When AT&T officials announced plans to buy T-Mobile USA for $39 billion, they cited the so-called "spectrum crunch" as a big reason for the merger.

AT&T says it needs more wireless spectrum to avoid dropped calls and to satisfy its customers' growing hunger for data. Now government regulators are asking AT&T to back up those claims.

AT&T Cites Need For More Spectrum

AT&T officials like Ralph de la Vega argue the company needs to acquire T-Mobile's network to keep up with the fast-growing demand for data.

What is it about mummies that fascinate so many people?

"Mummies seem to have an intrigue," says James Delay. They are "visitors from the past if you will. ... They carry a mystery."

He should know. Delay, who spoke with All Things Considered host Michele Norris earlier today, is director of exhibition development with American Exhibitions Inc. — the organizers of the Mummies of the World exhibit that just opened at Philadelphia's Franklin Institute.

On Friday, a Texas judge sentenced Rosalina Gonzales to five years probation and ordered her to take parenting classes, after she admitted that she spanked her child. Corpus Christi's KZTV reports that Gonzales pleaded guilty to causing injury to a child, but prosecutors said the woman used her hand and did not leave bruises on the two-year-old.

FRANKFORT – Kentucky Transportation Cabinet crews have responded to a number of mudslides and flooded roads caused by heavy rains Monday, primarily in southeastern Kentucky. Some of the slides were quickly cleared, while other roads remained closed due to slides, washouts or water over the road. As of noon more than a dozen roads were reported closed in at least eight counties, primarily in southeastern Kentucky.

Lately, our rundowns of musical performances in Treme have ignored some of the non-musical narratives for the sake of brevity. This week is a little lighter on music, and a bit heavier on plot twists — especially at the end of this episode. So we'll address a few of the other storylines this week too. (Spoiler alert for what follows, naturally.)

This spring and summer, scantily-clad women, and some men, are taking to the streets in what are called "SlutWalks." They say they're protesting a culture in which the victim of a sexual assault is blamed, rather than the perpetrator.

Hundreds of women in skimpy outfits — plunging necklines and the shortest of shorts — disregarded the overcast 60 degree weather and marched down the streets of Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood last weekend.

Protester Monica Thomas explained why she came out for the walk.

The murder trial of a man charged with killed a Lexington police officer has entered week two of testimony. Prosecutors introduced several pieces of evidence Monday, including boots, ammunition, and a taser. A detective in the police forensics unit showed jurors items from Officer Bryan Durman's uniform that flew off when he was struck and killed in a hit and run crash on North Limestone.

Many of Thailand's tattoo tourists find their way to Bangkok's Khao San Road, where tattoo parlors are nestled among the Internet cafes, noodle stalls and other backpacker hangouts. A visitor along this road might pick up a tattoo, along with some beads and dreadlocks, and perhaps even a nose ring.

The Thais are famously welcoming to visitors. But last month, Thai Culture Minister Nipit Intarasombat called for a ban on foreigners getting religious tattoos that offend Thai people.

When Syria's mukhabarat, the secret police, couldn't get Abu Ali to tell them the names of the leading activists in his town of Jisr al-Shughour, the 43-year-old says they blindfolded him and tied his hands and feet to an apparatus on the floor.

His interrogators told him he was about to take a trip on the "Flying Carpet."

"I felt my body coming off the ground, then they beat me with a cable on my legs and feet. I could stand it on the legs, but on the feet it was extremely painful," he says. "This was the first stage of the Flying Carpet."

For a brief moment during the still-early campaign for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination, the debate in New Hampshire, Mitt Romney's fellow Republicans clearly decided to go easy on him.

But the truce, if you could call it that, now appears over. The kid gloves worn during last week's debate have come off.

Over the weekend Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) went after the GOP frontrunner for his refusal to sign the Susan B. Anthony List's anti-abortion pledge.