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In 1992, a cargo ship container tumbled into the North Pacific, dumping 28,800 toys into the ocean. What happened to those toys led writer Donovan Hohn on a worldwide journey filled with beachcombers, oceanographers, ship captains and environmentalists.

But rising oil prices could dampen growth this year.

Twenty years ago, Italian food was regarded as cheap, peasant food. Now it's served on menus worldwide and considered to be one of the healthiest cuisines. Esquire Magazine's food critic John Mariani chronicles the story of pizza, macaroni and red sauce in How Italian Food Conquered the World.

Earlier this month, the Justice Department created a special task force, putting a veteran mob prosecutor in charge. Analysts say putting criminal prosecutors in charge instead of environmental prosecutors could mean something important for BP and other likely targets.

The case before the court Wednesday comes from South Carolina, where Michael Turner was jailed for a year for failing to pay child support. He argues that he couldn't afford to pay, and that sending indigent parents to jail without providing them with a lawyer is a modern form of debtors' prison.

For the second year in a row, the number of police officers and federal agents who've died on the job has risen sharply. On Tuesday, Attorney General Eric Holder met with more than two dozen police chiefs from across the country to see what the government can do to help.

The country's nuclear safety agency raised the Fukushima Dai-ichi accident to a Level 5 out of 7, putting it on par with the Three Mile Island accident. Emergency workers struggled to cool overheated fuel rods at the plant, while Japanese officials admitted the quake and tsunami had overwhelmed the government and slowed its response to the nuclear problems.

The country's nuclear safety agency raised the Fukushima Dai-ichi accident to a Level 5 out of 7, putting it on par with the Three Mile Island accident. Emergency workers struggled to cool overheated fuel rods at the plant, while Japanese officials admitted the quake and tsunami had overwhelmed the government and slowed its response to the nuclear problems.

The U.S. is prosecuting pirates again. Piracy is one of the oldest crimes in federal law. Three cases have been heard in Virginia, including one in which five Somali men were sentenced this week to life plus 80 years. Often, suspects claim to be minors, and the government has to spend time trying to find out if it's true.

Songwriter Hugh Martin, who co-wrote the classic song "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" for Judy Garland's 1944 movie, Meet Me in St. Louis died on Friday. He was 96. Fresh Air remembers Martin with highlights from a 1989 interview.