National

It was supposed to be a banner season at Fenway Park — the ballpark's 100th anniversary. But the Boston Red Sox are stuck in the basement of their division, having lost 11 of their last 12 home games.

It's putting Major League Baseball's record sellout streak in jeopardy. Ever since 2003, the Sox have sold out Fenway Park for every game — 727 consecutive games.

Transcript

AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

President Obama's announcement this week that he now supports gay marriage has sent political pundits into a frenzy of analysis and pontification. One key question: Does the president's decision help or hurt him with core democratic constituencies, especially African-Americans? In the election year toss-up state of North Carolina, for instance, black preachers led the charge for the recent amendment banning gay marriage.

Justices on the Wisconsin Supreme Court are deadlocked over or whether to discipline one of their own. The state Judicial Council has accused one of them of violating the ethics code by putting one of his colleagues in a chokehold during an argument over a controversial ruling. But all the justices watched it happen so how can they be impartial judges in the matter? One justice has already recused herself. The aggressor and the victim can't sit on the case. If one more Justice does that, then there can't be a quorum.

A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel is recommending that the agency approve the first pill to protect people from getting infected with the HIV. The recommendation is being hailed as a potential milestone in the battle against the AIDs epidemic. If the Food and Drug Administration goes along with the recommendation, the drug would become the first to be approved to prevent HIV infections. Melissa Block talks to Rob Stein.

When members of a travel soccer team in Oregon fell ill last year, the details of how the disease spread through the team were mysterious. Kimberly Repp, an epidemiologist in Washington County, Oregon, describes the medical detective work that led epidemiologists through the chain of transmission of the norovirus.

A new four-part documentary airing on HBO next week looks at America's growing weight problem. John Hoffman, vice president of HBO Documentary Films and executive producer of The Weight Of The Nation, describes his three year-project to document the causes and effects of being overweight and obese in America.

Our intrepid host, Linda Holmes, is wrapping up her self-imposed isolation in the mountains of North Carolina, so the rest of the Pop Culture Happy Hour crew was forced to soldier on without her for one harrowing episode. And, given that we just did a No Boys Allowed episode two weeks ago, we figured we'd fill the room with dudes — you know, men's men.

In what could mark a watershed in the fight against HIV/AIDS, a panel of experts recommended that the Food and Drug Administration give a green light to a pill that can cut the risk of infections.

The daily pill, Truvada, made by Gilead Sciences, combines two medicines that inhibit the reproduction of HIV. It's already approved as a treatment for HIV, but its use could soon expand to include protection of uninfected people.