Arwa Gunja

Since 1993, Greg Mortenson has dedicated his life to building schools, mostly for girls, in the mountainous regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Author of The New York Times best-seller, "Three Cups of Tea," Greg Mortenson, approaches diplomacy in Afghanistan through education and working with village elders. And even as a strong advocate against the war there, he and his book have been warmly embraced by top ranking members of the U.S. command in Afghanistan, who have turned to Mortenson for advice on how to approach locals there.

On Thursday, Arizona's SB 1070 officially goes into effect, meaning law enforcement will be able to question anyone they suspect to be in the country illegally. Leading up to Thursday, there has been a growing climate of fear among immigrants in the state. Many undocumented families have decided to leave Arizona, some heading to other states and some going back to their home countries. Monday was the first day of school in the Balsz Elementary School District, an area where more than 70 percent of the population is Hispanic. We talk with Superintendent Jeffrey Smith who says that more than 500 students were not in attendance yesterday.

Updated 6:57pm EST

Arwa Gunja here on the night shift.

We’re watching two breaking stories in different American cities. In Detroit, Police Chief Warren Evans unexpectedly stepped down earlier today. And in Chicago, the defense rested in the trial of ex-Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, even without having him testify. We’ll get updates on both stories.

And a third city is making headlines today. In a 5-2 vote, Oakland City Council approved an ordinance to allow industrial marijuana production. This comes just weeks before a vote in California on whether to legalize recreation use of marijuana. Currently, fourteen states plus the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana. The decision in Oakland now opens up a new avenue for the crop to enter the commercial sector. Tomorrow, we’ll talk with Ryan Nerz, author of the book, “MarijuanAmerica,” about whether our society is growing more tolerant of pot and its legalization.

Also tomorrow, Slate writer Emily Bazelon returns to the show to talk about her article, “What Really Happened to Phoebe Prince.” The story of Phoebe Prince made international headlines when the 15-year-old girl took her own life in January, after she was alledgebly the repeated victim of bullies in school. Tomorrow, six of accused bullies are facing felony charges, including charges for statutory rape charges for two of the accused. But Bazelon, who has bee investigating the case since February, says the story is much more complicated than it appears. She’ll share her findings tomorrow on the show.

Updated 6:00pm EST

Arwa Gunja here on the evening shift.

Tomorrow, Senate Democrats are going to reignite their fight to extend unemployment benefits to millions of unemployed Americans.  With a new Senator from West Virginia being sworn in on Tuesday, Democrats are confident they will get the 60 votes they need to push the measure through. But for those tired of waiting on Congress to get some relief, there is another federal program aimed at helping unemployed Americans get back on their feet – job re-training programs. For Sandra Cole, the experience so far has been worthwhile. She retrained as a dental assistant and just last week was hired for part-time position. She is hoping to transition into a full-time job soon, but she recognizes that she is "one of the lucky few." Many people tend not to find jobs as easily, even after going through training. Jeanette Brown is one of them. After being unemployed for two years, she trained in a bookkeeping and accounting program. She completed the training in May and still unemployed. But, she says she is optimistic.

Tomorrow we'll hear from Cole and Brown about their experiences. And if you’ve gone through a similar situation, tell us if you think job re-training works. Were you able to successfully find a new job after going through a training program? Leave us your comments by calling us at 877-8-MY-TAKE, visiting us on Facebook, or leaving a message right here on our website.

This morning, Washington Post reporter Dana Priest broke an exclusive story about the increased use of intelligence contractors. After years of research and information gathering, Priest found that billions of dollars are being wasted because of redundancies between the intelligence community and its contractors. And even though many top government officials know this is going on, little is being done to make operations more efficient or rein in spending.

Ex-Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is scheduled to take the witness stand this week to testify in his own defense at his federal corruption trial. In the five weeks since the trial began, prosecutors have played many recordings of the former politician using countless expletives in multiple profanity-laced tirades. Now, when Blagojevich takes the stand, law experts say he will have to win over jurors, leave behind his notoriously arrogant attitude and even admit some faults.

