Arwa Gunja

Commodity prices are higher than they have been since before the financial crisis in 2008. But one commodity is doing better than all of the others: cotton. A pound of cotton currently costs more than $2 — that’s up from about 85 cents just a year ago, and higher than it has ever been in history. In fact, it is the second time since the Civil War that cotton has gone over $1. We talk with Gary Feist, a cotton farmer in Wakita, Oklahoma, who's been in the business for the past 15 years. Feist is also the manager of the Southern Kansas Cotton Growers Cooperative.

The sweet sixteen round of the NCAA tournament got underway last night, and we’re down to two games in each region of the tournament bracket. Takeaway Sports Contributor Ibrahim Adbul-Matin was in Badger territory. Butler beat Wisconsin and the Arizona Wildcats blew Duke out of the water. "Now we know there will be a new champion this year and that's really exciting," says Ibrahim Abudl-Matin as he looks ahead to the Elite 8.

A village of 109 people and less than three miles across has been declared the country’s mean center of population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The village is Plato, Missouri, and its location is an indicator that the population center has gradually drifted southwest. We talk with the mayor of the village, Bob Biram, 66, who has been living in Plato his whole life. He says "there's a little bit of everything" in Plato.

"Operation Odyssey Dawn" is the name given to our current military mission in Libya. But the choice of words is giving some the uncomfortable feeling that the U.S. may be embarking in an epically long battle, akin to the story of Homer's "Odyssey." But when it comes to military operations, what's in a name? It's not significant in the ways one might think. We talk with William Arkin, a former Army intelligence analyst and consultant. He's also the author of "Code Names: Deciphering U.S. Military Programs, Plans, and Operations in the 9/11 World."

Over the last few days, the U.S. moved very quickly from a U.N. resolution authorizing military intervention in Libya to missiles and bombs actually striking the country. In many ways, members of Congress are still catching up with the news from the White House and they have been reacting both with support and anger. Who's in charge of the no-fly zone: Britain, France or the U.S.? Who exactly are the Libyan rebels we're supporting? And why didn't President Obama consult Congress before authorizing military intervention?

It’s been an eventful week in the Middle East, but much of the news has been overshadowed by the unfolding disaster in Japan. Saudi military forces have crossed into Bahrain as protester violence continues; the situation in Libya is escalating; and in Egypt, a referendum on the constitution scheduled for Saturday is the cause of raging debate. Amidst all this change in the Middle East, is the United States taking a strong enough position for democracy?

While Japan is dealing with a rising death toll, massive destruction and a nuclear crisis in the wake of a devastating 9.0 earthquake and tsunami, some prominent media personalities, athletes and celebrities in the United States have found themselves apologizing for making insensitive comments about the tragedy. Jeff Yang, pop culture columnist, discusses the cultural implications of such remarks.

The crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi power plant is being called the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl. There have been explosions at three reactors. Meanwhile, radiation levels are on the rise. Takeaway listeners have expressed concern about nuclear reactors near them. David from Manhattan wrote on our website: I live in NYC, near enough or downwind of many. I'm concerned because unlike other materials, nuclear material's toxicity doesn't simply dilute away over time. A release of nuclear material is necessarily a disaster.

A Saudi-led military force crossed into Bahrain on Monday to offer assistance to King Hamad’s government. Shiite Muslims are trying to rid themselves of two centuries of autocratic rule — but the potential fall of the Sunni-backed monarchy is worrying neighboring Gulf leaders. We talk with Christopher Davidson, scholar in Middle East politics at Durham University for context on the recent events. The BBC's Keith Adams reports from Bahrain.

Japan is faced with a massive humanitarian crisis and potential nuclear threat after last week's earthquake and tsunami. The Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923 took the lives of over 140,000 Japanese citizens and destroyed the cities of Tokyo and Yokohama. During World War II, Hiroshima and Nagasaki were nearly wiped off the map in an instant flash of nuclear fission. And tsunami is, of course, a Japanese word. How has Japanese culture handled natural disaster and tragedy in the past?

It's national bracket day, and as usual, college basketball fans are busy choosing which of the now 68 teams will make it to the Final Four. It's estimated the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament will lead to 8.4 million hours of lost worker productivity this season. We talk with Tobias Moskowitz and Jon Wertheim, co-authors of the book, "Corecasting: The Hidden Influences Behind How Sports Are Played and Games Are Won." Moskowitz and Wertheim give their tips for how you should — and shouldn't — go about filling in your brackets.

