NPR News

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney's planned speech Wednesday at the NAACP convention in Houston comes at a precarious time for the nation's African-American community.

-- The unemployment rate among blacks is north of 14 percent — more than 5 points higher than the national average.

-- Opponents of GOP-led efforts to require voters in about a dozen states to show identification say the voter ID laws could disproportionately disenfranchise legal black and Latino voters.

This Thursday, Penn State University will release an independent report on the sex-abuse scandal that has rocked the institution and its football program.

After allegations of child abuse surfaced against Jerry Sandusky, the university appointed Judge Louis Freeh to look into how the university handled the case. The university and its leaders including former legendary football coach Joe Paterno have been criticized for what has been characterized as slow action.

If you don't know Taken by Trees, the solo project of Swedish singer Victoria Bergsman, then perhaps you're new to All Songs Considered. In 2009, Taken by Trees' made my year end top 10 list and then seemed to vanish. The album, East of Eden, was made in Pakistan but embodied American popular music in the way only a Scandinavian could do (as in so many cases, that meant "better").

President Obama campaigned in Iowa on Tuesday, promoting his plan to extend the Bush-era tax cuts for those who make under $250,000 a year — but not for more wealthy Americans.

Republican Mitt Romney was in another swing state, Colorado, hitting a new Republican charge that some of Obama's policies have helped create jobs overseas at the expense of the domestic job market.

According to several news report, Google and the Federal Trade Commission are close to reaching an agreement over charges of a privacy breach.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the tentative deal would have Google pay $22.5 million over charges that it bypassed the privacy settings of users of Apple's Safari web browser.

The Journal reports: