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Occupying Iraq is costing the United States nearly $4 billion a month, but nearly one-third of that total is going to private contractors. The largest beneficiary is Halliburton, the company once headed by Vice President Dick Cheney. The Pentagon has expanded civilian contracts as reconstruction demands escalate in Iraq. NPR's Kathy Schalch reports.

Alan Cheuse reviews The Best Short Stories of William Kittredge, a collection of stories from the Montana writer who started out his adult life as a rancher and farmer.

As Social Security fraud escalates, the federal government faces new and conflicting pressures over how the system operates. All Things Considered host Robert Siegel reports on the problems the administration faces, and what the solutions may be. Find online how to guard against identity theft.

Three-and-a-half months after the fall of Baghdad, resentment to the presence of U.S. soldiers seems to be growing. When Saddam Hussein's regime collapsed and looting erupted across Baghdad, doctors at the city's Al Kindi hospital begged American troops to protect them. But now, relations between U.S. soldiers and the medical staff are strained. NPR's Anne Garrels reports.

A tiny insect called the froghopper, or spittle bug, leapt over the flea as nature's most powerful jumper. A new study says that the spittle bug can leap more than two feet in the air. That's more than twice as high as the flea, and the equivalent of a man jumping over the Gateway Arch in St. Louis. NPR's Jon Hamilton reports.

By the end of August, Mars will come as close to Earth as it has for 60,000 years, though it's still 35-million miles away. Mars will be brighter in the sky, giving amateur astronomers and NASA alike a rare opportunity to study a cosmic neighbor. Hear NPR's Linda Wertheimer and Sky and Telescope magazine editor Kelly Beatty.

Songwriter Vic Chesnutt has often been called gifted, but in the past, his introspective, idiosyncratic music has been deemed too gloomy for the masses. On his latest CD, Silver Lake, Chesnutt's songs take an upbeat turn, though his homey narrative style and gallows humor remain. Listen to songs from Silver Lake, and watch Chesnutt's performance in NPR's studio 4A.

NPR's Linda Wertheimer talks with author John Burdett about his new book, Bangkok 8. It's an unusual detective mystery involving "the only honest cop in Bangkok," and evokes the sights and sounds of the Thai city.

Poet W.S. Merwin talks about his memoir, The Mays of Ventadorn, that covers his time in the French countryside. Merwin lived in southern France during the 1950s, and became enchanted by the language of the Troubadours, poet-musicians from 800 years before.

The bluegrass legends played in NPR's studios, and spoke to host Melissa Block.