After duking it out for almost 24 hours, Congress finally passed an economic stimulus bill. The final number? $789 billion, which is big, but is a smaller sum than the original House and Senate versions. The bill is expected to be passed by the House and Senate tomorrow and signed into law by President Obama on Monday. We now turn to Capitol News Connection's Todd Zwillich, who was in the conference committee meeting where the details of the bill were worked out.

Alex Rodriguez broke the hearts of fans and delighted his detractors when he admitted this week that he took performance enhancing drugs during his years as a Texas Ranger. While fans may have a lot of questions, one that we had was why would the Major League Baseball players' union keep their best players' failing test results? Why didn't they destroy them before federal agents confiscated them in a 2004 raid? To help us answer those questions we turn to Michael Schmidt, a reporter for the New York Times has been following this story.

Read the Sports Illustrated article that outed A-Rod and Michael Schimdt's continuing coverage of the steroid scandal, The Tumult Continues: Tejada Pleads Guilty from the New York Times.

Today marks the 100-year anniversary of the NAACP. Formed by a multi-racial coalition in 1909, the urgency to form the civil rights group was sparked in 1908, during a deadly race riot in Springfield, Illinois. Nearly a century later Barack Obama launched his campaign not far from where the riot lynchings took place. Now that Obama has become our first African-American president it doesn’t mean that the work of the NAACP is done. For a look at the challenges that the NAACP faces in moving it’s mission into its second century, we turn to our contributor Patrik Henry Bass. He is the Senior Editor of Essence magazine, and author of Like A Mighty Stream: The March on Washington, August 28, 1963.


Here is Barack Obama's speech at the 99th Anniversary of the NAACP:

Morgan Tsvangirai, head of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change was sworn into office as Zimbabwe's Prime Minister by his long-time rival President Robert Mugabe. Tsvangirai's swearing in caps nearly a year of turmoil that began in March 2008, when he won a first-round presidential vote that was greeted with nationwide violence, mostly against his supporters. For more we are joined by the BBC's Jonah Fisher in South Africa.

All week we've been asking you how you would like to see the money in the stimulus bill spent, and you've come up with some great suggestions. Now that we know where the money is going to go, Takeaway Correspondent Andrea Bernstein will tell some of our listeners if their stimulus dreams will come true.

ShovelWatch is a joint project of the non-profit investigative outfit ProPublica, the morning news program The Takeaway and WNYC, New York's flagship public radio station. With investigative reporting, interactive features and help from you, we're tracking the stimulus bill dollars from Congress to your community.

Follow the dollars online and tell us how the stimulus plan is playing out in your community. We're sharing your stories online and on air, and we'll continue the investigation with your help.

The chief executives of eight banks conceded at a Congressional hearing that they have work to do to win over a disgusted public and exasperated lawmakers. Congress wants more accountability for their money and banks were finally willing to give it. Kate Kelly covered the hearing for the Wall Street Journal and she joins us now.

Here is Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass) giving the bank CEOs the what for on Capitol Hill yesterday:

After hours of negotiations between the House and Senate, an economic stimulus bill emerged from committee. It is expected to be voted on by the House and Senate this week and signed into law by President Obama on Monday. We are now joined by New York Times writer David Herszenhorn who can provide the details of the plan as well as Jeff Zeleny, also of the New York Times, who can tell us the background of the bill.

For more, read David Herszenhorn's article, Deal Reached in Congress on $789 Billion Stimulus Plan in today's New York Times.

Newspapers are in crisis. More and more readers are migrating to the web, even as revenue from online ads plummets. Suggestions for how the industry can stay alive abound, but so far they're just that--suggestions. Jeff Jarvis, a professor at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism who writes about media at the Buzzmachine blog, joins The Takeaway to share his ideas for how newspapers must evolve to survive.

Check out Jeff Jarvis' book, What Would Google Do?

The U.S. and Mexico have a storied soccer rivalry and that match up has a new chapter after last night's World Cup qualifying game. Thousands of fans traveled from across the continent to get to Columbus, Ohio. That’s where Team USA squared off against Mexico in a tense game with a lot on the line. The Takeaway talks to Carlos Gonzales, a reporter for the local CBS affiliate in Columbus, who has been keeping an eye on the fans flooding his town this week for the big game.

For the first time in public, Pakistan acknowledged that parts of the murderous attacks on Mumbai, India were planned on its soil and that they are holding several suspects. Why the sudden desire to come clean? To find answers, we turn to Alan Cowell, who is following the story for the NYTimes.com.

For more, read Alan Cowell's article, Pakistan Announces Arrests for Mumbai Attacks on NYTimes.com

Two hundred years ago, on February 12, 1809, a pair of cosmic twins entered the universe. Abraham Lincoln was born in a log cabin in Kentucky. Across the Atlantic, Charles Darwin was born on an English estate. When they left this earth they made an everlasting mark on the principles of democracy and human evolution. Writer Adam Gopnik gives meaning and significance to this enduring convergence in his new book Angels and Ages: A Short Book About Darwin, Lincoln, and Modern Life. He joins us now for a celebration of the 200th birthday of two amazing men.

For more on these two men, read the New York Times science article, Crunching the Data for the Tree of Life, browse Darwin's complete works online, buy the two books that will share this year's Lincoln prize for scholarship on the 16th president, and peruse William Safire's review of Lincoln literature.