With protests from around the world and growing concerns for security in Florida and for U.S. troops abroad, President Obama called on Florida Pastor Terry Jones to "listen to his better angels," and call off plans to burn the Quran this Saturday. Pastor Jones says he is going ahead, but that a telephone call from the White House or the Pentagon would make him reconsider his decision. We speak with Dan Balz, national political reporter for the Washington Post.

In the summer of 1964 some 700 students went to Mississippi to work with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) to register black voters and set up Freedom Schools for black children whose education suffered in segregated Mississippi. The volunteers were faced with the constant threat of violence. On the first day, workers Andrew Goodman, James Cheney and Michael Schwerner disappeared and were later found murdered, presumably by the Ku Klux Klan. But the vast majority of those who remained persisted in their efforts. We speak with Bruce Watson who writes about that time in the new book, "Freedom Summer: The Savage Season That Made Mississippi Burn and Made America A Democracy."

Four people are missing in Colorado, where a wildfire burning in the foothills near Boulder is only 30 percent contained. Authorities say the fire, spanning ten suare miles, destroyed at least 135 homes, making the blaze the most destructive in state history. With some 3,500 people forced to evacuate their homes, the Boulder County sheriff says a lot of people have lost everything. Crews have begun building containment lines near the eastern side of the fire, while seven heavy air tankers have dropped 35,000 gallons of flame retardant.

Moscow was shrouded in smoke a month ago as forest fires in the surrounding regions burned out of control. The blazes left dozens of people dead and thousands homeless. Authorities now say the fires are out. But the BBC’s Richard Halpin checks in and finds some fires are still burning.

We hear your thoughts on some recent stories, including TIME magazine's recent cover story on Islamophobia, our conversation with Brendan Nyhan, a political scientist at the University of Michigan, who found that facts don’t change deeply held beliefs and our conversation with Jim and Jenny Marshall, who went on a quest to find the birthplace of each of the 114 elements on the periodic table. That unusual trip included an emotional journey to Paris, where they visited Madame Marie Curie's lab where radium was discovered.

The Pirate In You: If you've got some pirate in you, you may be interested in this weekend's Portland Pirate Festival in Oregon. We'll see what's in store. We'll also revisit our conversation with author Jane Yolen about the women who became pirates. Yolen's book is "Sea Queens: Women Pirates Around The World."