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The chief disease agency in the U.S. is looking into why the spores shipped to laboratories in nine states and a military base in South Korea hadn't been properly neutralized. So far no one is sick.

We look at emergency preparedness at the Oregon school where a shooting occurred this week, and speak to a preparedness trainer.

The concert poster for Judy Garland's 1961 performance at Carnegie Hall proclaimed her the "world's greatest entertainer." Rufus Wainwright is certainly less well-known than Garland, but he's retaining the set list and the superlative billing for his recreation of that legendary show.

The Smithsonian American Art Museum reopens Saturday after a 6-year renovation. One new feature is an conservation lab with floor-to-ceiling glass windows. Conservators accustomed to careful, detailed and solitary work on fragile art will now have an audience.

Jay Cantor is a hard author to nail down. He's written about topics as wide-ranging as Che Guevara and Krazy Kat. His latest work expands his range even more, fictionalizing the lives of four of Franz Kafka's friends and lovers. It's called Forgiving the Angel, and Cantor tells NPR's Lynn Neary it's a book born out of gratitude.

Justin Lee grew up in a Southern Baptist family. At age 18, he came out to his family and church, who had trouble accepting him as a gay man. Lee later started the Gay Christian Network to encourage a dialogue between gay Christians, their families and their churches. His new book is Torn.

The Modzitzer sect of Chasidic Judaism, which originated in the Polish town of Modzitz, is known for its beautiful melodies. Among the most emblematic and prolific composers in this tradition is Brooklynite Ben Zion Shenker — who, at 88, continues to create new works.

Along with campaigns and conventions come a mountain of political stuff: T-shirts, bumper stickers, buttons and everything in between. Much of it will remain just stuff, but some will be gathered by National Museum of American History curators Larry Bird and Harry Rubenstein, and become part of the Smithsonian collection. We hear what makes the cut and what they found at the Republican National Convention in Tampa, Florida this week.

Yes, they're big, lumbering, earthbound creatures. But sometimes, Bessie and friends just have to get airborne.

At the beginning of January, the cover story of The New York Times Magazine declared: "George Saunders Has Written The Best Book You'll Read This Year." The stories in the author's latest collection, The Tenth of December, prove that The Times may well be right.