2011 January | Here & Now

This weekend we’ll find out who will take to the field in Arlington, Texas in Super Bowl XLV next month. The Steelers face the New York Jets, the Green Bay Packers play the Chicago Bears, and President Obama says if the Bears make the cut, he’ll be at the Super Bowl.

A center in Phoenix, Ariz. has adopted an unusual approach to treating people with Alzheimer’s. Beatitudes Campus focuses on providing comfort, instead of medication, in some cases giving patients chocolate over Xanax.

Common Cause, the government watchdog group, says Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas had a conflict of interest in last year’s landmark case that permitted corporations to directly fund campaign ads.

On Thursday we heard music from Zili Misik, the Shins and more.

Some lawmakers are calling for an investigation into whether the decades-old Supplemental Security Income program gives perverse incentives to poor parents to put their children on psychiatric drugs to qualify for cash assistance.

As part of his U.S. visit, China’s president, Hu Jintao, meets with members of Congress today, many of whom have been speaking out against alleged human rights abuses in the country. While some have been this trip as a meeting of equals, how far has China really come in matching America’s global power?

America’s GDP has recovered more quickly than that of Japan, Britain or Germany. But unemployment here still remains high, and experts can’t figure out why.

House Republicans voted yesterday to repeal President Obama’s healthcare reform law. But because of stiff opposition to repeal in the Senate, it’s unlikely to go further. Now GOP leaders move onto phase two of their strategy: replace the parts of the healthcare act they dislike most.

Members of the all-female, band Zili Misik have their hearts, and music stuck in Haiti, even though none are from there. Watch a video of their performance in our studio.

The war in Afghanistan is taking a terrible toll on American Marines leading the offensive in Helmand Province. So far this year, at least 15 American troops have been killed there, after 499 were killed last year. We speak with New York Times reporter Michael Kamber, who has been on patrol with some Marines.

Though it’s not always legal, across Florida, anglers are finding some of the best fishing on those little ponds that golfers try to avoid.

Wednesday we heard music from Sonic Youth, Sun Kil Moon and more.

Federal agents are investigating race as a possible motive behind an abandoned backpack containing a functional bomb that was left along the downtown route of a Martin Luther King Jr. Day parade in Spokane, Washington.

With this week’s state dinner for the Chinese President, we ask former White House executive chef Walter Sheib what it’s like to prepare the meal that can set the tone for international diplomacy.

The first baby boomers turn 65 this year and all signs indicate their retirement will be different from what their parents enjoyed. Gone are the generous pensions, and to top it off, boomers have also lost huge chunks of retirement savings in the stock market.

Victims of clergy sex abuse spoke out in Boston today as a lawyer released the names of 117 accused abusers. All but 18 names already appear on the website of the victim advocacy group, Bishop Accountability. Lawyer Mitchell Garabedian said he’s reached settlements with all of the people whose names he’s releasing, and he hopes more victims will now come forward.

Jared Loughner, charged with the rampage of shootings in Tucson, Arizona, was reportedly a frequent user of a substance called salvia divinorum, a legal, but potent hallucinogenic herb that can closely mimic psychosis, according to federal drug officials.

Between 2007 and 2009 more than 8 million jobs were lost, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Today they’re slowly coming back, but only in certain sectors, leaving few options for blue collar workers.

Pollster Frank Luntz came up with phrases that have scored big for the GOP, such as “death tax” instead of estate tax, and PolitiFact’s 2010 Lie of the Year: the “government takeover” of healthcare. We ask Luntz about political language, and why he says “what matters is not what you say. It’s what people hear.”

Tuesday we heard music from 30db, the Lounge Lizards and more.