NPR News

Tina Brown, editor of The Daily Beast and Newsweek, checks in again with the recommended-reading feature Morning Edition likes to call Word of Mouth.

This month, Brown selects a book and pair of articles about people shaped by unique places and situations — whether they be uprisings half a world away or police investigations in America's largest city.

'Libya's Revolutionary Road'

Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi went on trial Wednesday in Milan — not for accusations of tax fraud or corruption, as in his other pending court cases — but for allegedly paying for sex with a minor and abuse of office.

Neither the 74-year-old prime minister nor the young woman involved showed up in court Wednesday, and the judge ruled it an unexcused absence. The trial, dubbed Rubygate, will resume May 31.

John Denver had trouble filling a room prior to releasing his 1971 album Poems, Prayers, and Promises. As a solo act, he was virtually unknown. All that changed with the the album's single, "Take Me Home, Country Roads," which launched Denver's career and made him an international star. But the song almost never happened.

One year after 29 coal miners lost their lives in a massive explosion in West Virginia, state and federal officials vowed not to let such a disaster happen again.

"We will never forget this tragedy," said Labor Secretary Hilda Solis at a memorial service in Whitesville, W.Va., on Tuesday. "Because only by remembering will we continue our vigilance to make sure that this type of tragedy never happens again."

Solis spoke at the second of two services held on the first anniversary of the tragedy at Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine.

The government faces a shutdown this weekend if Democrats and Republicans can't reach agreement on the current federal budget. And while the White House and Congressional leaders jousted over a few million dollars, GOP Rep. Paul Ryan offered up a proposal to trim more than $4 trillion out of next year's budget.