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President Obama said there was a systemic failure to connect the dots ahead of the attempted Christmas Day terrorist bombing aboard a Detroit bound passenger aircraft. We get the latest from the Wall Street Journal’s Evan Perez on who knew what when, as well as more on the suspect’s ties to Yemen, where the group Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has claimed responsibility for the attempted attack.

Child Care Expert Penelope Leach

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If you’re a parent, chances are you’ve had a copy of a Penelope Leach book in your home while raising your children. Leach has influenced generations of parents with her child-centered philosophy. Her latest book is “Child Care Today: Getting It Right for Everyone.” We spoke to Penelope Leach when the book came out last year; and we’re rebroadcasting that conversation today.

Residents in Northampton, Massachusetts Search for Answers After Suspected Arson

The remains of a house fire on 17 Fair St. is seen Sunday, Dec. 27, 2009, in Northampton, Mass. A father and son died in the house fire early Sunday morning as firefighters struggled to put out more than a half dozen blazes, authorities said. (AP)

Editor and Publisher Folds

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For more than a century, Editor and Publisher, covered the business of newspapers. Now like many of the publications it covered, Editor and Publisher has folded. We speak to Greg Mitchell, editor-in-chief.

Best Sports Books of 2009

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Bill Littlefield, host of NPR’s weekly sports show “Only A Game” joins us to talk about some of the best sports books he’s read and reviewed over the course of 2009.

Music from the show

• Air, “Mike Mills”
• Charles Mingus, “Pedal Point Blues”
• Freddie Hubbard, “Little Sunflower”
• The Lickets, “Honey to Ashes”
• Ahmad Jamal, “Patterns”
• Radiohead, “Where I End and You Begin”
• Rolling Stones, “Miss You”

With translators on either side, President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev talk during a meeting at the United Nations Climate Change Conference at the Bella Center in Copenhagen, Denmark, Friday, Dec. 18, 2009. (AP)

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We get the latest on the climate change conference in Copenhagen from Matt McGrath of the BBC.

Wally Lamb

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Wally Lamb typically writes sprawling works that deal with difficult subjects but his new book is a breezy novella that’s perfect for the holiday season. “Wishin’ and Hopin: A Christmas Story” is set in a Connecticut parochial school in 1964 and the main event is a Christmas pageant that goes hilariously wrong. It’s a great read and Wally joins us to talk about it.

• Read an excerpt from “Wishin’ and Hopin”

Gary, Indiana

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The governor of Indiana thinks that economically-troubled, Gary, Indiana, ought to merge with other local governments to save money.  We speak to Jon Seidel, who covers the city for the Post Tribune in northwest Indiana.

A Canadian Doctor and His Ties to Tiger Woods

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US officials are investigating Dr. Anthony Galea for practicing medicine in the US without a license.  They are also interested in whether he provided performance-enhancing drugs to professional athletes.   Dr. Galea has used a legal medical treatment, called platelet-rich plasma therapy, on Tiger Woods.  We speak to Christine Brennan, sports columnist, for USA Today.

Letters and Robin’s Essay

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Our listeners weigh in — about Tiger Woods and more; and Robin’s essay about some notable athletes she’s met in the past.

Singer-Songwriter Anne Heaton

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Anne Heaton has been pretty much on tour non-stop since she visited our studios last March to talk about her CD release called “Blazing Red.” The New York Times calls “Jump,” the lead track on the recording “absolutely gorgeous.” We revisit our conversation with the singer-songwriter, who is appearing in Philadelphia tonight with Winterbloom, her quartet that performs traditional and original holiday songs.

Music from the show

• Love/AIR, “Napalm”
• Calexico, “Blacklight”
• SteveDawson, “Walkin Down the Line”
• Stevie Wonder, “Know it All”
• Jam, “Place I Love”

• Hear Mike Lupica on the Patriots, Andre Agassi and more
  

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This was always the best of it for Nate Brodie, when he felt the slap of the ball in his hands and began to back away from the center, when he felt as if he could see the whole field, and football made perfect sense to him.

Sometimes when you were thirteen nothing seemed to make sense, and the world came at you faster and trickier than flying objects in a video game.

It was never like that for him in football.

Never.

Nate had been having more and more trouble figuring out his world lately, especially with everything that had been happening to his family. School was school—he tried hard, but there were times he just felt lost, in search of answers that wouldn’t come.

