NPR News

Alec Baldwin stars in two movies this summer — and they couldn't be more different.

In Woody Allen's To Rome with Love, Baldwin joins an ensemble cast including Jesse Eisenberg, Ellen Page, Roberto Benigni and Penelope Cruz as they romp around the Eternal City — running into trouble, weathering existential crises and falling in — and out — of love.

Ten current and retired postal workers began a four-day hunger strike today to protest Congress' interference with the United States' Postal Service.

Specifically, the activists want lawmakers to kill a requirement that the service pre-pay its retiree health care and benefits fund and to approve a refund of surplus pension contributions.

"Not the Internet, not the recession, not private competition, Congress is killing the postal service," Community and Postal Workers United wrote in a statement.

Geoff Nunberg is the linguist contributor on NPR's Fresh Air. His new book, Ascent of the A-Word, will be appearing this summer.

The Philadelphia pop-rock band Dr. Dog has continued to get better since forming in the early 2000s. The group's seven albums of layered psychedelia are deeply influenced by the best of '60s pop, adding up to a sound that's both timeless and classic.

The state of Montana has lost a closely watched bid to challenge Citizens United, the 2010 Supreme Court ruling that lets corporations deploy their money to help or attack specific candidates.

Citizens United dramatically loosened the restraints on corporate involvement in political campaigns. It also set strict new limits on what's considered "corruption or the appearance of corruption" when it comes to restricting money in politics.

Venus Williams has lost in the first round of the Wimbledon Championships, a striking defeat for the five-time winner of the grass-court tournament. She lost to Elena Vesnina of Russia in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3, after failing to establish her serve.

"I have to give credit to her," Williams said. "She made hardly any errors and served well."

A year and a half after Aaron Bell lost his contract to sell milk to H.P. Hood LLC from his 45 cow dairy operation in Edmunds, Maine, he found himself leaving a voicemail with his lease agent.

The United States Supreme Court ruled that an Alabama law that gave juveniles convicted of murder mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole was unconstitutional.

In the majority opinion, Justice Elena Kagan wrote that the law violated the Eighth Amendment's ban on cruel and unusual punishment.

The AP reports:

It's wedding season for couples around the country, including superheroes. Marvel Comics, the group behind Spider-man, X-Men and the Avengers, recently released a comic featuring its first same-sex superhero wedding. Host Michel Martin discusses the intersection between the Marvel universe and politics with Marvel's editor-in-chief, Axel Alonso.

The Supreme Court threw out key parts of Arizona's tough immigration law. But the court didn't rule on one of the most controversial elements of the law. Host Michel Martin speaks with NPR's Ron Elving, Professor Gabriel Chin with the University of California, Davis, and the vice dean of University of Arizona College of Law, Marc Miller.