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Pink Martini's debut album, Sympathique, has been selling steadily, racking up a respectable 600,000 sales in the five years since its release. NPR's Ari Shapiro reports on the pressures on the band and its charismatic leader Thomas Lauderdale to avoid the sophomore curse of a second release that doesn't live up to the first.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends smallpox vaccinations for people exposed to monkeypox, a similar disease transmitted from some animals to humans. And officials ban sales of prairie dogs and imports of six species of African rodents tied to the spread of the disease. Hear NPR's Richard Knox.

NPR's Ivan Watson in Baghdad reports on American efforts to deal with the mound of trash that has accumulated in the Iraqi capital since the end of the war in April. An American from the U.S. Corps of Engineers is in charge of waste disposal now, and he's dubbed himself "Mr. Garbage."

The Federal Reserve is expected to ask the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to produce 100 million copies of the $2 bill within the next year. The government hasn't printed the currency in seven years and is slowly running out. NPR's Scott Horsley reports.

In the second of a four-part series on Wal-Mart, NPR's Wade Goodwyn reports on the lengths to which some vendors will go in order to maintain a relationship with the retail giant.

This weekend, a young gelding has a chance to win the Triple Crown at the Belmont Stakes in New York. Funny Cide won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes. Commentator Frank Deford says winning the coveted crown could end his racing career.

For decades, money and ambition have formed the central ethos of Hong Kong. But SARS was such a blow to the city that many people there are pausing to think about what really matters. NPR's Rob Gifford reports that volunteerism is up, at least for now, in a kinder, gentler Hong Kong.

Senate Republicans reject calls for an immediate public hearing on how the Bush administration used U.S. intelligence on Iraq's weapons of mass destructions to make the case for war. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) accuses Democrats of playing partisan politics. NPR's David Welna reports.

The Broadway musical Hairspray was the big winner this week at the Tony Awards. It won awards for best direction, score, book and costume. Hairspray is based on Waters' 1988 film of the same name.

The Challenger is a Black-owned, woman-owned newspaper in Buffalo, N.Y. One of its journalists, Katherine Massey, was killed in the grocery store attack this month that left 10 African Americans dead.