And no matter how hard he tried, how hard he could try, he was never going to make sense out of what was happening to his friend Abby.

But on a Saturday morning like this, underneath all the sun and blue sky, with the guys in the line already into their blocks and Nate feeling as if he had all day to throw the ball—feeling that weird calm he always felt in the pocket—he had all the answers.

Football was like this for Nate Brodie.

As he scanned the field now, he recognized one of those answers he instinctively knew. Pete Mullaney, his favorite receiver, was about to break into the clear. Once he did that, Nate knew Pete was going to run all day.

When it was just Nate and Pete and some of the other guys on the team playing touch football in the empty lot next to -Nate’s house, they called this play “Hutchins-and-Go.” One day Nate had told Pete to fake toward the Hutchins’ house, the one on the other side of the lot, fake like he was running a sideline pattern in that direction, and then, as soon as the guy covering him bit, Pete was supposed to plant his outside foot and spin and take off down the sidelines.

The play had just always been called Hutchins-and-Go after that.

Nate watched as Pete sold his fake now, sold it like he was selling candy, didn’t rush, even turned and looked back for the ball. That was when the defensive back on him committed, turned, and looked for the ball himself.

Only Pete was gone.

And the ball wasn’t coming, at least not yet.

Now it was just a question of what kind of throw Nate wanted to make. Because with the kind of arm he had—his buds and teammates always called him “Brady,” knowing that Tom Brady was Nate’s all-time favorite player—there were a couple of ways he could go. Nate could put a lot of air beneath the ball, really hang it up there and let Pete use those jets of his to run under it. Or Nate could gun one right now, throw one of those dead spirals that was the same as one of his football fastballs, put so much sting and hurt at the end of the pass that Pete sometimes said he wished he was allowed to wear a catcher’s mitt.

Nate decided to put this one way up there.

Moon shot.

He rolled to his right now, feeling pressure coming from his left, a right-handed quarterback’s blind side, without actually seeing it. But just to make sure, to know exactly how much time he had, he shot a quick look over his shoulder and saw that the Hollins Hills’ nose tackle had cleared Malcolm Burnley, Nate’s center and the best blocker Valley had, on an outside route and was coming hard, thinking he might have a shot at getting his first sack of the day.

Nate knew he didn’t.

In no hurry, Nate kept moving toward the sideline, toward the Valley bench, almost feeling as if he were floating. Having cleared the pocket completely, a nice patch of open green waited for him a few yards in front of Coach Rivers.

He stopped now, planting, making sure to square his shoulders so he didn’t drop his arm angle and sidearm the ball, setting himself on his back foot, carrying the ball high. The throwing mechanics that Coach said you pretty much had to be born with.

And he let the ball rip.

Knowing that the cornerback who had been covering Pete was never going to catch up with him and that the Hollins Hills safety had no chance of getting over to the sideline in time.

He watched the ball like it was on a string, like one of those perfect casts his dad used to make across the water when the two of them still had time to go fishing together, before his dad began working all the time.

He hoped his mom was getting this on the video recorder that was on its last legs and had been for a while, because his dad—working a double shift on Saturdays now—wasn’t here to see it in person.

The ball came down into Pete Mullaney’s hands, Pete in perfect stride, just crossing the Hollins Hills 10-yard line.

Pete pressed the ball to the front of his white uniform with those sure hands of his and crossed the goal line. Then he turned and just tossed the ball to the referee, because if you played on a team with Nate Brodie, if he was the one throwing you the ball, you knew enough not to do some kind of crazy touchdown dance afterward.

You could be happy, just not happy enough to show the other team up.

Nate was running down the sideline now, almost as fast as Pete just had. All the things that were confusing about his -thirteen-year-old life lately—the things that made him sad and just plain mad once he got away from a football field—Nate had left them all in his dust.

By the time Nate got to Pete, the little wide receiver was on the Valley sideline, waiting for him with his arms stretched wide. Nate, taller than Pete by a whole helmet, grabbed him, picked him up, put him down just as quickly, as much celebration as he was going to allow himself, mostly because there was still some game left to play.

Pete said, “That throw was legit.”

“You always say that,” Nate said.

“No, Brady, this time I really mean it. That throw was, like, righteous.”

Nate laughed now, couldn’t help it. “I had the wind behind me.”

