Morning Edition

A number of car factories and aerospace plants have shut down temporarily, and some coal mines have suspended production. At a Mercedes Benz plant in Alabama, the damage wasn't bad, but managers closed the plant so workers could take care of their families.

Britain's royal wedding has been planned like a military operation. Renee Montagne talks to NPR's Philip Reeves, who is monitoring the ceremony.

In 1958, James Hanover Thompson and his friend David Simpson — both African-American, both children — were accused of kissing a girl who was white. They were arrested, and taken to jail. Prosecutors sought a stiff penalty — living in reform school until they were 21.

"The Kissing Case," as it came to be known, drew international media attention at the time. But since then, it's been largely forgotten. Even the Thompson family rarely talked about it. Recently, James Hanover Thompson sat down with his younger brother, Dwight, and told him what happened.

It doesn't take a royal wedding for wedding madness to take hold. Certainly nuptials were the last thing on Miranda Kennedy's mind when she headed off for India nearly a decade ago as an aspiring foreign correspondent.

At 27, she left behind a job and a man she loved — but was hardly ready to marry.

A landmark water agreement between Denver and western Colorado water agencies seeks to heal long-standing wounds from water battles that have sharply divided the state.