Transcript

MELISSA BLOCK, host:

The Australian rock band AC/DC may have a new fan base - or should we say fin base.

(Soundbite of song, "Back in Black")

BLOCK: Matt Waller, a charter boat operator in south Australia's Port Lincoln, has found that great white sharks are attracted to the heavy metal group's music when it's played under water. But, he says, it appears to make them less aggressive. Some sharks even rub their snouts against the caged speakers.

New York City could lay off thousands of public school teachers amid budget cuts this month, and the first to go, thanks to union seniority protections, would be new teachers.

Third grade teacher Juhyung Harold Lee is among those 4,100 teachers at risk of losing their jobs. Lee is wrapping up his third year teaching. The union contract requires the least experienced teachers to be let go first, and so elementary teachers with less than four years' experience are most at risk. For Lee, it doesn't look good.

Lexington's retired public safety workers can expect to receive more pension money each month to offset an increase in the cost of living. More than 900 retirees in the Lexington Police and Fire Retirement Fund will see a 2.6% cost of living adjustment.

Despite predictions that this summer would be milder than usual, Louisville has been experiencing temperatures reaching the mid 90s.  The Climate Prediction Center made the original forecast, and the center still holds that the heat will plateau as the summer goes on.  Ryan Sharp from the National Weather Service says Louisville residents should be thankful for this year’s wet spring.

Today on All Things Considered, Michele Norris talks with National Geographic Magazine reporter Cynthia Gorney and photographer Stephanie Sinclair about their June piece, "Too Young to Wed: The Secret World of Child Brides." I also caught up with Sinclair — a photojournalist specializing in gender and human-rights issues — to ask her a few questions about the project she has been working on for eight years.

Among the many new laws taking effect today is one whose purpose is to deter the growing problem of metal theft in Kentucky. House Bill 242 unanimously passed both houses of the Kentucky General Assembly during the 2011 legislative session and was signed into law by Gov. Steve Beshear on March 16.

Environmentalists have been quietly grumbling about the Obama administration for months. Now one of the country's most prominent conservationists — former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt — is retaking the public stage to scold President Obama.

Wind gusts of 35 mph or more and timber that has less moisture than what you'd get if you bought kiln-dried lumber at your local hardware store are combining to make this a critical day for the several thousand firefighters battling the huge wildfire in northeast Arizona.

Japan has doubled its estimate for the amount of radiation leaked by the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, but the process of evacuating the zone around the plant has not been smooth.

In some villages where evacuation orders have been issued, Japanese residents have stayed put.

The village of Iitate, about 20 miles from the plant, has radiation levels well above those considered safe. But it appears there are still quite a few people in the village, including one couple busy in their fields.

Salvaging Crops And Livestock