Pete Mullaney shook his head, smiling from behind his face mask. “Dude,” he said, “as far as I can tell, your arm is pretty much where the wind starts.”

Nate ran over to Coach Rivers then, to get the play Coach wanted them to run on the conversion. Then he ran back on the field and told his teammates he was faking to LaDell and then taking it in himself, on a roll to his left.

Nobody touched him. Valley was up 22–7. They all knew the game was over, even with the clock showing two minutes, straight up, left.

He and Pete ran off the field together, knowing that the forty-yarder they’d just hooked up on had put this one in the books.

When Nate got back to the bench, Coach Rivers gave him a simple handshake.

“A Brady throw all the way,” he said.

“I wish,” Nate said.

“I’m serious,” Coach said. “Biggest throw of the season.”

For now, Nate thought.

For now.

CHAPTER 2

It had started out almost as a dare from Abby.

They were at the mall a couple of months ago, right after the school year had started, Nate there with Abby and his mom on what they all knew was a very big day for him. He had turned thirteen just the week before, but that wasn’t the big news.

The big news was that after more than a year of saving up birthday money from relatives, Christmas money, and allowance money, Nate finally had earned enough for his share of the -football.

And not just any football.

This was the signed Tom Brady ball that he’d spotted in the trophy case at SportStuff the summer after he’d finished sixth grade.

Nate was smart enough about collectibles to know that this wasn’t the only signed football from Brady in the world. He knew from asking the man at the store that this particular ball was part of a new “limited edition” from Brady, and it came with a certificate of authenticity.

“How many are in the limited edition?” Nate had asked the man at the store, and the man, smiling, had said, “Enough for us to charge what we’re charging.”

Five hundred dollars, plus tax.

Nate read about money in sports all the time, read about the money the top athletes, including Tom Brady, were making. Some of them, like LeBron and A-Rod and Tiger Woods, earned up there in the hundreds of millions. But since he’d had his eye on this ball, it wasn’t their salaries that seemed like the biggest number in sports.

It was just the cost of this one signed football.

When he told his mom and dad about it, they told him that if he was willing to save up, if it was the present he wanted the most, they would pay half. It would be a way of earning something off the field the way he always had on it. Or earning a good grade in school, which they always told him should mean even more to him, because they all knew school came harder to him.

And his parents had stayed with the promise even though things were different now in their house than they had been when he’d finished sixth grade. Everything was different now that his dad was working two jobs after losing the only one Nate had ever known him to have, at the big commercial real estate company he used to work for.

His mom had gone back to work, too.

“You don’t have to do this,” Nate had said to his dad one day. “I can wait and save up the whole five hundred myself, even if it does take longer.”

“Actually, I have to do this more than ever.”

“I don’t understand,” Nate said.

“A promise is a promise,” his dad had said, “even if it’s one you make only to yourself.”

For all Nate knew, his parents had been saving up for the Brady ball right along with him, waiting for the day when there was finally enough money in the top drawer of his desk to make the trip to SportStuff he’d been dreaming about for what seemed like forever.

SportStuff had become one of the biggest sporting goods chains in New England. They didn’t just sell the usual “stuff,” sneakers and spikes and jerseys and T-shirts, basketballs and hockey sticks and gloves and bats and balls. The thing that set SportStuff apart was a section of every store known as “The Hall”—as in Hall of Fame. That’s where the coolest stuff in the place really was.

The collectibles, all the signed balls and jerseys and memorabilia, all authentic. Signed sneakers, some of them looking as big as a bathtub to Nate. Baseball and football cards, some real old, some real valuable, perfectly preserved behind or under glass.

But nothing was more valuable, at least to Nate’s eyes, than the Brady ball.

Tom Brady had been Nate’s guy from the time Nate first started playing organized football in the fourth grade and started watching pro football games with his dad on Sunday afternoons. In fact, the first game Nate really remembered watching—or caring about—was Brady’s first Super Bowl against the St. Louis Rams. That was the day he’d driven the Patriots down the field at the end of the game even though he was basically a rookie. Brady had driven them down the field against a Rams team Nate knew from his dad was a two-touchdown favorite, got them close enough to the end zone that Adam Vinatieri could do something he would do again a few years later for the Patriots: kick a field goal to win the Super Bowl as time ran out.

Vinatieri got to make that end-of-game kick again because Brady drove the Patriots down the field again in Super Bowl -XXXVIII, this time against the Carolina Panthers.

