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Journalist John Allen has a book about the new pope, The Rise of Benedict XVI: The Inside Story of How the Pope Was Elected, and Where He Will Take the Catholic Church.

Alex Chadwick talks with Nicholas Blanford of The Christian Science Monitor about Syrian political reform and the Baath Party conference currently underway in that nation. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad announced major reforms months ago -- but critics say they're still waiting for action.

For Quincy Mosby, a promising start in high school turned into a cycle of procrastination, denial and self-esteem problems. But the novelty and independence that dropping out of school brought didn't last long.

Scientists are unveiling an hourly earthquake forecast for California. The good news is that it's more likely to rain on any given day.

Syria's ruling Baath Party opened a congress Monday to discuss political and economic reforms. Syria, which has a centrally planned economy, suffers from a high unemployment rate. Economists and businessmen say they have seen positive changes in recent years, but warn that the government must do more to battle corruption and streamline the inefficient state bureaucracy.

Joseph Horowitz, author of Classical Music in America: A History of Its Rise and Fall, talks with Robert Siegel about the past, present and future of classical music in this country.

The House Judiciary Committee holds hearings on the "Downing Street Memo," notes that suggest the Bush administration decided to invade Iraq months before the conflict began. The memo is from a meeting of British Prime Minister Tony Blair with his aides in July 2002.

The new CD by rapper Common, called Be, could be the best hip-hop release of the year, Will Hermes says. It's produced by grammy award-winning artist Kanye West, a longtime rap friend of Common, and a fellow Chicagoan.

The so-called "Downing Street Memo" — a secret British pre-Iraq war memo that some critics believe proves Bush administration officials "fixed" intelligence to build support for the war — gets a public hearing Thursday on Capitol Hill. But what does the memo, and the other leaked documents that support it, actually say? Alex Chadwick discusses the document with Slate defense policy analyst Fred Kaplan.

The alleged mistreatment of detainees at the U.S. prison in Guantanamo Bay sets off a heated Senate debate. Senator Richard Durbin, an Illinois Democrat, compared a description of mistreatment -- submitted to a Pentagon investigator by an F-B-I agent -- to actions carried out by Nazi Germany and Stalinist Russia. Some Republicans accused Durbin of maligning American military personnel.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is on many bestseller and book club lists, and Haddon won the U.K.'s prestigious Commonwealth Writers Prize.

Chicago Tribune national correspondent Dahleen Glanton talks about the trial of 80-year old Edgar Ray Killen, charged in the deaths of three civil rights workers in Philadelphia, Mississippi more than 40 years ago.

Why are we compelled to read about celebrities such as Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes? Commentator Jake Halpern says it's for the same reasons that the ancient Greeks loved myths about the gods on Olympus.

Virginia Gov. Mark Warner says Medicaid, the health insurance program for the poor, is putting states in financial peril, especially as Congress eyes $10 billion in federal cuts. The Democrat is chairman of the National Governors' Association, which has developed its own plan for Medicaid reform.

Anne Bradstreet is considered America's earliest poet, and a new biography details her life. Scott Simon speaks with Charlotte Gordon, author of Mistress Bradstreet: The Untold Life of America's First Poet.

Even before it disappeared in the 1940s, the ivory-billed woodpecker had near-mythical status. Christopher Joyce reports on what scientists are planning now that they believe they've rediscovered a species long thought extinct.

Host Ed Gordon speaks with Senate candidate and former head of the NAACP, Kweizi Mfume, about allegations of inappropriate favoritism leveled against Mfume for actions during his tenure with the NAACP.

Dennis Kozlowski, the former chief executive of Tyco International, has taken the stand in his own defense. Kozlowski offered an explanation of bonuses his employees' claimed were unauthorized. Kozlowski is accused of looting the company of $150 million and artificially inflating its stock.

The ivory-billed woodpecker was thought to be extinct. Now, scientists say it's been sighted again and conservationists are planning ways to protect it. The striking bird has been discovered in the Big Woods area of Arkansas.

Several political figures are vying to succeed outgoing President Mohammed Khatami in Iran's election June 17. Both the conservative and reformist camps, according to opinion polls, are not very popular with the voters. And the race may yet have a wildcard candidate.

Senate members continue to spar over judicial appointments and the right to block nominations. Republicans are threatening to abolish the judicial filibuster, while Democrats warn they could shut down the Senate. A compromise is in the works that would require Republicans to end their threat to eliminate judicial filibusters.

During the 1968 Tet Offensive, North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces surprised U.S. troops with a major assault. Fighting ravaged the former imperial city of Hue, and presaged the futility of the U.S. military effort in Vietnam. The decades since have brought more change.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi expresses "deep remorse" for Japan's World War II invasion of its neighbors. The apology is an effort to mend Sino-Japanese relations after a series of anti-Japan protests in China.

The high school letter jacket is a tradition separating the jocks from the non-varsity crowd. But at the Santa Fe Desert Academy, a small private high school in New Mexico, a different kind of student qualifies for the coveted jacket -- those who make the Precision Poetry Drill Team.

Environmental activist John Francis spent 22 years on a journey across America, mostly on foot and deliberately without the aid of motorized devices. He's written about those years in the book Planetwalker: How to Change Your World One Step at a Time.