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The Senate returns to work after a week off. It has a lot on its plate, with judicial nominations and the choice of John Bolton as U.N. Ambassador topping the to-do list. Observers are also watching to see whether the body will start getting its business done, or continue squabbling.

The alluvial plain that is the Mississippi Delta was once home to a thriving cotton plantation economy. But the decline of manual labor and exodus of manufacturing jobs have made difficult conditions worse in one of the nation's poorest regions.

Going to a baseball game isn't what it used to be. For one thing, the food has gone upscale. Essayist Bonny Wolf buys into Humphrey Bogart's old line: "A hot dog at the ballpark is better than a steak at the Ritz." But she also takes note of trendier cuisine.

We spotlight three more young people with promising futures: Jamail Larkins, one of the youngest U.S. pilots ever to fly solo; filmmaker Alrick Brown; and 14-year-old model Gerren Taylor.

About 1,000 people have been evacuated from a town in Southern California after a landslide Wednesday. Multimillion-dollar houses in Laguna Beach were destroyed as residents escaped. Meanwhile, construction continues on new and glamorous homes in the area. Member station KPCC's Rob Schmitz reports.

We remember singer, poet, songwriter, playwright and social activist Oscar Brown, Jr., who died Sunday in Chicago. He was 78. Brown was signed as a Columbia Records singer in 1960. His first release, Sin and Soul, was critically hailed.

The Texas legislature votes to add life without parole as an option in capital murder cases. The move could reduce the number of death sentences delivered in state courts. Texas is the only state to show an increase in death sentences over the past decade.

A judge rules that a political action committee formed by House Majority Leader Tom DeLay did violate Texas law. The ruling found that the group illegally funneled $500,000 in corporate campaign contributions to GOP candidates in the 2002 election.

The Senate confirms Priscilla Owen to the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals by a vote of 55-43, ending a four-year struggle. A compromise worked out by a bipartisan group of 14 senators resulted in a process by which at least three Bush court nominees will receive an up or down vote, starting with Owen.

A victory in the House for federally funded stem-cell research represents a victory for the patients' lobby, comprised of people with personal reasons to hope for a scientific breakthrough.