A woman reacts in front of the white coffin of a child, during the funeral service for quake victims in L'Aquila, central Italy, Friday, April 10, 2009. (AP)

Italy Mourns

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A state funeral was held today for the victims of Monday’s earthquake in L’Aquila. Rachel Donadio of the New York Times joins us to talk about the emotional Good Friday service.

Pension Problems

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Are pension plans next in line for a government bailout? The federal agency that insures pension plans has lost billions of dollars since its former director ordered the agency to abandon its conservative investment strategy and put much of its portfolio into stocks last year. Our guests are Olivia Mitchell, Executive Director of the Pension Research Council at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business and Barry Young, Senior Pension Actuary with Principal Financial Group, based in Des Moines, Iowa.

Electronic Books

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Kindle 2.0, the electronic book with its new computer voiced reader has recently been released. Meanwhile, Google is creating the largest on-line library in the world. We talk with David Weinberger, a fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet and Society about the pros and cons of electronic books.

Good Friday Agreement

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Today marks the 11th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement that set up a framework for the peace process and an end to The Troubles in Northern Ireland. The years since have been relatively peaceful, but recent violence is raising the tension level. The BBC’s Nick Childs reports on the future of the peace process in Northern Ireland.

Angus and Julia Stone

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We talk with Angus and Julia Stone, an Australian brother-sister duo who made a splash at this year’s South by South West music festival and shot to number one on the iTunes singer-songwriter chart after the American release of the CD “A Book Like This.”

Music from the show

• Ahmad Jamal, “Patterns”
• Air, “Mike Mills”
• Funk Brothers, “Keep Me Hangin’ On”
• Massive Attack, “Future Proof”
• The Wee Trio, “About a Girl”
• Tito Puente, “All Blues”
• Angus and Julia Stone, “Mango Tree”
• Angus and Julia Stone, “Wasted”
• Angus and Julia Stone, The Beast”
• Angus and Julia Stone, “A Book Like This”
• Angus and Julia Stone, “Hollywood”
• Angus and Julia Stone, “Here We Go Again”

Rescue for Detroit
President Bush announced a $17-billion rescue package for Detroit this morning, saying that under normal circumstances he would have let auto companies pay the price of their failure, but it would be irresponsible to let the companies fail when the U.S. economy is struggling. Barack Obama is expected to announce his pick to head the Department of Transportation this afternoon.

“Guerilla” Toy Tester
After tens of millions of toys were recalled last year, the California-based consumer group, the Center for Environmental Health has been heading to toy stores on what The Wall Street Journal calls “guerilla” testing missions.

Road Salt Shortage
As snow storms hit the Midwest and Northeast today, road crews are rolling out to lay down salt. And this year, that salt is costing communities a lot more money.

Oprah Loves the Kindle, but Will You?
An endorsement from Oprah Winfrey goes a long way. Back in October, Oprah praised Amazon.com’s electronic book reader, the Kindle

“A Christmas Story” Franchise
Brian Jones of San Diego turned his love of the holiday classic, “A Christmas Story,” into a thriving business.