The first time, though, was the one Nate knew he would always remember best. He didn’t understand everything that was happening in the game, didn’t understand everything the announcers were saying, no matter how patient his dad had been explaining things. Nate just understood in his heart that there was magic in the room that night, not just because he was getting to stay up later than he ever had to watch the ending of a game, but because he was sharing this night and this ending and this one amazing football game with his dad.

Ever since there had been the same kind of magic for Nate every time he watched Brady play quarterback for the Patriots. There was that kind of magic even after Brady hurt his knee and lost that time from the prime of his career. The two of them had shared something important with that first Super Bowl, even if Tom Brady had never known it.

“Anybody can do it when the pressure’s not on,” his dad would say when Brady had turned into Two-Minute Tom again. “It’s when you’re under pressure, when the whole world’s looking at you and your teammates are looking to you, that’s the measure of a champion in sports.”

Now, that day in September at SportStuff, Nate was going to hand over his money and take home the Brady ball and put it in the case his mom had bought for him on his birthday, the one that was waiting for him back in his room on his desk.

He had called the store right before they made the drive over, just to make sure that he hadn’t miscalculated on the tax. His mom was carrying the envelope with the money in it in her purse. And there the ball was when they got to the store, right where it always was, directly behind the cash register in The Hall, high up on a shelf between a Kevin Garnett basketball and a bat signed by both David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez of the Red Sox.

“I’d like to buy the Brady ball, please,” Nate said, pointing up at it.

The man said, “Sorry, kid, not for sale.”

But he must’ve seen what happened to Nate then, Nate actually feeling his legs buckle, as if somebody had brought him down from behind in the open field. So right away the man said, “Sorry. Bad joke.”

Abby, standing next to Nate, said, “Just a bad joke? You’re being way too easy on yourself, Mister.”

The man laughed. “Who’s she, your bodyguard?”

And Nate had said, “Something like that. Just a lot tougher.”

It was when the ball was in Nate’s hands, a ball that Brady had to have handled if only long enough to sign it with a Sharpie, that Abby had noticed the entry forms.

The man was still counting out the money at the time. While he did, Abby got right up on top of the little poster on the counter and started reading out loud. That was how she and Nate found out that SportStuff was sponsoring a promotion called “The SportStuff Million-Dollar Throw.”

The winner of the contest was going to get the chance to make one throw—from thirty yards away, through a twenty-inch hole—at halftime of the Patriots’ Thanksgiving night game against the Colts.

Whoever made the throw would be handed a check for one million dollars.

The poster showed a picture of the Patriots’ home stadium, Gillette Stadium. At midfield, they’d set up a billboard with “SportStuff” written in gigantic letters across it.

Only the place in the middle where the two words should have connected was empty. That’s where somebody would try to put the million-dollar throw on Thanksgiving night.

Abby was right on top of the poster now, squinting, somehow managing to read the contest rules.

Nate said, “What do you have to do, go through some kind of tournament like you do in Pass, Punt and Kick?”

“Nope,” she said.

Then to the man she said, “Borrow a pen, please?”

“What are you doing?” Nate said.

“Getting a pen for you to sign up with.”

“Right.”

Abby looked at him, smiling her best smile, and said, “You could make a throw like that with your eyes closed, Brady.”

Always the eyes with her. Her favorite expression, one she used all the time, was about the eyes being the window to the soul. Nate wasn’t sure he totally got that one, but he tried to act like he did, even used it himself sometimes, never wanting Abby to think he was a step slow keeping up with her in what he called “the smart world.”

“I’m not signing up,” he said.

“Yeah, Brady, you are,” she said. “It says right here that all you have to do to qualify is make a purchase of more than five hundred dollars, which I believe you’ve just done. And be thirteen or older. There it is, game, set, match.”

The man behind the counter said, “But if you’re under the age of eighteen, you need a signature from a parent.”

Nate’s mom said, “He’s got one of those right here.”

She signed. Nate signed. The man told them that at the end of the month the winning number would be drawn on the CBS football pregame show, the one hosted by James Brown. It would be like one of those jackpot lottery drawings you saw all the time on television.

“You’ve got about the same odds as winning a lottery,” the man said. “But good luck anyway.”

Nate had taken his ticket home and put it in the trophy case with the Brady ball and hadn’t taken it out until the day of the drawing, watching with his parents and Abby as James Brown called out the winning numbers, one after another.

