Crosscurrents

East Oakland can be a tough neighborhood for a kid. It's a landscape designed for industry, not for children, and there aren’t many places to play. But a couple blocks east of the 880 freeway, down 98th avenue, is a little refuge that serves as a second home and playground for the those growing up in East Oakland. It's the East Oakland Boxing Association.

Pulitzer Prize winner David Shipler has been a New York Times correspondent in Israel and Moscow. In his two most recent books, released earlier this year, he turns his attention to the erosion of civil liberties in the United States. In Rights at Risk and The Rights of the People, Shipler argues that both the War on Terror and the War on Crime have allowed the government to seep into Americans' personal lives in unconstitutional ways. Shipler discussed his new books with KALW's Criminal Justice Editor, Rina Palta.

In 2003, librarian Sarah Houghton was tired of having to wander around the Internet looking for information about technology and Web services. So she stopped looking and made a blog of her own. She called it “Librarian in Black,” so that her blog would match her wardrobe.

Republican presidential contender Rick Santorum bowed out of the race today, leaving the GOP field clear for Mitt Romney. Romney’s success in the primaries has far outpaced the remaining candidates, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Republican Ron Paul...

Today we're featuring a local band called Shady Maples. They’re a northern-southern band, actually; the singing guitarist lives in the Bay Area and the lap steel player resides in San Diego. Their talents will converge on Sunday, April 15th, when they’ll have a free show at Rasputin Records in Berkeley, starting about 2 pm.