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North Carolina beat Illinois Monday night 75-70 to capture the NCAA men's basketball championship in St. Louis. After trailing 40-27 at halftime, the top-ranked Fighting Illini rallied to tie, then faltered in the final minute. It's the first national title for UNC coach Roy Williams.

A most unlikely CD has been close to the top of the Billboard charts recently. The Mars Volta, from Texas, somehow missed the news that progressive rock was nearly extinct. Their new CD, Frances the Mute, is a saga based on the diary of a child in search of a birth mother.

President Bush's top strategist, Karl Rove, agrees to testify a fourth time before a grand jury investigating the unauthorized release of CIA operative Valerie Plame's name to reporters. This time, federal prosecutors will not grant Rove immunity -- which could pave the way for an indictment.

Hurricane Rita is gaining strength as it crosses the Gulf of Mexico, with current sustained wind speeds topping 135 miles per hour. Forecasters expect the Category Four storm to hit the Gulf coast of Texas or western Louisiana by early Saturday.

The Bush administration has made Social Security reform a top priority in its second term. In arguing for partial privatization of the system, the president and his supporters warn of dire consequences unless something is done. Bush's critics say he is arguing for overly drastic measures. NPR Don Gonyea reports.

Producer Ben Shapiro brings us another installment in the New York Works series, about jobs that are slowly disappearing from the city of New York. Today we meet Charlie Zimmerman, who works for Rosenwach Wood Tanks. Rosewach is one of the few companies left that maintains water tanks on top of many New York buildings.

Insurgents fire grenades at an Iraqi civil defense facility as Gen. John Abizaid, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East, visits. Abizaid was not hurt in the attack, which caused no American casualties. The attackers escaped. Hear NPR's Melissa Block and NPR's Eric Westervelt.

Testifying before a judicial inquiry, top British intelligence official John Scarlett denies that his office was pressured by Prime Minister Tony Blair's staff to exaggerate evidence showing that Iraq posed an imminent threat to Britain. New polls suggest 67 percent of Britons believe Blair misled the public about the Iraqi threat. Hear NPR's Guy Raz.

Top officials from the Bush and Clinton administrations tell the commission investigating the Sept. 11 attacks that they had no specific intelligence before the attacks suggesting terrorists might hijack airliners and crash them into the World Trade Center. But last year, Congress published a report saying a number of warnings detailing the attacks were ignored. Hear NPR's Danny Zwerdling.

Voters headed to the polls Tuesday for statewide primaries in Ohio and Indiana. In Ohio, an open Senate contest has top billing.