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NPR's Don Gonyea reports committee members from both the House and Senate questioned Bridgestone-Firestone and Ford Motor Company executives on Capitol Hill yesterday about the recall of more than 6 and a half million tires. Legislators are promising more hearings in the future. The questions centered upon how both companies handled the recall, and why it took so long for officials from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to issue a recall.

Charles de Ledesma reviews Essence, by "A Guy Called Gerald." His real name is Gerald Simpson, and he has been a major force in the evolution of electronic dance music over the last 10 years. On his latest effort we hear "the next new thing" in electronica, which is toning down the fast and furious dance beats, and letting sumptuous female vocalists take center stage, with a slower, dreamier sound. (4:00) Essence by A Guy Called Gerald is on the Studio K7 label.

NPR's Jim Zarroli reports on the economic boom that's creating prosperity in suburban Rochester, New York, but hardly benefiting the center city. For example, the suburb of Henrietta, south of Rochester, has attracted a number of new businesses and jobs. Prosperity values in older downtown neighborhoods have declined, and the city's tax base has weakened, as businesses have moved out. Those neighborhoods are left with a greater concentration of poverty and crime.

The diamondback terrapin turtle is alive and kicking — with all six of its legs — at the Birdsey Cape Wildlife Center in Massachusetts. Staff say the two heads operate independently.

It was something like the movie Outbreakmeets Eloise at the Plaza. Last week a Washington area day care center received an anthrax threat. Kids and teachers made it out the door in seconds flat, into the cold and rain. They took refuge at the luxurious Monarch Hotel next door, where they were treated like tiny royalty. NPR's Steve Inskeep talks with Charyn Cade of Capital Kids daycare and George Terpilowski of the Monarch Hotel.

Robert talks with Dr. Robert Ciccone (sih-KOH-nee), a professor of Psychiatry at the University of Rochester Medical Center and the chair of the Commission on Judicial Action of the American Psychiatry Association, which filed a brief in the Jaffee v. Redmond case which was decided today by the Supreme Court. The case involved the "psychotherapist-patient privilege," which protects confidential communications between a psychotherapist and her patient. The Court ruled that psychotherapists, including social workers who offer counseling, generally cannot be forced to testify or provide other evidence about their patients in federal cases.

In an effort to get more Black people to get vaccinated, Stephen Thomas — who runs the Maryland Center for Health Equity at the University of Maryland — teamed up with barbershops and salons in the area.

Last week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention advised vaccinated people to mask up indoors in coronavirus hotspots.

This past week, the Senate passed it's version of the Health Care Reform bill. It includes a measure that would require insurance companies to cover mental health costs in a manner comparable to coverage of physical health care. The measure attempts to remedy what activist groups claim is discrimination against people with mental health disabilities. Daniel speaks with Shelley Jackson who is a staff attorney at the Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law. She says there are widespread instances of discrimination against people with mental health disabilities, particularly in the workplace.

The nation's fiercest and most protracted environmental battles in recent years have centered on endangered species and the Endangered Species Act. Efforts to protect the Snail Darter, the Northern Spotted Owl and dozens of other plants and animals which are dwindling in number have placed environmentalists in opposition with industrial interests and landowners. The result is often years of litigation and solutions that satisfy no one. Government officials in California are trying a new approach; they're using the Endangered Species Act to create a process that brings the parties in conflict into a negotiation over their differences.