Since September 11^th, the intelligence community has handed off many of its responsibilities to private contractors. The private intelligence industry has grown, and been paid billions by the government despite a culture of waste and mismanagement. Because the intelligence community and contractors now share many similar responsibilities, the line distinguishing the two is blurry.

Oil may have stopped gushing into the Gulf of Mexico yesterday, but the longterm economic damage caused by the BP catastrophe is only beginning to be seen. Workers along the along the Gulf Coast are not the only ones taking a hit. Columnist for The New York Times, Dan Barry found that the oil gusher will have far reaching consequences. He says it will impact everyone from the fishermen who mine the oyster beds in Louisiana to the Minnesota businessmen who rely on crushed oyster shells to be used as poultry feed.

More than 23 million Americans suffer from type 2 diabetes. After it was approved by the FDA in 1999, Avandia quickly became the world's most popular drug to treat type 2 diabetes. However, in 2007 studies began to show that the drug increased the risk of cardiovascular problems, and concerns about the drug's safety have persisted ever since. 

Yesterday an FDA advisory committee voted on the safety of Avandia. Although most agreed that the drug increases the chance of a heart attack and stroke, the majority also voted to keep the drug on the market with revisions to its labels and more restrictions on its sale.

Airline fees are high enough, but do you really know how much you are paying for your plane ticket? Consider the amount you charge on your credit card when you purchase your tickets, plus the extra fees you pay to check your luggage or get that extra leg room or window seat. Those kinds of costs alone raked in an addition $8 billion in 2008 and 2009 for airlines, according to the Government Accountability Office.

Now airlines are facing mounting scrutiny from the Obama administration and Congress. And soon new guidelines may be put in place by the GAO.

Arwa Gunja here on the evening shift.

Tomorrow we’re going to be talking about questions of immigration and identity. More than two decades ago, President Ronald Reagan granted amnesty to three million illegal immigrants. We’ll talk with Steven Thrasher from New York City’s Village Voice who profiled three formerly illegal immigrants (who Reagan's act made legal) to see how far they have come since 1986.

And as the nation mulls another round of immigration policy, we'll turn to Utah where the names, Social Security numbers and other personal information of 1,300 people were leaked early this morning. An anonymous group has said the names on the list are those of illegal immigrants, and the governor quickly responded by saying he will issue an immediate internal investigation to see how the information was gathered and made public. Tony Yapias is the former director of the Utah Office of Hispanic Affairs. He says his phone has been ringing all day long with calls from residents fearing their names might be on the list. Yapias described the situation as a state of utter “hysteria,” with residents and their families fearing their privacy has been invaded and they will be hunted down.

But it’s not all bad news for Latinos in Utah. Horacio Vallejo owns a pastry shop in Salt Lake City, Utah. His business is one of the represented in new Census data that shows a massive jump in minority and women-owned businesses between 2002-2007. We’ll talk with some small business owners to try to understand this sharp jump and how business has been going since the recession.

In one the first tests of his military command in Afghanistan, General David Petraeus is pushing the Obama administration to add top leaders of a feared Pakistani insurgent group to the State Department’s list of designated terrorists. The Haqqani network is an insurgent group notorious for suicide attacks, car bombings and kidnappings. But designating the group as a terrorist organization could complicate things for Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who has been working with the group to reach a political settlement with the network.

Last week, a California serial killer was caught after his son was convicted of a felony weapons charge. A DNA lab was able to discover a genetic link between the son's DNA and evidence from old crime scenes, which led them to investigate Lonnie D. Franklin, Jr.  Franklin has allegedly killed at least 10 people in California over the last 25 years. The police made the connection through the state’s familial search program, which allows police to take DNA from a crime scene and compare it to millions of DNA samples in a database. If there is even a partial match, police can get leads to the criminal by way of a family member.

The search has also raised ethical questions. Critics say it could lead to a form of racial profiling, because a higher proporation of inmates are African American, and linking their DNA to their family members could wrongly lead to suspicions of others in the black community.

