Arwa Gunja

We are one step closer to creating synthetic life, and no, this isn’t the plot of a movie. J. Craig Venter synthesized an entire bacterial genome and used it to take over a cell, creating what he called a “synthetic cell.” This is groundbreaking because it’s the first time man has created a self-replicating species “whose parent is a computer,” Venter said at a press conference on Thursday. He hopes it will lead to new vaccines and biofuels. But it raises an interesting philosophical question about who can create life. We’ll have that conversation tomorrow morning, but help us get started. Do you think humans should be creating life and developing new species? You can call our comment line at 877-8-MYTAKE or leave us a comment here.

And while you’re at, tell us how you want “Lost” to end. The ABC hit show ends it’s sixth and final season this Sunday. Tomorrow we’ll be joined by Henry Ian Cusik, the actor who plays Desmond. Tell us how you think the show should wrap up … we’ll run your predications by Cusik and see if we can’t get him to give us a spoiler or two.

Today marks one month since the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico. The accident caused a massive fire that killed eleven workers. And days later, the rig capsized and sank. Ever since, an estimated 210,000 gallons of oil have been gushing into the Gulf every day. (That's a minimum, according to BP: Many observers think the rate is much, much higher.) Three companies are being held responsible: BP owns the well, Transocean owned the rig and Halliburton was contracted to run certain rig services. Over the past month, we've seen the executives from those three companies pass the blame around on Capitol Hill, we've heard leading politicians change their stance on offshore drilling, and we've learned of innovative technologies that have been used to try to plug the leak and clean up the spill (with little success).

UPDATED 5:22 p.m.

Arwa Gunja here on the evening shift.

Moments ago we learned that the Senate was unable to get enough votes to end debate on a sweeping overhaul of financial regulations. The vote stalls the process of moving toward final passage of the bill. Our Washington Correspondent Todd Zwillich is on Capitol Hill and tomorrow morning he’ll explain what this may mean for the future of the bill.

In other news, smoking has been on the decline in the U.S. This is a good thing, right? Well, not for tobacco farmers. Farmers in a handful of states, including Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, have just lost their contracts with cigarette companies who say these isn’t enough demand to require the same amount of tobacco to be grown anymore. And according to some of these farmers, they were given no advance warning. We’ll be joined by a tobacco famer tomorrow morning to bring you that story.

And finally, do we share too much over the internet? Tomorrow we’ll be joined by Jeff Jarvis, author of “What Would Google Do?” to talk about the history of privacy and how our notions of privacy have changed with the growth of social media outlets, like Facebook. Our digital editor Jim Colgan went out the other day in New York City and tracked down complete strangers that he was able to locate based on their FourSquare account. How much is too much in the digital age? To send us your comments, call us at 877-8-MYTAKE or leave us a message here on our website. You can also text TAKE to 69866 (standard rates may apply) and send us your response through your mobile phone.

UPDATED 5:10 p.m.

Arwa Gunja here on the night shift.

Moments ago, I got word from our newsroom that the Times Square Bomber, Faisal Shahzad, is due to appear in Manhattan federal court today. WNYC’s Ailsa Chang is at the court, and our team will check in with her later tonight to get the latest. So far, Shahzad has been fairly cooperative with law enforcement and federal investigators so we’ll see if that changes today in the court room.

In political news, polls close tonight in a handful of states across the country holding primary elections. We’ve closely been monitoring the races in Kentucky, Pennsylvania and Arkansas. These races are important because incumbents may lose their seats and voters may back candidates different from those supported by their national parties. We’ll bring you the results and election analysis tomorrow morning … and we’ve got a nice lineup of guests, including Republican strategist David Frum, Penn. Gov. Ed Rendell and U.S. Senator Bob Casey also from Pennsylvania.

Tomorrow we will also be covering the death of a seven-year-old girl who was shot by police in her home in Detroit. Takeaway member station WDET is closely following this story and tells us that residents in Detroit are outraged and speaking up about the story. Detroit has had a long history of distrust between the community and the police department. This latest incident may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back and forces real change within the police force, or at least that’s what some in Detroit are hoping for. We’ll talk with WDET station manager Jerome Vaughn to get the latest and hear how the community, local government and the police are reacting.

