An Egyptian Health worker sprays chemicals to disinfect local pigs at a farm in Cairo, Egypt Monday, April 27, 2009. Egyptian health authorities are examining about 350,000 pigs being raised in Cairo and other provinces for swine flu. (AP)

School Nurses Respond to Swine Flu

Listen
Mary Pappas, school nurse at St. Francis Preparatory School in Queens, New York was the first to notice something wasn’t right about the huge number of kids suddenly sick with flu-like symptoms last week. 28 Swine Flu cases have been confirmed at the school. We also speak with Amy Garcia, Executive Director of the National Association of School Nurses.

Also, we get the latest in the Swine Flu’s impact on Mexico and what actions the government there is taking from Dudley Althaus, Mexico City Bureau Chief for the Houston Chronicle.

Swine Flu, A History Lesson

Listen
The last time the U.S. faced a Swine Flu threat was back in 1976. After more than 2-hundred soldiers at Fort Dix, New Jersey came down wit the illness and and one soldier died from it, the country went into a panic. About a quarter of the population got flu shots, but there were problems with the vaccine and more than 500 people suffered from a neurological disorder that sometimes resulted in temporary paralysis. For a look back at that outbreak we talk with Dr. Richard Wenzel who diagnosed some of the initial cases of Swine Flu back in 1976 and now chairs Internal Medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Senator Arlen Specter to Switch Parties

Listen
Longtime Pennsylvania GOP Senator Arlen Specter, who faces a tough re-election in 2010, released a statement that he is switching parties, to become a Democrat.  What are the implications? We hear from Peter Wallsten, national political writer for the Los Angeles Times.

Green Jobs for Poor Communities

Listen
A group of young environmentalists are arguing that poor areas, places like inner-city America and Appalachia, have the most urgent need for a Green Movement. We’ll speak with Majora Carter, a MacArthur Genius award winner, about her experience training ex-convicts to grow trees and reclaim polluted land in the Bronx.

The Music of Cloistered Nuns

Listen
We speak with Amelia LeClair, founder and director of the Newton, Massachusetts based group Cappella Clausura which specializes in performing the music of 16th and 17th century nuns. LeClair says that many of these women were great composers and published music under their own names.

Music from the show

• Peter Dixon, “Nagog Woods”
• Ahmad Jamal, “Patterns”
• Nathan Milstein, “Bach: Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin”
• Kar Kar Madison, “Boubacar Traore”
• Joe Jackson, “Steppin’ Out”
• Sonny Rollins, “Get Happy”
• Vittoria Aleotti, “O dolc’anima mia” performed by Cappella Clausura
• Vittoria Aleotti, “Se del tuo corpo” performed by Cappella Clausura
• Lucretia Vizzanna, “Usquequo Oblivisceris Mei” performed by Cappella Clausura
• Chiara Margarita, “Cozzolani” performed by Cappella Clausura