Currently, more than 1.1 million Americans live with HIV. Every year, another 56,000 people contract the virus: a figure that has been relatively constant over the past decade. Today, the Obama administration announces a new strategy to combat this epidemic with the goal of reducing the rate of infections by 25 percent over the next five years and getting treatment to 85 percent of HIV patients within three months of their diagnosis. We talk with Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of Health and Human Services, about the new policy.

Today, the Obama administration unveils a new plan to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic in this country. Currently, more than 1.1 million Americans are infected with the virus, and infection rates are highest in the African-American community. African-Americans make up 12 percent of the US population, but make up more than half of new HIV/AIDS cases. It seems conventional methods of education on prevention and access to medicine are not effectively reaching this high-risk community. Many people pay attention to words from the pulpit: In some communities, the church might be the place where HIV prevention can best be taught.

Long-term debt obligations. Bond interest rates. Pension liabilities. These words may make your eyes glaze over, but it might be time to sit up at attention. State governors from across the country met in Boston last weekend at the National Governors Association meeting, and their fiscal woes were at the top of the agenda.

On Capitol Hill this week, Democratic lawmakers will make a last-ditch attempt to get the financial regulations bill passed before heading into mid-term elections. Democratic Senators are also struggling to extend unemployment benefits to the nation's jobless, but have yet to secure enough votes to avoid a Republican filibuster. And while the Judiciary Committee is expected to vote on the nomination of Elena Kagan to the Supreme Court, it is likely Republicans will delay Tuesday's vote until next week.

Outside the beltway, this week marks the start of earnings season. Investors and economics will be watching closely to see if the economy is on the road to recovery or headed for a double-dip recession.

Last night, California jurors found Officer Johannes Mehserle guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the 2009 shooting death of Oscar Grant. Mehserle, a white BART police officer, shot and killed Grant, an unarmed black train passenger, early in the morning on New Year's Day, 2009. The video of the shooting, caught on cellphone camera, instantly went viral on the internet and led to massive rioting in the city of Oakland. Though Oakland residents demanded to see a guilty verdict, many had hoped Mehserle would be convicted on stronger charges: either second-degree murder or voluntary manslaughter. John Burris, who represented Oscar Grant’s family, said relatives were “extraordinarily disappointed” by what he called a “true compromise verdict.”

Yesterday, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood criticized a Washington lobbying firm that was drumming up opposition to his distracted driving campaign. The Seward Square Group created the DRIVE coalition to promote driver education as an alternative to LaHood's proposal, which would lead to poor sales for mobile devices (they even went after Oprah).

Updated 5:30pm EST

Arwa Gunja here on the evening shift.

In the 73^rd minute, off a corner kick, Spain’s Carles Puyol put a ball into Germany’s net off a header. Spain now moves on to the finals in the World Cup playing against the Netherlands. The circle of World Cup winners tends to be an exclusive club - only seven countries have ever won. But this year there will surely be a new member, as neither Spain nor the Netherland have ever taken home the world championship title before. Sunday's final will be an exciting match, and tomorrow, we’ll get reactions from Spain after their semi-final victory today.

And in other sports news, Lebron James will host an hour-long ESPN special tomorrow night where he will finally announce his team of choice. Fans from cities across the country have been waiting for this moment with bated breathe. It’s a rarity in sports for an athlete to take center stage in produced, hour-long televisded event outside the arena of an actual game. And unlike a press conference, James will have full control of the event. It’s kind of like American Idol meets basketball, without the Simon and Randy factors. We'll hear more about the media spectacle tomorrow on the show.

On the international front, Iran announced new guidelines for men’s haircuts. A government official appeared alongside hundreds of barbers and hairdressers to unveil a catalog describing what hair dos will be acceptable for men. The crackdown seems intended to police “un-Islamic” dress and fight Western influences. But at the same time, none of the men featured in the catalog are wearing long beards, a cornerstone in Islamic orthodoxy. This comes at a time when Iran is facing a cultural collission between a younger generation that is seeking greater freedoms and a religious government continuing to push Sharia law.  Azadeh Moavani, the author of Lipstick Jihad, joins the program tomorrow morning to talk about the cultural and political dynamics at play.