Talk of the Nation

Transcript

NEAL CONAN, HOST:

Ozzie Guillen's interview with Time magazine begins with the quote, "I love Fidel Castro" - controversial for any Major League Baseball manager, a flash point for the new manager of a team that just opened a new stadium in Miami's Little Havana. Earlier today, the Miami Marlins suspended Guillen for five games, and he appeared at a news conference to repeat apologies for what he called the biggest mistake I've made so far in my life.

(SOUNDBITE OF PRESS CONFERENCE)

The New York Yankees may be the most polarizing team in the U.S. In a new collection, Damn Yankees: Twenty-Four Major League Writers on the World's Most Loved (and Hated) Team, writers share the stories behind their passions.

There is some evidence to suggest that citizens monitoring their communities can reduce crime. But the Trayvon Martin shooting focused new attention on neighborhood watch programs. Many neighborhoods have them, but the Martin case has brought questions about what they can and can't do to the fore.

In 2011, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction banning Los Angeles police from confiscating and destroying the belongings of homeless people on Skid Row. In the Los Angeles Times, Carol Schatz argues that the ruling, intended to protect the homeless, puts them in greater danger.

Transcript

NEAL CONAN, HOST:

Did you know Mayor Michael Bloomberg has an engineering degree and built a ham radio as a child? The mayor talks about his passion for science and how it shapes the way he thinks. He also discusses plans for an applied sciences campus in New York and potential spin-offs from the project.

The first Homo sapiens appeared on the planet some 200,000 years ago. But even though they looked fully human, they didn't act fully human until they began creating symbolic art, some 100,000 years later. Paleoanthropologist Ian Tattersall discusses those human origins in his book Masters of the Planet.

New York City has been referred to as a concrete jungle. But researchers say it is more 'jungle' than you might think. A panel of experts discuss the plant and animal life found in city waters and green spaces. They also discuss the impact of urbanization and climate change on a city's biodiversity.

Coyotes were first spotted in New York City in the 1990s. Now they are thought to be permanent residents of the Bronx, and have been seen in Queens and Manhattan. Wildlife biologist Mark Weckel, of the Mianus River Gorge Preserve, is documenting their immigration through camera traps in New York City parks.

Bike lanes accommodate cyclists and help with visibility, and some people view the lanes as a way to facilitate urban transportation. But sharing the road has its challenges. Drivers bristle at the thought of losing parking spaces, and drivers and pedestrians both worry about reckless riders.