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Actor Ossie Davis has died at 87. He was found this morning in a hotel room in Miami, where he was making a film called Retirement. The cause of death was not immediately known. Davis was a distinguished presence on stage, on screen, and as an activist taking on racial injustice.

USA Next, a conservative consulting group that orchestrated the Swift Boat Veterans' ads against Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, are taking on a new adversary. In new ads, the group attacks the AARP, one of the most vocal opponents of President Bush's Social Security plan. NPR's Madeleine Brand speaks with representatives from both groups.

Thoughts on the life of boxer Max Schmeling, whose fights with Joe Louis became a symbol of a looming confrontation between the United States and Nazi Germany. Schmeling fought in Hitler's army, but quietly helped save two Jewish teens and later befriended a needy Louis. Schmeling has died at age 99.

The Anaheim Angels in the City of Angels? NPR's Luke Burbank reports on an effort by officials in Anaheim, California to prevent Major League Baseball's Anaheim Angels from changing their name to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

NPR's Madeleine Brand reports on some low-cost but high-tech and efficient building structures proposed to house refugees displaced by the Indian Ocean tsunami.

Robert Siegel talks with Alicia Munnell of the Carroll School of Management at Boston College and Kent Smetters of the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania. Munnell and Smetters, both former Treasury Department officials, address questions about Social Security.

Washington, D.C., saw its homicide rate fall to 198 murders in 2004, down from 248 murders in the previous year. While the nation's capital and other cities have seen a drop in the annual number of murders, others have not.

When Americans think of race relations, they tend to think of the experiences and history of people of color. But what about the concept of "whiteness" in American society?

In San Diego, the Navy begins hearings on allegations that two lieutenants in the elite SEALs unit abused Iraqi prisoners. But questions about how to deal with the release of classified material are complicating the proceedings. Hear NPR's John McChesney.

The average American spends two to three years of his or her life waiting in line. NPR's Tony Cox talks to MIT professor Richard Larson, one of a small group of scientists whose job it is to make the lines in our lives seem shorter.

NPR's Alex Chadwick talks to Bob Moon of Marketplace about the controversy over Weyco, a Michigan company that's requiring employees to take a nicotine test. Four employees who refused to take test as part of its zero-tolerance policy on tobacco use quit before they were fired.

Inspiring people to volunteer all year long is Melanie Denise Cunningham's job. NPR's Tavis Smiley talks with Cunningham, the nationa field representative for the National Exchange Club, an all-volunteer service organization made up of some 900 clubs and 30,000 members throughout the United States and Puerto Rico.