News from NPR

If a preliminary report holds true, the number of road deaths fell again in 2011. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimated that 32,310 people died on highways last year, down almost 2 percent from the 32,885 people who died in 2010.

The Detroit News reports:

Pick your verb: Hulk smashed, pulverized, shattered.

Slowing the rising rates of obesity in this country by just 1 percent a year over the next two decades would slice the costs of health care by $85 billion.

Keep obesity rates where they are now — well below a 33 percent increase that's been expected by some — and the savings would hit nearly $550 billion over the same 20 years.

Host Michel Martin discusses April's jobs report with Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., head of the Congressional Black Caucus, and NPR's Business Editor Marilyn Geewax. Just 115,000 jobs were created, fewer than most economists expected, but the unemployment rate fell to 8.1 percent.

Chinese human rights activist Chen Guangcheng is in a Beijing hospital, hoping to eventually come to the U.S. to study. But what do Chinese-Americans think of him, and the diplomatic tension he sparked between the U.S. and China? Host Michel Martin discusses reactions with Sherry Zhang, host of a Mandarin-language call-in show in California.

The movie The Avengers broke box office records this weekend. That's just one sign of the growing interest in comic book heroes, science fiction, and other fantasy genres. Host Michel Martin speaks with writer George Gonzalez about covering a recent convention for die-hard fantasy fans.

Auma Obama, President Obama's half-sister, discusses their relationship, and what his rise has meant to the Obama family in Kenya. Host Michel Martin speaks with Auma Obama about her recently released memoir, And Then Life Happens.

Chicago Pastor Corey Brooks spent three months living on the rooftop of an abandoned motel near his church. He was raising money to tear down the building because it had become a magnet for crime. Pastor Brooks met his goal. For Tell Me More's series "In Your Ear," Brooks shares the songs that helped him endure his rooftop residence.