Guantanamo Detainees

President Obama and former Vice President Dick Cheney square off in dueling national security-themed speeches. President Obama wants to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facilities and possibly bring some of the detainees to the US. Mr. Cheney says President Obama’s policies put the nation at risk. Here & Now's Robin Young speaks with Demetri Sevastopulo, Pentagon and intelligence correspondent for the Financial Times and also with attorney Brent Mickum, who is representing one of the most notorious detainees, Abu Zubaydah.

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Senate: Sales Tax "Most Fair" Option

The state Senate has gone along with the House in approving a 25-percent increase in the state sales tax. Proponents of the hike say it’s the "most fair" option, while opponents worry it will be a further disincentive to consumers.



WBUR’s Steve Brown reports.

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Fallout from Bay State Chrysler Closures

Chrysler wants to close 12 of its Massachusetts dealerships in an attempt to restructure out of bankruptcy. Those targeted are searching for answers, while those that remain stand to gain business.



WBUR's Curt Nickisch reports.

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Breakthrough in Sub-prime Mortgage Relief

In a precedent-setting agreement, Goldman Sachs will provide $50 million to modify loans for over 700 homeowners. It will also pay an additional $10 million to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to end an investigation of the company’s role in financing sub-prime mortgages in the state. We speak with Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley.

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Boston Globe on the Brink?

The largest union at the Boston Globe and the paper’s management have stopped negotiating. The paper wants contract-concessions from the Newspaper Guild; without them, the paper says it will close. The New York Times owns the Globe. Curt Nickish updates Here & Now host Robin Young on the latest in the Globe negotiations.

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How Farmers Are Faring, Part I

Carol House of the National Agricultural Statistics Board parses the numbers for Here & Now's Robin Young.



http://publicradiokitchen.org/

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Vegan Soul Food

Can you make soul food meatless and dairy-free? Chef Bryant Terry tells us how, in his new cookbook "Vegan Soul Kitchen: Fresh, Healthy, and Creative African-American Cuisine."

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Sox and the Recession

As part of an occasional series of conversations to gauge the impact of the recession on Massachusetts, WBUR's Bob Oakes visited Fenway as crews were putting the finishing touches on the ballpark, and spoke in the bleachers to Red Sox C.E.O and President Larry Lucchino about how deeply the economy is affecting the team.

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Boston Globe's Future

The future of the Boston Globe is very much up in the air.



The struggling newspaper's corporate parent the New York Times said Friday that unless it got $20 million worth of union concessions in the next month, it would shut down the Globe altogether.



Is that a real possibility? To try and answer that question, Bob Oakes speaks with Lou Urenick, the head of the Journalism department at Boston University.

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Money Quiz

You’ve been following the news–what’s the total amount the U.S. government has lent, spent, and committed to rescuing financial markets and the American economy? One estimate is $12.8 trillion. We’ll break down the numbers with Rick Newman, chief business correspondent for U.S. News and World Report.

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The G-20: What Does it Mean?

The G20 meeting ends in London with a pledge to regulate large hedge funds and pump more money into international trade. The BBC's business correspondent Mark Gregory joins us from London to assess the G20 Comminque and what it means going forward.

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GOP Targets Tax Hikes In State-Wide Campaign

Tax hikes have emerged as a flashpoint in a series of community meetings led by the Massachusetts Republican party.



The GOP has just wrapped up six such meetings across the state.



WBUR's Fred Thys attended one recently in Middleton, north of Boston, and found divided opinion on the tax issue.

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Prepaid Tuition Plans in a Bad Economy

Eighteen states are running short on cash in their prepaid college tuition program, and only a handful of them guarantee payment back to children whose family have invested in the program. The worst case is Alabama. Here & Now's Robin Young speak with Larry Menefee, a parent and an attorney in Montgomery, who is saving for triplets; and Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org, a tuition finance information site.

