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RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

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RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Two years ago in South Fulton, Tennessee, firefighters in this town watched a home burn to the ground. The owners hadn't paid the required $75 fee for fire service. Now, after a barrage of national media attention, city leaders have finally made a change. Chad Lampe from member station WKMS in Murray, Kentucky has more.

(SOUNDBITE OF BIRDS CHIRPING)

Puerto Ricans are American citizens who do not vote in U.S. presidential general elections, but they do participate in Republican and Democratic nominating contests. Sunday, Puerto Rico holds a GOP primary. Both Rick Santorum and Mitt Romney visited the island this week. From San Juan, NPR's David Welna reports.

Residents of Illinois and Louisiana this week have been bombarded by TV ads attacking one or another presidential candidate, the vast majority of them funded by superPACs, groups that run TV ads like a regular candidate's campaign, but legally have nothing to do with the candidate they support. Tuesday night, they must file a report detailing who gave them money and how they spent it. Host Rachel Martin talks with NPR's S.V. Dáte.

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So what does it take to win an election: A clear message, a strong organization, good hair? How about deep pipes?

SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL: It's my view that the administration's policies are actually designed on purpose to bring about higher gas prices.

MARTIN: That's Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell who has won a few elections in his day.

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This is WEEKEND EDITION from NPR News. I'm Rachel Martin.

In Afghanistan, the massacre of 16 unarmed Afghan civilians, allegedly by a U.S. service member, is the latest in a string of events which may have shifted the dynamic between the Afghan people and the U.S.-led Army that's been occupying the country for a decade.

The madness marches on. Sunday holds eight more games in the NCAA Division 1 men's basketball tournament. On Saturday, thankfully, there were no major rip-up-your-bracket upsets. That is, if your bracket was in still in one piece. But there was plenty of drama. Two of the most exciting games were at the sub-regional in Portland, Ore.

March Madness isn't just screaming crowds and grown men and women chanting things like the University of New Mexico's "Everyone's a Lobo, woof, woof, woof." In fact, sometimes there's drama in hushed silence.

It's not hard to figure out why the Rhodes family would want a house of their own. Their son Paul's passion for music makes it clear right away.

His mom, Tamika Rhodes, says in their last place, a two-bedroom apartment, Paul couldn't play the drums because it would have driven the neighbors crazy.

Now he, his two sisters, mom and dad live in a big, five-bedroom house in St. Paul, Minn. Rhodes says they all feel much more comfortable.

The killing of 16 Afghan civilians last Sunday is now one of the greatest points of tension between the United States and Afghanistan. U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales allegedly killed the civilians in cold blood; those close to him say they were shocked by the news.

According to the Pentagon, Bales had been treated for a traumatic brain injury that he suffered in Iraq in 2010, though the extent of the damage is unclear.