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For decades, bandleader Skitch Henderson set the mood for Tonight Show audiences. Liane Hansen talks with the man who has just been honored with the James Smithson Bicentennial Medal from the Smithsonian Institution for his contributions to American culture.

For more than a decade Manhattan bird lovers have watched red-tailed hawks nest, lay eggs and teach fledglings to fly and hunt. But residents of an upscale Fifth Avenue building tore down the nest, angering fans of the birds.

Workers are preparing New York's Central Park for an ambitious art project. The artists Christo and his wife Jeanne-Claude are planning to install 7,500 gates -- free-hanging colored panels -- along 23 miles of paths. But they will remain up for only 16 days.

A federal judge says the U.S. government must provide detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, with a fair opportunity to challenge their incarceration. U.S. District Judge Joyce Hens Green says Defense Department hearings do not satisfy last year's Supreme Court ruling on the matter. The ruling is a setback for the government, but the detainees may face a long legal battle before they get what they want.

Bluesman Pinetop Perkins has endured much in his life, including physical injuries, to keep playing his music. Now the 91-year-old pianist has been nominated for a Grammy for his latest CD, Ladies Man. Hear Perkins and NPR's Scott Simon.

The Mexican government's inability to stop violent crime has led some citizens to take the law into their own hands. Commentator Antonio Gonzalez joins NPR's Tavis Smiley to talk about how corruption in law enforcement has led to a crisis in the Mexican judicial system.

The soldier who asked Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld about the shortage of armored Humvees is a national guardsman from Nashville. Tennessee residents talk about Army Spc. Thomas Wilson, and what people there think about his audacity. Hear NPR's John Ydstie.

Only 25 percent of the medium and heavy military trucks hauling fuel, supplies, etc. along Iraq's dangerous highways have armor protection. The military is working to remedy this using steel plates, but the weight of the plating can slow down trucks, making them an easier target. NPR's Vicky O'Hara reports.

President Bush praises Mike Leavitt, his nominee to head the HHS, for improving child welfare services during his tenure as governor of Utah. The president's praise for Leavitt's record is not universally shared in Utah, or among some national children's advocates. Hear NPR's Howard Berkes.

With a penchant for constantly reinventing his sound, Andrew Bird is an unusual combination of songwriter, violinist, guitarist, vocalist and professional whistler. On his new CD, The Mysterious Production of Eggs, he plays virtually every instrument.