NPR's Weekend Edition on KUER 1

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RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

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RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Last week, a book called "The Orphan Master's Son" was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Adam Johnson's novel imagines what life is like for citizens of North Korea. I spoke with Adam Johnson last year about his book. And to mark his Pulitzer, we'd like to revisit that interview. In it, Johnson explained that as part of his research, he actually managed to finagle a visit to North Korea. He said his government minders maintained tight control over his itinerary but they couldn't hide everything.

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If you're a regular public radio listener, this may sound a bit familiar.

GARRISON KEILLOR, HOST:

This portion of our show is brought to you by Beopareebopp Rhubarb Pie and Beopareebopp Frozen Pie Filling.

(LAUGHTER)

MARTIN: That's Garrison Keillor on "A Prairie Home Companion," advertising a fictional and deeply Lake Wobegonian dessert.

KEILLOR: (Singing) Mama's little baby loves rhubarb, rhubarb, Beebopareebop Rhubarb Pie. Mama's little baby...

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It is the final round of The Masters today. American Brandt Snedeker and Argentine Angel Cabrera share the lead at 7 under par. Pre-tournament favorite Tiger Woods is four shots behind, which isn't bad considering what he went through yesterday. From Augusta, Georgia, NPR's Tom Goldman reports on how golf's greatest major almost lost its greatest player.

UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Fore, please. Tiger Woods now driving.

(SOUNDBITE OF CHEERING)

One of the ongoing debates in education is whether so much testing in schools is taking away time for young people to develop their own critical thinking and creativity. At the same time, the White House has talked about the importance of innovation when it comes to staying competitive in the global market. The intersection of both of these issues could be the arts.

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Let's talk poker. Dealer, let me see those cards.

(SOUNDBITE OF MOVIE, "COOL HAND LUKE")

UNIDENTIFIED MAN #1: (as character) King-three, you got a four. Queen-deuce gets a five. And a pair of sevens gets a john. And the big ace gets a slap in the face. OK, you still do the talking.

The country rock band Dawes has built a grassroots following opening for other bands. As they release their third album, Stories Don't End, they're preparing to tour with their biggest headliner yet: Bob Dylan. Weekend Edition Sunday host Rachel Martin speaks two members of Dawes, singer and guitarist Taylor Goldsmith and keyboardist Tay Strathairn, about life on the road.

In the coming weeks, the Obama administration plays host to the leaders of several Middle Eastern nations, including the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Qatar and Jordan.

They are coming, in part, to register their concerns about the ongoing violence in Syria and to nudge the Obama administration to do more to tip the balance in favor of the rebels trying to oust President Bashar Assad.

Many residents say Hazleton, Pa., continues life now as a divided city. While some Spanish-speakers build new lives, longtime residents remain split on how the influx has changed their home.

It's not hard to find a Latino business in Hazleton these days, including law firms, insurance agencies and even a migrant education program. Amilcar Arroyo, the publisher of a local Spanish-language newspaper, says Latinos are now firmly establishing themselves as a part of the city.

At 2 p.m., it's crunchtime for students who write for The Harbinger Online, the award-winning, student news site at Shawnee Mission East High just outside Kansas City, Kan. They've been investigating an initiative to develop common curriculum and test guidelines for states.

The young reporters have pored over countless documents about the Common Core State Standards and talked to Kansas state legislators who pushed for their adoption, trying to understand why they're necessary.

School lunch is often synonymous with loud noise. Studies have shown the decibel level in some cafeterias is as high as a lawn mower.

Every so often, though, students at Alice Terry Elementary School, southwest of Denver, are asked not to make any noise.

When the music teacher told students here they'd occasionally have a "silent" lunch break, this was kindergartner Alyssa Norquette's reaction: "Why do we need a silent lunch? Is it because we're too loud or something?"

A precious package arrived at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last Thursday afternoon.

Inside, packed in dry ice to keep it frozen, was a vial containing millions of viruses derived from a 35-year-old Chinese housewife who died last Tuesday of respiratory and kidney failure.

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In Egypt, Bassem Youssef has built a following by making jokes about his own government.

BASSEM YOUSSEF: (Foreign language spoken)

(LAUGHTER)

MARTIN: That's a bit of sound from Youssef's satirical TV show, which often gets compared to "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart." His sharp critiques of the president and the ruling political party in Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood, have made him famous. But his show has also stirred up controversy.

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In China, authorities are stepping up efforts to contain the spread of a new strain of bird flu, which has killed six people across that country. It is the first time this particular virus, called H7N9, has been detected in humans. For more, Dr. Thomas Frieden joins us. He is the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He joins us on the line from his office in Atlanta, Georgia. Welcome to the program.

DR. THOMAS FRIEDEN: Good morning.

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If you're open to possibilities and you're brave enough to take risks, good things can happen. Of course, it also helps if you're as talented as 23-year-old Lianne La Havas. One critic called the singer-songwriter the golden girl of British music. Another wondered whether she could be the next Adele. In this encore presentation, NPR's Elizabeth Blair has a profile.

With a single, devastating shot, Ali Farokhmanesh became the face of the NCAA basketball tournament in 2010.

He nailed the 3-pointer that propelled the ninth-seeded Northern Iowa Panthers to a major upset victory over the tournament favorite, Kansas Jayhawks. It also put him on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

A women's Final Four without Baylor, Stanford or Tennessee? That's happened only one other time in the last dozen years. We've become so used to it being a power party, that it's downright disorienting.

Or maybe that's just vertigo from trying to track the movements of the Final Four's breakout star, Louisville guard Shoni Schimmel. She's a big reason why two of those teams — Tennessee and Baylor — aren't in New Orleans for a chance at the title.

The U.S. Senate was scheduled to begin voting on gun control measures this week when Congress returns from recess, but Senate staffers say a bipartisan agreement has yet to be reached on universal background checks. That snarl may end up delaying a vote on gun legislation for another week, as lobbyists on both sides of the debate use the extra time to keep the pressure on.

It's delicious, it's nutritious and it's basically rotten. Fermentation is a hot culinary trend, and, as Weekend Edition food commentator Bonny Wolf explains, the preservation process gives food a flavor unique to time and place.

People you know may intentionally be growing bacteria in their homes — on food, outside the refrigerator. And they are doing it to make food safe, and nutritious.

They are doing what cooks have always done: fermenting food.

A federal judge ordered Friday what women's groups have failed to accomplish politically for a dozen years. He ruled that Plan B, the most commonly used morning-after birth control pill, be sold without a prescription or other restrictions to women of all ages.

In recent months, there have been bipartisan calls for more transparency in the Obama administration's drone program. Host Rachel Martin talks with Gregory McNeal, a professor of national security law at Pepperdine University's School of Law, about proposals to bring more openness and accountability. One idea is the creation of a "drone court" that would review decisions to target and kill suspected militants.

New York City has nearly 11,000 pay phones, and a new campaign is trying to turn about 5,000 of them into time capsules. Host Rachel Martin talks with David Droga, creative chairman of ad agency Droga5, about the "Recalling 1993" campaign.

Phil Ramone was a violin prodigy; he played for Queen Elizabeth when he was 10. As a fledgling recording engineer, he manned the booth for "Alice's Restaurant." And as a producer, he recorded hits for Frank Sinatra, Billy Joel and Paul Simon. As NPR's Sami Yenigun reports, Ramone died Saturday at the age of 79.