A Florida CEO tells us how bartering changed his business and we bring you this morning's headlines.

The White House is taking steps to help small businesses secure loans, but while they wait, those businesses are finding creative ways to stay afloat. The White House recently launched a $21 million program this week to help banks make loans to small businesses. This comes more than a year after President Obama proposed to allocate $15 billion (with a 'b') from the federal bailout specifically for this purpose. Getting even this relatively small amount of money out the door proved a struggle for the White House, as the administration tries to pass more legislation to help small businesses.

• NUCLEAR TAKEOUT:  In Prague today, President Obama signs a treaty signaling a "New START" for the nuclear non-proliferation era. Is this a groundbreaking event or a mere photo op?  Larry Korb, who served as the assistant secretary of defense under the Reagan Administration, offers us his informed analysis.
• KYRGYZSTAN: A popular uprising in the Central Asian nation of Kyrgyzstan has boiled over into a coup. Alexander Cooley, political scientist at Columbia University's Harriman Institute, explains.

Toyota has been plagued with safety issues lately, but they continue to sell cars and to work toward a greener product. But not every driver is ready for the electric car. Long accustomed to going to the gas station, consumers are feeling anxiety over range (how far can the car actually go?) and time to charge (how long does the driver have to wait before driving?). We discuss the psychological ramifications of going electric and trusting the car's computer. 

Confederate History Month is officially back in Virginia, but not without its fair share of controversy. Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell declared the month of April "Confederacy Month." The proclamation was met by fanfare, applause, and loud protest.

This month, the Hubble Telescope celebrates twenty years in space. Why should we care? And does an orbiting telescope matter to those of us who aren't scientists?

Caroline Moore became the youngest person to discover a supernova on November 7, 2008 (at the age of 14).  She explains why, yes, the Hubble matters.

And Derrick Pitts, chief astronomer at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, shares discoveries that the Hubble has revealed about the universe, which will blow your mind.

Caroline's eleven facts about the Hubble, as well as a Nova-sponsored video profile on her own work, are below. To learn more about the Hubble, tune in to Nova's mini-series "Hunting the Edge of Space."

President Obama is in Prague today to sign a new and far reaching non-proliferation treaty. New York Times chief White House correspondent, David Sanger, explains the treaty's significance. The morning's headlines.

President Obama is in Prague today, where he signed the START Treaty along with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. The treaty will reduce the number of nuclear warheads between the two countries by almost 40 percent, from 2,700 to 1,550.

Apple's new iPad device garnered so much interest ahead of its launch last weekend that it's almost impossible to display it in public and not get asked a million questions. Takeaway web editor Jim Colgan has been dealing with this iPad effect since he got the device last weekend. He took the new gadget to the streets of New York to see why strangers are moved to approach a complete stranger, just because he has an iPad.

We hear your take on the controversial WikiLeaks video of U.S. troops in Iraq in 2007. The video shows soldiers targeting and firing on two Reuters reporters in Iraq.

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission is holding hearings today to ascertain who's to blame for the sub-prime lending mess. Yesterday they heard Alan Greenspan, former head of the Federal Reserve say it wasn't him. At the same time Goldman Sachs issued a statement that they weren't responsible for the financial crisis by betting against their clients. So how do we get to the bottom of this mess?

Flooding has caused the death of at least 95 people in Rio de Janeiro, and more rain is expected in the next few days. The downpour is the worst in decades. It has caused huge mudslides that swept away homes in hillside shanty towns. The city of Rio has been paralysed and the authorities have declared it a disaster zone. The BBC’s Paulo Cabral is in Rio de Janeiro and joins us with the latest.

When Piper Kerman graduated from Smith College she veered away from the typical middle class lifestyle and chose, for a time, to go a different way. She fell in with a group of charismatic drug smugglers and ended up traveling to fine resorts around the world to help traffic drug money.

The appointment of Jose Gomez to lead the Los Angeles Archdiocese signals the Church's acknowledgement of the growing number of Latino followers and the importance to include the Latino population for the Church to thrive in America. Archbishop Gomez was born in Mexico and received his doctorate in theology in Spain, where he also was ordained as a priest of Opus Dei.  

Yesterday, we reported on a widely circulated WikiLeaks video from 2007 showing U.S. troops firing on citizens, reporters and armed Iraqis. The video led to a conversation about what we should see from the war as well as the reliability of the source material. We hear your responses. Takeaway producer, Noel King, looked into the story and got a response from a Central Command spokesperson who pointed us to a photo, that he says shows, “very clearly an AK 47 or what remains of it,” as well as “at least one RPG and a number of rifles.”

April is Jazz Appreciation month in America. So how should we celebrate? We report from KUVO, one of the nation's top jazz stations. It's located in the historic "Five Points" neighborhood of Denver, and this month, they're mixing The Takeaway with the work of this year's National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters.