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Law
11:01 pm
Tue March 27, 2012

In Southern States, Immigration Law Battle Rages On

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Credit John Bazemore / AP
A protester blocks an Atlanta street during a rally protesting Georgia's new immigration law in June 2011. Now, the state's lawmakers are considering a bill that would also ban students here illegally from attending all public colleges.
Credit Erik S. Lesser / EPA/Landov
In February, protesters in Atlanta showed their opposition to a state bill that would ban students here illegally from attending Georgia's public higher education institutions.
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Originally published on Wed March 28, 2012 7:21 pm

Last year, several states passed strict laws aimed at cracking down on illegal immigration. Those laws are now being challenged in federal court, and next month the Supreme Court is set to hear arguments on Arizona's immigration law — but that hasn't stopped some Southern states from moving forward with more restrictions.

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Health Care
11:01 pm
Tue March 27, 2012

Texas, Feds Face Off Over Planned Parenthood

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Credit John Burnett / NPR
Rene Resendez, a 24-year-old uninsured graduate student, used to be a client at the Planned Parenthood in Odessa, Texas, which closed earlier this month because of state budget cuts.
Credit Patrick Dove / AP
Local citizens and employees of the Planned Parenthood clinic in San Angelo, Texas gather in front of the clinic Thursday, March, 8, 2012 to participate in the "Don't Mess with Texas Women" rally.
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Texas and the federal government are going at each other again, this time over Planned Parenthood.

The Texas Legislature cut off all Medicaid money to Planned Parenthood because of its involvement in abortions; in response, the federal government has suspended funding for the state's reproductive health program.

Now, Texas is suing the Obama administration.

Closed For Business

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Shots - Health Blog
11:01 pm
Tue March 27, 2012

Supreme Court's Medicaid Decision Could Reach Far Beyond Health Care

Credit Adam Cole / NPR
The final argument the Supreme Court will hear about the new health care law is whether its Medicaid expansion unfairly forces states to participate.
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After Tuesday's judicial fireworks, the Supreme Court wraps up arguments on the new health care law Wednesday by focusing on two questions. The first involves what would happen if the "individual mandate" — the core of the law that requires most people to have health insurance — is struck down. Would the rest of the law fall, too, or could some provisions stay?

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Sweetness And Light
11:01 pm
Tue March 27, 2012

Watching College Basketball's Slump Into Anonymity

Credit Streeter Lecka / Getty Images
Duke freshman Austin Rivers, seen here in the Blue Devils' loss to Lehigh in the NCAA tournament, is leaving school for the NBA draft. The trend of athletes spending only one year in college has hurt the sport, says Frank Deford.
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This year's Final Four seems more like Best in Show at the Westminster. Such pedigree: Kentucky, Kansas, Ohio State and Louisville –– four of the very top dogs in the history of the sport. Well, it's a Meryl Streep kind of year, isn't it?

But if the Final Four might delight fans by giving them aristocracy in its teams, unfortunately the whole of college basketball is plagued by anonymity in its players, and external issues that have diminished the popularity of the game.

Good grief. This year, there has been more buzz about Mad Men than about March Madness.

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Movies
11:01 pm
Tue March 27, 2012

In Japan, 'Sliced-Up Actors' Are A Dying Breed

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Credit Toei Kyoto Studio Park
Fukumoto in one of the numerous period costume dramas he has acted in for the Toei Company's film studios since he began work there in 1959.
Credit Toei Kyoto Studio Park
Seizo Fukumoto (right) falls to the sword of the leading man in one of Japan's chanbara or samurai films. Fukumoto is known as Japan's leading kirareyaku, or "chopped-up actor."
Credit Toei Company
Over a career spanning five decades, Fukumoto has been killed more than 50,000 times on screen in samurai and ninja films, with some work in gangster flicks as well.
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Japan is home to Asia's oldest and largest motion-picture industry, with its own unique genres and traditions. While every film industry has stuntmen, only Japan has a class of actors whose main job is to be sliced and diced by samurai sword-wielding protagonists. But the decline of period dramas means that this class of actors is literally a dying breed.

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