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Backspacer is Pearl Jam's first studio album since the musicians became free agents, finally fulfilling a seven-album contract with Sony. That process took 15 years. The band is now on its own, striking distribution deals with major corporations, a turnaround for the once very anti-corporate band.

When a psychiatric technician at Napa State Hospital was murdered last fall, allegedly by a patient, staffers began going public with their safety complaints. More than 80 percent of the patients at the hospital arrived by way of the criminal justice system — deemed either not guilty by reason of insanity or just too dangerous to be paroled.

Originally released in 1961, electric guitarist Grant Green's first album with Blue Note Records, Grant's First Stand, has been reissued. Green has a solid swinger's knack for skippy, airborne jazz rhythms, but some of his lines wouldn't sound out of place in a Chicago blues bar.

Most people are aware of the positive effects of breast-feeding. But in many areas of the country, breast-feeding is not the cultural norm, and there's little support available for mothers. Host Michel Martin talks with Kimberly Seals Allers, the co-author of a new report on so-called "first food deserts," and a nursing mother, Areti Gourzis.

President Obama welcomed the new jobs numbers, but said much work needed to be done. He told workers near Charlotte, N.C., that his policies had helped spur job growth.

Jay-Z is one of the most successful hip-hop artists of all time. On Fresh Air, he discusses growing up in Brooklyn surrounded by drugs and violence, and the stories behind many of his famous songs.

Listeners respond to the story on military psychologist Bryce Lefever and his defense of harsh interrogation tactics. Michele Norris and Robert Siegel read from listeners' e-mails.

South African Constitutional Court Justice Albie Sachs discusses how a once-divided nation can abandon the impulse to avenge past wrongs and, instead, come together to build a new democracy. One of the framers of the country's constitution, Sachs also mulls over just what it means to determine the "intent" of a nation's founding fathers.

Big donors are turning to outside groups, and many state parties are watching their budgets and clout dwindle.

With Rick Santorum out of the presidential race, Mitt Romney is focusing his energy on the general election. Early polls show Romney trailing President Obama, partly due to his deficit with women and Latinos. Guest host Viviana Hurtado speaks with National Review contributor Mario Loyola and Janice Crouse of Concerned Women for America.

Search technology, once relegated to library science departments and remote corners of computer science labs, went mainstream with the Internet, spawning such once-giant brands as Lycos, AltaVista and Yahoo. These engines proved that the Web could be indexed, but they failed when it came to giving users what they wanted.

Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat reinstates Abdel Razek Majaide as chief of the Palestinian security forces. Arafat ousted Majaide a few days ago and replaced him with his cousin, Moussa Arafat, touching off unrest in the Gaza Strip. Palestinians had loudly denounced the move as a sign of cronyism and corruption. Hear NPR's Peter Kenyon.