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The Virginia state legislature announced the first of $2.2 million dollars in scholarships to those who lost educational opportunities in the 1950s and '60s. During that time, a number of the state's public schools closed their doors in protest against forced integration.

The NAACP chooses businessman Bruce Gordon, a former Verizon executive, to replace Kweisi Mfume as president of the NAACP.

Insurgent attacks in Iraq Sunday resulted in more than 40 deaths across the country. The latest wave of violence comes amid news that U.S. officials have met with leaders of the Iraqi insurgency and an acknowledgment by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld that the insurgency could continue for more than a decade.

Musician Mark Knopfler spent months recuperating from a motorcycle crash two years ago, before he could write songs again or return to the studio. Knopfler tells Liane Hansen about his recovery and his CD Shangri-La.

Wesley Stace's first novel, Misfortune, started its life as a song. That's because the author is known first and foremost as singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding. Stace tells Scott Simon about the book and his music.

The Drug Enforcement Administration is increasing its scrutiny of illegal online pharmacies that sell narcotics without prescriptions. In April, the DEA announced the arrests of more than 20 people in Operation Cyber Chase, which shut down a drug ring that reached from India to the United States and a string of other countries.

Stuart Bowen, the special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, tells Steve Inskeep about audits of billions of dollars worth of contracts overseen by the U.S. government. Bowen says the rebuilding work is on track, though his office continues to uncover fraud in spending.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist says he will support legislation to expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Frist (R-TN) is calling for President Bush to modify his stem cell policy, which puts strict limits on their use.

The rise of "mega-churches" in the African-American community has helped draw people back to religion. But some traditional black pastors find the growth of these churches worrisome, saying their leaders focus on messages of personal prosperity and are neglecting the civil rights struggle.

The Supreme Court's conservative majority sided with Senator Ted Cruz, agreeing that a federal ban on outsiders repaying a candidate's campaign loan to himself violates the guarantee of free speech.