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Pentagon Weighing Spousal Benefits for Same-Sex Couples

We begin with the limits of equality for gay service members. The end of Don't Ask, Don't Tell allows them to serve openly, but when it comes to hundreds of benefits most military families get, the spouses of gay and lesbian soldiers, Marines and sailors are second class citizens. Outgoing Defense Secretary Leon Panetta was reportedly going to extend more benefits to them this week, but that's now been pushed back.

• More: Will Obama Weigh In on Same-Sex Marriage Cases?

Lisa Morehouse/KQED

Salinas Hospital Trains Interpreters to Serve Immigrant Population

In the Salinas Valley, small farm towns like Soledad and Greenfield dot Highway 101. Most farmworkers there are from Mexico, and an increasing number are indigenous people from Oaxaca and other Mexican states. In fact, almost a quarter of all the indigenous Mexicans in California live in this region. They speak languages like Mixteco, Zapoteco, and Triqui. If they speak Spanish at all, it's a second language. That can create communication barriers in work, school, and healthcare. Reporter Lisa Morehouse visited the Salinas Valley, and reports how one hospital is trying to serve them.Reporter: Lisa Morehouse

• More: More Than Spanish: Salinas Hospital Has Extensive Interpreter Program

Joanne McGowan/Courtesy Dave Smith

MIDI's Creator Finally Steps Into the Spotlight

Now a very different kind of translation -- the Musical Instrument Digital Interface, MIDI for short. That's the software that lets computers and synthesizers talk to each other and it's used by tens of millions of devices around the world. Dave Smith invented it 30 years ago. And you'd think someone who invented a language so elegant and so powerful would be well known. But few have heard of him. As KQED's Cy Musiker reports, that could change when Smith gets a special Grammy Award for Technical Achievement this weekend in Los Angeles.Reporter: Cy Musiker

Photo: A. Friendlaender NMFS Permit No. 14636

Deciphering the Elephant Seal's Mating Call

When you think of romance on the beach, that scene in "From Here to Eternity" may come to mind. You know, where Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr make out in the sand as waves crash over them? Well, a much, much less glamorous version of that is taking place now on California beaches. It's peak mating season for the northern elephant seal. KQED Science reporter Lauren Sommer visited a state reserve where researchers are learning how the sounds males make help them score with the ladies.Reporter: Lauren Sommer

• More: On the Elephant Seal Dating Scene, It’s All About Bravado

Courtesy of Ken Weiss/bengoldberg.net

Jazz Review: Ben Goldberg's 'Unfold Ordinary Mind' and Subatomic Particle Homesick Blues'

For a jazz musician, playing clarinet puts you outside the genre's mainstream right from the get go. But Berkeley's Ben Goldberg has thrived on the margins for some three decades, making music rooted in his love of jazz but always enriched by other practices and traditions. The California Report's jazz critic Andrew Gilbert has this review of the clarinetist's two new albums.Reporter: Andrew Gilbert

• More: Ben Goldberg's Website