All Things Considered

Maggie Speak and Robert James are a Jeopardy contestant's best friends: They're the show's main contestant coordinators.

Jeopardy is pretty vigilant about keeping contestants separate from production staff — there's no mingling with host Alex Trebek in the green room. So, the contestant coordinators are really your only friends.

"On the tape day, my biggest responsibility is getting them ready for their stories," James says.

When European Union leaders met in Brussels last week, they faced some difficult decisions. For the past year, the EU has continually bailed out its debt-ridden member countries to keep the bloc and its currency afloat. Despite this assistance, Greece may yet default on its obligations, plunging Europe and much of the world into another financial crisis.

This is just the latest challenge for the euro zone, the group of 17 countries that banded their financial destinies together since 1999.

In 2000, Sports Illustrated named its 100 top athletes of the 20th century. There are names you no doubt are familiar with — Babe Ruth, Muhammad Ali, and of course Michael Jordan. But there's also a name that might slip by: Babe Didrikson. She is the only woman in the top 10.

Norwegian singer Ida Maria has a voice that demands attention. It's powerful and commanding, and harkens back to a time when Joan Jett, Chrissie Hynde and even Courtney Love ruled the hearts and minds of teenage girls.

James Fallows, national correspondent with The Atlantic, talks about the week's news: New York becomes the sixth state to legalize gay marriage; House Majority Leader Eric Cantor walks out of debt ceiling negotiations; and Congress votes on Libya.