Friday, March 28, 2014 – Friday, April 4, 2014

Nate Silver’s FiveThirtyEight blog predicted this week that the Republican Party is now a slight favorite to capture the Senate in this year’s elections. Silver joined the growing number of pundits who say the GOP has a good chance to seize control of Congress. Geoffrey Skelley, associate editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a nonpartisan online newsletter published by the University of Virginia Center for Politics, sorts through the forecasts.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The groundbreaking bill gave the federal government greater power to strike down segregation. While its passage has been credited to the leadership of President Lyndon B. Johnson and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the battle for the Civil Rights Act was much bigger than those two men. Clay Risen, a staff editor for  the op-ed section of “The New York Times”, explores the dynamics of the bill’s passage in his new text, “The Bill of the Century: The Epic Battle for the Civil Rights Act.”

Finding a responsible, honest, and reputable home contractor is the key to achieving a successful renovation. This week, in our “Five Things You Should Know About…” segment, Norm Abram, the master carpenter on “This Old House” on PBS, has five tips on hiring a contractor.

Nathan East may be the best known musician you’ve never heard of. It’s likely you’ve heard him playing the bass line in the Daft Punk hit, “Get Lucky”. You’ve also heard him perform with any number of superstars—Michael Jackson, Phil Collins, Whitney Houston, Beyoncé and Stevie Wonder, to name a few. Now, after nearly four decades of laying down riffs behind the music industry’s best, East joins us to share his first solo album called, appropriately, “Nathan East“.

It’s been 20 years since as many as a million Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed in genocidal violence in Rwanda. Perhaps there’s no better symbol of the nation’s recovery than a restaurant called Heaven. Columbia University Professor Josh Ruxin has had a firsthand view of Rwanda’s recovery as director of Health Builders, which helps operate rural health centers. He shares his experiences in a new memoir, “A Thousand Hills to Heaven: Love, Hope, and a Restaurant in Rwanda“.

In 1996, Michigan voters passed a ballot initiative that banned race-based admission at state schools. Since then, minority enrollment at the University of Michigan has steadily declined. Scott Kurashige, Michigan professor of American culture, history, and Afro-American and African studies, argues in a recent commentary that, in their lack of diversity, schools like Michigan are failing to uphold their mission.

Pete Rose was permanently banned by Major League Baseball 25 years ago for gambling on games. Rose, the game’s all-time leader in hits, is denied even a chance to appear on the Baseball Hall of Fame ballot. In the new biography, “Pete Rose: An American Dilemma“, “Sports Illustrated” assistant managing editor Kostya Kennedy asks whether it’s time to give Rose a shot at the Hall.

In his 3-minute sports drill, commentator George Johnson weighs in on a potentially game-changing ruling by the National Labor Relations Board that student athletes at Northwestern University are employees.

Jason Mott submitted his debut novel, “The Returned”, to numerous publishers and was met by numerous rejection letters. It seemed hopeless, until an agent read has manuscript and took it to a book editor. Not only was “The Returned” a critical hit, it caught the attention of Brad Pitt, who optioned the book and fast-tracked it into production. The TV adaptation, “Resurrection“, starring Omar Epps, debuted on ABC earlier this month. Mott joins us to discuss his whirlwind success.