NPR's Weekend Edition on KUER 1

Recently, people in the small western town of Bethel, Alaska, got very excited when they saw flyers announcing the opening of a Taco Bell. But then, residents got the sad news: the flyers were a hoax. But the people of Bethel will not go taco-less.

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene. Since the Supreme Court's ruling that upheld President Obama's signature health care law, it has been hard to separate substance from rhetoric. This has been one important theme coming from the White House.

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: I know there will be a lot of discussion today about the politics about all of this, about who won and who lost. That's how these things tend to be viewed here in Washington. But that discussion completely misses the point.

About 250 million people will tune in Sunday to watch Italy and Spain duke it out in the Euro 2012 final in Kiev. As always with European soccer, this battle has laid bare more than just skills on the field. Guest host David Greene talks with ESPN's Roger Bennett about the national undercurrents.

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

OK. Well, let's turn now to the kind of football that is truly American.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LIFE IS A BALLGAME")

SISTER WYNONA CARR: Life is a ballgame, being played each day. Life is a ballgame...

GREENE: That is the jingle that we play every week when we bring on NPR's Mike Pesca. And, Mike, do you like this song?

MIKE PESCA, BYLINE: Yeah, like it? I suggested it. What's not to like? It's a gospel song that is an extended metaphor about batting against Satan.

GREENE: Does that lyric come in somewhere?

Mexico is electing a new president Sunday, and voters appear ready to reject the ruling party led by outgoing President Felipe Calderon because many Mexicans believe his anti-drug campaign has done more harm than good. Guest host David Greene speaks with NPR's Carrie Kahn about the politics.

Peabody-winning filmmaker Ian Cheney tackles a rather intangible subject in his latest film: light pollution. Host David Greene speaks with Cheney about The City Dark and what people lose when they can no longer see the stars.

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

So much of the news out of Europe these days is about debt and countries struggling to pay their bills. Well, there is a bit of calm in that storm, and, of course, it's in Paris. There's no Greek-style austerity in France. And as Eleanor Beardsley tells us, in the City of Light, people are still enjoying the good life.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene. The United States reached an agreement with Russia and other world powers yesterday to try to create a transitional government in Syria after months of bloodshed. But Russia, a close ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, opposed U.S. insistence that the Syrian leader should go. The deal was quickly dismissed by the Syrian rebels. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton came back from Geneva last night but before she got on her plane, she sat down with NPR's Michele Kelemen.

Barring a massive shake-up of the Billboard charts — and American tastes — "Little Mistakes" will not be the song of the summer. But that's not for lack of trying.

The song is the lead single off Brick and Mortar, the latest album by Watershed — a band from Columbus, Ohio, that most people have never heard of. But they have been playing dingy bars, tiny clubs and even the occasional arena for 27 years.

That career has inspired a new memoir called Hitless Wonder: A Life in Minor League Rock and Roll, written by one of the band's founders, Joe Oestreich.

If you're a moviegoer, there's a good chance you'll recognize Stephane Wrembel's sound, if not his name.

Earlier this week, Taiwanese-American attorney Grace Meng won the Democratic primary for New York's newly redrawn 6th Congressional District. She says she thinks of herself as an all-American kid, even if others didn't always see her that way.

"Growing up as a kid in Queens, there weren't really many Asians at all," Meng says. "I remember one day, my mom gave me dumplings to bring to school, and people were all like, 'What is that?'"

Meng says she would have preferred peanut butter and jelly.

On-Air Challenge: Every answer is the name of a Major League Baseball team. You are given anagrams of their names, each with one letter added, and must name the teams. For example, given "dress," the answer would be "Reds."

Last Week's Challenge: Think of a familiar three-word phrase that might be used in poker and add an "E" at the end and you'll get a two-word phrase that's common in football. (The spaces in between the words changes in the two phrases but the letters stay in the same order.)

Egypt's newly elected president, Mohammed Morsi, was sworn into office Saturday before the Supreme Constitutional Court in Cairo. Morsi is the first freely elected president of Egypt and its first Islamist head of state.

