The Obama administration has released the details of its housing plan, which is meant to be a finger in the dam for the tidal wave of homes facing foreclosure throughout the U.S. Yesterday the administration launched their website, that will help struggling homeowners determine their eligibility for assistance. We can do one better than that. Joining us is Takeaway contributor and financial adviser Alvin Hall who is here to help homeowner Pamela Zombeck in Salem, Massachusetts sort through it all.

Click here for part two

Today, California’s Supreme Court takes up the issue of whether Proposition 8, the ballot initiative that effectively banned gay marriage in that state, is legal or not. The hotly-contested proposition passed last year and heads to the court today over questions of constitutionality. The courthouse should be a spectacle as protesters on both sides of the issue rally and even Ken Starr is expected to make an appearance. To tell us more about the gay marriage debate in California and across the country, Kenji Yoshino of New York University Law School joins us.

For a comedic take on the gay marriage battle in California, here's "Prop. 8 The Musical":

For NASA, one earth isn't enough. On Friday, the agency is set to launch a giant telescope called Kepler into outer space. Kepler will orbit the sun and sweep it's camcorder-like lens across the Milky Way, looking for planets like Earth, that can sustain life. Here to tell us more is William Borucki, the principal science investigator for the Kepler Mission.

And it wouldn't be a normal week at The Takeaway if we didn't mention Battlestar Galactica at least once. For geeks like us, the Kepler Mission instantly calls Battlestar Galactica and the hunt for a new Earth to mind. In honor of the last three episodes ever of everyone's favorite SciFi series, we'd like to take you all the way back to the beginning. So here's the trailer for Battlestar Galactica, Season One:

The World Baseball Classic kicks off with defending champs Japan against China. It may not be a big deal in the U.S. but in other parts of the globe, this is their World Series. Jorge Pineda is the Editor-in-Chief of Dominican Today. He is following team Dominican Republic and is waiting excitedly for their first game. He joins us now for a trip to the old ballgame.

There’s huge debate over health care reform in this country and it may come as a surprise that one person in particular is not taking part in it: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. As our next guest writes in the New York Times today, Hillary Clinton seems eager to distance herself from her failed attempt at health care reform. We’re joined by the New York Times' White House Correspondent Sheryl Gay Stolberg for her take on the situation.

For more, read Sheryl Gay Stolberg's article, Obama Taps Clinton Ideas but Not Clinton Herself, in today's New York Times.

Takeaway contributor and personal finance whiz Alvin Hall has been helping homeowners dissect the Obama administration's housing plan. Earlier we heard from Pamela Zombeck, a homeowner in Salem, Massachusetts who was struggling to pay her mortgage. Now we sic Alvin on a more complicated situation: the speculator, the guys who bought homes as investments and now have a lot to lose as mortgage payments escalate and housing prices fall. Scott Mintz of Los Angeles bought four homes and has a lot of questions for Alvin.

Click here for Part One

For 35 years judges in New York State have had to follow strict sentencing laws for drug offenders. Critics say the Rockefeller Drug Laws, named for the former governor, mete out long prison sentences to small time offenders, and that drug treatment would often be more effective. Now, state lawmakers are poised to reform the laws. Journalist Jennifer Gonnerman wrote about the experience of one woman sentenced under the Rockefeller Drug Laws in her book Life on the Outside: The Prison Odyssey of Elaine Bartlett. She joins Farai and John with a look at the laws and the proposed reforms.

All week, we’ve been taking a look at the U.S.-Mexico border, where violence has soared as Mexico’s army battles powerful drug cartels. Today, we turn to a place you may not have heard of: Brownsville, Texas. It’s a small city where most people have family right across the border in Matamoros, Mexico. And they have learned that what happens in Texas can’t be separated from what happens in Mexico. The Takeaway talks to Brownsville judge Carlos Cascos and Brownsville Herald crime reporter Ildefonso Ortiz for their take on life on the border.

For more stories from the border, click here.

President Obama found a new head for FEMA yesterday: Craig Fugate. Fugate is the Director of Florida Emergency Management and in that role he guided the way through hurricanes and wildfires and everything else nature has thrown at the Sunshine State. Joining us for an overview of the new FEMA leader is Mark Simpson, assistant news director at WMFE and host of the local show Intersection in Orlando, Florida.

Click here for our guide to who's who in Obama's cabinet

Will fixing Wall Street really help Main Street? David Korten is suggesting that instead of bailout after bailout we should completely re-imagine our economy. He is the author of Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth and he joins us now to talk about the future he imagines for banks.

For more, here is David Korten on Democracy Now! discussing his book:

So there’s this show, you might have heard of it, called Battlestar Galactica. And on the show, the human race is on the hunt for a mystical planet called Earth. Now, we humans today don’t share their problem, because we’re actually on Earth already. But for NASA, that’s not enough. Tomorrow, they are launching a telescope into space that is looking for other sustainable planets. We're checking in with Miles O'Brien, The Takeaway's intergalactic correspondent for more on this mission.

We spoke with William Borucki, the principal investigator for the Kepler Mission, earlier today, click here to listen to our discussion.

Auditors for automaker General Motors are raising "substantial doubt" about whether the company will be able to continue operations. They say the company may need to file for bankruptcy protection if it can’t work out a successful restructuring plan in the face of mounting losses and huge debts. This news comes from the annual report GM filed with the SEC today. For what this means for Detroit, the nation, and the car industry, we turn to Jerome Vaughan, our friend and news director at WDET in Detroit.