The Libyan government said it has taken over a key oil terminal and would continue eastward to Benghazi — the declared capitol for rebel groups. The takeover of Brega came as world leaders continue to debate the merits of a no-fly zone. On Saturday, the Arab League endorsed the idea. But without foreign intervention, what will happen in the rebellion in Libya fails? We talk with Professor George Joffe, an expert on North Africa at Cambridge University.

Twitter and FourSquare were first introduced at South By Southwest Interactive and have taken off in the social media sphere. What's going to be the big new thing to come out of South By Southwest Interactive this year? The event kicked off on Friday, marking the start of a week-long conference for social media entrepreneurs and techies to introduce their products and make business deals. Over the past few years, SXSW has become the venue to unveil apps that and software that forever change the social media market. 

In a surprise legislative maneuver that took around 30 minutes, 18 Republican members of Wisconsin's Senate pushed through adoption of a bill last night that would sharply reduce public employees' collective bargaining rights. Introduced by the state's new governor, Scott Walker, the legislation has roiled the state's capitol for weeks. Union supporters and other protesters occupied the state house while Governor Walker battled in the press with Democrats who had fled the state to prevent a vote from taking place. The move circumvented a required quorum by removing language on appropriating funding to allow the 18-1 vote. What's next in the three week saga? 

On Thursday, the House Committee on Homeland Security, chaired by Republican Congressman Peter King, is scheduled to hold a hearing on the radicalization of American Muslims. Earlier, we spoke with Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf of the Cordoba Initiative, who was concerned that the coverage of the hearing in the Muslim world could further damage the relationship between America and Islam. Such concerns are surely connected to the media in the Middle East. How will the hearings be covered in the Muslim world? 

Congressman Peter King's (R-NY) controversial hearings, which begin Thursday, on the radicalization of American Muslim youths, is being met with tremendous anger from Muslims nationwide. But one Muslim American who is in favor of these hearings is Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, the president and founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy. He believes whatever we have done to battle the radicalization of Muslim youth in America has not worked, and says "we need to figure out a new strategy."

This week, the House Homeland Security Committee will hold a hearing on what they are calling the radicalization of American Muslims. The hearing, hosted by chairman of the committee, Representative Peter King (D-NY), is tasked with investigating the threat posed by homegrown Muslim terrorists. "At this stage in our history, there is an effort to radicalize elements within the Muslim community," Rep. King said on CNN's "State of the Union" this weekend. There has been an outcry by Muslim Americans criticizing the congressional committee for signaling out the Muslim community as posing a threat to the country. Is it a worthwhile exploration of the issues or a witch hunt?

Senator John Ensign (R-Nev.) announced his pending retirement yesterday, saying he would not run in the 2012 election. The announcement came to the obvious relief of many of his colleagues — Sen. Ensign is currently being investigated for an alleged affair with a former staffer. But he's not the only lawmaker planning to sit out the coming election; seven others have also announced plans to get out of politics, or at least, government. Joining us to talk about the other lawmakers who are retiring, and how that may challenge party strategy, is Takeaway Washington correspondent Todd Zwillich. 

This week, a presidential bioethics committee met to discuss one of the most shocking violations of medical ethics — a clinical study done back in the 1970s on nearly 400 African American men in Tuskegee Alabama to study the progression of syphilis. The men believed they were receiving free health care from the US government. But just days before the committee met, a new comprehensive investigation by the Associated Press found that for decades, the United States government also knew about and authorized medical experiments on disabled people and prison inmates. Experiments included injecting cancer cells into the chronically ill at a New York hospital and giving hepatitis to mental patients in Connecticut.

Ohio’s Senate voted 17 to 16 in favor of a controversial bill that would effectively end collective bargaining rights for public sector workers. This is the first step towards passage of the bill — a political move that could impact similar battles playing out in Wisconsin and Indiana. Unions called the vote the biggest blow to public sector workers in more than 25 years. We talk with Bill Cohen, State House reporter for Ohio Public Radio who was in the Senate chamber when the vote came down yesterday.