2009-05-07 02:13:02 -

Below is a list of feature stories that The Associated Press plans to move in the coming week. Questions about the stories may be addressed to the North America Desk supervisor in New York at 212-621-1650 (fax 212-621-5449 or e-mail amidesk@ap.org) or to individual bureaus in your country or region.
We will update this digest daily, adding new features as available. Feature stories that moved in the previous three days are included at the bottom for editors who may not have seen them.
NEW
BC-US--FEA-REL-Catholics-Politics, Monday, May 11
Thursday, May 7
Amsterdam: Town of wonders can be had for discount
AMSTERDAM _ Amsterdam is defined by its canals. Built 400 years ago in concentric horseshoes, they are the rib cage of the city. Coasting their waters on a canal boat opens windows onto a history of vast wealth and global power. The cobbled streets alongside the canals are scenic urban pathways for walking or biking. And they are anchors for funky shops, cafes and _ of course _ Amsterdam's flamboyant Red Light district and marijuana bars. BC-EU-FEA--Netherlands-Amsterdam on a Budget. By Arthur Max. AP Photos NY405-410
Events mark Champlain's 1609 explorations
CROWN POINT, New York _ The sculpture of Samuel de Champlain gazes up the lake he explored 400 years ago this summer, opening the way for Europeans who made extensive use of the waterway during their 200-year struggle for control of North America. The bronze statue, flanked by a crouching Huron Indian and a French soldier, is perched on the lake side of the Champlain Memorial Lighthouse, overlooking the strait separating New York and Vermont at Lake Champlain's southern end. This year, New York and Vermont are commemorating the 400th anniversary of Champlain's exploration of the region with five months of public events around the lake's shoreline. They range from kid-friendly festivities such as parades and «pirate» festival and to lake tours and concerts. BC-US--FEA-Champlain 400. By Chris Carola. AP Photos NY412-414
Jefferson's retirement retreat restored
FOREST, Virginia _ Thomas Jefferson's Poplar Forest plantation retreat has unveiled its $6 million, 20-year architectural restoration to the third president's original vision as a private place to read, think and spend time with his grandchildren after he retired. The octagon-shaped neoclasssical home painstakingly designed by Jefferson had been converted to a typical farmhouse some years after Jefferson's grandson sold it in 1828. Now visitors can view it as Jefferson did when he began his sojourns there 200 years ago, after the end of his two-term presidency, visits that would continue until 1823. BC-US--FEA-Jefferson's Poplar Forest. AP Photos 415-423
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BC-US--FEA-Monticello Visitor Center
Friday, May 8
Astronauts making one last house call to Hubble
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida _ The Hubble Space Telescope is about to get one last house call, after yet another roller coaster ride for NASA. On Monday, astronauts will rocket away to the most famous telescope of modern times. This cosmic-scale grand finale will be NASA's most daring overhaul yet of the 19-year-old orbiting observatory. Never before have the risks been higher. BC-US--FEA-Shuttle-Hubble. By Marcia Dunn. AP Photos NY374-377
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BC-US--FEA-Shuttle-Astronauts
BC-US--FEA-Hubble Timeline
Guggenheim celebrates Frank Lloyd Wright
NEW YORK _ For Frank Lloyd Wright, the slow rise of the spiral ramp at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum allowed paintings to be displayed as if on an artist's easel. When the museum opened 50 years ago, the groundbreaking design embodied the architect's guiding ethos that form and function are indistinguishable. That philosophy was expressed in projects large and small but perhaps best realized in his then-controversial, now-revered design for the art museum on Manhattan's Upper East Side. This spring, the museum is paying homage to its visionary 20th-century architect with a special exhibition titled «Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward.» BC-US--FEA-Frank Lloyd Wright. By Ula Ilnytzky. AP Photos NYET471-475
`Star Trek' flies again, with unwritten future
