David J Fazekas

Yesterday the Senate defeated a jobs bill, which included $4.6 billion to pay a settlement to American black farmers. The bill was crucial to the farmers, who won a class-action lawsuit against the Department of Agriculture charging years of discriminatory loan practices. 

We've been monitoring the story all year, and bring back the president of the Black Farmers and Agriculturalists Association, Gary Grant, for his response. "Ordinary people never get anything in Washington," he says, "We won't give up. It will not be put to rest - that's for sure."

When the "King of Pop" passed away at the age of 50, crowds thronged the streets to mourn the superstar and his legendary music. Today marks the one year anniversary of his death. To celebrate, Detroit's Motown Museum opens a Michael Jackson exhibit. On display: one of his iconic white sparkling gloves, fedora hats and a replica of a jacket he wore in "Thriller."

The museum's chief executive officer, Audley Smith, expects a major turnout for the opening. He says that when Jackson passed away, a crowd of 500 people gathered at the museum for a candlelight memorial.

Not all college graduates are struggling to find jobs this year. The 2010 NBA Draft was last night and the Washington Wizards were given the first pick. The Wizards surprised no one when they used their first pick to choose John Wall, from the University of Kentucky. Other college players who graduated to the pros last night included Evan Turner, who went to Philadephia, Derrick Favors, who was picked by the Nets, and Wesley Johnson, who will be joining the Timberwolves.

As oil from a mile-deep wellhead in the Gulf of Mexico continues to gush, BP is set to break records by drilling two miles below the sea's surface off the coast of Alaska in pursuit of what they believe is a 100 million barrel reservoir of oil. 

"You have a company in the Gulf that was pushing the envelope in technology which played a role in this disaster," says Ian Urbina, national correspondent for The New York Times. "In the Arctic, the one project that is being allowed to go forward is by BP, and once again they are pushing the envelope."

Existing and new home sales numbers for May came out this week, and they were nothing to get excited about. Economists and experts were blown away by figures announced by the Commerce Department on Tuesday. While a drop in sales was expected, no one expected the 32.7 percent nose-dive from the previous month's sales.

General Stanley McChrystal is in quite a pickle, after comments from him and his aides insulting Obama administration officials were published in Rolling Stone magazine, by writer Michael hastings, who spoke on our show yesterday:

"I was with General McChrystal when he checked his Blackberry, and he said, ‘oh no, not another email’ from Holbrooke, Richard Holbrooke, who’s the special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan. And then he said, ‘I don’t even want to read it.'"

Yesterday the Supreme Court upheld a law, adopted in 1996, that bans Americans from providing support to foreign terrorist groups. Up to fifteen years in prison is the penalty for contributing cash, weapons, training, personnel, and expert advice or assistance to any foreign group that the United States deems as terrorists. 

It's Monday, which means it's time to take a look at what's ahead this week in the agenda with the help of Marcus Mabry, associate national editor for The New York Times, and Charlie Herman, The Takeaway and WNYC's economics editor. 

North Korea enters today's match against Brazil shrouded in mystery — nobody knows much about their coach, most of their players, or the way they play. The same could be said for their 1966 counterparts, who shocked the world by defeating Italy 1-0, and became the first Asian nation to go past the first round in the World Cup. Can the country pull another upset?

The U.S. managed a shocking 1-1 tie against England when English goalie Robert Green let an easy shot from Clint Dempsey bounce off his hands and into the goal. George Vecsey, sports columnist for The New York Times, tells us how this miss will affect Green's fate. He also reports on U.S. goalie, Tim Howard, who suffered a rib injury during Saturday's match, and looks ahead to today's games.

BP and the Gulf oil crisis are expected to be at the forefront of the news once again this week. President Obama will visit Alabama, Mississippi and Florida today and tomorrow, and address the nation when he gets back to Washington on Tuesday. 

BP's top executives will face Congressional hearings, including BP America chief Lamar McKay. Other oil industry executives – from Exxon, Chevron, Shell, and Conoco – are scheduled to sit before the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Tuesday. The other oil companies are expected to try to distance themselves from BP by saying that this incident was preventable and that something like this would never happen on their watch.

In 1950, the U.S. soccer team took the field in Belo Horizonte, Brazil as 500-1 long shots to win the World Cup. Their opponents were the "Kings of Football," the English, who were 3-1 favorites to win it all. Behind the brilliant goal keeping of Frank Borghi, the U.S. was able to pull off one of the greatest upsets in World Cup history, defeating England 1-0. Tomorrow, team USA will try and pull off a similar upset as they begin their World Cup campaign with an opening match against England.

Who are you rooting for and why? How do you celebrate the teams? Special foods? Special rituals? Share your World Cup stories with us.

Gay men have been banned from donating blood since 1983. But now, a group of senators led by John Kerry are petitioning to put an end to the 27-year-old ban.

There were/are approximately 15,000-20,000 hemophiliacs in the US.  100% of them contracted hepatitis in the late 1960s and early 1970s when their medication (factor concentrate) was brought to the market.  10,000 of them were then infected when HIV emerged in the early 1980s because of this drug.  In 1983, a ban was instituted to prohibit any gay man who had sex since 1977 from ever giving blood. Filmmaker Marilyn Ness explored the history of the ban in her documentary, "Bad Blood."

Helen Thomas resigned yesterday as columnist for Hearst Newspapers and ended nearly 50 years as a White House correspondent. Her retirement came on the heels of a controversial video that went viral, in which she told a White House visitor that Israelis need to "get the hell out of Palestine" and return back to their homes in Germany and Poland. Where does this controversy leave Thomas's legacy? We talk with Washington Post columnist, Sally Quinn.

The Washington Nationals pitcher, Stephen Strasburg was the number one overall pick in the draft last year, and today he makes his Major League Baseball debut. Washington fans are giddy with excitement and the team is selling standing-only tickets to the sold-out ball game. 

Winning his fifth French Open title, Rafael Nadal proved once again that the courts of Roland Garros belong to him. He defeated Robin Soderling, the same man who knocked him out last year. The Takeaway's sports contributor, Ibrahim Abdul-Matin has the details of the match. He also recaps last night's Game 5 of the NHL Stanley Cup Finals, and Game 2 of the NBA Finals.

Mexico City's mayor, Marcelo Ebrard announced recently that he will run for president of Mexico in the 2012 elections. As mayor, he's been battling the drug cartels, while also trying to improve his city's economy. He's also tasked with helping to curb the influx of illegal immigrants into the United States. He will surely have to tackle these issues on the campaign trail, and he faces those questions with us first.

Tennis great, Roger Federer's streak of 23 consecutive Grand Slam semifinals came to an end yesterday. He lost to Robin Soderling, 3-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4, in the men's quarterfinals. Soderling is the same player Federer beat in last year's finals to claim his first French Open title. Soderling is also the one who upset Federer's main rival and four time French Open champion, Raphael Nadal, last year. Tom Perrotta is the senior editor at Tennis Magazine, and he has the details of this major upset and the significance of one of sports' greatest records.

Zipcar, the start-up car sharing company, has filed for a $75 million I.P.O. This comes after a long stretch of companies holding back on going public. New York Times finance reporter, Louise Story responds to whether Zipcar's confidence is a sign of improving economic times.

One year ago today, General Motors filed for bankruptcy and became the fourth largest U.S. bankruptcy on record. President Obama vowed to turn GM around and make it a profitable company once again. We look at how GM has changed in the past year with the help of Rebecca Lindland, an auto analyst for IHS Global Insights, and find out how the rest of the auto industry is doing as well.