Morning Edition

In northern Iraq, Kirkuk has always been a flashpoint with Kurds, Turkmen and Arabs, who all claim it as their own. It has a special place in the new Iraqi constitution, but nothing has changed for years.

Renee Montagne talks with James Hider, the Middle East bureau chief for the Times of London, who is in Amman, Jordan. He's been spending time on the Syrian border talking to the stream of Syrian refugees.

Census figures show the Hispanic population in the United States now accounts for more than half of the nation's growth in the past decade. But how to classify and measure Hispanics in the Census is complicated, since they are an ethnicity not a race. Ruben Rumbaut, a professor of sociology at the University of California at Irvine, talks to Steve Inskeep about the predicament.

Within the first few days of the threefold tragedy in Japan, Wikipedia trend-spotters noticed a startling spike in searches ... for "Godzilla."

It feels callow to be discussing popular culture at a moment when bodies are still being pulled from rubble, says Grady Hendrix, co-director of the New York Asian Film Festival. "The Godzilla movies don't have anything to do with what's going on now," he says.

Governor John Hickenlooper signed a bill into law Tuesday that aims to better train coaches to recognize concussions in middle school and high school athletes.

The measure is named after 14 year old Jake Snakenberg, a football player from Grandview High School who suffered a concussion in 2004 after being hit in a football game. He eventually died.

“I’m so proud that we’re able to honor the memory of young Jake,” says bill sponsor Republican Senator Nancy Spence of Centennial.