Syracuse city worker Gary Clifford saw a mother duck leading a dozen little ones down a busy street. He followed in his truck, stopping traffic along the way. Until they walked across a storm drain and four ducklings fell in. Syracuse.com reports a city crew was called in and took the feathered family to a creek.

Singer Justin Bieber is the latest celebrity to score a booking on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, destined for its first suborbital test flight sometime this year. He had to put down $250,000.

The snack company Mondelez International says it's perfecting a process to make chocolate that won't melt — even in temperatures above 100 degrees. The Deerfield, Ill., company says this new innovation will help it sell chocolate in emerging markets with hot climates and limited refrigeration, like sub Saharan Africa.

Over the past two days, there have been revelations about the way the National Security Agency is gathering information for intelligence. While details of both programs are still coming out, the data collection practice appears to be legal. But it could be the beginning of something new in the intelligence community. And that is, the use of data to find patterns analysts might have missed.

Revelations of phone traffic surveillance by the NSA highlight the ongoing and controversial role of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. It was created to address domestic spying abuses uncovered in the 1970s.

The Labor Department on Friday reported a jobless rate of 7.6 percent as employers added 175,000 jobs and more people began to look for work last month. That's up from April's rate of 7.5 percent.

The movie, The Internship, tells the story of two 40-year-old, down-on-their-luck watch salesmen, who land an unlikely summer internship at Google. Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson star as the older interns who will have to compete for a full-time gig. Meanwhile, more than a thousand new Googlers or Nooglers have shown up on the company's campuses across the country.

News reports have been revealing massive data mining by the National Security Agency of American Internet and social media companies, including Microsoft, Apple, Facebook and Google. It was also reported that the agency is collecting Verizon phone records of millions of U.S. citizens. For more, Renee Montagne talks to Glenn Greenwald, the reporter who co-wrote the stories for the British newspaper The Guardian.

Linda Wertheimer introduces listeners to Andrea Swensson of Minnesota Public Radio, and her pick for June's installment of Heavy Rotation: Har Mar Superstar's "Lady, You Shot Me." The musician's real name is Sean Tillman and he's from just south of the Twin Cities.

Another credit agency is downgrading Illinois after its lawmakers ended their session without addressing the state's $100 billion pension liability crisis. Now, Gov. Pat Quinn is calling the General Assembly back into session.

There's significance behind the choice of California as the venue for the U.S.-China summit between presidents Barack Obama and Xi Jinping. The state is home to more than a third of the China-born population in the U.S., and Chinese-backed investment groups have been pouring billions of dollars into real estate property and private companies based in California. At the same time, exports of California goods to China are surging, and state leaders are bullish about capitalizing on new markets there.

Sen. John McCain, just back from a quick foray to rebel-held territory in Syria, is pushing the Obama administration to do more to help rebels topple Bashar Assad's regime. His call comes as rebels lose ground in their fight, and as skepticism rises about the U.S.-Russian plans for a peace conference.

The government's monthly jobs report comes out Friday morning. Economists estimate that employers added about 170,000 jobs in May. For a preview of the report, Renee Montagne talks with NPR's Yuki Noguchi.

The Pentagon recently released a report directly accusing China of using cyberweapons to gain a military advantage with the U.S. The scope of the problem, and the damage done by cyber-espionage, is not clear. But the issue will be on the agenda when President Obama meets China's new president, Xi Jinping, in California on Friday.

Senator John McCain, just back from a quick foray to rebel held territory in Syria, is pushing the Obama administration to do more to help rebels topple Bashar Assad's regime. His call comes as rebels lose ground in their fight, and as skepticism rises about the U.S.-Russian plans for a peace conference. NPR's Michele Kelemen reports.

The new movie, "The Internship," opens Friday and tells the story of two 40-year-old, down-on their-luck watch salesmen land an unlikely summer internship at Google, were they have to compete for a full-time gig. Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson star in it. NPR's Steve Henn sat through a screening with real life Google interns.

Few issues rank as high on the Obama administration's China agenda as the problem of cyber espionage. The Pentagon recently released a report directly accusing China of using cyberweapons to gain a military advantage with the United States. The scope of the problem and the damage done by cyber espionage is not clear. But the issue will be on the agenda when President Obama meets China's new president Xi Jinping in California on Friday.

Linda Wertheimer introduces listeners to Andrea Swensson of Minnesota Public Radio, and her pick for June's installment of Heavy Rotation, Har Mar Superstar's "Lady, You Shot Me."

News reports have been revealing massive data mining by the National Security Agency of American Internet and social media companies, including Microsoft, Apple, Facebook and Google. It was also reported that the agency is collecting Verizon phone records of millions of U.S. citizens. For more on the story, Renee Montagne talks to Glenn Greenwald, the reporter who co-wrote the stories for the British newspaper "The Guardian."

Another credit agency is downgrading Illinois after its lawmakers ended their session without addressing the state's $100 billion pension liability crisis. Now, Gov. Pat Quinn is calling the General Assembly back into session. NPR's David Schaper reports.