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Actress Audra McDonald talks about her Tony-nominated role in the Broadway musical Porgy and Bess. And obesity expert Kelly Brownell weighs in on a new HBO documentary series, The Weight of the Nation.

The star of Rent and Wicked is making standards and pop songs her own — with the help of symphonies around the country.

In his new book, journalist Jack Hitt says America's amateur spirit goes back to the nation's origins — and it's nothing to be ashamed of. The Europeans viewed the Americans as an "unfinished people," Hitt says. "We were amateur everything." And it's only made the nation better.

A solar eclipse is in store for the western United States on Sunday. Host Scott Simon lays out how eclipse-watchers should prepare with Dee Friesen of the Albuquerque Astronomical Society.

In the NBA, the Miami Heat have a lot to prove against the Indiana Pacers, and in the NHL, the L.A. Kings are proving it. Plus, a farewell to Cub pitcher Kerry Woods. Host Scott Simon talks to ESPN columnist Howard Bryant about the week in sports.

The flame for the London Olympics, which was ignited by the rays of the sun in the 2,800-year-old Temple of Hera in Greece, arrives in the UK Saturday. It was carried from Olympia in a lantern that flew aboard a gold-painted plane. Vicki Barker has more on the flame's relay race to London.

More trouble for the prosecution in the perjury trial of baseball star pitcher Roger Clemens. He is charged with lying to Congress when he said he had never used performance-enhancing drugs. But under cross examination, the key witness has himself admitted to lying and the key evidence has been called into question. NPR's Nina Totenberg explains all to weekends on All Things Considered host Guy Raz.

The end of Round 8 of our Three-Minute Fiction contest has finally arrived. We've read through more than 6,000 stories, and now our judge for this round, novelist Luis Alberto Urrea, has picked his favorite.

The proportion of 12- to 19-year-olds who report having diabetes or "prediabetes" increased from 9 percent in 1999 to 23 percent in 2008, according to a paper published in the journal Pediatrics. "This report really sounds the alarm," says one researcher.

Robin and his brothers Barry and Maurice Gibb racked up dozens of hit songs in their five decade career. Gibb died after a long battle with cancer and intestinal surgery, his spokesperson confirmed via a statement.