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Russell Shorto's grandfather was a mob boss in the industrial town of Johnstown, Pa. Shorto writes about the family havoc that resulted from his grandfather's operation in his new memoir, Smalltime.

Roman Dial hoped his son would be his outdoor partner for life. But that dream ended when his son disappeared in a Central American wilderness. Dial's new book is The Adventurer's Son.

Growing up, Megan Phelps-Roper was told that God killed soldiers as punishment for tolerance of homosexuality. She started to question her beliefs after she began running the church's Twitter account.

Regular listeners of this show will be familiar with the podcast series, The Last Ride, which we’ve been airing in serial since the first episode released in early April. It uses extensive reporting done over two decades to tell the story of two young men of color who disappeared in Naples — both of whom were last seen with the same Collier County Sheriff’s deputy, Steven Calkins, who is now retired. Deputy Calkins was fired for giving inconsistent statements about the cases, but was never formally accused of any wrongdoing in their disappearances. We sit down with three of the four-member team who reported on this story, and worked together to produce the podcast, to talk about that process and whether The Last Ride has brought forth any new information that might illuminate just what happened to Filipe Santos and Terrance Williams.

For small-scale farmers in underdeveloped countries around the world, who often have no access to capital or most of the technologies and amenities we take for granted, the idea of being more sustainable isn’t something to strive for but a true necessity. Located in North Fort Myers on a 57-acre campus, the nonprofit ECHO has been working to disseminate information to help these farmers since 1981. They grow different varieties of plants, and test different growing techniques, in order to provide proven techniques and even seeds to small-scale farmers. They distribute more than 300 varieties of ECHO seeds. This information is sent out through their massive, global network of farmers and agriculturalists in more than 190 countries. We get an update on the work they do with their CEO, Dr. Abram Bicksler.

Alex Blumberg is a contributing editor for NPR's Planet Money. He is also a producer for the public radio program This American Life, and an adjunct professor of journalism at Columbia University. He has done radio documentaries on the U.S. Navy, people who do impersonations of their mothers and teenage Steve Forbes supporters. He won first place at the 2002 Third Coast International Audio Festival for his story "Yes, There is a Baby." His story on clinical medical ethicists won the 1999 Public Radio News Directors Incorporated (PRNDI) award for best radio documentary.

Linda Gassenheimer hosts Topical Current's Food News & Views segment every Thursday from 1:30 to 2 PM. Join Linda with your questions and suggestions at 800-743-WLRN (9576) during the program.

I manage WLRN's multimedia and engagement projects, including work on WLRN.org, all our social media platforms, and community events.

Rachel Kaadzi Ghansah went to South Carolina to write about the trial of Dylann Roof. He's the white man convicted of murdering eight black parishioners and their pastor at Charleston's historic Mother Emmanuel AME church. She was planning to write about the people who died, but instead found herself writing about Roof.

Often called the "show me your papers" law, Arizona's SB1070 sparked protests, boycotts, and lawsuits after it was signed into law in 2010.