Arwa Gunja

You may never feel like you get your money's worth at a hotel again. New York's Hotel Pennsylvania in midtown Manhattan serves as the lodging for the dogs who participate in the Westminster Dog Show. From the moment the four-legged animals enter the lobby, they are greeted with goodies ... and we don't mean doggie treats.

UPDATED: Sunday, 7:00 p.m.

As usually happens over the weekend, we've shifted the show around to follow the news.  The U.S. military offensive against the Taliban in Afghanistan ramped up significantly in the south, so we'll be talking with people on the ground there about how the move is playing out. Now that Monday's in sight, we're nailing down what will feature on our weekly agenda segment, and moving our planned piece on reliable car information forward from tomorrow to Tuesday. We'll be talking about danger in sports after a luge athlete from the former Soviet republic, Georgia, died after hitting a support pole on the luge track in Vancouver.  Two doctors will be joining us to talk about the myths and realities of autism spectrum disorders, and we're asking everyone to vote on our user-submitted Takeaway Dog Show!  (It turns out that our listeners who have dogs love them dearly and take excellent photos of them.)

The nation's capital has been shut down this week, again, after receiving more than 50 inches of snow. It's the biggest snowfall ever recorded in D.C. history. The storm has also paralyzed most of the Northeast.

Since the economic downturn, many Americans have to make cut backs. For some people, this means not being able to pay child support in full. In Tennessee alone, child support payments are down $13 million from last year.

Radio has always been an important part of Haitian society. And since the earthquake, it has played an even more critical role, serving as the primary mode of transmitting information about aid.

As home values fall, more and more homeowners are walking away from their mortgage payments and foreclosing on their properties. And some say this is the right decision.

As European nations in the Iberian Peninsula fall deeper into debt, the U.S. markets came tumbling down on Thursday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average closing just above 10,000 points. All this comes hours before new jobless numbers are released.

At a Senate hearing on Tuesday, top intelligence officials said it is highly likely the United States will see an attempted terrorist attack in the next three to six months. But how worried should Americans be, and what does it mean that a threat is imminent?

Last year, U.S. authorities found nearly 100 fugitives hiding out in Mexico. In 1999, only 14 fugitives were found and returned. The increase is attributed to ongoing cooperation between United States and Mexican officials along the border.

In the last three weeks, millions of dollars have poured into Haiti. But at home, it's taken nearly 16 months for Galveston, Tex. to receive federal aid since Hurricane Ike swept through the city. The hurricane destroyed whole neighborhoods and forced thousands from their homes.

President Obama has outlined a series of proposals to change No Child Left Behind, the controversial education law rolled out under the Bush administration. The proposals would shift the focus in schools from test scores to career- and college-readiness, and would eliminate the 2014 deadline for bringing every child to academic proficiency.

The Environmental Protection Agency may begin an investigation into a series of facial birth defects among migrant farm workers in Kettleman City, California. If the EPA takes on the case, it will mark a sharp turn in the agency's attitude towards issues of environmental justice. 

J.D. Salinger, author of "The Catcher in the Rye," died yesterday at age 91. The critically acclaimed novel about teenage angst shocked and inspired the world of literature for decades, while its author refused interviews and eventually withdrew to a small town in New Hampshire.

For the hour of Wednesday's State of the Union address, MSNBC anchor Chris Matthews said he "forgot" President Obama was black, causing a wide range of responses (including some on our show) the next day. Do we all need to forget about race to be post-racial? Or do we just need to acknowledge and accept people's race?

The last few weeks have been busy for U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano. Besides dealing with international and domestic security concerns following the foiled bomb plot on Christmas Day, Napolitano is also addressing the devastation in Haiti and how to best help those who made need to seek refuge in the United States.

Today marks the 65^th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp. More than one million people were estimated to have been killed there, 90% of them Jewish.

Many products we buy now come with labels that read “Made in China” or Japan or India, rather than the U.S.A. Minnesota tried to change that by implementing a law requiring state agencies to buy uniforms and safety equipment made in this country.

Since the earthquake devastated much of the Haitian capital nearly two weeks ago, the outpouring of support has been overwhelming, including from the medical community. Doctors from around the world have signed up to volunteer in the relief effort and now, there may actually be too many doctors in the country, with not enough nurses to provide the essential follow-up care.

The tragedy in Haiti has been captured in powerful photographs that reveal the extent of the human suffering in that country. But are the images too graphic? At what point do photographs become exploitative and blur the the lines of ethical photojournalism?

UPDATED AT 7:53 p.m.: Arwa Gunja here on the evening shift.

As Anna wrote about earlier, we're planning some heavy coverage on the Supreme Court decision that came down earlier today that allows unlimited corporate funding for campaign ads. We've booked former Rep. Chris Shays (R-Conn.), who is an interesting player in all this because he authored campaign finance legislation in the House of Representatives that would prevent the very thing the Supreme Court is now allowing.

We also got word a couple of hours ago that Air America, a liberal talk radio network, will cease broadcasting immediately. Brian Stelter, who covers media for our partner The New York Times, wrote a blog posting which has already incited interesting conversation. He'll be joining our show for an update tomorrow.

And we haven't forgotten Haiti. Ken Berger, the president and CEO of Charity Navigator, joins us tomrrow to answer some of the big questions Americans have been having about donating to Haiti. For example, how much should you donate, what's the best organization to give to, and when? Tune in for those answers tomorrow.