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Top stories today include the possibility of a bailout of troubled Spanish banks; U.N. monitors get close to the site of a reported massacre in Syria - they'd previously been blocked by Syrian troops.

Pentagon officials confirm that Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, will give up his command this summer. But officials deny the move is linked to allegations that Sanchez knew about abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison. Gen. George W. Casey Jr., the Army's second-ranking general, will replace Sanchez. Hear NPR's Steve Inskeep and NPR's Michele Kelemen.

Republicans are feeling pressure to deliver the first overhaul of the federal tax code in more than 30 years after the collapse of the long-promised dismantling of the Affordable Care Act.

The Boston Celtics are being sold for $6.1 billion. The sale is pending approval by the NBA. If approved, the purchase of the Celtics would be the largest of any sports franchise in the United States.

Some Republicans are on the defensive about what they said or wrote privately after the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol. NPR's Michel Martin discusses that with Harvard professor Steven Levitsky.

An 81-year-old climber trying to regain his title has turned back; a Russian extreme sports star has BASE jumped from nearly 24,000 feet; the BBC recounts how word reached the world in 1953 of Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay's historic feat; and more.

Also: Syria's rebels accused of killing civilians; and Utah finds a way to reopen its national parks.

The best albums of 2017 delivered both comfort and challenge — both salve and spur. (That also applies to the honorable mentions listed, any of which could easily have come off the bench.)

On this week's show: Chris Rock's Top Five, mix tapes and loved music, and what's making us happy this week.

The FAA changes its tune regarding instruments on planes, the passing of "conduction" innovator Butch Morris, the stats on coughing at concerts and what the New Jersey Symphony board wasn't told about Richard Dare. Plus: violinist vs. composer and a music retailer's staff retaliates on Twitter.