LOS ANGELES _ They have Leonard Nimoy, and they have all the trappings, gadgets and crew members of the starship Enterprise. Yet even for a franchise that grew to six TV series and 10 previous movies, J.J. Abrams' «Star Trek» is the wildest makeover ever to Gene Roddenberry's vision of a future where humans have overcome their own squabbles and set out to make new enemies among the stars. Everything that came before in the «Trek» universe used Roddenberry's 1960s series as a launch point, so subsequent movies and shows formed a generally consistent history of the 21st to 24th centuries. Using a tried-and-true «Trek» trick _ the alternate reality _ Abrams and company found a way to give Capt. James Kirk, First Officer Spock and their pals a new beginning and wide-open future. BC-US--FEA-Star Trek. By David Germain. AP Photos NYET521-522, NYET491-492
Dennis Hopper curates show in of ex-L.A. artists
TAOS, New Mexico _ This little town has cast its spell on artistic outsiders ever since a broken wagon wheel in 1898 landed a couple of New York painters here, inspiring an art colony. Seven decades later, Dennis Hopper discovered the place when he was scouting locations for «Easy Rider,» the 1969 counterculture biker film he directed and in which he starred with Peter Fonda. Hopper is a longtime photographer, painter and collector who lives in Venice, California, but has maintained close ties to Taos. When he was asked to curate a show this summer at the Harwood Museum of Art, he reached out to five other contemporary artists who share slices of his past. BC-US--FEA-Hopper at the Harwood. By Deborah Baker. AP Photos AQ101-104
ALSO MOVING
_BC-NA-FEA--US-Celebrity Birthdays
_BC-NA-FEA--US-Film Reviews
_BC-NA-FEA--US-Game Reviews
_BC-NA-FEA--US-Top Ten
Sunday, May 10
Bangladesh to ban begging and the poorest worry
DHAKA, Bangladesh _ After her husband left and monsoon rains washed away her straw hut, Rowshan Ara felt she had no choice but to head to Bangladesh's teeming capital. Now, she and her two small children survive in Dhaka by begging, among countless others. But the government recently ordered a crackdown on begging in public places, imperiling the livelihoods of the poorest of the poor. The law carries a maximum sentence of three months in jail. «How will I survive if I can't beg?» asks Ara. BC-AS-FEA--Bangladesh-Begging Ban. By Julhas Alam. AP Photos NY315-318
Taiwan art collection evokes tumultuous history
TAIPEI, Taiwan _ Sixty years ago during the Chinese civil war, as the rain pelted down onto a roiling sea, a freighter carried a cargo of priceless art works from China to Taiwan. Today the thousand-year-old imperial art collection remains in Taiwan's National Palace Museum. But this year, in a sign that political tensions across the Taiwan strait are finally receding, Beijing will lend the Taipei museum items from its own galleries for the first time. BC-AS-FEA--Taiwan-Art Odyssey. By Peter Enav. AP Photos NY351-362
Crisis eating in France, land of haute cuisine
PARIS _ Bargain-hunters in a grocery store northeast of Paris squint as they scan figures stamped on shrink-wrapped chunks of Gruyere and bags of green olives. They're not zeroing in on the price _ after all, goods here are surplus, offloaded by supermarket chains _ but they want the «use by» date. If this sounds like culinary blasphemy in France, the truth is that cheaper and faster nourishment has been gaining on the lovingly prepared kind. And the recession had added to the trend. Besides shops discounting leftovers, there are «anti-crisis sandwiches» selling for one euro in bistros, and even Michelin-starred chefs talk of thriftier fare. BC-EU-FEA--France-Crisis Cuisine. By Angela Charlton. AP Photos NY304-308
Monday, May 11
Yet another Gandhi rises in Indian politics
SULTANPUR, India _ Rahul Gandhi, a boyish-looking 38-year-old, comes from the fabled family that has run India for 37 years. That's one reason why, with just five years of political experience, Gandhi has become a force unto himself in Indian politics. He's an awkward public speaker, and he flunked his first big political test. But in a country enthralled with the ideals of family and the spectacle of celebrity, he has the right last name. BC-AS-FEA--India-Heir Apparent. By Muneeza Naqvi. AP Photos NY363-368
US Catholic political divide over Obama speech at Notre Dame
NEW YORK _ A campaign by outraged Roman Catholics to keep President Barack Obama from delivering the commencement address at Notre Dame shows that the gulf between the church and backers of abortion rights remains deep. Yet the effort to get the leading Catholic university to rescind its invitation to Obama also highlights a political disconnect between the church's conservative hierarchy and millions of U.S. Catholic voters. BC-US--FEA-REL-Catholics-Politics. By Beth Fouhy. AP Photos.
