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Before Hurricane Katrina hit land, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, FEMA Director Michael Brown and other top agency officials received e-mails warning that Katrina posed a dire threat to New Orleans and other areas. Yet one FEMA official tells NPR little was done.

The U.S. Supreme Court hands down split decisions in two closely watched cases regarding the display of the Ten Commandments in public areas. The court ruled against their display in Kentucky courthouses. But it said a monument on the grounds of Texas' capitol did not violate the Constitution.

Wesley Brown graduated from the Naval Academy in 1949 — the first African American to do so. Others had tried, but were forced out by racism and even violence. Brown and author Robert J. Schneller, Jr., tell John Ydstie about efforts to integrate the Academy.

The Hollywood Sign was originally constructed in 1923. After several incarnations, the most recent version has become an unmistakable American landmark. This year the Los Angeles icon is getting a makeover. NPR’s Melissa Jaeger-Miller reports from the precarious hillside scene.

For the past 18 years, Andy Linares has been running his family business, Bug Off Pest Control. Recently, he came to the StoryCorps booth in New York's Grand Central Terminal to talk about his work as an exterminator.

Some residents of Smyth County, Va., are struggling to pay the bills and feed their families. Robbie Hankins works full-time, and his wife, Wreatha, works part-time. Yet the couple must resort to extraordinary measures to keep food on the table.

Fishermen in Louisiana are assessing the damage and rebuilding the shrimping industry damaged by Hurricane Katrina.

Liberians elect their next president in a runoff election Tuesday. The contenders are Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, who would be the first woman elected head of state in Africa, and George Weah, who became famous as an international soccer player.

Silverman won the Emmy for best writing for a variety special for her HBO special We Are Miracles. In 2005, she spoke with Fresh Air about her movie Jesus Is Magic.

Prince Faisal al Hussein of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan talks to host Michele Norris. The prince came to Washington this week with a delegation for annual bilateral security discussions at the Pentagon.