Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, host:

Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep.

Many people pay to own a piece of history. Chunks of the Berlin Wall, for example, were sold in department stores. Soon you could buy a piece of non-history. In 2009, a couple claimed that a six-year-old boy had gone up with a weather balloon, prompting frantic rescue efforts. Turns out there was no boy onboard. It was a hoax. But a Colorado man paid $2,500 dollars for that balloon at auction. In a few months, he'll chop it up and sell off the pieces.

On Antiques Roadshow, a PBS mainstay, appraisers roll into town and tell people whether all that old stuff around the house is worth anything. At a taping this weekend in Tulsa, you could've been forgiven for thinking you were tuned to Who Wants to be a Millionaire. A man discovered his set of five Chinese cups carved from rhinoceros horn is worth up to $1.5 million, the most expensive item in the show's 16-year history.

The USO and the Kentucky National Guard are teaming up to entertain the troops and their families back at home.  The audience for Montgomery Gentry's next Louisville show won't just be sitting in the KFC Yum Center; it'll also be stationed around the world.

You can’t see the smokestacks of the Cane Run Power Station from Stephanie Hogan’s home, even though she lives a block away. And while the power plant isn’t visible, it’s still a looming presence in Hogan’s life. “Oh, he breathes so bad, he sounds like Darth Vader.” Hogan shakes her head, and Cody wheezes. “You ain’t even been running.”

The Kentucky State Police are recruiting cadets for the class of 2012.

Recruitment Commander Rick Saint-Blancard says the KSP training academy in Frankfort can accommodate as many as 120 cadets. He says applicants must be prepared for the physical and mental rigors of a 23-week training program.

Part of an ongoing series on obesity in America.

In her 37 years, Kara Curtis has seen every dress size from 26 to 6. Looking through old photos, in her slimmer days, you see a young girl standing tall and pretty in her tiara as high school prom queen, and strong and lean in team shots of her track and swim teams.

With the 2012 sweepstakes for Hispanic votes under way, President Obama and the Democrats tout a decided advantage. But as more Latino Republicans run for state and local offices — and win — they could persuade Hispanic voters to reconsider their party loyalty.

For many years, the overwhelming majority of Latinos in elected office have been Democrats, due in part to the party's advocacy of social programs and pro-amnesty immigration policies.

Soon after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, President George Bush argued that terrorists were perverting the Muslim religion. The president said, "Islam is peace." But that viewpoint is often drowned out today. Extremists claim that they represent Islam. And many Americans have come to question the entire faith, seeing it as violent or oppressive.

It's one of the most significant pieces of prehistoric art ever found in North America — a carving of a mammoth or mastodon on a piece of fossilized bone dating back to the Ice Age. An amateur fossil hunter found it several years ago in Vero Beach, Florida. Now, after three years of study, a team of researchers say they believe it's authentic.

Historic Find Sat In Box Under Sink

James Kennedy is quick to tell you, he doesn't know all that much about archaeology — or prehistoric art.

It's hot. I know, I know.

But, have you ever wondered how much heat you can take?

232 years ago, three British gentlemen decided to find out.

They designed a room, sealed it off, and heated it to 211 degrees, that's one degree shy of water-boiling hot.

What would happen, they wondered, if they stepped in and stayed? Could they take 211 degrees? How about 212? How about higher?

At what point does a person start to boil? These were very daring gentlemen. And just to make it more interesting, they brought three other "subjects" into the room: