Job loss numbers out today outpaced predictions, once again. With the economy weakening at alarming rates, we turn to Capitol Hill, where the stimulus package is being debated. Our guest is Robert Guest, Washington correspondent for the Economist magazine.

Gwen Thompkins, NPR's East Africa correspondent, opens her reporter's notebook for us during her visit to Boston.

The birth in California of octuplets last week has raised ethical questions about whether the mother Nadya Suleman went too far- she already has six kids, is unemployed, and lives with her parents. This morning Suleman spoke out publicly for the first time.

Five year-old Beatrice Rienhoff was born with a rare, genetic disorder that has left her muscles underdeveloped. No doctor has been able to diagnose the disorder, so Beatrice's father, Hugh Rienhoff, decided to launch his own study into her DNA. He is a clinical geneticist and he is studying his daughter's genome in search of a cause and a cure.

The Agriculture Department shipped possibly contaminated peanut butter and roasted peanuts to free lunch programs for students in at least three states. The peanut products came from Peanut Corp. of America in Georgia — the company blamed for a nationwide salmonella outbreak. We speak with William Marler, a Seattle-based attorney, who is representing some of the people who have been sickened.

Though we keep hearing reports that the record industry in on the verge of collapse, Here and Now's jazz aficionado, James Isaacs, notes that two labels are celebrating major anniversaries this year: Blue Note records turns 70, and ECM is 40.