News from NPR

The Howard Theatre in Washington, DC was built in 1910, and just about every top black entertainer performed on its stage. But it had to shut its doors once the neighborhood fell on hard times. Now it has reopened, and host Michel Martin talks with Jimi Smooth, a musician who was an usher at the Howard in the early '60s.

The Howard Theatre in Washington, DC was once teeming with top entertainers and fans, but after it closed, debris piled up, and animals took shelter in the seats. Michael Marshall and Paola Moya were later tasked with redesigning the interior. They adorned walls in walnut panels and flanked the stage with hi-definition screens. They talk with host Michel Martin.

Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen recently ignited a firestorm when she said that Ann Romney, the wife of GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, had "never worked a day in her life." Rosen also said the candidate shouldn't turn to his wife for advice on women's issues and the economy. Host Michel Martin speaks with a group of moms about the latest front in the "mommy wars."

As part of Tell Me More's series for National Poetry Month, host Michel Martin shares another poetic tweet. Tuesday's tweet comes from author Stacey Graham of Bluemont, Va. Listeners are invited to tweet original poems of 140 characters or less to #TMMPoetry.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is in Haiti today to support two big vaccination initiatives.

Food stamps have long been a favorite whipping boy of politicians looking to beat up on government spending. But the massive food-assistance program does help keep people out of poverty, according to new research.

Food stamp benefits led to a decline of 4.4 percent in poverty from 2000 to 2009, according to a new report from the USDA's Economic Research Service.

Likely GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney is reaching out to a segment of the Republican base that has given him trouble in this year's primary season: the Tea Party. On Monday night in Philadelphia, he spoke to activists from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware, and what might have been a tough crowd turned out to be just the opposite.

There was a 5.8 percent drop in housing starts from February to March, the Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development just reported.

Bloomberg News says the decline was unexpected and left starts at a five-month low.

Still, the number of starts was up 10.3 percent from March 2011.

China's leaders continue to impose oppressive policies on the people of Tibet out of fear, the Dalai Lama said earlier today on Morning Edition.

They fear what might happen if Tibetans were allowed to live freely and others under Chinese rule started to demand more respect for their rights. That has meant, he said, that "they ignore ... reality and they impose their rules. ... That's the problem."