The insurance giant AIG lost $61.7 billion at the end of 2008, the largest quarterly loss in history. The federal government agreed this morning to provide the company with more taxpayer money. How could any company lose that much money? We’ll speak with Rebecca Christie, reporter for Bloomberg News.
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Drug Wars In Arizona

Last year there were more than 360 ransom kidnappings in Phoenix, Arizona…each one tied to a drug dealer. As Sam Quinones of the Los Angeles Times reports, the kidnappers and the victims are Mexican drug cartel players.
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No Problems for Private Equity

Private equity firms make their fortunes by buying public companies, making them private, and eventually selling them off again for a huge profit. The investments of private equity companies took as big a hit as everyone else during the recent financial meltdown. So why are these companies still flush with cash? Jesse Eisinger of Conde Nast Portfolio magazine is our guest.
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Tennessee Gun Control

A newspaper’s online database of people who can legally carry concealed weapons in Tennessee has sparked an outcry. The newspaper defends the database. We speak with John Harris, executive director of the Tennessee Firearms Association, a gun rights supporter and critic of the database.
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Amy Holland

Singer-songwriter Amy Holland had a big hit back in the 1980’s with “How Do I Survive.” But raising a family and a bout with breast cancer took her a way from the music scene, until now. Holland is back with her first full length album in more than 20 years. We talk with Holland about her new CD “The Journey To Miracle River.” We also talk with Holland’s husband, former Doobie Brother, Michael McDonald.
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Music
Terra Unfirma by Tommy Guerrero
Ports of Entry by Bill Laswell
Liberation by Outkast
Honest Emotion by Amy Holland

Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama’s pick for Secretary of State, will face tough questions at her confirmation hearing today – for instance, about how much of a conflict of interest her husband’s international charitable work and fundraising poses if she becomes the nation’s top diplomat.  We speak with Glenn Thrush, Senior Congressional Reporter for Politico.

Annals of Gullibility

People around the world, from high flying financiers to ordinary investors, are wondering how they could have been taken in by Bernie Madoff’s false money scheme.  Among them is our guest Stephen Greenspan, emeritus professor of educational psychology at the University of Connecticut and author of a new book, “The Annals of Gullibility: Why We Get Duped and How to Avoid It.” It looks at gullibility in literature and history, and comes up with some surprising findings, including a study showing that people who are trusting actually may be less likely to be fooled by others.

• Stephen Greenspan’s Wall Street Journal essay on financial gullibility

2009 Outdoor Stories

A new federal rule allows people to carry loaded, concealed weapons in national parks. But gun control won’t be a pressing issue in 2009, and the wolf won’t be taken off the endangered species list, according to Bill Schneider, Travel and Outdoors Editor for NewWest.net.

The Guy Who Announces the Inaugural Parade

Washington native Charlie Brotman is 81 years old, and next Tuesday he will stand high above Pennsylvania Avenue and announce his 14th consecutive inaugural parade. In 1956 Charlie was the stadium announcer for the Washington Senators baseball team. Less than a year after President Eisenhower attended and threw out the first pitch of the ‘56 season, Charlie got a call from the White House asking if he’d announce the parade for Eisenhower’s second inauguration. He has never received a dime for what he calls “the honor” of calling the parade for the new president.

• Photo gallery: Charlie Brotman with past presidents

Digital Music and the Record Industry

When music went digital in the form of CDs, the record industry made huge profits, but the same technology went on to cause the industry huge headaches. Profits dwindled first with internet music file sharing, and then with music stores such as iTunes.  We talk with Rolling Stone contributing editor, Steve Knopper, who has just written a book on the subject, “Appetite for Self-Destruction:  The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age.”