David J Fazekas

Former warlord and president of Liberia Charles Taylor has been on trial for over three years, charged with war crimes he allegedly committed in Sierra Leone. The trial, moved to The Hague from Sierra Leone for safety reasons, has only now recieved world wide media attention. That can all be attributed to supermodel Naomi Campbell, who is scheduled to testify in court today on whether or not she received a "blood diamond" from Taylor.

More than 30 billionaires have agreed to donate at least half their fortunes to charity; the list was made public yesterday. The Giving Pledge Campaign is the brainchild of Microsoft founder Bill Gates and investor Warren Buffet. It now has pledges from New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, media mogul Ted Turner, filmmaker George Lucas, and dozens more. Forbes Magazine is estimating at least $150 billion could be donated. Wall Street and finance reporter for The New York Times, Louise Story, has the details of this new venture by some of the country's richest people.

Republicans have been pushing to have hearings to change the 14th Amendment. The way it stands now, if you're born in the U.S., you're an American citizen. We asked you, the listeners, what you thought about changing the 14th amendment, and we hear what you have to say. We're also joined by The Takeaway's Washington correspondent, Todd Zwillich, who believes that Republicans are just nibbling around the edges of the whole immigration issue.

Reports came out yesterday that legendary NFL quarterback and future hall-of-famer, Brett Favre, is hanging up the spikes and retiring. The news isn't shocking since we've seen this song and dance before from Favre. The Takeaway's sports contributor, Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, does not think it is necessarily real news. He believes Favre has got some juice left in his tank, coming off one of his best seasons last year at the age of 40.

At the height of the recession, many companies were offering their employees time off without pay in order to save money and not have to eliminate jobs. Those furloughs are now being replaced by pay cuts, and many fear those pay cuts could potentially lead the United States into a period of deflation. We discuss this with Wall Street and finance reporter for The New York Times, Louise Story.

Republicans are implementing different strategies in different states to challenge key parts of health care reform, specifically the part says, if you don't have insurance, you must buy it by 2014. In Missouri, there will be a ballot in the primaries today, and in Virginia, a judge has allowed the state's attorney general to file suit in court. 

New York Times finance reporter, Louise Story explains why Goldman Sachs is choosing not to put money into political advertising, despite the Supreme Court ruling that lessened restrictions. She also takes a closer look at why Fannie Mae stock, while worth little, is still trading heavily. 

Mitch Miller is best known as the man with the well trimmed moustache and goatee, conducting a chorus of men singing familiar old songs.  Miller hosted "Sing Along With Mitch," in the early '60s. He died yesterday at the age of 99. What many people didn't realize, was how influential a role Miller played in the music industry as a producer.

"He invented the modern pop record," music historian, Elijah Wald says. "He realized that records were not just ways of preserving, but that records were like movies."

The oil unleashed into the Gulf of Mexico over the last months is a toxic danger to sea life and wetlands, but in a frustrating Catch-22, so is one of the key methods of fighting the oil. Chemical dispersants, though better (in most cases) for the environment than the oil itself, still pose different environmental hazards. BP says they have only used 1.8 million gallons of the dispersant "Corexit," but a Congressional inquiry may yet call those numbers into doubt. We look at the effects of the dispersant on the environment and talk to a shrimper about whether he's seen any toxicity in his catch as the season begins.

Twenty years ago today, one of the Arab world's most powerful armies invaded its tiny neighbor to the south. Iraqi forces significantly outnumbered and overpowered Kuwait's military as they marched in, and within a short time had overthrown the government. Saddam Hussein declared that the nation of Kuwait no longer existed; Iraqi forces held the country for seven months, until U.S. and coalition forces liberated the occupied country in the first Gulf War.

Major League Baseball's trade deadline was this past weekend with some major changes for some of the sport's closely watched teams. The Yankees traded for outfielders; the Dodgers got starting pitcher, Ted Lilly; and the Phillies traded for pitching ace, Roy Oswalt. Takeaway sports contributor, Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, brings highlights from the transactions and tells us which teams will benefit the most.

Arizona's controversial immigration law will come into effect tomorrow, unless a federal judge says otherwise. We take a look across the border to Loma Buenavista, Mexico. Sixty percent of the town's population is thought to have crossed the border into Arizona. The 800-person town depends on residents' relatives in the U.S. to send money back home; if their relatives leave, the town stands to be significantly affected by this new law. 

The Senate will vote today on the DISCLOSE Act, a bill already approved by the House, that would require corporations to disclose their spending on federal political campaigns and to reveal their identities in any political ads they fund. The bill is being seen as the Democrats' answer to the Supreme Courts's ruling on the Citizens United case, which allowed big corporations, domestic and foreign, to spend unlimited amounts of money on American elections.

KUHF reporter Melissa Galvez took to the streets of Houston, Texas, and asked residents if the BP oil disaster changed the way they consume gas. She covered this for our friends Transportation Nation. The majority of responses she got was — no. She brings us voices of the people she talked to.

We also want to hear from you. Have you changed the way you think about and consume gas, energy, and how you travel, since the BP oil disaster?

Secret military documents released by WikiLeaks, and published in The New York Times yesterday, show that Pakistan's intelligence service has been aiding the Taliban in Afghanistan. These documents solidify what many Americans fighting the war, and those homeside have suspected and feared for some time. Peter Galbraith, former United Nations Deputy Special Representative for Afghanistan, looks more closely at the documents.

This week will mark 100 days since the Deepwater Horizon exploded, sending millions of barrels of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico. BP's second quarter earnings are expected tomorrow, and the results will be telling about the oil company's future. What we do know: BP's future will not include Tony Hayward. The embattled chief executive officer agreed to step down yesterday, and will be replaced by Robert Dudley, BP's most senior American executive, who has been in charge of operations in the Gulf. We'll look ahead to the future of BP with Marcus Mabry, associate national editor for The New York Times; and Fernando Pizarro, a Washington correspondent for Univision.

In a surprising move, ex-Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich decided he would not testify in his corruption trial. Rob Wildeboer, criminal justice reporter for Chicago Public Radio, believes this was a wise move on Blagojevich's part. "I don't know what he could say to convince jurors about those tapes," he told The Takeaway. The defense strategy has shifted from putting Blagojevich on the stand to trying to prove that the government's case is too weak to find Blagojevich guilty.

President Obama made it official yesterday: the financial overhaul bill has been signed into law. So who are the winners as this new law takes effect? Takeaway contributor Beth Kobliner believes the consumer is the real winner in financial reform, with new rules about mortgages, credit cards and student loans. However, she reminds us that car dealers are not included in the law, so it's important to stay vigilant.

Amid scandal and controversy, the University of Southern California announced that they will replace athletic director Mike Garrett with former Trojans quarterback, Pat Haden. The move comes after the university recieved harsh sanctions from the NCAA following an investigation into the numerous benefits granted to Reggie Bush, and former basketball player, O.J. Mayor. USC also announced they are returning their copy of Reggie Bush's 2005 Heisman Trophy.

58 Democrats and two Republicans in the U.S. Senate overcame a Republican filibuster and moved closer to extending unemployment benefits to 2.5 million Americans. A final vote is expected later today.

The larger unemployment picture is complex. The national unemployment rate dropped to 9.5 percent in June, down 0.2 percent from the previous month. However, job growth remained stagnant, with only 21 states seeing net job gains. 

With unemployment still high and practically no job growth, we're asking: where have all the jobs gone? We want you to help us track them down: if you're unemployed, or if you know someone who is, tell us: What happened to the job? Did it go overseas? Or did the company downsize?