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While many states have already lifted their statewide mask mandates, many mandates remain in place. But the science is mixed about masks effectiveness in schools — especially for kids.

Saratoga Performing Arts Center’s popular fundraising event, “SPAC in Conversation,” returns on Wednesday, October 22 in the historic Hall of Springs, featuring award-winning journalist, former New York Times staff writer and media ecologist Julie Scelfo. Founder and Executive Director of Mothers Against Media Addiction (MAMA), Scelfo will lead an inspiring discussion on “fighting back against runaway tech to protect our kids’ childhoods.”

"Accidental Racist," the new collaboration between country singer Brad Paisley and rapper LL Cool J, has set off a firestorm. Paisley sings about the dilemma of balancing Southern pride without projecting a racist attitude. The artists have called the widely-panned tune a conversation-starter.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, citizens are required by law to wear a mask in public. But the face coverings can have many meanings and materials — including banana leaves.

Students learn best in classrooms, U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona tells NPR — but "we have to make sure that we're following mitigation strategies."

The Bookloft and The Mahaiwe are presenting a special night with screenwriter and novelist Terry Hayes on the eve of his first publication in a decade, "The Year of the Locust." The event will be at Mahaiwe Performing Arts Center in Great Barrington, Massachusetts on February 5. Hayes will be in conversation with Jaclyn Stevenson, Director of Marketing at Shakespeare & Company.

Sonia Manzano, the actor and author who played Maria for nearly five decades on "Sesame Street" will be the guest in this spring’s edition of The Creative Life: A Conversation Series at UAlbany, appearing at the Performing Arts Center at 4 p.m. on Saturday, April 30. She will be in conversation with WAMC's Joe Donahue. That evening, also at UAlbany, Manzano will perform as part of a Selected Shorts live event which will feature Manzano along with Patricia Kalember, and Bhavesh Patel.

A new statewide mask mandate in California went into effect Wednesday, bringing the total number of states with mask mandates to 10. That has some public health advocates worried as omicron spreads.

Ten years ago, I interviewed my mom, Carolyn LaDuke, for an on-air StoryCorps inspired celebration of Mother’s Day. We recorded the interview on her 70th birthday in April 2011. Two years later, I recorded an interview with her again - after she’d recovered from a heart attack and while she was undergoing treatment for a second recurrence of breast cancer. This past April, she turned 80. The last time we went to Tennessee, Paul and I had a meeting with my parents, their priest and one of my brothers about funeral planning, my dog played with the dog my Dad got to keep him company when my mom dies, and I recorded a new conversation with my Mom.

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with columnist Steven Petrow about the etiquette of vaccines and gatherings as the pandemic continues.