Rescuers search for students at Juyuan Middle School in Juyuan Township of Dujiangyan City. When news of the earthquake in China broke Monday morning, NPR was in a unique position with four staff members, including Robert Siegel and Melissa Block, on the ground in Chengdu, and four in Beijing headed into the now earthquake zone. Chengdu is 45 miles from the epicenter of the quake that struck Sichuan province. The Chinese state media estimates that thousands of people were killed in the disaster. Melissa Block has covered this story with her dramatic on-the-scene reports, and she and Robert Siegel - the only American reporters on the scene - have been interviewed by NBC News. This incredible team of hosts and producers, including Anthony Kuhn, Art Silverman, Chris Turpin, Brendan Banaszak and Stacy Abbot, have been in China as part of a continuing NPR News series, but will now be turning their full attention to the earthquake, enabling NPR News to deliver the highest quality reporting on the radio and online to the audience as the impact of this natural disaster continues to unfold.

NPR Election Coverage

Hillary Clinton speaks to supporters during a campaign stop at Tudor's Biscuit World restaurant in Charleston, West Virginia . Hillary Clinton was hoping that today's West Virginia primary will hand her a much-needed win against rival Barack Obama, even as her chances of securing the Democratic presidential nomination look increasingly bleak. Sen. Clinton is heavily favored to win the state's primary, but regardless, she will remain substantially behind Sen. Obama in the race for delegates. Clinton has been leading the polls in West Virginia by double digits. Yet plenty of pundits are asking when she will drop out of the race and clear the way for Obama. NPR News will cover the election on Tuesday and provide analysis and in-depth reporting on Wednesday. Meanwhile, those responding to our informal poll feel that Sen. Clinton should withdraw from the race by a margin of about 56 - 44 percent. Scroll to the bottom of this page to post your "vote."

Biscuit Burners Top WETS Americana Playlist

The Biscuit Burners performing on WETS in March 2008 The new release from The Biscuit Burners, Take me Home, was the most-played disc during the past week on WETS. Other top releases included Judy Wright's self-titled CD, and James McMurtry's Just Us Kids. Also in the top 10 were Blue Highway (Through The Window of a Train), Bearfoot (Follow Me), and Hayes Carll (Trouble In Mind). You can see this week's entire playlist inside.

See Shows From the Carter Fold Online

Every Saturday night, the Carter Fold in Hiltons, Virginia, presents traditional Appalachian music in honor of the memory of A.P., Sara, and Maybelle, the original Carter Family. The late Janette Carter (daughter of A.P. and Sara) established the Fold in 1974. Today, you can still see and hear some of the finest taditional music performances in the world at the Fold - but if you can't make it on Saturday night, you can now see streaming video of the shows. Simply visit http://www.carterfoldshow.com to see these great shows.

Jake Winstrom performs live on Roots and Branches, Friday, 9 May 2008.

WETS Fundraiser Ends Successfully

During fundraisers, staff members catch sleep when and where they can. Although we're still recuperating from the fundraiser, it wasn't nearly as rough as some have been - we finished in only six days! This was our quickest and most successful fundaising campaign ever. Now we have to try and figure out what we did right so we can do it again next time. At WETS we raise money a year in advance, so the money pledged to us this year becomes our budget for next year. Whatever is in our bank account on 30 June becomes our budget for the fiscal year beginning on 1 July. Since this drive was our last opportunity to raise money on the air for the fiscal year, we were very pleased that it was successful – particularly since our fall drive last October fell significantly short of its goal. We very much needed a successful spring drive and were happy not only that we reached our goal, but did it in record time. You can read more from director Wayne Winkler about this very rewarding effort. And click on the red "Support WETS" button on the left to make your pledge to your public radio station.

Mike McGrath (center), host of You Bet Your Garden, meets with WETS listeners at the Abingdon Farmer's Market on Friday, 18 April 2008.

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