Morning Edition

The crisis between Sudan and South Sudan is heating up, with the north branding its recently-independent southern neighbor "the enemy." This follows two weeks of bitter fighting in the disputed, oil-producing border area between the two Sudans.

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Likely GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney is reaching out to a segment of the Republican base that has given him trouble in this year's primary season: the Tea Party. Last night in Philadelphia, he spoke to activists from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. And as NPR national political correspondent Don Gonyea reports, what might have been a tough crowd turned out to be just the opposite.

The Pulitzer Prizes were awarded Monday, but not for fiction. The field had been narrowed to three finalists. Lynn Neary talks with Pulitzer fiction juror Susan Larson about why no prize was awarded in that category.

The day that many dread is here: It's Tax Day. Of the 143 million federal tax returns filed last year, more than 80 percent qualified for a refund. Steve Inskeep talks to David Wessel, economics editor of The Wall Street Journal, about the economics of tax refunds.

Over the weekend, Tupac Shakur made his first appearance on stage since he was shot dead 15 years ago. Shakur was resurrected for a performance with rappers Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre in the form a realistic looking two dimensional computer image.

House Republicans took the Obama administration to task Monday, this time for a 2010 Las Vegas convention for General Services Administration employees that cost more than $800,000. The convention is the subject of congressional hearings this week.

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We're going to hear now from a religious leader revered by Tibetan Buddhists and admired by countless others - the 14th Dalai Lama. A year ago he stepped down as the political leader of Tibet's government in exile to devote himself to spreading a spiritual message of compassion and peace. Still, he's been drawn into talking about violence since a wave of deadly protests swept through the Tibetan areas of China.

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President Obama's so-called Buffett rule has slammed into a wall of GOP opposition. On the eve of tax day, Senate Republicans voted yesterday to block a measure that would have made mega-investor Warren Buffett and billionaires and millionaires like him pay at least a 30 percent tax rate. Although Buffett endorses such a rule, Senate Republicans call it an election year gimmick. Their Democratic counterparts insist it's all about fairness. NPR's David Welna has our story.

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The actor Alec Baldwin is in Washington, speaking in favor of the National Endowment for the Arts. The government-funded arts organization long ago supported the Sundance Film Festival and the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. In more recent years, the NEA has supported writers, arts education for kids, and everything from jazz musicians to urban design. It has also faced political controversy; most notably in the 1990s, when its funding was slashed.

In Burlington, Vt., hundreds of people showed up to try to break the record for world's largest cowbell ensemble. The jam band Phish organized the event to raise money for flood relief in Vermont.