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Launched in 2002, American Idol wasn't the first TV show to make a pop star, and it hasn't been the last. But the show has changed the way the public interacts with the machinery of the music industry. NPR Music's Stephen Thompson looks at the show and describes his own brush with Idol glory.

At Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, travelers expressed some concerns after last week's foiled attempt to bomb a plane but said flying is a necessity. An airline industry consultant added that fear isn't the main issue for most travelers: They're more concerned with the inconvenience added security brings.

In the tradition of Bravo's past reality hits, Work of Art: The Next Great Artist has painters, video artists and photographers competing for the chance to display their work in New York's Brooklyn Museum and, of course, a comfy cash prize.

A plastics industry group funded research that found germs in reusable grocery bags. But a health official in San Francisco, where disposable bags have been banned for years, says there's no need to worry.

Free agent LeBron James will tell the world where he intends to play basketball next season. If he sticks with the Cleveland Cavaliers his chances of winning a championship anytime soon are minimal. Regardless of his decision, his star will be diminished.

MEDIA CIRCUS: Andrew Breitbart and his conservative allies see the the NAACP as hypocritical and want to wrest it from its privileged place in the national conversation on race. Someone like the Agriculture Department employee who lost her job amid the flap would simply be collateral damage.

When you’re in orbit, it’s hard to see the potholes. Commentator Dennis O’Toole makes a tongue-in-cheek case for why Chicago should pay $28.8 million for space shuttle Atlantis.

Mitch Moxley, a freelance writer who lives in Beijing, discovered that he could make a living as a fake American businessman. He wrote about his experience making $1,000 a week as a fake quality control expert in The Atlantic article "Rent A White Guy: Confessions of a Fake Businessman from Beijing."

A potentially fatal fungal disease called downy mildew has been attacking basil plants in New York, New Jersey, Ohio and Florida. Gardeners are worried that it could spread farther throughout the summer. Margaret McGrath, an associate professor of plant pathology at Cornell University, says that at first sign of the blight, make pesto and freeze it.

As curator of the Museum of Bad Art outside Boston, Michael Frank stays on the lookout for atrocious acrylics and inferior oils. He frequents garage sales and thrift stores -- and drives extra slowly on trash night.