger than 26. The protests draw hundreds of thousands of people. Some of the protesters attack police, who respond with tear gas and paint bullets.

A judge rules that mega-selling author Dan Brown did not steal ideas for The Da Vinci Code from the nonfiction work The Holy Blood and the Holy Grail. The ruling will allow a film based on the book and starring Tom Hanks to open as scheduled on May 19. Steve Inskeep talks to David Hooper, an intellectual-property lawyer in Britain.

Ocean ports are among the last major unregulated sources of concentrated pollution in the country. The biggest are the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. But there's a new man in charge. Tough-talking David Freeman, who helped establish the Environmental Protection Agency says he's going to slash pollution at Southern California's ports by 80 percent.