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After months of struggle to repair its campus following Hurricane Katrina, Tulane University welcomed students back Thursday. Workers continue to repair an estimated $200 million in damage, and the school has cut more than two dozen Ph.D. programs.

FEMA is having trouble holding on to its best people. Several FEMA staffers have told NPR that people are leaving because the agency is in trouble and no one appears to be addressing the problems.

President Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel hold their first face-to-face meeting at the White House. They find areas of agreement on restraining Iran's nuclear program but disagree on the U.S. prison camp for suspected terrorists at Guantanamo Bay.

Sheilah Kast talks to New Republic magazine's online film critic Christopher Orr about the decline of real romance in movies. Romantic comedies, once a Hollywood staple, are in particular decline.

Laura Tobler, health policy analyst at the National Conference of State Legislatures, discusses legislation passed in Maryland that requires large employers to increase spending on worker health insurance and mainly affects Wal-Mart stores.

The White House has faced questions and criticism in its handling of the hunting accident involving Vice President Dick Cheney. The victim in the mishap, lawyer Harry Whittington, suffered a minor heart attack Tuesday. Cheney's office subsequently issued its first statement on the matter.

Ben Bernanke is on Capitol Hill delivering his first economic report to Congress since becoming chairman of the Federal Reserve. Bernanke told lawmakers that "economic expansion remains on track" and left open the possibility that interest rates would go up. Renee Montagne talks to David Wessel, The Wall Street Journal's deputy Washington bureau chief.

President Bush toured the Gulf Coast Thursday, noting improvements since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. In New Orleans, the president did not tour any of the city's still-deserted neighborhoods, and protesters called for a stronger federal commitment to fortify the city's levees.

Federal crop insurance was created in the dust bowl days of the 1930s to help farmers survive the ravages of nature. But changes in the program have created a new type of farmer: one who farms only for the insurance money.

The hedge fund industry is one of the fastest growing corners of the investment world. Now Wall Street insider — and hedge fund manager — Barton Biggs has exposed the industry's cast of characters to scrutiny in the book HedgeHogging.