Weekend Edition Sunday

Last week, NPR's John Burnett filed a report on Texas governor Rick Perry's prayer rally in Houston, spurring a flood of responses. We also heard from roots-music artist Gillian Welch and her long-time partner, guitarist David Rawlings. Guest host John Ydstie reads listeners' comments to these stories and more.

One hundred years ago, a community of African-Americans raised money for a monument to abolitionist John Brown in Kansas City, Kan. NPR's summer road trip, Honey Stop The Car!, visits the statue, which, while in need of repair, is still a sense of pride to the community. Elana Gordon of member station KCUR reports.

Fifty years ago this weekend, construction began on one of the starkest landmarks of the Cold War. NPR's Tom Gjelten is in Germany for the anniversary of the construction of the Berlin Wall.

On Monday, President Obama flies to Minnesota to begin a bus tour devoted to job creation, confidence restoration and to reviving his own image as a leader. Guest host John Ydstie talks to NPR White House Correspondent Ari Shapiro about the president's itinerary and the motives behind the trip.

Libyan rebels have reached the important port city of Zawiyah, where they are engaged in fierce clashes with government forces. Zawiyah is the site of Libya's sole remaining refinery and it's on the road to Tunisia. If the rebels hold it, they will control the port, the refinery and one of Libya's main roads. Guest host John Ydstie gets the latest on the fighting from NPR's Lourdes Garcia-Navarro in Libya.