Author tells of US special forces in Afghanistan
TRAVERSE CITY, Michigan _ Shortly after the 2001 terrorist attacks, a couple dozen U.S. Army Special Forces personnel and CIA operatives slipped quietly into Afghanistan and, seemingly, back in time. As outraged Americans waited for a full-scale invasion of the country giving refuge to Osama bin Laden, the Green Berets teamed with Afghan warlords and their militias struggling to overthrow the Taliban regime. U.S. fighters schooled in modern warfare galloped into battle on horseback. «It's as if the Jetsons had met the Flintstones,» said one sergeant who appears in «Horse Soldiers,» a new book that tells their story. Against the odds, the horse soldiers' mission was accomplished within two months, as the oppressive Afghan rulers were swept from power. BC-US--FEA-Horse Soldiers. By John Flesher. AP Photos NY301-302
Wednesday, May 13
Arkanas hometown of Johnny Cash seeks new life
DYESS, Arkansas _ Dyess Colony developed as bread lines stretched for blocks in big cities during the Great Depression. In rural Arkansas, the devastating Mississippi River flood of 1927 and a drought that followed decimated farming in the Delta. W.R. Dyess, head of the state's relief effort, picked land covered by thick «gumbo» soil to build a colony, and soon workers were clearing it, building shotgun-style homes on 20- and 40-acre tracts, and choosing families who could prove they could bring in a harvest to pay off the loans. Now, there's an effort to restore the faded colony's decaying administration building, part of a local plan to expand tourist draws beyond the main one: Johnny Cash's boyhood home. BC-US--FEA-Dyess Depression. By Jon Gambrell. AP Photos NY309-314
Thursday, May 14
Seoul's ancient sights on a budget

SEOUL _ With the South Korean currency, called the won, down against the dollar, now's the time to wander the grounds of 600-year-old palaces, meditate in Buddhist temples and trawl cafes and markets in the labyrinthine capital city, Seoul. BC-US--FEA-Seoul on a Budget. By Nicolai Hartvig. AP Photos NY400-409
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Features already moved
Monday, May 4
BC-AS-FEA--China-Quake-One Year
School issue unresolved 1 year after China quake.
With BC-AS-FEA--China-Quake-Ghost Town
BC-AS-FEA--Pakistan-Letter From Peshawar
Once welcoming, Peshawar now a city of fear.
BC-AS--Japan-Google-Dark Secrets
Old maps on Google Earth unveil Japan secrets.
BC-ML--FEA-Palestinians-Crime Zones
Israeli-run zones shield West Bank criminals.
Tuesday, May 5
BC-ML-FEA--Yemen-Al-Qaida
Fears of Yemen turning into another Afghanistan.
BC-US--FEA-CEO Pay
US recession takes toll on CEO pay in 2008.
BC-US--FEA-Green Investing-Wind
With federal money promising development, investors look to green energy.
Wednesday, May 6
BC-EU-FEA--Light At Chunnel's End
Channel Tunnel marks 15th anniversary _ in black.
BC-US--FEA-America's Emptiest Neighborhoods
AP analysis: empty neighborhoods fill Rust Belt.
BC-US--FEA-Donkey Basketball
Donkey basketball endures despite some protests.
The AP