And after weeks of financial advice, tomorrow we end our Do It Yourself Bailout series with Beth Kobliner. For our final installment, Beth takes on one of the ultimate financial hurdles for many Americans: how do you merge finances when you merge families?

And, all day today we've been asking listeners how they would rebrand their state. Arizona is going through this process right now in anticipation of losing revenue due to their controversial immigration law. If you had to give your state a new slogan, what would it be? To give us your suggestions, call our comment line at 877-8-MYTAKE or you can leave us a message right here on our website. We've also launched our text messaging platform this week. Just text "TAKE" to 69866 (standard rates may apply) and send us your response through your mobile phone.

A former Mexican presidential candidate, and close friend of Mexican President Felipe Calderon, is feared dead after he went missing over the weekend. Authorities believe Diego Fernandez de Cevallos was kidnapped by organized criminals in what may be a direct attack on the government. We talk with Inma Gil, a reporter with the BBC who is Mexico City, for reactions to the kidnapping.

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer signed a bill on Tuesday that will effectively eliminate a particular school district's ethnic studies program. The bill specifically targets Tucson school district's Mexican-American studies program. That district superintendent, Tom Horne, has pushed the bill for years and says he believes ethnic studies programs promote hate and teach Latino kids to believe they were oppressed by white people. This new law makes headlines just weeks after Gov. Brewer put her signature to one of the most controversial immigration bills in the country.

Do you think there's a place for ethnic studies in U.S. history classes?»

In the next few months, Arizona will begin to enforce its new immigration law that allows local law enforcement to ask for documentation from people they suspect of being in the country illegally. But its neighbor, New Mexico, vehemently opposes this law and its own House of Representatives has passed a resolution recognizing economic benefits for undocumented immigrants. The rift between the bordering states could make things tricky for law enforcement.

• SUPREME COURT TAKEOUT: If Elena Kagan needs help preparing for a potentially long and messy confirmation hearing, The New York Times' Adam Liptak says she should read a 1995 article on the topic that she wrote.
• SPORTS TAKEOUT: We're in the midst of NHL and NBA playoffs. And in the boxing world, Manny Pacquiao won his Congressional election in the Philippines. Sports Contributor Ibrahim Abdul-Matin updates us on these stories.

• FINANCIAL TAKEOUT:  The head of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission warned that it will take time to get to the bottom of last week’s precipitous, if brief, market correction that lead the Dow index to drop almost 1000 points in under an hour. The New York Times' Wall Street and finance reporter Louise Story says that hasn’t stopped the country’s top securities regulator from announcing plans to put in place safeguards from preventing a repeat “flash crash.”
• KILLINGS IN CHINA: A string of brutal attacks on schoolchildren in China has the country reeling. This morning, seven kindergarten children and one teacher were killed after a man attacked them with a meat cleaver. The Chinese government has clamped down on reporting on this most recent story in order to avoid copycat attacks. Damian Grammaticas, BBC reporter in Beijing, fills us in.

Updated 5pm EST

Arwa Gunja here on the night shift.

Do you feel like Facebook is becoming too invasive? Some users are complaining that the social networking site’s latest expansion shares too much personal information. Our own Jim Colgan will explain how the “like” system works and why so many are up in arms about it.

And as Anna mentioned earlier, we’ll be closely reporting on the nomination of Elena Kagan and how her appointment would affect the diversity of the nation’s highest court. We’ll also examine her own record when it comes to diversity. The Root reported today that, “of the 29 law professors hired by Professor Kagan, only one was a professor of color. None were African-American or Latino. Only seven were women.”  Earlier today we started a conversation here on our website asking listeners what they think is most important attribute in a Supreme Court nominee. Give us your take by commenting below or calling us at 1-877-8-MYTAKE.

And across the pond, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced he would resign within months as the leader of the Labour Party. Last week’s general elections there resulted in a hung parliament where no single party won a majority. Brown says he accepts the results as a “judgment” on himself and is stepping aside. We’ll bring you the latest on that story tomorrow morning.

Senior members of the Obama administration confirmed yesterday that Faisal Shahzad, the suspected Times Square bomber, was directly helped by the Taliban in Pakistan.

