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Two dozen new state governors start their jobs this month. Robert Ehrlich will be Maryland's first Republican governor in 36 years. Like many of his fellow newcomers to state office, the former congressman is contemplating budget shortfalls and tough spending choices. NPR's Steve Inkseep reports.

News that airlines are testing the idea of selling in-flight meals to passengers sparks a fresh debate on the quality of airline food. Hear from NPR's Scott Simon and celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck.

Giuseppe Verdi's opera Il Trovatore, which premiered 150 years ago this weekend in Rome. It remains one of the most romantic and popular operas of all time. NPR's Scott Simon talks to Philadelphia Inquirer music critic David Patrick Stearns.

NPR's Steve Inskeep has a brief rundown of other stories in the news this weekend.

Fidel Castro, now 76, is the subject of Ann Louise Bardach's new book Cuba Confidential: Love and Vengeance in Miami and Havana. She believes rapprochement is near for Cubans and the stridently anti-Castro Cuban-American community in South Florida. Bardach speaks with NPR's Steve Inskeep and NPR's Tom Gjelten.

For many states, after school programs have proven to be a successful way to help poor and minority kids stay out of trouble, and learn. But cuts in state budgets mean cuts in education, and these programs are first in line for reduction. NPR's Nancy Solomon reports from Newark.

A 32-year-old Chicago man is in custody, accused of running a child prostitution ring in five Midwestern states. Authorities say he lured girls -- many of them runaways -- with offers of free jewelry, then held them hostage and made them perform sex acts. Shirley Jahad of Chicago Public Radio reports.

Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the U.N. nuclear agency, and chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix arrive in Baghdad for talks with Iraqi officials. They are expected to warn Iraq that it must cooperate more intensely with arms inspectors. Hear NPR's Kate Seelye and Walter Russell Mead of the Council on Foreign Relations.

In 1995, in the wake of two shootings at women's health clinics in Boston, a group of leaders from opposing sides of the abortion debate agreed to hold four secret meetings to prevent further acts of violence. The meetings continued for seven years. NPR's Margot Adler visits the women at the Public Conversations Project offices, located in a small home in Watertown, Mass., to talk about the effect of their conversations. Online, hear the women's stories and read more about the 30th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

Steve reads some listeners' responses to a story on anti-SUV marketing research.