Hour 1
Now that health care law has been signed, the next major legislation dominating Washington DC is financial regulation. Fresh off fraud charges against Wall Street giant Goldman Sachs, President Obama gave a speech outlining his goals for financial reform on Thursday, just blocks away from Wall Street. But also vying for political attention are the retirement of Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens and the politics of Obama's selection of a replacement; major policy questions surrounding immigration law and environmental regulations, especially in a week including the 40th anniversary of Earth Day. And campaign politics continue to stump the experts, with Tea Party partisans upending the status quo, Florida Governor Charlie Crist in trouble against conservative Marco Rubio in the Republican primary for Florida's Senate seat; Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in trouble defending his Democratic seat in Nevada; and famed party defector Arlen Specter fighting off a challenge for Pennsylvania’s Democratic Senate nomination against Congressman Joe Sestak. Joining Marty to discuss all this and more on today's "Radio Times" are MARK HALPERIN of "TIME" magazine and DAVID MARK, senior editor for Politico.com.

Filed under: politics |

Hour 2
As the new Afghan government tries to negotiate peace with the Taliban, women in Afghanistan fear that their concerns and safety will be forgotten. In this hour of "Radio Times," we talk with Afghan women’s right activist SURAYA PAKZAD. During the Taliban years she ran secret schools for Afghan girls. Her organization Voice of Women provides Afghan women who have been the victims of gender violence with shelter, counseling and job training.

Filed under: politics, world |

Hour 1
This Earth Day we thought we would get an update on the health of the world’s oceans. Rising temperatures, increasing carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and over-fishing are threatening marine life. Many of ocean’s plants and animals are endangered and could face extinction, including blue fin tuna, certain shark species, polar bears, and coral reefs. This hour, we’ll talk about ocean conservation and the marine life that’s most at-risk with Boris Worm, marine biologist at Dalhousie University in Halifax, and Carl Safina, President of the Blue Ocean Institute.

Filed under: author, environment, politics, world |

Hour 2
Ciudad Juarez is just across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas. What once was a border boom town after NAFTA spurred the building of factories is now best known for a horrific wave of violence that continues to escalate. The city’s murder rate soared from 207 in 2007, to 1,660 in 2008, to 2,660 in 2009, and is on an even higher pace this year. CHARLES BOWDEN has written a new book, "Murder City: Ciudad Juarez and the Global Economy’s New Killing Fields," that offers bloody testimony to an epidemic of drug-trade-fueled murders that has turned Juarez into one of the most dangerous places on Earth.

Filed under: author, crime, economy, law enforcement, politics |

Hour 1
As the president pushes forward on finance reform legislation, congress is aggressively debating the philosophy and specifics of the bill. Meanwhile, the SEC has launched a civil fraud suit against investment bank Goldman Sachs. We're joined by Delaware Senator TED KAUFMAN, a critic of the current version of finance reform legislation, Politico reporter EAMON JAVERS and McClatchy investigative reporter GREG GORDON who was nominated for a Pulitzer prize for his stories about Goldman Sachs' mortgage business.

Filed under: economy, politics |

Hour 2
Philadelphia-based composer JENNIFER HIGDON has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize in music for her "Violin Concerto" that premiered on February 6, 2009, in Indianapolis, IN, written for two-time Grammy winner violinist Hilary Hahn. The Pulitzer website describes the pieces as "a deeply engaging piece that combines flowing lyricism with dazzling virtuosity." It's a great year for Hidgon as she also received a 2010 Grammy for best classical contemporary composition for her "Percussion Concerto." Jennifer returns to "Radio Times" to talk about her compositions and we'll listen to excerpts of these award-winning pieces.

Filed under: arts, music |

Hour 1
Last week President Obama visited the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to present his plan for NASA's future. His proposal shifts the focus away from the moon and into deep space. NASA's Constellation program was heading for the moon in 2020, but now Obama has proposed landing on an asteroid and Mars instead. The President's plan also gives commercial space companies the job of shuttling U.S. astronauts to and from the International Space Station. The new policy has received mixed reviews from the space community. While some are excited about the new direction, others have criticized its lack of detail or a concrete goal. This hour, we'll discuss Obama's new space policy and the future of human space flight with Franklin Institute Chief Astronomer Derrick Pitts, Lunar and Planetary Institute scientist David Kring and CBS News Space William Harwood.

Filed under: economy, politics, technology, world |

Hour 2
Writer Anchee Min was born in Shanghai and was raised in China on the teachings of Chairman Mao. She fled to the U.S. in 1983 and since then has written several books set during the Cultural Revolution and its aftermath — a memoir and five novels. Her new book, "Pearl of China," is based on the life of Pearl S. Buck, who Min was forced to denounce when she was a schoolgirl in China.

Filed under: author, world |

Hour 1
In March, employers added 162,000 jobs and the unemployment rate remained steady at 9.7%. This was seen as a hopeful sign of the economic recovery. But over eight million jobs have been lost since the start of the recession. So how do we get them back? This hour, we’ll talk about job creation with economist Robert Litan who believes encouraging entrepreneurship may be the key. Litan is the vice president for research and policy at the Kauffman Foundation and a senior fellow in Economic Studies at the Brookings Institution.

Filed under: economy |

Hour 2
If you wanted to get to know your neighbors better, how would you go about it? What about inviting yourself to stay overnight at their homes? Our guest PETER LOVENHEIM lived out this social experiment in his leafy Rochester, NY suburb by staying over night at many of his neighbor’s homes on his street. After seven years of sleepovers and interviews, he’s written a book of his experience, "In the Neighborhood: The Search for Community on an American Street, One Sleepover at a Time." We'll talk about how a traumatic incident on his street inspired him to understand his neighbors deeper in a world of digital social networking and insular suburban living.

Filed under: author |