2011 February | Here & Now

President Obama held his first news conference of the year, and defended his budget proposal as Republicans call for deeper cuts.

Shawa Forde, a member of the Minuteman border watch movement in Arizona, has been found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in connection with a 2009 robbery that left a father and his daughter dead. Prosecutors painted Forde as a anti-immigration vigilante, but her defense was based on the fact that a survivor of the home invasion could not identify Forde in a lineup.

Under the president’s proposed budget, cities and towns would lose about $300 million in Community Development Block Grant funding, which funds services like affordable housing and after-school programs. We speak with Setti Warren, the Democratic mayor from Newton, Massachusetts, who says those block grants are vital to protecting the most vulnerable people in society, even in wealthier communities like his.

Tuesday we heard music from Peter Dixon, Kar Kar Madison, Esperanza Spalding and more.

Five-term Arizona Congressman Jeff Flake has just declared his candidacy for U.S. Senate. With sterling credentials as a deficit hawk and tax cutter, he has already won the support of conservative groups like the Club For Growth. We speak with Flake about why he thinks cutting federal programs is crucial, even when it hurts his own district.

26-year-old Esperanza Spalding was named Best New Artist at Sunday night’s Grammy Awards, taking the prize from teen phenom Justin Bieber and hip-hop artist Drake. We revisit a conversation with Spalding. And tell us what you think about Spalding’s Grammy grab.

Monday we heard sounds from Sun Kil Moon to Marvin Gaye.

Protests have broken out in Yemen, Bahrain, Algeria and Iran in the wake of Pres. Hosni Mubarak’s resignation in Egypt. Meanwhile, human rights activists in Egypt are trying to get more information about the dozens of people, who were possibly detained and are still missing after taking part in Egypt’s protests.

As the New York Times reports, leaders in Egypt’s youth movement drew on the ideas of American political thinker Gene Sharp. His book “From Dictatorship to Democracy” has been translated into more than 30 languages.

Yes, it’s nice to hear romantic songs on Valentine’s Day. But what if your love life isn’t going so well? Here and Now’s Renee Graham shares songs of love gone wrong, including music from Cee Lo Green and the Smiths. We want to hear your dystopian love song picks too.

On February 5, Belgian runner Stefaan Engels, aka “marathonman,” completed an amazing feat: He finished his 365th marathon in 365 days. We ask the runner how he did it and why.

President Obama’s $3.7 trillion budget would reduce or entirely eliminate more than 200 federal programs next year, including water treatment plants and community development block grants. But Republicans say the cuts don’t go far enough.

On Friday we heard music from The Wee Trio, Freddie Hubbard and more.

Nobel Peace Laureate Mohammed El Baradei, an opposition figure, greeting Mubarak’s resignation by saying “this is the greatest day of my life.” We look at what the changes mean for Egyptians with Farouk El-Baz, a scientist from Boston University who is also an Egyptian.

Al Jazeera has been lauded by many for its expansive coverage of the protests in Egypt, but it’s also been accused of fanning the flames and urging on the protests. We take a look at how the English language version of Al Jazeera has been covering the events, and the network’s campaign to get on in more cities in the U.S.

Egypt’s VP Omar Suleiman announced today that President Hosni Mubarak is stepping down and the military will take control of Egypt. Celebratory cheers rang out throughout Tahrir Square, and Google Executive, and opposition activist Wael Ghonim said, “welcome back Egypt. They told us you died, but… we found you.”

On Thursday we heard music from Nico Muhly and more.

If you live in India and you’ve got the cold or flu, you might be told to eat some “amla,” or Indian gooseberry. The fruit is loaded with vitamins and is sold to treat everything from the cold to baldness. But it’s also incredibly sour. We meet one family who earns a living making “amla” taste better.

More than 10,000 conservative activists are gathering in Washington today for the start of the Conservative Political Action Conference, at a time when Republicans are struggling to rein in the Tea Party-minded among them.

Egypt State TV reports that President Hosni Mubarak will speak to the country tonight, and it’s expected he will step down. In Tahrir Square, the mood has been both jubilant, and tense, because there’s a lot of uncertainty about what will come next. We touch down in Cairo, and get some thoughts from the U.S.