Every one of them the numbers on Nate’s ticket.

They stopped dancing around and hugging and screaming only when Nate’s mom told them to hush so they could hear the representative from SportStuff say that the winning numbers belonged to a thirteen-year-old from western Massachusetts by the name of Nate Brodie, that a boy who was now the most famous thirteen-year-old in America would get a chance on Thanksgiving night to make the throw of a lifetime.

The man from SportStuff said, “A million-dollar throw from a one-in-a-million kid.”

James Brown had said, “Hope he’s a quarterback.”

And Nate said to the television, “I am.”

Nurse Torrey Jones takes a blood pressure cuff off of patient Art Arteaga under a triage tent set up outside Arrowhead Regional Medical Center in Colton, Calif. to treat emergency room patients who exhibit signs of the flu on Friday, May 1, 2009. (AP)

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Le Bonheur Children’s Medical Center in Memphis set up a tent earlier this month to handle a significant increase in parents bringing in kids with flu symptoms. We speak with Dr. Barry Gilmore, director of emergency services at Le Bonheur, about what he’s seeing and what worried parents or patients should do.

High Stakes for Women in the Health Care Debate

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According to the National Women’s Law Center, three in five women are unable to pay their medical bills, more women than men are uninsured or underinsured, and many more women than men have foregone necessary care because of cost. We speak with Judy Waxman, vice president of health and reproductive rights at the National Women’s Law Center about the unique challenges facing women in the health care system.

The Week Ahead for the Obama Administration

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From healthcare reform to a meeting this week in Geneva about Iran’s weapons’ program — several major challenges await President Obama. He’ll also fly to Denmark to help Chicago win the bid to host the Summer Olympics in 2016. We speak with Ben Smith of Politico.com.

Stream Rehab

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During pioneer days farmers rerouted streams all over the eastern United States to irrigate crops and provide water for livestock. The result was not always beneficial for the plants, insects and animals that depended on the fragile, watery ecosystem for their well-being. Harry Goldstein, a producer for IEEE Spectrum Radio, traveled to a wetland in Kentucky to see how scientists are trying to return streams to their original paths and purposes.

Sports Conspiracies

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This one will be guaranteed to start an argument. The authors of the new book “The 30 Greatest Sports Conspiracy Theories of All Time: Ranking Sports’ Most Notorious Fixes, Cover-ups and Scandals,” say there’s evidence to support the theory that the New England Patriots cheated their way to a Super Bowl dynasty. Co-author Mark Weinstein joins us to talk about that and some of the other conspiracy theories in the book.

Music from the show

• Kar Kar Madison, “Boubacar Traore”
• Peter Jankovic, “Astor Piazzola: Campero”
• Charles Mingus, “Boogie Stop Shuffle”
• Radiohead, “There, There”
• Fred Hirsch, “Desafinado”
• Herbie Hancock, “Watermelon Man”
• Adam Snider, “Swamp Angel”

Listen
So many people want to trade in their clunker cars and get cash towards the purchase of  more fuel efficient ones that the new government program is already financially strapped. Congress is scrambling to approve additional funding.  But will this help Bill Crowder? He general manager at Signature Automotive Group in Benton Township, Michigan. They sold 11 cars yesterday, but the red tape, he says, is proving to be a problem.

Afghanistan’s Got Talent

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"Afghan Star" contestant Lima Sahar, sings at a rehearsal in Kabul on March 12, 2008. Conservative detractors decry the fact an Afghan woman has found success singing on television, while others say the show is helping women progress. (AP )

The TV show, Afghan Star, is taking Afghanistan by storm. It’s a take-off of American Idol but the stakes have turned out to be higher.  A new documentary about the show, we learn that one contestant has fled the country after singing on the show; another dared to dance in public and brought shame on her family.  The host of the program had to leave the country and has received asylum in the US. We speak to the show’s host and producer Daoud Sediqi, and the film’s director and producer, Havana Marking. And we won’t tell you who wins!

Checking CEO Pay

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Prompted by public anger over huge CEO bonuses, House lawmakers today passed a bill that gives regulators the power to ban risky compensation practices. But the bill faces an uncertain future in the Senate, and the White House is concerned the measure may go too far. We speak with Massachusetts Congressman Barney Frank, who is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.

Bike Polo Anyone?

