Morning Edition

Wilderness conservation took a hit as part of this year’s federal budget compromise. A rider slipped into the bill at the last minute has put millions of acres of land back on the table for oil and gas drilling.  One of those places is South Shale Ridge in western Colorado. The area is not federally protected wilderness.  So the conservation-minded Interior Department had floated a different term for places like it, “wild lands.”  But that definition is now up in the air.

Unemployment rates fell in more than 80% of the nation’s largest metro areas last month. But the news is still mixed in Colorado.

A Boston area woman set up a Facebook account with the same name of the bride in this week's royal wedding. Facebook suspended her account for using a fake name. The trouble is, the woman in Concord really is named Kate Middleton. It took her a week to recover her online identity.

The New Yorker magazine is famous for its cartoons, and it holds a regular contest inviting readers to send in captions. The latest winner is Roger Ebert of Chicago. The movie critic has been trying to win for years. The magazine says Ebert won after submitting contest entries 107 times.

Florida freshman Rep. Daniel Webster bucked the Tea Party line recently and voted to support the House spending deal pushed by Speaker John Boehner. Days later, the Republican also voted to support a GOP plan to privatize Medicare — an issue of special interest to Florida seniors.