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Crowded skies, known to pilots as mutual traffic, are a large part of air travel's woes. Mike Sammartino, director of system operations for the Federal Aviation Administration, attributes overcrowding to airlines' overloaded schedules. He speaks with Renee Montagne

The Kitchen Sisters visit the 21st annual Farm Aid benefit concert in Camden, N.J., for some turkey-stuffin', potato-mashin' music and some deep stories of an endangered tradition — the American family farm.

For a decade, a local billboard on land along I-65 north of Montgomery, Ala., read: "Go to church or the Devil will get you!" This week, the billboard changed to endorse a political candidate. W.S. Newell, the 84-year-old property owner, tells Scott Simon why he made the change.

Atlanta's City Council passes an ordinance to ban panhandling within part of downtown Atlanta. Business leaders urged the ban, saying they want more tourists to visit downtown Atlanta. Homeless advocates say the ban is unconstitutional and the city should be doing more to help the homeless. Susanna Capelouto of Georgia Public Broadcasting reports.

Think Netflix for handbags: Instead of buying designer bags, more women are renting them online. For the price of a single designer bag, women can rent a year's worth.

As a librarian and a reader, Nancy Pearl scours the shelves in search of hidden treasures — titles you may have missed. Her findings include two chilling thrillers, one exquisite 1960s memoir, a lively biography of George Orwell, an example of historical fiction at its very best, and much more fiction, nonfiction and poetry.

In 2003, John Legend was an independent songwriter, performing and distributing his music himself. A year later, he'd released back-to-back hits: "Ordinary People" and "Used To Love U." His debut CD, Get Lifted, garnered him three Grammys. Legend gives Farai Chideya a tour of his latest CD, Once Again.

NPR's Sylvia Poggioli profiles the first lady of Serbia, Mirjana Markovic, wife of Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic. Sylvia traces Markovic's beginnings and her rise to power and authority with her husband...and chronicles Markovic's unpopularity with Opposition supporters.

Hercules, a slave of George Washington, and James Hemings, owned by Thomas Jefferson, began a long connection of presidents and their African-American cooks. And President Lyndon Johnson's black cook may have influenced his work on civil rights reform.

A senior curator at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles has been indicted in Italy on criminal charges related to the acquisition of several items in the museum's collection. Marion True, curator for antiquities, denies the charges. Michele Norris talks to Suzanne Muchnic of the Los Angeles Times about the case.

Commentator John McWhorter says he doesn't need a DNA mouth swab to know where he came from. He's content with his family history the way it is: He's a black American, he admires his ancestors and that's all he needs to know.

Announced layoffs at Ford and GM have made headlines, but do not necessarily reflect the health of the U.S. auto industry's job market. Over the past 15 years, the number of people building autos and making parts in the United States has held just about steady, thanks to hiring by foreign automakers.