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Mary Gauthier, a Louisiana-bred singer with a hardscrabble past, has won critical acclaim for her haunting, sparse melodies. She talks with NPR's Sheilah Cast about her latest CD, Mercy Now.

Nearly a century ago, musician W.C. Handy recorded the first blues hit, "Memphis Blues." In the years that followed, he produced dozens of Billboard chart hits that were re-released again and again. Producer Barrett Golding of the Hearing Voices radio project profiles Handy, "the Father of the Blues."

Ralph Neas is president of People for the American Way, a national social justice organization. He was executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights when he led the successful effort to block the nomination of Robert Bork to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1987.

Former priest Paul Shanley was sentenced to 12 to 15 years in prison for child rape on Tuesday. Monica Brady-Myerov from member station WBUR in Boston reports on whether the correctional system is able to protect pedophile priests from abuse.

The Pentagon receives the results of another investigation into alleged abuse of prisoners by the U.S. military, this one focusing on harsh interrogations at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. It's the seventh major report on alleged torture techniques since last year's scandal at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison.

Johnnie Cochran, the attorney who gained fame as O.J. Simpson's defense lawyer in 1995, has died at age 67. Cochran's family says he had a brain tumor. Michele Norris talks about Cochran's life and career with Connie Rice, a Los Angeles civil rights attorney who is co-founder and co-director of the Advancement Project.

The Supreme Court rules in a 5-3 vote that workers in some cases can win age discrimination claims in court without proving intentional discrimination. The court said employers adopting policies that disproportionately affect workers over the age of 40 can be sued.

We have the second part of an interview with renowned food writer Harold McGee (the first part was broadcast on Dec. 23). McGee's book, On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, has been revised and updated. The book is an exposition of food and cooking techniques, technology and history. He diagrams the stages of making mayonnaise under a microscope, explains why peppers are hot, and why seafood gets mushy if you cook it improperly. McGee is an authority on the chemistry of cooking.

We explore the tsunami's impact on the small village of Ondachchimadam, on the east coast of Sri Lanka. NPR will revisit the village periodically over the next year to chart its progress in the tragedy's aftermath. NPR's Philip Reeves reports.

A report by a presidential commission investigating pre-war intelligence in Iraq offers a bleak view of intelligence-gathering and analysis. It includes a similarly grim assessment of efforts in Iran and North Korea and offers recommendations to improve the process.