NPR News

Baltimore residents have long cherished the city's classic Berger cookies. But now that they're available beyond city limits, Baltimore native Andrew Reiner asks whether non-Baltimoreans can truly appreciate the venerated cookie. He speaks with host Michel Martin.

As part of Tell Me More's series for National Poetry Month, host Michel Martin shares a poetic tweet, in the form of a haiku, from Scott Heath. He's a professor of African-American literature and black pop culture. Listeners are invited to tweet original poems of 140 characters or less to #TMMPoetry.

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

As fans celebrate the first weeks of baseball season, there's a new reality show hoping to win over sports fans. "Ball Boys" is set in a sports memorabilia shop called Robbie's First Base. The cast includes the father and son who own the shop and two employees.

On the show, the guys - what do you think they do? They talk about sports and they get the occasional visit from legendary athletes like Pete Rose and football legend Jim Brown.

Here's a clip from when Jim Brown came into the shop to verify his signature on a helmet.

If you're into images of Earth taken from space, NASA has a new video for you. Called Walking on Air, it "features a series of time lapse sequences photographed by the Expedition 30 crew aboard the International Space Station" and is set to the song Walking in the Air by Howard Blake.

Activist Van Jones served as special adviser to President Obama on green jobs. He resigned in 2009 after media reports questioned his beliefs about the 9/11 attacks. Now, Jones is back with a new book, Rebuild the Dream, outlining his vision for the progressive movement. He speaks with host Michel Martin.

Some of the hottest artists in Latin music descend on Miami for the annual Billboard Latin Music Conference and Awards. All week long, host Michel Martin checks in with Jasmine Garsd, co-host of NPR Music's Alt.Latino podcast, to find out which artists have pushed the boundaries of Latino music this year.

Bird watchers Jeff Gilligan and Judy Meredith were on a cruise ship when they spotted a boat with three fishermen signaling for help. The bird watchers say they alerted the crew, but the ship didn't stop. They later learned that only one of the three survived. Gilligan and Meredith discuss the incident with host Michel Martin.

See our earlier entries in this series: What America Sells To The World, What America Does For Work, What America Buys and What America Pays in Taxes

Actor Jack Black is best known for his comedic performances in films like Nacho Libre and School of Rock. In his latest film, Bernie, Black goes to a darker place: He plays a serious small-town funeral director who uncharacteristically murders his live-in companion, a wealthy widow played by Shirley MacLaine.

While the headlines proclaim that thanks to a new draft agreement the U.S. will continue to defend Afghanistan for a decade after the planned 2014 withdrawal of foreign combat forces from that country, the stories themselves make clear that many of the key details remain to be worked out: