National and World News from NPR

NPR's Neal Conan reads from listener comments on previous show topics including the controversy over homeless hotspots, why some songs get stuck in our heads, and sober advice for former Illinois Governor Blagojevich as he begins a long sentence in federal prison.

Sgt. Robert Bales is expected to be charged with murdering 16 civilians in Afghanistan. It raises questions about how the military screens troops. Former Surgeon General of the Army, Ret. Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, and Ret. Brig. Gen. Steve Xenakis talk about how the military tests mental fitness.

After more than a week of grueling days on a dog sled, Dallas Seavey won 2012's Iditarod, beating his father and grandfather in the process. The race took off from Willow, Alaska, on March 4, Seavey's 25th birthday. Nine days, 4 hours and 29 minutes later, he crossed the finish line in Nome as the youngest musher ever to win the race.

Seavey talks with NPR's Neal Conan about the extreme conditions of the Iditarod, from freezing dogs to sleepless nights, and what it means to be in a legacy racing family.

Update at 3:35 p.m. ET: It's official. Peyton Manning is indeed joining the Denver Broncos. He's talking with reporters in Denver right now.

Our Original Post:

"And they have a deal," The Denver Post reports. "An NFL source confirmed Tuesday morning the Broncos and quarterback Peyton Manning have agreed to a five-year, $96 million deal."

George Zimmerman's statement to police about what 17-year-old Trayvon Martin was up to on Feb. 26 in Sanford, Fla., "is completely contradicted" by the boy's cellphone records, an attorney for Martin's family just said during a news conference in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

I'm Michel Martin and this is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. Coming up, later in our mom's conversation we will pick up on an important conversation we know many people are having around bullying. Last week, we heard from a 15-year-old who'd been bullied at school for years. Today, we'll hear how his mom felt about hearing about this in a documentary. That's coming up later in the program.

Transcript

MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

This is TELL ME MORE from NPR News. I'm Michel Martin. Coming up, spring has sprung, so a good greeting for today is not just, Happy Spring, but also Happy New Year if you celebrate the Persian holiday, Norouz. We'll find out more about it in just a few minutes.

In his latest book, Pakistan on the Brink, journalist Ahmed Rashid writes that he fears Pakistan "is on the brink of a meltdown."

"I fear almost anything could [send it over the edge]," he tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "There could be a major terrorist attack in the U.S. or Europe which is traced back to Pakistan. ... Then there's a very, very critical economic crisis in the country. There's no investment, no money, there's no energy — I live in Lahore. We've had no gas for six months."

A grand jury in Florida is going to investigate the killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, a case that has grabbed national attention because of concern that the young man may have been a victim of racial profiling and that local police haven't been aggressive enough about looking into his death.

Orlando's WESH-TV reports that:

A lot of people think they have food allergies, but they're likely wrong.

That's partly because it's easy to confuse common food-related problems like lactose intolerance or celiac disease with an allergy. But it's also because there are a lot of tests promoted for food allergies that don't measure up.