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Art conservation authorities in Florence, Italy, are preparing to undertake an ambitious project to clean Michelangelo's David. But many question whether the technique to be used to restore the nearly 500-year-old Renaissance masterpiece will do more harm than good. And the dispute is raising questions about art restoration in general. NPR's Sylvia Poggioli reports.

Merriam-Webster releases the 11th edition of its Collegiate Dictionary, which includes new words such as "dot commer" and "headbanger." The Internet has made the biggest influence on the American language, both with the new words it has generated and the speed with which the public has adopted them. Hear John Morse, president and publisher of Merriam-Webster.

Diana Abu-Jaber's book, Crescent, weaves fragrant cooking, romance and the horrors of Saddam Hussein into her novel of Middle-Eastern immigrants and exiles in Los Angeles. Read an excerpt from the novel.

Actress Katharine Hepburn, who won a record four best actress Oscars in her 60-year career, dies at the age of 96. Hepburn starred in such film classics as The Philadelphia Story and The African Queen. She married only once, briefly, but the great love of her life was actor Spencer Tracy, with whom she made nine films and remained close companions until his death in 1967. Hear NPR News.

Small ads in supermarket tabloids, comic books and magazines offered a chance at the big time in the music business. Thousands of would-be lyricists responded with their "song-poems" and their savings. NPR's Scott Simon reports on a new anthology of the results.

Baseball Hall-of-Famer Larry Doby, the first black player in the American League, dies after a long illness. He was believed to be 79. Doby was named to seven straight All-Star teams in his 13-year career, most of it spent with the Cleveland Indians. He experienced discrimination both on and off the field, but in later years rarely displayed bitterness. Hear NPR's Bob Edwards.

Russian emigre comic Yakov Smirnoff is back in the limelight. His act about communist life became one of the first casualties of the end of the Cold War. But this week he opened a new one-man show on Broadway. He speaks with NPR's Scott Simon.

The Academy Awards ceremony will go on as planned Sunday but there won't be any red carpet interviews or cheering fans in bleachers. And security is said to be very tight. NPR's Howard Berkes reports.

Paddy Keenan is an Irish musician descended from a long line of traveling pipers. In the 1970s, Keenan cofounded the influential group the Bothy Band. The group added driving rhythms to traditional Irish music. On the CD The Long Grazing Acre, Keenan plays the Irish bagpipes. Keenan discusses his music with NPR's Melissa Block.

The latest action movie, Tears of the Sun, finds actor Bruce Willis portraying a veteran officer of a Navy SEAL unit in Africa who finds himself conflicted between following military orders and his own conscience. Los Angeles Times and Morning Edition film critic Kenneth Turan says the film is actually a humanitarian action flick.