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Project Dropout: High Rates Among Minorities

The Massachusetts Board of Education today takes a look at the state's graduation rate standards.



The Commissioner of Education is asking for an increase in the minimum graduation rate for each high school. Mitchell Chester's proposal would also require school districts to lower the dropout rate for minority groups.



Professor Ronald Ferguson directs the Achievement Initiative at Harvard University. He spoke to WBUR about what's causing higher drop out rates for minority students -- particularly Hispanic males.

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Project Dropout: Inmates Long For Another Shot

Thirty years ago, someone without a high-school diploma could expect to find a job that would pay enough to at least avoid poverty. Now, that's almost impossible.



In the second report in WBUR's series, Project Dropout, WBUR's Deborah Becker talks with people about not having a high-school diploma -- including some who say their lack of an education helped put them behind bars.

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Is Ice Melt Eco-Friendly?

Rock salt and ice melt are flying off store shelves. But where do these products go after they melt? And are they safe to put all over the ground?



WBUR's health and science reporter Sacha Pfeiffer reports.

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WBUR: Ticketing A Child

I'm not sure if this would have worked back when I was growing up, but I have to wonder if this is teaching children to be responsible and accountable? What do you think?

Here & Now's Anthony Brooks speaks wtih Tom Barone of Wayland, Massachusetts, father of two and creator of "Ticket-A-Kid," a booklet of citations and fines, just like parking tickets. Parents can write up their kids' continuing infractions around the house; like not putting clothes away and leaving lights on. Barone says he's been using "Ticket-A-Kid" with great success in his household and now he's making the booklets available to the public.

Hat tip to WBUR 90.9 FM.

Politics: Obama's Speech

Read the thoughts of Megan35 who shared her thoughts with Worcester Is MAJOR:

Yesterday at the National Constitution Center here in Philadelphia, Barack Obama challenged all of us to get past the "racial stalemate we've been stuck in" in America, as he addressed racial polarization and specifically, the remarks of his pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright. He was eloquent and delivered a timely message - timely not merely in the sense of salvaging his campaign after the Rev. Wright's militant rhetoric, but timely because he faced down the insidious nature of racism and race relations in America, when it's politically safe to ignore these deep-rooted issues.

Talking about the Reverend's remarks: "These comments were not only wrong but divisive - divisive at a time when we need unity, racially charged at a time when we need to come together to solve a set of monumental problems towards a terrorist threat, a falling economy, chronic healthcare crisis and potentially devastating climate change problems that are neither Black nor White, or Latino or Asian, but rather, problems that confront us all."

Saying that it would be easier to ignore the racial hostility, and safer to move on and hope the problems just go away, Barack continues: "We can dismiss Rev. Wright as a crank or a demagogue...as haboring some deep-seated bias. But race is an issue that I believe this nation cannot afford to ignore right now. We would be making the same mistake that Rev. Wright made in his offending sermons about America, to simplify and stereotype and amplify the negative to the point that it distorts reality. The fact is, the comments that have been made, the issues that have surfaced in the last few weeks, reflect the complexitites of race in this country that we've never really worked through, a part of our Union that we have not yet made perfect, and if we walk away now, if we simply retreat into our respective corners, we will never be able to come together and solve challenges like healthcare, or education, or the need to find jobs for every American."

It was a speech we can all benefit from hearing, and it reminds us that the only path to progress is through understanding ourselves and our pasts. In case you missed it, I hope you get a chance to hear what he has to say, regardless of your political preferences.

Barack Obama

Chamber report on Casinos

Chamber of Commerce reported on the proposed casinos in Massachusetts and the estimated numbers that Gov. Deval Patrick is proposing.

Listen to this report by WBUR 90.9 FM.

Democratic Strategy

With the Democratic nomination still too close to call, we talk about party strategy, going forward.

Jim Roosevelt, co-chair of the Democratic Party's Rules and Bylaws Committee, speaks with WBUR's Bob Oakes from DNC headquarters in Washington.