Morning Edition

William Anthony Cobb's friends know him to be outspoken. They think the 42-year-old developed that trait in law school, but he says it's genetic.

Cobb credits his mother, Mary Cobb, because she was "prone to some rather long-winded debates about just about everything" when he and his sister were growing up.

"You should be able to talk to a person in the Bowery as well as to the president of the United States," he remembers her telling him. "Then you can say that you are a well-rounded, well-educated person."

If you'd like to sing to your baby this Mother's Day, but think your voice is enough to make a small child cry — or an adult, for that matter — fear not. A new CD just might boost your confidence. Sing to Your Baby is a collection of simple songs for parents who are convinced they're singing-impaired.

Otis Redding's 1966 recording of "Try a Little Tenderness" is an American classic, but not just because of Redding's spirited vocals. Backing him up on that song are Booker T. and the MGs, who produced countless soul hits in 1960s Memphis as the house band for Stax Records. Decades later, bandleader Booker T. Jones still has Memphis on the brain.

Citing decreased danger in northern and eastern Colorado, the Bureau of Land Management has lifted fire restrictions on its lands in Boulder, Gilpin, Larimer, Lincoln, Logan, Morgan, Sedgwick, Washington, Weld and Yuma counties.

In Cheyenne Thursday, federal land managers are wrapping up their final public meeting on a proposed plan that is expected to map out the future of oil shale mining on public lands.  The Bureau of Land Management is taking what it calls a “fresh look” at the energy resource in Wyoming, Utah and Colorado, as the Obama Administration considers shelving a controversial Bush Administration plan that opened up nearly two million acres of land for potential leasing.  The agency will now begin writing what’s expected to be another exhaustive study and that’s reopening an ages-old debate.