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Two sports stories:  this weekend, London plays host to the first European Hardcourt Bicycle Polo Championships. It’s like polo, but it’s played on a bike instead of a horse. The BBC’s Tamsin Ford watched a recent practice match and prepared a report. 

Steroid Scandal Snares Ortiz & Ramirez

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Also in sports, the steroid scandal in major league baseball implicates two more players:  David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe joins us.

Escape From Bellevue

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Chris Campion and Bill Janovitz grew up together on Long Island, New York. But their personal and professional lives took very different paths. In the early 1990s Bill went on to form the popular rock band Buffalo Tom, while Chris, who had his own band, The Knockout Drops, descended into an oblivion of alcohol and drugs which he details in his memoir “Escape from Bellevue: A Dive bar Odyssey.” The title comes from Chris’ successful escape from New York City’s infamous mental ward. Bill Janovitz tells the story of his friend’s rise, fall, and resurrection.

Music from the Show

• Music from “Afghan Star”
• Tito Puente, “Royal T”
• Rolling Stones, “She’s So Cold”
• Peter Dixon, “Nagog Woods”
• Freddie Hubbard, “Little Sunflower”
• Art Blakey, “C.O.R.E.”
• Deep Purple, “Smoke on the Water” 
• The Knockout Drops, “Pilot Light”

Real economic growth is not inevitable, says our guest David Leonhardt, economics correspondent for The New York Times. It takes planning and effort by the government. The great engines of growth over the last 35 years have been mirages, not unlike the artificial economic growth of the old Soviet Union. So what can we do now to assure growth for the long term? Reverse the norms of the last 35 years by emphasizing investment before consumption and favoring the long term over the short term gain.

• David Leonhardt’s columns

Bonuses for Corporate Executives

President Obama has scolded bankers for bonuses that were paid to executives of banks receiving taxpayer-provided bailout money. We look at bonuses for executives in a down economy — can shareholders wield any power in controlling them? Our guest is Tim Smith, senior vice president of Walden Asset Management.

Remembering Andrew Wyeth

From “Christina’s World” to the “Helga” paintings, Andrew Wyeth was one of America’s most famous and controversial artists. Wyeth died this month at the age of 91. We hear from a rare interview Andrew Wyeth gave to Robin Young in the 1980’s in which he talks about his work and his place in the art world. We also talk with Thomas Hoving, former director of New York’s Metropolitan Museum and a long-time friend and collaborator of Andrew Wyeth. View some of the images discussed in this piece here.  (And commenting on this piece Eric says “this was one of the best interviews of its kind I have ever heard in radio…”)

• Additional images: Artnet’s online gallery of Andrew Wyeth paintings

The Super Bowl

Patrik Jonsson of the Christian Science Monitor explains that between the economic slump and bizarre matchup of teams, this year’s Super Bowl will be a bit more subdued than usual.

• Jonsson’s article in the Christian Science Monitor

What now for the economic stimulus plan, now that not a single Republican in the House voted in favor of it? We speak with Gail Chaddock, congressional correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor. We’ll also speak to former Republican Congressman Mickey Edwards about the future of the GOP. Edwards’ latest book is “Reclaiming Conservatism: How a Great American Political Movement Got Lost — And How It Can Find Its Way Back.”

Peanut Butter and Salmonella

New reports show that the Georgia processing plant tied to the peanut butter salmonella outbreak had tested positive for salmonella 12 times in 2007 and 2008 — and yet it wasn’t shut down. Now, eight people have died and more than 500 have been sickened. We talk to Consumer Union’s Director of Food Policy Initiatives, Jean Halloran, about how this happened.

• FDA List of peanut butter recalls

How are Rights Changing Under Obama?

Today President Obama signed a bill that will make it easier for women and others to sue employers for pay discrimination. The bill is named for Lilly Ledbetter, the 70-year-old former Goodyear Tire and Rubber worker. It was signed as Congress considers a bill to change the way employees vote to unionize. The Employee Free Choice Act would require employers to recognize a union as soon as a majority of employees sign authorization forms. Right now, employees take part in a secret election that comes after 30% of the workplace sign forms to explore union membership. Here & Now Media Analyst John Carroll talks about the multi-million dollar ad wars going on to sway public opinion, and how both sides are manipulating the facts to bolster their viewpoint.