The day before his inauguration, Morsi addressed a huge crowd in Cairo's Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the revolution that ousted his predecessor, Hosni Mubarak.

"I'm standing before you, Egyptian people, those who voted for me, those who opposed me," he said. "I am yours."

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(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LIFE IS A BALL GAME")

SISTER WINONA CARR: (Singing) Life is a ball game being played each day. Life is a ball game being played...

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

If life is a ball game, well, Mike Pesca is our man courtside. We talk sports with him every Sunday. This week, we saw a lot of boiling hot temperatures around the country.

But, Mike, we should probably talk about a different kind of heat, I guess.

MIKE PESCA, BYLINE: Yes, the kind of heat that brings joy - to at least some people in South Florida.

Food researchers in England have analyzed health claims on some 4,000 foods and came up with this super meal of superfoods: salmon terrine, chicken casserole and yogurt blancmange.

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

This is June, the time of year when our friends at NPRMusic compile songs, artists and albums for something they like to call their Best of the Year So Far List. And we thought we'd give you a sampling of some of their favorites. We're focusing today on Latin alternative music.

Felix Contreras and Jasmine Garsd hosts NPR's online show Alt.Latino and they spoke to WEEKEND EDITION's Rachel Martin about the sounds that are catching their ears in 2012.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm David Greene. This morning, Egyptians have their first-ever democratically elected president. Mohamed Morsi, the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood candidate has been declared the winner of hotly disputed election.

(SOUNDBITE OF CROWD CHEERING)

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

This is WEEKEND EDITION, from NPR News. I'm David Greene. Americans are growing more and more frustrated with the gridlock in Washington, D.C. In a Gallup poll out this month, only 17 percent of Americans said they approve of the job Congress is doing. Well, Christine Quinn says it does not have to be that way. She is the speaker of the New York City Council, and she's taken heat for seeming too close to the executive branch - that would be New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Human evolution is all about survival of the fittest. Over thousands of generations, the weak have been weeded out, and the strong have survived. But how would that kind of natural selection work in other settings - like, say, music? Well, one biologist decided to find out. He designed a website where listeners can rate collections of notes according to their musicality. The nice sounds survive, and other users listen to them. But the ugly sounds die off.

An Arizona law that went into effect last year essentially ruled that the Mexican-American studies program offered in the Tucson public school system was divisive and should be scrapped. At the end of the first semester without the classes, hard feelings still linger.

For eight years, until this past January, Lorenzo Lopez taught Mexican-American studies at Cholla High in Tucson, Ariz., the very school from which he graduated in 1992.

Anticipation has reached a fever pitch, and the waiting is almost over.

This week, the Supreme Court is almost certain to issue its decision on the constitutionality of President Obama's health care law. The decision could have far-reaching implications for the legal landscape, the nation's health care system and even the Supreme Court's legacy.

On-Air Challenge: You are given three words starting with the letter "F." The answer is a word that can follow each of those three words to complete a familiar two-word phrase. For example, if given "flag, father's and field," the answer would be "day."

Last Week's Challenge From listener Kate MacDonald of Murphys, Calif.: Think of a common French word that everyone knows. Add a "V" to the beginning and an "E" at the end. The result will be the English-language equivalent of the French word. What is it?

Cassandra Wilson was once described by Time magazine as "America's best singer." Wilson was born in segregated Mississippi — also the birthplace of the blues — but she's always been on a journey to explore other sounds and influences.

Rodney King — whose 1991 beating by police officers was filmed and lead to riots in Los Angeles — was found at the bottom of his swimming pool early Sunday. He was 47. Rachel Martin speaks with NPR's Karen Grigsby Bates about the beating and how its aftermath changed race relations in America forever.

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(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "LIFE IS A BALLGAME")

SISTER WINONA CARR: (Singing) Life is a ball game, being played each day...

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

If life is a ball game, then NPR's Mike Pesca is our man in Miami, relishing the heat, never cowering from the thunder. Hey, Mike.

MIKE PESCA, BYLINE: Possibly setting fire to the rain, very good.

(LAUGHTER)