Morning Edition on WEKU

As a high school teacher at Friends Seminary in New York, John Byrne has taught hundreds of students. Recently, he spoke with a former student, Samantha Liebman, about the years before he became the teacher he is today. For one thing, his classrooms were very regimented.

"I would make the kids line up before they came into class," he says, "and then they would stand by their desks and I would say, 'You may sit down when I sit down.' They said, 'Good morning, Mr. Byrne.'

"I was very strict, because I was afraid the kids would discover I was gay," he says.

The World Egg Throwing Federation says its "eggstatic" now that the English Sports Council has deemed most of its games "legitimate sports." The list includes throw and catch and target throwing. Russian egg roulette did not make the cut.

Selectmen in Greenwood, Maine, have decided they will not change the name of Alcohol Mary Road. It's named after a Prohibition bootlegger. A local man says it defames his grandmother, who's named Mary, but is no relation to Alochol Mary.

President Obama has studied the life of President Lincoln. In his second inaugural address in 1865, Lincoln spoke of the Civil War, then nearing its end: "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in." A section of Obama's speech had a similar rhythm.

The U.S. military is investigating claims by veterans that they buried barrels of a toxic defoliant at an American base in South Korea three decades ago. Agent Orange was used during the Vietnam War, and it's been blamed for a variety of ailments, including cancer and nerve disorders.

Steve Inskeep talks with George Packer about his latest "New Yorker" article "A Dirty Business." The piece follows the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York during an insider trading case. Packer explores why it's been difficult to build prosecutions directly tied to the financial crisis.

Some 11,000 people were told to evacuate Minot, North Dakota, yesterday because of flooding. Residents are expecting floodwaters to reach as high as rooftops. For the latest developments there, Renee Montagne talks with reporter Perry Olson.

President Obama travels to Fort Drum in upstate New York on Thursday. The base has sent many troops to Afghanistan over the past decade. Last night, David Sommerstein of North Country Public Radio got reaction on the president's speech from people at Fort Drum.

A notorious Boston gangster has been captured by authorities near Los Angeles. James "Whitey" Bulger is on the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted" list for his alleged role in 19 murders. The 81-year-old has been on the run for 16 years.

Renee Montagne has business news.

As drivers get their cars ready for summer road trips, Valvoline is marketing a new, greener car oil. Scott Graf of member station WFAE in Charlotte reports.

Steve Inskeep has the Last Word in business.

Molly Holder was almost 90 when a Scottish man in his early 80s caught her eye on Match.com. When she began messaging with Edward Nisbet, they discovered a common love for poetry and grammar. The pair met for the first time in January and tied the knot earlier this month.

Back in the 1960s, Robert F. Kennedy was leading investigations of the Mafia. A folder from that era contained information and mug shots of men like Carlo Gambino and Meyer Lansky. In the 1990s, somebody accidentally left the file in a New York City taxi. It's up for auction now, with an estimated sale price of $10,000.

Billions of dollars are at stake this summer as the leagues for professional football and basketball try to negotiate new contracts with their players' unions.

NATO's secretary general says since defense budgets are being cut as governments struggle with deficits, one answer is to have more bilateral cooperation among member states. The British are trying to patch up the holes created by their 8 percent military spending cuts by working more closely with the French.

Former Tunisian President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali has been tried in absentia on charges he embezzled large sums of cash and jewelry. Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia in January and the kingdom has refused to extradite him. Steve Inskeep talks to David Gauthier-Villars, a reporter for The Wall Street Journal, who has been covering Tunisia.

Renee Montagne talks to NPR's Jason Beaubien about the capture of one of Mexico's most wanted drug lords.

After formally announcing his Republican presidential campaign Tuesday, Jon Huntsman went straight to New Hampshire to start drumming up votes. On Wednesday, he travels to South Carolina, a critical stop for the former Utah governor and former ambassador to China because he doesn't plan to campaign in Iowa.

Steve Inskeep has business news.

J.P. Morgan Chase will pay more than $150 million to settle charges the firm misled investors about the riskiness of the mortgage backed securities the firm was selling. The Securities and Exchange Commission says J.P Morgan Securities designed the packages to do poorly and then hid that fact from investors. The company neither confirms nor denies the allegations.

Renee Montagne has the Last Word in Business.

President Obama will announce his decision on how many American troops to withdraw from Afghanistan Wednesday night. In late 2009, the president had approved a "surge" force of 30,00 troops. At the time, he promised to begin bringing them home in July 2011. With that deadline approaching, a debate has emerged inside the White House about how many troops to pull out.

It's been three years since For Emma, Forever Ago, the debut album that landed Justin Vernon's band Bon Iver on virtually every best-of list for 2008.

Now, Bon Iver has released the follow-up to For Emma, titled Bon Iver. The song titles draw from the names of places — real, imagined or a combination of both, like "Minnesota, WI."

He's a lone prospector on the street's of Manhattan's Diamond District. Using tweezers and a butter knife, Raffi Stepanian scrapes up bits of gold, diamonds and rubies that fall from workers clothing and shoes. He told the New York Post a week of urban panning earned him more than $1,800.

Instead of sifting through more job ads, an unemployed Irishman decided to advertise himself. The 26-year-old marketing grad spent close to $3,000 on a billboard. He used a photo of himself holding a suitcase and the words "Save Me From Emigration." He got several job offers.

Syria has been hit hard by a protest movement that has disrupted business, farming and trade.

In a speech to the country at Damascus University Monday, President Bashar Assad told his supporters: "The most dangerous thing we face in the coming period is the collapse of the economy."

It's feared financial pressures may be a greater threat than protests.

In normal times, the Lebanese-Syrian border is a busy place. But now, there are hardly any cars, hardly anyone standing in line to cross.

Saleem Shahzad is the latest journalist to be killed in Pakistan. Over the last 18 months, at least 16 journalists have been killed there. Last week, other members of the media held a 24-hour sit-in across from Parliament to say the killers of Shahzad would be uncovered regardless of where the trail leads.

The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected a global warming lawsuit brought by Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Iowa and California against five big power companies. The case is being called the court's most important environmental ruling in years.

Renee Montagne has the Last Word in business.