• Greece's Bailout: In an effort to limit the global scope of Greece's financial crisis, European governments and the IMF have pledged almost one trillion dollars in emergency funding to Eurozone countries. BBC Europe reporter Dominic Hughes explains.
• Sports Takeout: Dallas Braden from the Oakland Athletics threw a perfect game yesterday against the Tampa Bay Rays. Takeaway sports contributor, Ibrahim Abdul Matin recaps the game, and looks ahead to the NBA Conference Finals. 

Updated 5:30pm EST

The show has taken a bit of turn as The Dow Jones industrial average plunged more than 550 points in five minutes and a total of nearly 1,000 in total. Then as quickly as it fell, it came back up. The Wall Street roller coaster ride today also pushed the euro to its lowest level in over a year. Meanwhile in Greece, the Parliament passed a package of austerity measures in hopes of preventing an economic collapse. Thousands in Greece are protesting the government and the rioting turned violent on Wednesday when protesters set fire to a bank, killing three workers. What would make you take to the streets here in the US in protest of the government? Call our comment line at 877-8-MYTAKE or leave us a message here on our website.

To help explain how Greece’s economy may have impacted the markets today, we’ll talk with Charlie Herman, The Takeaway and WNYC economics editor. And later in the morning, new unemployment numbers come out. We’ll be watching that closely to bring you the latest.

Rep. David Obey, an influential democrat in the House of Representatives, announced he would not seek reelection at the end of his term in November. Obey who represents Wisconsin's 7th Congressional District, is the third-most senior member of the house and is the chairman of the Appropriations Committee. He served in Congress for more than four decades.

Updated 5:30pm EST

Arwa Gunja here, on the night shift.

Tomorrow we will continue our coverage on Faisal Shahzad, the Times Square bomb suspect. Shahzad was born in Pakistan and became a US citizen last year.  Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn) is proposing a law that could strip Americans of their citizenship if they are involved with foreign terrorist organizations. We’ll speak with a professor of citizenship law to ask what the current law states about revocation and to assess the constitutionality of Lieberman’s proposal. This segment was motivated, in part, by an impassioned listener who sent sent an email to co-host Celeste Headlee this morning. He expressed his personal frustrations with Shahzad’s actions. The listener was recently naturalized himself and worries that the Times Square plot will only make the path to citizenship harder for those who are loyal to this country.  If you have recently became an American citizen or are waiting to take your Oath of Allegiance, what does citizenship mean to you? Do you worry the process will become more difficult now and those applying will be under more scrutiny now? Leave us your comments here on our website or call our comment line at 1-877-8-MYTAKE.

The Cumberland River in Tennessee began to recede on Tuesday, after heavy rainfall over the weekend caused massive flooding in parts of Nashville. At least 29 people have died, and historic landmarks, like the Gaylord Opryland Hotel and LP Field, home of the Tennessee Titans, remain under water. The city is now urging residents to conserve water as one of two of the city's water treatment plants is flooded and currently shut down.

The Deepwater Horizon disaster isn't the first time massive amounts of oil have gushed into the Gulf of Mexico. In 1979, an exploratory well, Ixtoc I, blew out in the same waters, amounting to the second largest oil spill in world history. And other spills in 1979, 1990 and 1993 have dumped thousands of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico. How do these past events inform what may come next, for both human residents of the Gulf coast and the environment as a whole?

Global energy giant BP has taken full responsibility for cleaning up the Deepwater Horizon oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. Though it neither owned nor directly operated the rig, BP had given the contract for the job to Transocean, the world’s largest offshore drilling company. This is not the company's only recent accident in energy production, however: Prior to this accident, BP made headlines in 2005 when a massive explosion at one of their refineries in Texas killed 15 workers. In 2006, a large hole was found in a BP pipeline in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. But are these isolated incidents or does the company have a track record of negligence?

Economists say the Deepwater Horizon oil spill could cost tens of billions of dollars both in cleanup and lost business revenue. Industries in the affected area are already taking hits, as fishing operations shut down and tourism slows. David Kotok, chief investment officer for money management firm Cumberland Advisors, says in the best-case scenario the cleanup will take years and the economic impact will be mostly felt in a handful of states on the Gulf of Mexico.

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is currently estimated to be roughly the size of Puerto Rico; wind and currents are slowly moving it towards the shores of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.