America is just a few days away from the Fourth of July and the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence. That day may involve fireworks, a backyard cookout, and possibly a rendition or two of the Star Spangled Banner. Our national anthem hits home with my guest on the national award-winning APR Notebook. Mobile area author Watt Key is known for his classic novel “Alabama Moon,” which was made into a motion picture. But, he's also an indirect descendant of Francis Scott Key, who wrote “The Star Spangled Banner.”

This week, Don reviews I Got to Keep Moving: Stories by Bill Harris.

Celebrate the upcoming Holiday by freeing your pet from having another litter of babies - spay and neuter!

Cam Marston spent Father's Day at church alone, then had dinner with his own dad, and somewhere in between, figured something out.

If you want to start an argument at the dinner table, I personally suggest bringing up Artificial Intelligence. There are some that believe AI to be the answer to all of the world's problems, and some that think it could bring about the world's demise. It's one of those topics where the spectrum of support and opinions is incredibly wide. Whether you consider this phenomenon an indicator of progress or a harbinger of doom, our chat with AI researcher Dr. Brian Butler is worth your time. He's been looking into this technology for several years and can tell us plainly what it is, where it's coming from, and where he and other experts think it's going. He brings us good news, bad news, and just, well, news about AI that he thinks our listeners should know!

Remember learning about stalactites and stalagmites on a school field trip? This week on Quick-Fire Quips, we're stepping inside America's most historic cave! Joy Sorensen, President of Majestic Caverns in Childersburg, shares what it was like growing up in a century-long family business. She also claps back at some wild out-of-state stereotypes ("Yes, our teeth come standard!") and recounts a hilarious, real-life cave encounter with her biggest fear: crabs! From local historical preservation and America 250 celebrations, find out why this natural wonder continues to be a crown jewel of Alabama.

This week on StoryCorps, Brittney Dabney is interviewed by Joan Cordova Rodriguez about her father and the memories she has of him from her childhood.

This week, The Man Who Read Everything: The Literary Letters of Harold Bloom by Heather Cass White.

When an animal shelter is at capacity - when every cage is full - that means the shelter must either turn away owners who want to surrender pets or euthanize animals already in the shelter to make room to accept more.

A distrust and even dislike for news folk isn't necessarily new, (and in more than a few cases, not unwarranted) but in the last decade it seems that politics, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the endless void of Facebook has made many more civilians villainize "The Media™". So to break down what journalists SHOULD do, whether they do it or not, and why they should do it, we brought in someone who has made the clarification and explanation of media ethics their life's work. Dr. Chris Roberts at the University of Alabama is the authority on media ethics-- he's quite literally the vice chairman of the ethics committee of the Society of Professional Journalists. We're picking up right where we left off in part one of our discussion. In part two, we're going a bit more in-depth on the relationship between the public and the news media.