Super Bowl 43

NBC sportscaster Chris Collensworth has called the Arizona Cardinals “the worst playoff team in history.” The Washington Post calls them “party crashers.” But on Sunday the underdog team will take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in Tampa. From Phoenix, Arizona KJZZ’s Mark Moran reports that this has Cardinals fans and players pinching themselves.

RPM Challenge

Anyone can come up with an excuse to say “no,” so don’t! That’s the Record Production Month or RPM Challenge to musicians the world over — set your excuses aside and record an original album in the month of February, just to see what happens. We talk with Dave Karlotski, one of the organizers of the challenge, which begins on February 1st.

As Barack Obama prepares to enter the White House, what might he learn from Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who became President during the Great Depression? Obama has been reading Jonathan Alter’s 2006 book “The Defining Moment: FDR’s Hundred Days the Triumph of Hope.” Alter is a senior editor at Newsweek magazine.

Apple Inc.

Steve Jobs, Apple co-founder and CEO announced this week that he is taking a medical leave until this summer, saying his health problems are “more complex” than originally thought. Jobs is the the man behind the wildly successful iPod, iPhone, and those sleek aluminum covered Macbooks. What does the news mean for Apple and for the technology industry? We speak with Rich Karlgaard, publisher of the business magazine Forbes, where he also writes the column “Digital Rules.” His book is “Life 2.0: How People Across America Are Transforming Their Lives by Finding The Where Of Their Happiness.”

Rural Health in Alabama

Universal health care coverage is on the long list of President Elect Barack Obama’s campaign promises. But Dr. Regina Benjamin isn’t waiting. She is a primary care physician who founded and runs a clinic in the rural shrimping village of Bayou La Batre, Alabama. Around 40 percent of residents there live without healthcare coverage and a third live below the poverty line. She tells us about the issues she faces trying to keep her clinic running.

Farewell Speeches

With President George Bush scheduled to deliver his farewell address tonight, we look back to some of the memorable speeches made by presidents leaving office. Julian Zelizer, professor of history and public affairs at Princeton’s Woodrow Wilson School, singles out the farewell addresses by presidents Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan.

• Listen to Dwight Eisenhower’s farewell address
• Listen to Ronald Reagan’s farewell address

The Week in Sports

We preview this weekend’s NFL Conference Championship games with Bill Littlefield, host of NPR’s Only A Game.

Robin Muses on Celebrity

During Robin Young’s time away from the office, she happened to catch up on quite a bit of celebrity news, particularly involving Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, and Angelina Jolie. She started thinking about how celebrity has changed over the years and gets some insight from New York Post and syndicated gossip columnist Liz Smith.

The head of a congressional panel overseeing the $700-billion federal bailout program says lawmakers need to “take a very hard look” at how banks have used the money. The panel, led by Harvard law professor Elizabeth Warren, released a report today that strongly criticizes the Treasury Department for its handling of the financial rescue plan. Washington Post reporter Binyamin Appelbaum guides us through the report.

Regulating the Markets

How do we restore trust in America’s financial markets? We speak with Jesse Eisinger, who wants to throw out the current regulatory system and start from scratch. He proposes adopting the “Twin Peaks” model, which has worked well in other countries. Eisinger is Senior Writer for Conde Nast’s Portfolio magazine, where he covers finance and Wall Street.

• Jesse Eisinger’s latest article

Voices of the Great Depression

How bad was the Great Depression? Here & Now producer Andrea Shea presents a sound montage of people’s experiences during the most economically challenging moments of the 1930’s.

No Nukes

Fear of nuclear weapons seems like something out of the Cold War, but the nuclear threat has actually grown since then, so much so that even foreign policy hawks like former U.S. Secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and George Shultz have started arguing for a nuclear free world. So, has the moment come to make the pipe dream real? We’ll speak with Jan Lodal, former senior Defense Department and White House official in the Nixon, Ford, and Clinton administrations. He and co-author Ivo Daalder, a Brookings Institution Fellow who’s been advising Obama on foreign policy, have written an essay laying out the route to a world without nuclear weapons.

The Week in Sports

The NFL playoffs, BCS championship game, slumping NBA champions and more: we look at the week in sports with Bill Littlefield, host of NPR’s “Only A Game.”

Entertainment 2009

Entertainment companies are banking on big names like “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” and Bruce Springsteen to lure consumers to spend money. We see what’s in store for the year ahead in entertainment with Christopher Farley, Entertainment Editor for the Wall Street Journal.