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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

If you own a smartphone, chances are it's made by Apple or a company that Apple is suing. And for the first time tomorrow, one of those lawsuits is going to a jury trial. Apple wants more than two and a half billion dollars from Samsung for what it claims is patent violation.

NPR's Laura Sydell has been following this story and joins us. Hey, Laura.

LAURA SYDELL, BYLINE: Hi.

GREENE: So, two and a half billion dollars? I mean is that real? That's a huge amount of money.

Jack Daniel's Old No. 7 Tennessee Whiskey is an American classic with a distinctive black-labeled bottle that kind of looks like the typeface on an old wanted poster. Patrick Wensink wrote a novel called Broken Piano for President with a cover that was clearly inspired, maybe a little too much, by Jack Daniel's.

While Major League baseball is big and epic, there's something magical about sitting in a small stadium. Guest host David Greene reports on the progress of Minor League Baseball player Tyler Saladino at one of his team's away games. Saladino is an infielder for Alabama's Birmingham Barons.

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DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Transcript

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

It is time now for sports - or maybe this week we should say sport.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG)

SPANDAU BALLET: (Singing) Gold, gold always believe in your soul...

GREENE: This means it is time to talk to NPR's Mike Pesca, who is across the pond at the Olympics. Hey, Mike.

MIKE PESCA, BYLINE: Hi.

GREENE: You like this new music? Usually, we say...

PESCA: Spandau from the '80s?

GREENE: Yeah, you got it. So, you're starting to call it sport - that's how people in Britain refer to sports, right?

Mike Lee is one of the most conservative members of the Senate. The freshman Utah Republican was elected with strong Tea Party backing and, like Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, he's a man of the West.

Mention the possibility that Thune, 51, might team up with Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, and Lee's eyes light up: "I love John," he says. "He's articulate, passionate, collegial. I mean ... I think he'd be great."

In Spain, the growing crisis — debt, austerity and joblessness — has prompted more people to vote with their feet. In the first six months of 2012, emigration from Spain is up more than 44 percent from the same period last year.

The Spanish government denies it, but the "brain drain" has become something of a flood with more and more educated, skilled Spaniards moving abroad.

In August, lawmakers will be heading home to their districts for the month's recess. Last summer, things weren't quite so calm.

A year ago at this time, Congress was in a nasty and protracted battle over whether to raise the debt ceiling. If they didn't make a decision, the government was going to go into default. It's a fight that cost Congress its already waning public support, and cost American taxpayers $1.3 billion.