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A poll by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life concludes that 55 percent of Americans have favorable opinions of Muslim-Americans. The survey also finds a decreasing number of Americans who think Islam is a violent religion.

Edward Bunker died Tuesday at age 71 of complications from diabetes. He went to San Quentin prison at age 17 and was their youngest inmate. While incarcerated, Bunker wrote the crime fiction classic No Beast So Fierce. He also acted in more than 20 films, including Reservoir Dogs. This story was originally broadcast on July 12, 1993.

President Bush's nominee for NASA director, Michael Griffin, may revive efforts to repair the Hubble Space Telescope at his confirmation hearing. NASA previously abandoned a plan to use an unmanned robot to repair the telescope, but a new internal review has given high marks to the same proposal.

Former senator and Republican leader Bob Dole has written a new memoir about his experience in World War II. Late in the war in Italy, Dole was injured; he nearly died, and spent years in recovery. He was left with a paralyzed right arm. His new book is 'One Soldier's Story.'

The Lawrence Journal-World newspaper, online and cable news divisions in Kansas are providing a model for how the news media may operate in the future.

As some of the world's best yo-yo performers stop by the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History, we take a look at an enduring toy and talk to the curator of the museum's collection.

The gritty new drama Over There tells the story of a U.S. army unit stationed in Iraq on its first tour of duty. The program debuts Wednesday and is the latest from Emmy-winning TV producer Steven Bochco.

As Israel prepares to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, a new independent analysis is raising questions about the Palestinian security services' ability to control the area. The report describes the security services as underarmed, overstaffed and undermined by corruption.

One of America's greatest novelists, Saul Bellow, died Tuesday at 89. He won three National Book Awards, a Pulitzer and the Nobel Prize in Literature. Among his best-known books are Herzog, Humboldt's Gift and The Adventures of Augie March.

The Peabody Awards recognize NPR's foreign correspondents for their team coverage of the war in Iraq. Listen to some of the stories that garnered the award.

House Majority Leader Tom DeLay is facing more allegations of unethical conduct, detailed in competing front-page stories in this morning's New York Times and Washington Post. DeLay said, "This is just another seedy attempt by the liberal media to embarrass me."

The band the Shins have a quirky but compelling sound of ringing guitars and piercing vocals. Their smart and intense lyrics have made them darlings of the alternative rock scene. But after two albums and songs on TV's The O.C. and the film Garden State, the band is spending the spring doing a low-key tour of mid-sized venues.

John Allen, Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter, discusses the growth of the global Catholic church and what the election of a non-traditional, non-European pope would mean for the papacy. More than two-thirds of the world's Catholics live in Africa, Latin America and other countries in the developing world.

Border communities in this country will be the most heavily affected by the new passport requirements announced Tuesday by the State and Homeland Security departments. Melissa Block talks with Pat Grubb, publisher of the All Point Bulletin in Point Roberts, Wash.

Rick Watson was a banker, making good money and providing for his family. But he says he was only doing what needed to be done -- not what he wanted to do. So Watson went to a life coach.

Andrew Mhella, a graduate student from Tanzania, describes his experience reading a Swahili prayer at Friday's funeral services for the late Pope John Paul II. Mhella is studying at Saint Thomas University in Rome.

White supremacist Matthew Hale receives a 40-year sentence for soliciting the murder of a federal judge in Chicago. His target, Judge Joan Lefkow, had ruled against him in a trademark dispute.

Stanley "Tookie" Williams, a convicted murderer and co-founder of the notorious Crips street gang in Los Angeles, has been on California's death row since 1979. While in prison, he became a children's author and a Nobel Peace Prize nominee for his efforts to reduce gang violence. Now he could be next up for execution.

When the Pentagon released a list of 33 major military installations it wants shut down, it sent shock waves through many cities and states. The proposed closing of Ellsworth Air Force Base, home to a fleet of bombers, is going over badly in Rapid City. Charles Michael Ray of South Dakota Public Radio reports.

The Space Shuttle Discovery has docked with the International Space Station. In doing so, it did a controlled back flip to enable cameras on the ISS to photograph its belly for damage. So far, there is no indication that the shuttle was damaged on liftoff.

Carolyn and Mary Jane DeZurik grew up on a Minnesota farm, but they rose to musical fame in the 1930s. Their special talents included yodeling and imitations of birds and barnyard animals. Their story is told again by writer John Biguenet in the music issue of Oxford American magazine.

Space historian and Morning Edition commentator Andrew Chaikin answers questions about the challenges facing NASA and the shuttle program, and the future of manned spaceflight.

Michele Norris talks with Blair Kamin, architecture critic for The Chicago Tribune, about the proposal to build what would be the tallest building in the United States. A Chicago developer says as a residential tower it would not be a target, but there is a real tension there about whether it can be a real symbol on Lakeshore Drive. And then there's the traffic.

The American Music Center has commissioned six composers to write original compositions for its phone system. The idea is to make sitting on hold a more stimulating experience, and create new venues for electroacoustic composers. Robert Siegel talks with Joanne Cossa, the executive director of the American Music Center.

In 2002, with rural unrest spreading, Chinese authorities permitted more local elections. Wan Shuguang, a peasant in central China, was elected village chief. He tried to make government more transparent, especially in financial matters. As his three-year term ends, his optimism has ebbed.